, 99 6 THE TROPICAL 
detriment of British shipping, and of English importers, 
dealers, brokers, and others interested in this article. 
7th. — That the consumption of coffee in this country, 
which, in 1647, with a duty nearly three times as heavy as 
the present one; was 37,472,153 lb. or about 2 lb. per head 
of population, has now declined in 1881 to 31,943,400 lb. 
or less than 1 lb. per head, notwithstanding the large in- 
crease of population, and they believe that the consump- 
tion, if it had not been checked by unfair legislation, would 
probably exceed now 60,000,000 lb. 
For those reasons your memorialists deem the effect of 
this Treasury order to be of such injury to the consumption 
of coffee, and the well-being of the community, that they 
feel constrained to urge its withdrawal. 
Reply : — 
"The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury 
have carefully considered the statements made in your 
memorial, which reached them on the 6th ultimo, com- 
plaining of a recent order whereby coffee and chicory 
mixed were permitted to be imported upon payment 
of the duty charged upon coffee or chicory separately ; 
and they havo communicated it to the Board of 
Trade, upon whose recommendation the concession 
was originally made. I am to explain that the effect 
of the Treasury order is simply that the ariicles, 
which formerly might be imported separately, and 
then mixed and sold in England, may now be mixed 
outside England and imported together. This per- 
mission, was given, because there appeared to be a 
trade demand for it, and my lords deem it their 
duty to remove restrictions on trade where practic- 
able. It involves no alteration of the conditions under 
which mixtures of coffee and chicory may be sold 
in England. The question of the advisableness of 
allowing the sale of mixtures under prescribed con- 
ditions is one which should be considered rather in 
connexion with the adulteration Acts than with the 
Customs tariff." 
HIGH CULTIVATION OF ESTATES. 
In the midst of all the depression around us, it 
is refreshing to receive, from Mr. Wm. D. Bosanquet, 
letters of such cheer, confidence and commonsense, 
as those in this issue, following others of a like 
nature. Some profess to have lost faith in manure, 
but the large majority of planters are simply unable 
to cultivate, as they could wish if means were avail- 
able. Crops are low, because the trees are enfeebled ; 
and because of low crops planters cannot afford to 
pay for the fertilizing substances they would gladly 
apply. Happy those who, like Mr. Bosanquet, can 
carry out, even in such " hard times " as the present,- 
what they believe to be the right principles of cult- 
ivation, and all honour to him for giving his fellow- 
planters the benefit of his valuable and costly experi- 
ments. Apart from the commonsense about bulky 
matter and its value, the great point now in- 
sisted on by Mr. Bosanquet is the reversal in 
manuring of the popular formula of two parts 
of castor cake to one of bones. He would use two 
of the phosphatic manure to one of the nitrogenous. 
It is not the bones but the nitrogenous manure to 
which over-forcing is due. This quite accords with 
experience related to us by the late Mr. Anton, who 
believi-d in the value of steamed bones alone. As a 
" complete manure" Mr. Bosanquet recommends that 
of Messrs. Crossman and Paulin, and his recommend- 
ation will carry weight with his brother-planters. 
There never was a crisis when wise manuring was 
more required than now, and gratitude is due to Mr. 
AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1882. 
Bosanquet, for placing the results of his experience at 
the disposal of the whole body of planters. We suppose 
however, that many will share the wieh we feel to 
know the constituents of the "complete manure." 
It is probably prepared after one of the formulae 
in the book of M. Ville, which we copiously re- 
viewed in the Observer about three years ago. In 
that case, we should think the modifying influences 
of tropical sun and rains must be taken into account ? 
In any case, there is the great lesson : — use twice 
as much bones as castor cake, and in all except very 
high places remember that bulky matter resulting in 
humus is an essential to good manure. 
As Mr. Hughes has been referred to, we cannot help 
recalling his fearful calculation, founded on observa- 
tions by the Eev. Mr. Abbay. The computation is 
that one ton per acre of soil is washed away from 
estates by every 12 inches of rain. This means 5 
tons per acre per annum, where the annual rainfall 
is 60 inches ; 10 tons per annum where the fall is 
120 inches ; and 20 tons per annum where, as in 
some places in Ambagamuwa, the rainfall is 240 
inches ! In the face of such figures, apart from 
combustion by solar heat, how utterly insignificant 
are the quantities of fertilizing matters we are able 
to add to our properties, much of which, with the 
richest particles of our soil, goes down to the sea 
to be upheaved . for the benefit of a posterity bo 
distant as some millions of years, probably. If Mr. 
Hughes' calculations are not exaggerated (?) no wonder 
though estates, especially those with steep features, 
get exhausted. But the calculation is surely far too 
high ? What have Mr. Bosanquet and other planters 
to say to it ? 
THE HIGH CULTIVATION OP COFFEE 
PLANTATIONS. 
No. I. 
To the Editor of the " Ceylon Observer. " 
Yoxford, Dimbula, March 31st, 1882. 
Dear Sib, — It has been borne in upon the con"ic- 
tions of most planters, and would be an opinion now 
generally accepted by the agents but that they are 
frequently ill advised by those who should be better 
instructed, that the future well-being of. coffee in 
Ceylon depends mainly upon high cultivation and 
liberal manuring. 
As the general teaching of my experiments on Yox- 
ford seems to have been by many but partially ap- 
prehended, and, as it is most desirable that there should 
be greater clearness of view as to what constitutes a 
safe system of manuring, I am constrained to publish 
what my experiments and general practice have led 
me to regard as the true course to pursue, in order 
that others may compare their practice with mine and 
see in what points we differ, and in the hope that 
discussion may tend to throw additional light upon a 
subject which has such a deep interest for all of us. 
In the first place, I consider that the perfection of 
manuring is attained by mixing bulk in tome form, 
i, e , cattle manure, pulp or decayed vegetable matter 
of any kind, with artificial manure, as the vegetable 
matter, by providing a constant source of carbonic 
acid in the soil, gives the fertilizing properties to the 
roots in the most readily available form and makes 
the manure doubly effective and lasting. . Therefore 
I say instead of using a full basket of cattle manure 
alone to each tree, add Jib. of bones to half the 
