July i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICA], AGRICULTURIST. 
H7 
times, and arc now behind the seedlings put out 
last November, of which all that escaped the enemy 
during March and April may now be considered out 
of danger. 
During last month I have transplanted all the 
seedlings I had in the germinating eheds into baskets, 
where they are thriving; but unfortunately they are 
not safe for the field, else I could bave got the 
whole place planted up in this glorious weather. 
The old plants promise a great blossom towards 
the end of this month, but it would have been 
greater, it we had been treated to less rain, since the 
middle of March ; the trees having gone more to 
leaf and wood, than to the formation of flower : arid 
so we have a pair of .secondaries, instead of from 
twenty to thirty flowers, at points of the primaries. 
I suppose, however, that there will be the more 
blossom on a future occasion, from the greater quanti- 
ty of wood. To bear well, the Liberian coffee wants 
much sun. I have plants, not under shade, but so 
situate, that they get only a few hours of sun 
daily. They run up rapidly, with large spaces between 
the leaves, the leaves are of an immense size, and 
have a very brilliant gloss, but with a height of six 
Feet, and with the lower primaries thirty inches long, 
they never bave had a blossom, and show no signs 
of it now ; while more exposed plants of half their 
'size have scores of half-grown fruit, and much pro- 
mise of flower. It is only, however, where the plants 
have advanced to the dignity of two or three pair 
of leaves, that they begin to appreciate sunshine ; and 
iven linn, they must have sufficient moisture in 
the soil. I have seen trees droop, after a month of 
drought, that were six foet high. 
I said in my last report that I would once more 
lill in the failures of the cacao on that side of the 
estate, where the least failure of the former plantings 
took place. I thought to get seed from the Govern- 
ment Garden, and accordingly scut for a sample, with 
the usual luck of those who have trade dealings with 
Government : that is paying 20% higher than the 
current price, while the goods are of inferior quality, 
to the extent of 50°/ = seeds not much larger 
than Liberian coffee, and only G0% germinated, 
producing plants too weal; to carry the seeds erect. 
I returned to my old vendor, a wiser man; and 
from the seed now in nursery I hope to lill all 
vacancies on the eastern side of the rocks, where the 
survivors are now coming on with a rush. It is 
less than two years since th« first ulauts were put 
and several of them are in flower. One especial 
pet has ben in (lower for above six months, but 
has not yet formed fruit. The while-ants still con- 
tinue to settle some of the weaker plauts, but they 
have now nearly finished all that suit them. 
I have not great expectations from the cinchonas, 
but so far they have made no complaint. In a few 
weeks, we may eipecf. them to declare their inten- 
tions fully. 
The other things that have been planted are generally 
thriving. Fiji cotton is becoming a weed. Themes' 
advanced teak tree is 25 feet high, and as upright 
as the monument. The Calcutta bamboo threatens to 
give some trouble to keep within bounds, where 
the soil suits it, but much is to be forgiven to a plunt 
that p ii-sei before long ii> Iwonic a fence that no 
bullock can storm. Young jak plants grow at the rate 
of a quarter of fin inch daily, and the HokltH Sorgham 
grows ten feet in two mouths. I have grown some 
thousands of orange plants, but they are attacked by 
insects, as soon as they come above ground, and the 
work goes on day by day, whenever a bud appears, 
till the plant perishes, battling long and hard he- its 
life. Out of all my plantc, 1 have only one that 
I can Bay is out of danger. As for native garden 
uiiis, were we to turn oar attention in that direction, 
they could be grown in curt londs. Two years ago, 
a couple of chilly plants wi 
three feet wide, between 
crop gathered ^twice a ye£ 
been tried, however, have been conspicuous failures. 
About twelve months ago, 1 stuck in some hundreds 
of pineapple plants among the rocks. They are now 
fruiting abundantly, but they are never allowed to 
ripen. The crows and the coolies have all the benefit, 
but I do not care for them myself, and the transport 
to a market would swallow up all the proceeds. If 
the new process we hear of comes to anything, some- 
thing may ultimately be done with the fiber. 
There is a story of an Australian colonist who 
sowed shelled rice, and was deeply disappointed, when 
it did not grow. We, in Ceylon, have no right, to 
laugh at this wise Willie, for in the year of grace 
1880, an eminent planting agency, of long stanoing, 
imported the husked seed of the African oil palm, 
and sold it to experimentalists, lor the purpose of 
propagation. It was no doubt all done in good faith, , 
but a good deal of disappointment resulted. "Ignorance, 
shere ignorance, madam," as Dr. Johnson said, when 
taken to task for a blunder in his dictionary. A 
thousand of those seeds were sent to me, but 1 wad 
not disappointed, having had some experience in the 
cultivation of palms. Your Aberdeen correspondent; 
some time ago suggested, opening a tradej in cocoanut 
pconac with England. I expect we can advantageously 
use all the poouae we produce for our own purposes, 
and English stock-keepers have in African palm meal 
a very superior feeding substance, relatively much 
cheaper than poonac. I believe the trade in palm 
oils is a great and a growing one, and in the habitat, 
of the plant they can be got for little more than 
the labour of collecting th'in. Some of your corre- 
spondents can perhaps tell us the result of their ex- 
periments with this palm. if it can be successfully 
cultivated, it will be come an important element m 
the industry of the island. 1 have no faith in 
imported seed, but every seed produced in the colony 
should be used for propagation, as soon as it is ripe. 
Ori my next visit to the Henaratgoda Garden, I 
will get seeds or slips of all the new products to be 
found there. Anything that .succeeds there can hardly 
fail here. I think that, as a rule, there is too mucu 
shade maintained on that garden, and that many of 
the plauts cultivated would thrive better with more 
sun. So far as Liberiau coffee is concerned, 1 have 
no doubt whatever, and for cacao, however much it 
may enjoy shelter, I greatly doubt the utilny oi 
over-head shade. 
SCIENTIFIC MANURING :— INSOLUBLE VS 
.SOLUBLE PHOSPHATES: 
(Communicated by cut OH Planter.) 
Mr. Hughes, in his last letter to the *«w, alludes 
to the Aberdeen experiments, in support of liis ad vice 
to the Ceylon planters, to administer powdered coral 
to their land. The advice is no doub' a good one, 
but the use of powdered ooprolite inthe "A. A. A." 
experiments had no reference to the use of lime 
in any form as a manure. It appeared to Mr. Jamieai u, 
and the A-soeiation he serv. s. Unit the dicta of l he 
" Voelcker " school of chemists, which decided that 
insoluble phosphates, and especially iusoluble mineral 
phOspbAtea, were of no maiiurial v due, should not be 
accepted, without further tests than the dogma had 
been founded on. For this purpose, the A. A. A. 
experiments were instituted, aud curried out, dm- 
in; a aeiiea of years, with preat care, ami scientific 
skill. The almost utter failure of the phosphates 
of alumina and iron to increase the crops tended 
