Sept. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST 
179 
To the Editor. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE PLANTING. 
Dear Sib, — Now that the planting of this 
product is teing taken up rap dly, there has been 
some discussion as to the distance the plants 
should be put out. When first introduced it was 
planted 12 feet apart — a ridiculous distance. In 
its ta'iva habitat there are veritable giants re- 
quir.ng even more fpace than a circumferenoe of 
30 feet. There even are exceptional trees here, and 
in very rich localities, I can poiDt to certain trees 
in the island of exceptional growth, both topped 
and untopped trees, covering much ground and 
yielding crop at the rate of 20 cwt. per 
aore ! In redly good and new soils 6£ 
feet apart is a fair distance, but 5 feet 
by 5 feet is a muoh better distanoe, and in very 
poor soils 5 by 4 or by 4£. But even in the 
latter toils 5 feet apart is preferable, and the plants 
should be aided after two years with manure. 
Where cacao is planted, it ie, of course, a sheer 
waste to allow the intervening ground to yield 
notbiog, and Liberian coffee oan well be put out 
ani made to yield up to the Sth or 10th year, when 
the caoao Will then only need ground as orchaid 
trees. Much of the little existing Liberian ceff-.e 
plots want treatment sadly. Not so much as to 
mauuring as handling and pruning. Toe tree 
is best topped at 5J feet, not lower than 5 feet 
certainly. The lower primaries die out very Blowly; 
the upper and last set particularly grow out 
Bud throw excellent secondary aud tertiary branches 
forming an immense umbrella covering the ground. 
To attain this the use of the knife for suckers, 
bad wood, and spindley oil-shocts is indispensible. 
All this has to be attended to after the first bum- 
per crop in 3 to 3J years has been taken in. Five 
years henoe the best selling tea estates will be 
those with a reserve of cacao and Liberian to- 
gether or separately of one-fourth the extent of 
the estate at least. It will be very desirable that 
all those who have bad some experience with this 
coffee should occasionally furnish hints and help 
eaoh other to carry on its cultivation properly and 
thoroughly and not in a spasmodio and experimental 
fashion an hitherto. T. S. T. 
P S. —In 1880 or 1881 a field of 32 acres in the 
Kalutara district waB planted 6 fett by 6 feet. 
The " siriukling" or maiden crop was little over 
300 buehels of parchment, whioh, at R4 25 per 
bushel, was a damper. The coffee was root d 
up sharp, and never gave its bumper. Six feet 
apart was even then held as toe far, and the 
soil too cabooky and not fit for coffee. The pulper 
used was an experimental one of Messrs. Walker 
& Co., and 1 believe it has been considerably 
improved since the enterprise in the Straits began 
to rise. We must not be beaten, so long as 
even a small percentage of coffee planters are 
Bt ill in the island. 
PLANTS AND NITROGENOUS FOOD. 
Deab Sir, — Re jour para about the " fertilizing 
actiou of ekctrioity ," there may be said to be tbre 
known soarces from which growing vegetation 
der.veaits nitrogenous food : (1) what may be called 
the common source, namely, from decomposing 
orgailio matier which yields fust ammonia and theu, 
by oxi lation, nitric acid : (2) the nitrogen compounds 
following upon the uuion of uitrogen ant oxygen 
in the atmosphere under the influeuco ot electricity ; 
(3) the third and last, and most reoeDtly discovered 
souroe is trd«?ab'o to tho action of certain organisms 
culled " baoterou'a" whioh oooupy the root tubercles, 
found on certain leguminous and other plants 
and are able to bring about the combination of the 
elements of the atmosphere. There is no doubt that 
tho prevail nee of thunderstorms exerts no little 
influence on the fertility of our tropical toil. 
Visitors from th-i West tave wondered how tho white 
sa:id of cinnam n estates can support a healthy 
growth of the spicey bush a9 well as of luxuriant 
forms of wild vegetation, where the soil is practi- 
cably destitute of organic matter which should supply 
tne Lecessary nitrogenous food. Th) most reoson- 
able explanation of vegetation flourishing on 
apparently pure mineral matter is that the soil's 
supply of combined nitrogen is due to the influence 
ol electric discharges in the atmosphere, since there 
docs not seem to be sufficient evidence for suppoiiog 
(hit " bacteroids" are present in such situations 
es agents for the supply. There is no doubt that th« 
" mild" monsoon, without the usual accompaniment of 
Jove's artillery, is proportionately bereft of its 
fertiliz'ng power. — Yours truly, 
AGRICULTURIST. 
CEYLON TEA AND NEW MARKETS BY 
AN INDIAN TEA PLANTER. 
July 18th. 
Deau Sir,— I have watched your paper with keen 
interest on tea matters, especially as regard new 
markets. You are determined to push your teas as 
they are, and with very good reason too I must 
admit, as I believe that the bulk of your teas, 
though not equally strong to the Indian teas, are 
really more suited to the majority of oonsumera. 
Your teas are not so well suited for mixing, eo 
that practically India has the burden of supporting 
and " passing off " the 30 to 50 millions of China 
tea. This little operation equalizes matters ; India 
makes strongtr tea, but the whole average of India 
and Ceylon will be very much alike. 
I see that you are divided between Tom-toms 
and Bonuses. Some of you would " bruit " your 
teas and pour them through the eyes and ears of 
your intended customers. Others again would 
get at the " taps " (so to speak) and by the 
pressure of a percentage, would turn on the Ceylon, 
and turn off the China tap. 
I myself am only a common or garden planter 
of India. Perhaps you really do try and make tea 
to suit all tastes, and I know nothing of it. And 
my interest in the matter is simply that (the 
common one) of trying to get one's self heard. 
Beyond that I, amongst many others, make poor 
tea. I think that this tea could be sold better 
if it could be landed where it is wanted instead 
of where it is not wanttd. As a last resouroe it 
ocours to me that many of us (of both Continents) 
have to put up with ti penny averages ; we sell 
some tea indeed as low as 5 penoe. I will whisper 
it that wa have even got the handsome sun of 
4 peace at times for tea over which we spent much 
energy. I don't see many China tea sales, but it 
is easy to guess that they are not muoh below us 
in price. Now we have two alternatives, firstly 
the one that we have ohosen. 
And that is to imitate "strong" Indian teas. 
We emulate the appearance and the characteris- 
tics of strong teas, and the result is 4d, 51, 6d 
per pound. The second alternative is to emulate 
China, and supposing that oertain teas of Obioa 
get 6£, 5£, 4J penoe per pound, we might I 
think make the same teas and get no lower 
prioes that we do now. 
But this change in taotios would get our foot 
into America and other new marke s. 
Q. Would Amerioa take imitation China tea ? 
A. Yes ; at a smaller price per pound. 
But is it not reasonable to suppose that we sould 
and would improve on the China tea and let the con- 
sumers have it at the same prion as they now pay. 
