Io6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. (August i, 1893. 
are onltivated on 19, 30, and 35 aores reepeolively. But 
they have uo future here: Coca erytliroxylon \a bring 
grown aa an experiment, and the District could glut 
the markets of the world already. /9(7/)07Mcot)rf is being 
grown to a profit. Quickly growing timber, snch as 
iinumidella, is being grown ta meet estate demands. 
I have omitted references to the hill crops grown 
on ohenas, because it is very difBcnIt to compute the 
area under cnltivation annually. I do not tbink that 
in 1892 it has much exceeded 9,813 acres. Xurakkan 
(raggi) ie the favourite product. 
The acreage of the district is about 416,640, of 
which it is calculated that 102,847 ia now nndrr 
cultivation. 
Apart from coconuts, under which it is estimated 
that there are now 19,9'J3 aores in cultivation, the 
Eriocipal garden products are arecanuts, which, 
owever, yielded an exceptionally short crop, only 
825 tons having been despatched by railway as 
compared with 1,158 tons the year before ; plan- 
tains which are profitably cultivated for the Colombo 
market, 2,354 tons having been despatched by the 
railway alone, as against 2,462 tons the previous 
year ; and jak, yams, breadfruit, cacao and cassava. 
Of new products, cotton has been proved after 
an exhaustive trial, to be a failure in this district. 
Liberian coffee is very little cultivated, ia not 
easily obtainable, and not much sought after. But 
cacao ia rapidly coming into favour, and is a pro- 
duct the cultivation of which is gradually spreading. 
Up to date the Director of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens has furnished to the Kachclieri for distri- 
bution 1855 pods ; the history of all thefe haa been 
carefully kept, and although there has been a large 
percentage of failures to rear so delicate a plant 
in its earlier stages, yet there ar? now, especially 
in the Galboda and Paranakuru korales of Four 
Krales, flourishing cacao trees scattered throughout 
the dwelling gardens, and there is a ready demand 
for seed. 
MR. H. L. FORBES ON TE^ PROSPECTS- 
We direct attention to the very sensible, not to say 
Bhrewd, letter sent to us by our old friend Mr. H. L. 
Forbes, ( hairnian of the Scoitii-h Cejlon Te i Plan- 
tations Company. It will bo found on page 97, and 
it will be Bern that, while allowing for the adverse in- 
fluence of home p litiop, in reference OEpecially to 
Ireland, in unsettling the tea market. Mr. 
Forbes emphatically holds that the recent low 
averages for Ceylon taae are mainly due to poor 
quality; and he dwells on the special need for 
improvement in the teas to be shipped during 
the rest of the year. It is quite clear that 
Ceylon is in danger of lotirg i!s reputation for 
really superior tea, and of falling down in the 
estimation of the home tea trsde to tho position 
oocupitd by Java ; and yet it is admitted on all 
sides that most of the Ceylon dietriots can send 
teas, if the propriftora and makers so choose, 
nearly if not quite equal to the standard of the 
plantations which even now show us what fine 
Ceylon tea really means. Mr. Forbes's advice and 
warning, therefore, have r aehod us very seasonably, 
and we trust that, although it may be at the 
expense of quantity, we may see a steady rise in 
the average price of our teas in Minoing Lane from 
this time to the end of the year. 
THE CHEMISTRY OF THE COCONUT PALM : 
ON LIBERAL CULTIVATION— MANLRES— 
THE USE OF SALT, &c., &c. 
" The Manual of Ceylon Chemical Analysis by 
Mr. Cochr ,n" vhioh you are publfshirg in the pages 
of the Topical A;/riculiin;st must piove to be of 
much int rest to the piattical planter and at the 
same t'm^ must show him ways of i_^rocedure for 
gathering further knowledge. 
One woald have naturally expected to see in this 
work sooae light thrown on the much-vexed queeiion 
of the value of salt in coconut cultivation. However 
Mr. ("ochran cautiously leaves it where it was. It 
must anyhow be admitted that coconut trees growing 
along the sea-border flourish better and give heavier 
crops than those grown inland and the point that 
has to be determined is, whether this improved 
growth and yield of the plant is due to the large 
percentage of salt found in such places or whether 
It may be attributed to any other cause, such as the 
climate, rainfall or the cheniital composition or the 
mechanical state of the soil. 
It was desirable that at least onx anaJveis each 
of the different coconut soils should have been pre- 
sented to the readers; and until such data are ob- 
tained, no conclusions could be drawn on the point, 
though one may be quite convinced that sail plays 
an important and rather a peculiar part in the economy 
of the coconut tree. 
The natural habitat rf the coconut tree is the seA 
coast and the borders of the salt creeks, there it 
flourished without any cultivation whatever, and even 
when it was cultivated we find the growers selecting 
similar situations. The extended use of the free 
products of the palm demanded a larger area under 
It and gradually the cultivation spread inland, where 
we do not find it to flourish as well as it does in 
the coast. This fact strongly leads one to mark salt 
as the substance which causes the difference. How- 
ever it has also been noted that these coast soils 
are generally free sandy soils whereas the character 
of the soil assumes a harder texture as we proceed 
inland. Even in inland districts the coconut thrives 
better in light soils than in heavy ones. The second 
observation leads one to the conclusion that the 
coconut thrives better iu loose soils. Now it re- 
solves itself to the one question whether the soils 
in the coast are superior to those which are inland, 
and if so where does that superiority lie 'f Only au 
analysis of these different soils could throw a light 
on this point. 
The word coconut milk seems to be pretty gene- 
rally used by foreign writers for the water iu the 
nut. In Ceylon we use the word milk to denote 
the expressed juice of kernel, which in appearance 
aa well as in composition closely resemble the 
genuine article after which it is named, and if six 
to seven parts of water he added to the thick ex- 
pressed coconut milk, it would form a fair substi- 
tute for cows' milk, with rather a higher percentage 
of fat and less of sugar. 
The tables Nos. 1 and 2 give the general yield of 
nuts per tree in different soils, and the manures, 
quantities, cost and yield respectively, given in the 
chapter on the products of the coconut palm 
{chapter iii)* seem to require much explanation. The 
tables are quoted from a statement supplied to the 
Obso-rer by Mr. Davidson. When the figures are 
analysed and tabulated some strange facta come to 
light which appear to be against the results ob- 
tained b}' practical planters. I give below an ana- 
lysis of the above mentioned tables which I have 
made : — 
I. Unmanured. Yield. 
1 Poor soils (white sandy) .. 2 10 0 
2 Dark mould .. ... 5 0 0 
3 Reddish ... .. 7 0 0 
•1 Strong rich upland soil 
bordering the ba' ks of a 
river .. .. ... 8 15 0 
II. Maniu-ed with Hultsdorf Mills' Compost. 
Profit and Loss. 
Cost of 
Manuring. Yield. Lobs. 
£ s. d. 
1 Poor soil 14 0 0 10 10 0 = 3 10 0 
2Darkmculd 10 10 0 13 2 6 plus 2 11 6 
3 Reddish 7 5 10 14 0 0 ., 6 14 2 
4 Strong rich 
soil 7 0 0 17 0 0 „ 10 0 0 
• Ceylon Manual and Chemical Analysis by Mr- 
Cochran, vide Trojjical Agiiciiltunst" for 1893. 
