io8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1893. 
and fixed matter drawn uji annualli/ by the deciduous 
parts of a coconut tree from an acre of land by 75 trees 
hearing/ SO nv.t< per tree, ^c," is correct. These aBsuredly 
shew the coconut husks are a most valuable manure ; 
for they contain 61104 out of 795 06 lb. Troy— the total , 
quantity of mineral ingredients taken up by an acre of 
trees : that is to say that coconut husks appropriate 
to themselves 3J times as much nutriment from 
the soil as the fruit and other parts of the tree 
(stem excepted) put together! This is truly a revo- 
lution, and to me seems incredible. That planters 
should have had such a valuable manurial sub- 
stance at their very doors, for almost next to nothing 
and still should not have known it sounds ridicu- 
lous ; and if true, would brand us as, at least, a 
most unobservant lot of men. The husks, peuduncle 
and spathe being restored to the soil, all that would 
b 1 necessary, to keep an estate in perpetual good 
bearing would be to supply those ingredients removed 
in the shell, kernel and water of the nut, and these 
according to the analysis, would be as under for one 
acre of 75 trees giving 80 nuts per tree : 
Chloride of Sodium 14 09 
Salts of Potash ... ... ... 80-20 
Phosphate of Lime ... ... 21'55 
Salts of Lime ... ... ... 3-50 
119'34 
Not having any works of reference by me on this 
subject, I am not in a position to say how many 
lb. bone meal and how many lb. wood ashes it 
would require to furnish 80 lb. salts of potash, 21 J 
Ih. phosphate of lime, and 34 salts of lime. I should 
feel much obliged to any focal chemist who would 
afford this information as it would be useful to 
compare with the quantities of those ingredients 
usually applied by coconut planters who cultivate. 
Most planters aro aware that coconut husks contain a 
large amount of potash ; but, believing that the 
increase in yield would not pay for the cost of burying, 
they burn them and apply the ashes ; but few do even 
this systematically, or return to e .ch tree its proper 
share. They should be burned as directed by me in 
my letter in the Observer of the 4th April last. What 
WHOLESALE HOBBERY OF THE SOIL 
must take place when coconuts are sold with 
the husks, and on estates where coir is manu- 
f a tured 1 We are told that coir dust is of no 
value as a manure, therefore all the virtue must 
be in the fibre; let no one henceforth speak 
disrespectfully of old coir rope: what old rag^ 
are to tea, such are old coir ropes to coconuts I To 
burn husks does seem a waste of valuable vegetable 
matter which being incorporated with the e oil would 
greatly improve its mechanical condition as weU as 
afford food for the trees ; but until it is proved that 
the increase in the yield of nuts will repay the cost 
of burying, and leave a profit besides, 1 think few 
will care to adopt the plan on any large scale. Husks 
are so unmanageable that they cannot be dug or 
ploughed into the soil like weeds. To anyone wishing 
to experiment on a few acres I would recommend 
digging a trench between every other row of trees, 
2i feet deep by 3 feet wide and fill in with a layer of 
busks and a layer, of earth alternately ; they de- 
compose more readily when brought in contact 
with earth than when they are put in alone. 
It would be easy enough to institute a comparison 
between the 
THHEB FIRST DESCRIPTIONS OF MANURE 
applied, as their effects would be apparent about the 
same time and also be exhausted simultaneously ; whil" 
the effects produced by the husks would only begin 
to be seen about the time the other manures were 
exhausted and would last for two or three years 
after. How then the comparison was arrived at it 
is hard to say ; probably it was simply based upon 
the analysis of the constituents of the husks, and not 
by actual experiment ; and this I think is very likely, 
and would account for such a high place being ac- 
corded to it. It remains however, to be proved by 
careful experiment, whether we may not have hitherto 
too much neglected vih&t nay turn out to be a 
cheap and valuable addition to more contlv manarea. 
If I remember rightly the Hultadorf Mills' compoet 
consisted of night-soil, cattle manare. ashes, refaee 
poonac and the parchment covering of the coflce bean. 
This manure gave the best resaits on all soils, but 
owing to its cost the profits from it were not as high 
as from some of the uthtrs. I am a little puzicled 
however to know how No. 4 soil with one half the 
quantity of manure applied to No. 1 gave the same 
iucreasu. The circumstance too that the increase 
from manures 2, 3 and 4 on all flu soittia the same, 
is a very suspicious coincidence and tends to throw 
doubt upon the reliability of these labels ; and to 
W. A. De 8. belongs the credit of having drawu atten- 
tion to them. The following table shows the yearly 
value of crop from the poor soils in an unmanured 
condition, and after being manured; also the enhanced 
value owing to the manuring : 
02 Value of yield 
2. after manur- 
a ing 
Value of yield 
before manur- 
Increae e 
ing 
No. 1. 
1 
10 
10 
0 
2 
10 
0 
4- 
8 
0 
0 
2 
13 
2 
6 
6 
0 
0 
+ 
8 
2 
C 
3 
14 
0 
0 
7 
0 
0 
+ 
7 
0 
0 
4 
17 
0 
0 
8 
No. ! 
16 
2. 
0 
+ 
8 
6 
0 
1 
7 
0 
0 
2 
10 
0 
+ 
4 
10 
0 
2 
8 
16 
0 
6 
0 
0 
+ 
3 
15 
0 
8 
9 
12 
6 
. . 7 
0 
0 
+ 
2 
12 
ti 
4 
10 
10 
0 
8 
16 
0 
+ 
1 
15 
0 
Noe. 8 <& 4. 
1 
7 
0 
0 
2 
10 
0 
+ 
4 
10 
0 
2 
8 
15 
0 
6 
0 
0 
+ 
3 
15 
0 
3 
9 
12 
6 
7 
0 
0 
+ 
2 
12 
6 
4 
10 
10 
0 
8 
15 
0 
+ 
1 
16 
• 
tiA^lDE^UNG NOTES. 
BUUBABB CULTCBE, 
1 have foaad it beet to op;n a trenob 16 in. 
deep, BDd about tbe same in width, fill to within 6 in. 
of the top with well-rotted manure and fine toil 
mixed and trampled dowr. On this I place large 
pieces of roots having one stroog bud, 8 ft. apart, 
and cover with good mellow soil, roaijding it up in 
a riilge. This ridge will settle 4 in. to 6 io., and oul- 
tivat'on levels the sfrvice. Plan' ing ie done as early 
in the spring as the ground can te worked. The soil 
is kept mellow and free of weeds with cultivator and 
hoc, and tbe plants make a rapid growth. L«te in the 
antumo they are covered with 6 in. of strong manure, 
which is raked aside early in the following spring. 
THE MhRGUI PEARLING COMPANY, 
LIMITED. 
This young Company, floated in Singapore, has 
the distinotion of having already obtained fioancisUy 
the etrongsst position of any joint Btock enterprife 
in the blraita. It has been started to work pearl 
and pearl shell fisheries on the Mergui crast at 
the southern extremity of the province of Tennss- 
Berim in British Burmah. The fishery dietrio', 
compriBing the islands and narrow witsrs of the 
Mergui arohipelagc, has been divided into four 
blocks of similar area. Thres oj thsEe are in the 
hands of native concessionaries, who hold them 
directly from the Burma Government. Block No. 
3 is that held by the Company, and they have 
just acquired a lease for three years, ratified by 
the Government of Budat. Tbe area is roughly 
1,200 square miles, an! approximstely the con- 
cession is a parallelogram of 40 miles by 30. The 
directors reside in Singapore and are themselves 
the chief sbareholderB, there being no shares on 
the market, 
