5« 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1881 
the canes (the crop had but just begun) looked 
like a forest. By parity of reasoning it must become 
abundantly evident that high manuring is abso- 
lutely necessary to enable us to hold our own. We 
must not be deceived by illusory hopes of the English 
Government imposing countervailing duties on bounty- 
fed sugars. No — our strength lies within our.-elves, 
and do not let us imagine that others will fight our 
battles whilst we look on with folded arms. Surely, 
it is in the power of each individual Manager or Con- 
ductor of a Sugar Estate, if he strive with might and 
main, to compound a fair quantity of really good 
pen-manure. We fear that many, by adding heavy and 
oft-repeated layers of mould to their manure heaps, 
flatter themselves that they are "making up" a fine 
lot of manure ; but can there, we would ask, be 
anything more self-deceptive ? Mould is not manure, 
and it is only by the judicious admixture of various 
material?, such as vegetable matter (whether in the form 
of sweepings, bush, or other litter) along with the dung 
and urine of ivell-fed animals, and a sufficiency (only) of 
mould to fix the ammonia and other gases which are 
liable to be given off in the process of decomposition, 
that a compound which will answer our expectations 
can be obtained. In the last leading article of this 
Journal the treatment of Stock was well and ably 
commented upon, and we heartily agree with the 
view expressed by the writer. When saying that 
Stock should be sheltered from the rays of the sun 
by day, and the chilling effects of the night dew, we 
only need to substitute the word ' manure ' for 
' stock,' and the remarks > well apply with equal 
force. We confidently assert that all yard-pens should 
be wholly covered, and there can no doubt that field 
pens should, in part at least, if not entirely, be 
sheltered from atmospheric influences. It is curious 
to observe the inconsistency of men, who, while 
making a great point of almost instantaneously covering 
with a jealous care, guano and other artificial ferti- 
lizers, yet seem utterly unconscious of tbe great loss 
they sustain by undue action of weather on what they 
ought to guard with the most vigilant, and anxious 
care. 
Having done all that can reasonably be expected in 
the making up of the best and largest quantity of 
farm-yard manure, there remains much yet to be done 
by having recourse to our chemists, with whose 
assistance great things can now be accomplished in the 
way of growing heavier crops than of yore. Time 
was when the application of artificial manures de- 
manded the serious consideration of the Barbados 
Planter, for knowing little or nothing of their composi- 
tion there was more or less of risk involved in the 
undertaking ; but now that there are amongst us two 
Chemists of repnte, why should we not, when any 
doubt exists as to the suitableness of any manure for 
our soils, make sure of what we are doing by having 
our soils : nalysed. We believe there should be, in 
most cases, three applications of Manure ; — a priming 
in November in the cane-hole — the application from 
the farmyard, from October to December, in the banks 
— and the final touch in June, when the rainy season 
sets in. 
Let us have improved machinery (Steam Mills if 
we can) but let us, even if to the neglect of other 
points, never fail to supply our fields with liberal 
applications of manure, and then, and only then, on 
we rest satisfied that we have achieved the highest aim 
in agriculture." 
Mr. Boss's example in having his soils and manures 
analysed is, in our opinion, worihy of more general 
adoption. But, inasmuch as it is impossible for each 
individual proprietor to have this done systematically, 
we consider that the Planters' Associations and 
each District Committee, worthy of the name, ought 
to arrange for the establishment of experimental 
stations, through which so many conflicting theories 
and so much of contradictory evidence could be 
brought to the proof of practical demonstration. 
COFFEE LEAF DISEASE. 
Mr. Borron sends us a- very outspoken, if a not 
very encouraging, letter on this subject He finds 
fault with Mr. Marshall Ward for bringing forward 
his sulphur and lime experiment without giving all 
tbe facts of the case, apparently hinting that it was no 
more successful than those conducted according to 
Mr. Morris's directions ; and he expresses once for al! 
an opinion decidedly adverse to the repeated proposals 
of Abbay, Morris and Ward that planters should col- 
lect and destroy fallen diseased leaves. We believe 
that Mr. Borron has the majority of the planters 
with him in this decision, and that henceforward the 
thorough collection and destruction of the leaves must 
be put on one side as an impracticable operation. 
Salt and Vermin. —A planter writes:— "I see it 
said salt is an unfailing remedy for vermin in the soil. 
If it be so, surely, in the face of the ruin wrought in 
many parts of the country by grub, the Government 
might relax somewhat their strict rules with regard tc. 
its sale. In one of the vermicide powders advertised 
in your paper, poochics seem to revel : ' They enjoy a 
day tied up in a packet' of it." 
Sulphate of Magnesia.— The following correspond- 
ence has been handed to us for publication :— 3rd De- 
cember, 1880. --L. Nurse Bowen, Esq. Dear Sir, — We 
beg to forward you the following extract from a letter 
of Messrs. Cooper McCarine and Co., as it refers to the 
report of the Analysis Committee of the Agricultural 
Society, to which your name was attached as chair- 
man. — We remain, sir, yours truly, (signed) Louis, Son 
and Co. "We thank you for a copy of Planters' 
Journal, and read with surprise the rough calculations 
of value of 'Ammonia Fertilizer.' It is certainly 
new to us to be told that Sulphate of Magnesia is 
not a Fertilizer ! Why, we have had orders for it, and 
it alone, from planters in the West Indies." — Broad 
Street, 7th December, 1880. — Messrs. Louis, Son and Co. 
Gentlemen, — I have to acknowledge receipt of your 
note of 3rd instant, forwarding extract of a letter re- 
ceived from the shippers of the "Sulphate of Ammo- 
nia Fertilizer " to which reference was made in the 
report of the Analysis Committee of the Agricultural 
Society of this Island. On behalf of the Committee, 
I beg to state in reply, that " rough " as may be the 
calculations of the value of the Sulphate of Ammo- 
nia existing in this Fertilizer, it amounts to £25 per 
ton — exactly the price at which your firm, and many 
others, here, sell the guaranteed pure article. This is 
near enough for the Committee. With respect to the 
fertilizing properties of Sulphate of Magnesia, I admit 
profound ignorance on the subject, but would observe 
that when the Committee undertook this duty on be- 
half of the Agricultural Society, they adopted as a 
standard a tabulated form of comparative values of the 
fertilizing constituents of artificial manures by Ander- 
son, Nisbet, Way, Hodges', the North British Agri- 
culturist, and Dr. Voelker published in Bicbardsou 
and Watt's Chemical Technology, and among these 
constituents Sulphate of Magnesia found no place. Nor 
do we find it in any fertilizers specially prepared for 
the sugar cane. Clearly then the planters here who 
have purchased this fertilizer have paid very nearly 
£6 per ton for an article, the existence of which they 
were ignorant of, and which they would never have 
purchased had they been aware of it. — I remain, 
gentlemen, very respectfully yours, L. Nukse Bowen. 
—Barbados Agricultural Gazette. 
