110 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. i, 1894. 
than the present most undesirable system does, and 
be said RIO per bead might fairly be reckoned 
upoH as the maximum advance, to pat coolies 
upon the estates from a District North of 
Madras, and the labour being permanent, the 
advances would be recoverable ; wbereas at present 
he believed the outstandings on some estates 
amounted to quite as much per head of available 
labour, and were praotically irrecoverable. It was, 
therefor?, proposed that a subscription list should be 
again circulated to provide funds to send a delegate 
to the Congested Districts of Madras. — Moved from 
tho chair, and oarried nem con. 
Delegates to Ootacamund and Bangalobe. — A 
debt having been incurred in sending a delegate to 
Ootacamund and a sum being required to send a dele- 
gate to the conference at Bani/alore, Mr. Miller 
proposed and Chairman seconded : — That the funds 
to meet delegates' expfnses to Ooty, or eltewbere, 
be collected from members on a basis of tax, on cultiva- 
ted area. — Mr. Berry argued tbat although it was most 
important that Travsncore was represented at the late 
Deputation to IJ.E. LordWenloclt.bedid not approve of 
the Chairman of the Travancore Planters' Association's 
action in sending a delegate, knowing there were no 
funds of the Assooiatirn in hand to meet the expenses. 
He said it was a had precedent as there was no limit 
to such action. — Mr. Knight replied that it wa« a 
ease for prompt actioD, and after reference to their 
Secretary, Mr. J. S. Valentine, only time remained 
to telegraph the name of delegate. He also commu- 
nicated with Peermaad Planters' Association which 
cordially agreed to pay a share of the expense, and 
approved of a Delegate being sent- Tbe motion was 
then agreed to. 
With a vote of thanks to the Chairman the meeting 
terminated. (Signed.) H. M. Knight, Chairman. 
TEA CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE : 
We oall attention to Mr. Hughes' fuller review (see 
below) of Mr. Kelway-Bamber's new book on tea, 
whioh is full of discriminating oritioism and sugges- 
tiveness. It will be seen that Mr. Hughes is by no 
means wedded to indiscriminate manuring. He re- 
cognizes oases where manuring is almost superfluous 
where there is a sufficiency of organio matter, or as in 
dark peaty soils where at most a little lime is requir- 
ed ; while in other oases again some oastor-oake or 
oattle-dung may well be applied. It is for each 
tea garden proprietor to deoide for himself 
aeoording to his returns and circumstances ; but 
in so deoiding, there can be no doubt that he 
will get valuable aid both from Mr. Kelway- 
Bamber's book and Mr. John Hughes' review of 
the same. 
MR. KELWAY-BAMBER'S NEW BOOK; 
ANALYSES OP INDIAN TEA SOILS. 
By John Hughes, Agricultural Chemist.) 
Nearly 40 pages of the above work are devoted 
to a consideration of the Chemical and Physical 
properties of soils upon whioh tea was being grown, 
and a great number of analyses are given in 
order to represent the greatly varying quality of 
the soils upon whioh the tea shrub oould be grewn. 
Unfortunately these analyses are not set forth 
in definite tabulated form, some of the results 
being given for the soil in its natural wet state, 
others in the air-dried condition, while some re- 
present the perfectly dry soil. In order therefore 
to allow of better comparison the following 27 
analyses have been calculated into the perfectly 
dry state, and give the proportions of the four 
chief constituents of plant food per cent. The 
variations are certainly very great and one can 
easily understand that the natural fertility of these 
soils must vary accordingly. 
The great deficienoy of lime is perhaps one of 
tbe most striking features of these tea soils, for, 
with a few exceptions the amount of lime present 
is reduced to a mere trace, the tmtf+et generally 
being poorer thsn tbe iubsoil : — 
Indian Tea Soils (Pages f.9 to 76) 
Contain in the perfectly dry state the following :— 
No. D strict. Kltrogerj. Potash. Pbos- Lima 
1 llam Dam la the 
phoric 
Acid. 
Dooara 
surface 
•283 
1-02 
•08 
■07 
do do 
subcoll 
•16« 
•30 
•07 
•18 
2 do do 
surface 
•800 
1-91 
•08 
•17 
do do 
subsoil 
•110 
•71 
•08 
15 
3 From another district 
iu tbe Dooars 
surface 
107 
•54 
10 
•04 
do do 
eiihaoll 
-082 
•41 
•(6 
•06 
4 do do 
surface 
Dot done 1 '40 
■17 
187 
6 Nowgong (Assam) 
do 
•671 
•81 not dene 
trace 
6 do do 
do 
•2(8 
•41 
•66 
7 <!o do 
do 
•211 
not done 
68 
•80 
8 Jorchaut do 
do 
•336 
•28 
•02 
"01 
9 do do 
do 
•860 
•22 
•01 
•6-1 
10 de do 
do 
•988 
13 
•11 
•4* 
11 Tlailakandy (Cacbar) do 
•181 
1-85 
■24 
•14 
d<> do 
subsoil 
•118 
•71 
•08 
•:b 
12 North Ocbar 
surface 
•051 
•80 
•04 
trace 
13 do do 
do 
107 
•31 
ia 
trace 
14 Central Cachar 
do 
•10* 
■21 
■20 
•06 
16 do do 
do 
■880 
•56 
•60 
•07 
16 do do 
do 
•187 
•27 
-48 
trace 
17 do do 
do 
•322 
•*o 
•36 
trace 
18 do do 
do 
•5o7 
•41 
•34 
•03 
19 Kur.-eong Darjeellng)do 
•440 
2'5U 
•27 
•26 
21 Kanera 
do 
•057 
not done 
■ia 
•38 
23 Chota-Na<rriore 
do 
•164 
•41 
•24 
01 
34 do do (1) 
do 
Ml 
not done 
•BO 
•01 
do do (2) 
do 
•173 
do 
•18 
•06 
There is a great variation in 
the potaBh, 
from 
2'60 per cent, in specimen 10 Darjeeling. to - 13 in 
specimen 10 Jorehaut, Assam, in whioh Mr. Bamber 
remarks that tea did not flourish, though he 
ascribes the failure rather to tbe excess of nitrogen 
than to the deficiency of potash. 
It would be interesting to know whether these 
figures for the potash represent the quantities 
dissolved out by aoid, or obtainable only by fusion ; 
and if by the former process whether the soil was 
treated with acid in its natural state or after 
calcination at a moderate heat. 
Phoephorio aoid appears to be nearly as searce 
as lime and where the figures rise to over -50 (j per 
cent.) we are told that most of the phosphoric 
aoid was oombined with iron and alumina forming 
an insoluble Phosphate. 
In the oase of No. 6 soil, however, which oontains 
•56 we are informed that tea had been grown for 
years and was doing well, so that lit is quite 
possible that in the presenoe of sufficient organic 
matter and a favourable climate as regards mois- 
ture and heat, the phosphoric aoid may be muoh 
more available than might otherwise be conoluded. 
Relatively compared, phosphoric acid is much 
more easily dissolved and rendered available as 
plant food than potash. In other words the 
vegetable acids resulting from the decomposition 
of organio matter are a much better solvent of 
phosphates than of potash compounds ; so that 
provided the soil oontains naturally a good supply 
of phosphoiio aoid, it is only necessary to apply 
an organic manure Buoh as castor cake, or cattle 
dung in order to render such photphorio aoid 
available. 
As regards the figures for nitrogen a glanoe at th« 
tabulated results at onoe showB what a great 
variation exists ; the higher figures being indi- 
cative of dark peaty soils very hygroscopio and 
retentive of moisture and capable of bein» ren. 
dered with careful treatment valuable tea gardens. 
On soils such as that represented by snorin-rn 
15 the application of lime would certainly be 
attended with benefioial re=nlts as it would re- 
move that sourness and acidity which act like a 
poison to certain plants, 
