July i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
13 
LIBERIAN COFFEE IN DEMAND IN 
AMERICA. 
Our readers will remember our report of a con- 
ference called, at the instance of Mr. Wm, Walker 
in London, to consider the merits of Liberian Coffee 
and to meet Mr. Edward Morris of Philadelphia, an 
enthusiastic member of the Society of Friends who 
believes in the regeneration of "Western Africa through 
education provided for by Liberian Coffee. " Plant 
Coffee" was to be the burden of his cry to the ne- 
groes of the West Coast, and in return for the result- 
ing produce, America would send all that was required 
to ensure the education and christianization of the 
tribes. This mail has brought us the following letter 
from our philanthropic friend : — 
Philadelphia, April 13, 1881, Office 609, Walnut St. 
Mr. Ferguson, My Deak Sir,— You will remember 
giving me a copy of a book with yellow cover, full of 
information about Liberia Coffee, and its introduction 
into your promising Island of Ceylon. I value it 
very much. I lately loaned it to some one, cannot 
tell who, I consider it lost, never expect to see that 
copy again. I beg of you to send me another copy 
regardless of cost — and I will make returns for it — if 
it is out of print please advertise for a copy, and 
I will pay you. 
Ever since I had the pleasure of maeting you in 
good old Eugland, I have been intending to write to 
you, to encourage some, no matter how many, of your 
planters to ship me a hundred or a thousand bags of 
"Liberia-Ceylon coffee." In view of my well-known 
connection with Liberia here, I am quite certain 
I could create a Jiigh price trade for Liberia-Ceylon 
coffee. Do make the effort, to this end. Forward the 
book, and let me hear from you. I will sell your 
coffee and make returns in a draft on London or in 
American merchandise — as per order,— -Respectfully, 
Edward G. Morris. 
We publish this letter as the best means of making 
Mr. Morris's request known. It must be remembered 
that hiB firm in Liberia send coffee to the United 
States, and at the Philadelphia Exhibition Mr. Morris 
carried off the first prize for the finest coffee, since 
which time he has not been able to meet the demand 
for the quality of produce they are able to send from 
Liberia. The price he mentioned to us, at which he 
was selling, was a very high one, and we have not 
the slightest doubt that if any Ceylon merchant or 
planter consign some of their produce to Mr. Morris, 
he will do his best to find a good market for it and 
to promote a profitable eale. 
PLANTING AND SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS. 
Notwithstanding the high position already attained 
by the typical "Ceylon Planter" in the estimation 
of the tropical agricultural world, there is no doubt 
that by accurate observation and logical reasoning, he 
has still to arrive at many important truths bearing 
■11 In* profession. The routine of working an estate 
is a small matter, which any one with a moderate 
allowanco of brains should readily pick up. Indeed 
the existing system of planting has grown out of a 
very limited number of minds, and many of the prac- 
tices now held to be demonstrated truths were very 
slow in making way against adverse prejudices, sup- 
ported in many cases by men in whom their fellows 
put confidence. If, however, tho planter bus still a 
29 
wide field for hiB individual investigations, this age 
of specialities has opened up fields of scientific enquiry 
that can only be properly cultivated by co-operation. 
There can be no better means of applying science to 
a planter's practical work than in the way we have 
so often advocated of establishing Experimental Sta- 
tions, to test the practical value of the various manures 
and fertilizing substances within his reach on the 
plantation or offered to him in the local market. It 
will be generally admitted that ccstly manures have 
j been applied to cultivated land in Ceylon, without 
yielding the reasonably anticipated results. Hence, 
forward, no doubt, the custom is likely to grow among 
our planters, of obtaining an analysis of the soil to 
be operated on, so as to know with some degree of 
certainty in what elements of fertility it is deficient 
with reference to the cultivated plant. The planter 
who takes this course is on the true scientific path, 
but he has to provide all the cost himself and is not 
called on to publish his results for the public benefit, 
whether these be success or failure. Few people like 
to publish their failures, and if they publish their 
successes, the chances are they will not be believed. 
Ceylon with its Central Planters' Association, and 
with branches in every important planting district, 
already possesses the principal element for carrying 
out a series of public experiments that would settle 
once for all a number of pressing questions affecting 
the interests of every estate proprietor in the Colony. 
As such experiments would have value only when 
conducted on the soundest scientific principles, a special 
Agricultural Chemist would have to be appointed to 
carry them out. The salary paid should be a liberal 
one, so as to secure a first-rate man, and contribu- 
tions towards it should be made by the District Asso- 
ciations according to their strength and numbers. 
Surely when so many " Visiting Agents " make hand- 
some incomes out of the planting interest, one Scientist 
could be maintained by the whole body for tbe gen- 
eral benefit without the individual contribution being 
considered a hardship. When individual planters are 
found to incur the whole expense of analysis and 
experiment, in the firm belief that it will pay them, 
it is only those who have already given an a priori 
deoision that all manuring is "bosh," and that the 
soil and climate of Ceylon have ceased to suit the 
! plant that has for above forty years yielded its prin- 
cipal staple, that are likely to oppose the general 
t adoption of such a scheme. There are some amongst 
us, judging by the correspondence which reaches us, 
who believe that recent critics abselutely delight in 
the picture of ruin (so far as coffee is concerned) they 
have drawn; but this is a mistake, for "W. McK." 
himself has confessed to us personally that notwith- 
standing his remarks in reference to the "Aluwihara" 
and "Venture" experiments, — -criticism altogether pre- 
mature—he believes Mr. A. Ross, senior, is on the 
right track in the course he has adopted. Mr. Ross's 
example is, we are aware, to some extent being fol- 
lowed in other places : various experiments are being 
made with new and old manurial substances — kainit 
and gypsum have, for instance, been imported, — but 
! unless stations systematically conducted are established 
for the benefit of all, it is quite certain that the 
majority of isolated individual experiments will simply 
result in money being thrown away without even the 
proprietor concerned reapiug benefit, much less the 
general public. The application m less than the .-election 
of experimental manures as well as tho inspection of 
the results, require more scientific guidance than the 
I planter usually lias, or can afford to give. District 
Experimental Stations are therefore imperatively called 
I for. 
