July 2, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
57 
To the Editor. 
TEA CULTIVATION : MANURING 
EXPERIMENTS. 
London, E.C., May 25. 
Dear Sik, — Thank you for tha copy of Bamber's 
b)ok on the Chemistry and Agriculture of Tea. It 
appears to be an interesting and highly suggestive 
work and 1 shall have much p'easure in carefully 
reading it through. 
As ri'girds thg manuring experiments referred to 
on pa^es 87 to 93, a brief examination is sufficient 
to impress one with the following points: — 
1. That the manures use were boh too concen- 
trated and applied in too large a quantity. 
2. That the increase} yield from the application 
of such manure was naturally confined to the 1st 
and 2nd years. 
3. That in calculating the profit due to such 
manuring a tevious mistake has been made in 
treating the increased yield of tea as net profif, 
from whioh the cost of the manure only should be 
deriuoted, whereas it should have been treated as a 
gross profit from which the extra cost of manufac- 
ture, packages and carriage to place of sale, as well 
as the actual cost of the manure shou'd be deducted 
bofore arriving at the net profit due to manuring. 
Thus on page 90 experiments with cotton seed 
on p, garden at Chandore, Chittagong in 1882 and 
1883 are given as follows from J acre plots : — 
COTTON SEED (FERMENTED). 
Plot A raceived 2 lb. per bush equpl to 68 mauads 
per acre. 
Taking a maund ».! S2 lb. this would repre- 
sent 5,576 ib. per acre, an enormous dressing 
which not even a Jersey fanner would think pro- 
fitable to &pf-dy to raise a valuable crop like early 
potatoes for the London market. 
In Plot B, however, as much as 3 lb. of coiton 
seed per bush were applied, equal to 102 maund3 
per acre. 
In Plot C the cotton seed was reduced to 1 lb. 
and mixed with 5 lb, of Gobur per bush, making 
the full dressing up to 204 maunds per acre, on 
upwards of 7 tone ! 
Now Jet us see what the returns from these 
extraordinary dressiug were : 
Retdkns per acre 1st Season 1882. 
Plot A Plot B Plot C 
Tea form manured plot lb. 
694 
831 
730 
Tea from nnmanured plot ,, 
564 
554 
633 
Increase from manure ,, 
130 
277 
97 
Increase per cent „ 
23 
50 
15 
Returns per acre 2nd 
Season 
1893. 
j? 
A 
B 
O 
Tea from managed plot lb. 
471 
571 
500 
Tea from unmatured plot ,, 
457 
427 
438 
Increase from manure „ 
14 
144 
62 
Increase per cent „ 
3 
331 
14 
It -is stated that the results 
from 
these 
plots 
were not registered after the 2nd seaEon ; but it 
was nuticeablo that the bushes were benefited 
through the third year, but (though it is much to 
be regretted) that no figures have been given. 
Coming to the profits we fir.d the following 
statemont :— 
Profits for the 16T Year. 
Manured plot— tea at 8 anuas 
per lb. 
Uommurcd plot ,, 
A 
B 
C 
R 
R 
R 
347 
415 
365 
282 
277 
317 
65 
138 
48 
Less total cost of manure 
71 
W 
Amount in favour of man. 
ured plot 
17 
67 
8 
Profit psr acre per cent on 
cost of manure 
361 
2 i 
Promt for the 2nd Year 
A 
B 
0 
A 
R 
R 
Manured plot — tea at 8 annas 
per lb. 
235 
285 
250 
Unmanured plot ,, ,, 
228 
213 
219 
7 
70 
61 
Less totnl cost of manure 
nil 
nn 
ml 
Amount in fiwonr of man- 
ured plot 
7 
72 
31 
Profit per acre per cent on 
cost of manure 
15 
101 
77 
The above figures are accompanied by the 
following statement These experiments show 
that manuring in certain oases is profitable and 
that a comparatively large outlay in the first 
instance as in the case Plot B is more profitable 
in the end than the smaller outlay for plot A. 
This is an important statement to make, and 
before planters accept it as a fact the figures quoted 
should be inquired into. 
If we assume the extra cost of manufacture, 
packing and cost of freight to place of sale to be 
25 cents (B£) per lb. we have to add the following 
for the 1st year : — 
Plot A 130 lb. at 25 cents = E32£ 
Do B 277 do rto = 62^ 
Do C 97 do do = 24| 
And if these figures are added to tha cost of the 
manure it will bo seen that the total exceeds the 
money realised by the sale of the increased yield 
of tea from manuring thus : — 
Iu Plot A P.32J a^'ded to R47 cost of manure = R79i 
Do B 69J do 71 do do = 140| 
Do C 24J do 40 do do — 64J 
And if these figures are deducted from those repre- 
senting the value of the tea yielded by manuring, 
there appears a Iobs rather than a profit for the 
first year. 
In assumirg 25 cents as the cost of producing the 
extra yield of tea, I may be putting too high a 
figure ; but that planter oan make allowance for 
and only wish to point out what appears to me 
to be a serious mistake in estimating the true value 
of the extra quantity of tea resulting from manuring. 
Judicious an 1 regular manuring no doubt will 
be found to pay, inasmuch as it tends to perma- 
nently improve the ."ertilicy of the soil ; but ex- 
cessive manuung sue' 1 , as that referred to in these 
Chittegong experiments must be regarded as waste- 
full and positively injurious by reason of the 
exhaust. »nd s 7hich must be specially 
marked in a hot and forcing climate like that of 
Indi" acd QeyKbxt. 
In a future communication I shall hope to 
refer k 1 to 'hese Manuring Experiments 
as well as to other points of interest in Mr. 
BarLber's book. — Yoiu faithfully, 
JOHN HUGHES. 
NEWS FROM BRITISH NORTH 
BORNEO. 
Kandy, June 16. 
Dear Sir,— The Japanese Consul Mr. T. J. 
Nakagawa has visited Sandakan to make himself 
acquainted with the position of the Japanese who 
have emigrated to North Borneo. He has been 
struok with the capabilities of the territory for 
suppljing what is likely to be inuoh wanted in 
Japan, viz,, sugar for the proposed refineries they 
