88 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. i, 1894. 
urine could be saved; tbe earth being allowed to 
accumulate in the sheds till required for use as 
manure, or being removed as soon as it becomes 
saturated and carefully preserved in a manure |.it 
as is described below. In cases where cattle are 
tethered or penned in the fields, the urine soaking 
into the land is not lost. 
If the ryot be asked why he does not use litter 
for hi-) stock, he usually says that he has not enough 
fodder to feed them properly, still less has he straw 
for use as litter. The appearance of so much waste 
straw, &c, in the manure heaps is, however, often 
evidence that this is not (he reason, for these matters, 
as well as coarse grass, weeds, leaves, and rubbish of 
all sorts might be used as litter, and the quantity 
required, especially if dry earth be also sprinkled 
over the floors, is not large. 
As has already been said, the most valuable por- 
tion of farm manure consists of the urine of tl e 
cattle. The manure comprises also, when properly 
made, the whole of the solid dung as well as the litter 
used for bedding the cattle. As it consists of litter 
and the voidings of animals fed on the pr< dueo of the 
soil, it forms in itself a complete fertiliser. In the 
making of good manure, it is of importance that 
all these matters should be thoroughly and intin 
mixed and that they should be preserved carefully 
after they have been collected ; fo that the whole 
mass may ferment and decompose slowly and 
thoroughly. The value of farm-manure lies probably 
as much in the mechanical effect it has on the soil 
to which it is applied as on the fertilising matters 
it contains. The mechanical effect depends greatly, 
if not chiefly, on the state of decomposition in which 
the manure is when applied to the land. 
An excellent method of managing farm-manure 
suited to the conditions of the ryot is described 
below. In this method the dung and the urine are 
not removed from the shed except at interval! of 
several months, when the manure is required. The 
litter used absorbs the urine. 
The floor of the cattle-shed should be made 2 or 3 
feet lower than the surrounding ground, and the 
sides and the bottom of the pit plastered with clay. 
On the floor a layer of ashes should then be spread 
once for all, and every day a layer of vegetable 
rubbish should be spread over the surface as litter, 
that is, for bedding. For this purpose leaves, coarse 
grass and other vegetable rubbish may be collected 
and stored during those parts of the year when 
tluy can be easily procure and wh n the ryot and 
his cattle have plenty of leisure. Waste fodder and 
various refuse portions of crops, such as the ear- 
heads from which corn has be n threshed, Arc, may 
be used as bedding. Tbe shed may be l'J feet 
long and 6 feet broad for a pair of cattle. It is 
best that the cattle should I e left loose in the shed 
so that they may tread on every pait of the manure 
and press it down. If the manure is not pressed, 
it will rot too fast and become much heated aud 
wive off bad smells and the health of the cat le 
will be injured. Every morning the dung dropped by 
the cattle in the previous night s ould be evenly 
distributed and a ttiin layer of litter spread over it. 
In this manner the manure may be eolle.ted until 
the pit is filled, which may take about three months. 
Too much bedding should not be supplied; 
otherwise the manure will be too dry and not 
decompose with sufficient slowness, and thus lose 
in value. The manure in the pit should always be 
thoroughly moist throughout its bulk. If the manure 
has an ash-colored appearance anywhe e when it 
is being removed that is a sign that it has not 
decayed properly; this appearance be ng due to the 
great heat caustd by the manure being too dry. 
If the straw, &c, supplied as bedding be long end 
hard, the manure will not rot proper y ; such litter 
should be cut up into short pieces. Unless the 
manure is well rotted, it will not be of much use >o 
crops, as it will not act quickly. It will also make 
the soil too open, so that the crops thereon may 
suffer much from draught. The manure, if properly 
managed, will be of a black colour and of mellow 
substance, thoroughly rotted thoroughout so that it 
may almos be cut with a knife. In removing 
manure from the pit the unrotted portion near the 
surface should be placed on one side, and after the 
well-rotted portion has been taken out, should be 
put back ngain at the bottom of the pit, and manure 
may be collected again as before. 
By this method \>l managing manure, about 5 to 
7 tons of good manure may be obtained yearly for 
each head of cattle kept, whereas if the dung be 
thrown out in loose heaps in the open air, only about 
half a ton of very inferior manure will be obtained 
in the year. The only objections raised to tbe system 
are : — 
(1) That it is supposed to cause unboalthiuc-s 
amongst the cattle housed. 
(2) That it requires a large amount of litter to be 
supplied. 
In reference to the last, it may bo noted that in 
bo:tic part » of South Cauara the ryots take grtat 
pains to collect leaves and gras-, and supply bedding 
to their cattle; but they remove the manure at 
intervals of a feiv days, and throw it out in a hollow 
place where it can be compressed by the carts tra- 
velling to and fro over it. In reference to the first 
objection, experience has shown that it is groundless 
If, for any reason, it is inconvenient to a ry t to 
collect manure in the above-mentioned manner, the 
following method may be adopted: — 
The floor of the cattle-shed should be made smooth 
and compact with a gentle slope towards the back, 
where a small channel should be placed so that all 
the urine falling on the floor may be carried by the 
channel to a pot placed outside the shed at one' end. 
The dung can be removed every day and thrown 
into a pit, tbe sides and bottom of which should be 
plastered with clay, and over which a low thatched 
roof has been erected. Whatever vcget-ble refuse 
is available on the farm may be thrown into the 
pit, and the urine coll cted poured over the heap 
daily. The whole mass of dung, urine and vegetable 
rubbish diould be kept uniformly mixed and well 
trodden nnd ; rcssed down so as to make the mass 
decay uniformly and slowly. 
If the manure pit last ('escribed cannot be prot c- 
ted by a simple shed the heap should be covered 
with earth. It has in all cases been found very useful 
to cover manure heaps with earth, as this prevents the 
loss of valuable ferti isiug matters into the air. Thia 
practice is fully . d 'pted in some places, t.g., in Tinne- 
veliy, with the best results. If the urper portions of 
a manure heap become dry. the heap should be turned 
over so as to mix the moisture and the drier portions 
together, and if there be any tendency for the heap to 
dry up generally, it may be watered slightly with 
advantage. The covering of the heap, with earth to 
a great extent prevents undue drying. The great 
aim should be to maintain the heap in a moist state, 
so that the whole mass may decay s owly and com- 
pletely, and thus the fertilising matters of the 
manure may be preserved and rendered more 
immediately useful than as they are found naturally. 
— Official Report, Madras. 

COFFEI5 PLANTING ONCE MORE 
IN CEYLON. 
Old coffee planters — and there are some of them 
stil to the front in Ceylon — will be pleased to read 
the particulars given in another column of the result 
of certain experiments carried out on old Kondesalle 
estate, D.imbara, with the replanting of coffee Arabica. 
Such fine prices are now realized for c:ffee — the 
current quotation for parchment in Colombo is R19 
per bushel — that, if only a good maiden crop can be 
secured, it would evidently pay well to plant it in 
conjuction with cocoa or tea, especially m localities 
where the growth would be rapid. Whether there 
is any probability of success resulting from a clearing 
of coffee planted 1 n_- in old land may perhaps still 
be doubted, but, given a fairly rich soil, there must 
be less chance of disease in future now that so small 
an area is covered by coffee, and that it has almost 
tutirely disappeared from the villages — the home of 
so much of the disease which once affected estates. 
Plan'.ed in conjuction with cocoa, however there is 
