404 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec.  i,  1892, 
but  commercial  fertilisers,  he  will  soon  put  his  crop 
in  his  ‘ vestpocket.’  Commercial  fertilisers  are  valu- 
able for  the  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash 
they  contain  and  not  for  the  many  other  things,  as 
iron,  lime,  etc.,  which  are  quoted  often  by  people  who 
have  them  for  sale-  Yea  propably  ask  which  is 
most  valuable  but  it  is  a question  I cannot  answer. 
It  depends  upon  the  crop.  As  a general  thing 
we  want  nitrogen  but  there  are  many  limitation  in  cane 
growing  as  you  will  find  out.  If  you  give  large  ap- 
plications of  nitrogenous  manures  you  will  get  a cane 
with  a rank  growth  but  ycu  will  have  a cane  crop 
which  will  make  a lot  of  trouble  in  the  sugar  house. 
If  you  apply  phosphoric  acid  ycu  will  not  always 
get  an  increased  growth  but  you  will  get  an  early 
crop  ; you  will  bring  it  to  early  maturity.  If  the 
land  is  poor  then  it  will  be  well  to  do  with  a pro- 
portion of  nitrogen.  If  you  use  potash  it  seems  to 
depend  upon  the  condition  of  the  soil.  It  is  very 
uncertain  as  to  the  results  in  manuring  as  it  will 
often  give  much  tronb'e  and  no  ons  will  get  better 
results  from  it.  On  the  whole  they  are  found  to  be 
most  beneficial  when  least  depended  upon,  the  favorites 
for  moderate  use  being  nitrogen  and  ammonia.  About 
the  application  of  these  fertilisers,  it  is  always  better 
to  apply  a gcod  many  small  quantities  than  one  good 
feed  at  a lime.  Let  the  plant  send  up  its  plate  as 
often  as  it  likes,  but  don’t  give  it  enough  to  disgust 
it  at  once.  This  means  more  expenee  and  the  planter 
must  exercise  his  judgment  in  the  number  of  appli- 
cations he  can  afford  to  give.  A few  years  ago, 
it  was  customary  to  apply  a ton  or  so  to  the 
aore.  Now  they  give  2 or  3 owt.  1o  the  acre  and  they 
get  much  better  results.  These  fertilisers  should  be 
put  on  the  top  of  the  ground  as  close  as  possible  to 
he  pfant  without  touching  it.  It  is  generally  said 
hat  all  manures  washdowD,  but  the  principle  is  that 
f the  manure  goes  down,  the  plant’s  roois  go  after 
t,  so  that  if  the  bone  dust  is  put  two  or  three 
inches  down  it  will  not  matter,  because  the  roots  will 
go  after  the  manures  in  whatever  position  they  are 
plaoed.  It  is  quite  enough  to  Bprinkle  over  the  sur- 
face with  a little  light  soil.  Another  subject  which 
I might  touch  upon  is  the  application  of  manures  to 
Orchards  and  fields.  The  orchards  are  permanent  but 
the  field  crops  are  not.  The  orchard  being  permanent 
we  must  manure  it  with  something  that  is  permanent 
io  the  soil.  However  this  subject  and  that  of  manur- 
ing by  irrigation  oannot  be  touched  upon  i.ow  as  I 
have  to  speak  tonight  and  have  already  occupied  your 
time  long  enough.  I will  therefore  conclude  by  thank- 
ing you  Mr.  Chairman  and  friends  for  your  attention. 
Mr.  H.  D.  Pendeison  asked  which  was  the  best 
way  lo  prepare  a manure  heap.  Should  a pit  be  dug 
5 ft.  deep  or  so  for  the  cattle  to  go  on. 
Mr.  Shelton  said : Don’t  prepare  the  manure  in 
a pit,  or  the  cattle  tread  in  the  edges  and  ycu  get  a 
very  nasty  hole.  Simply  remove  the  surface  soil  for 
a few  inohee,  put  down  your  manure  and  let  the  cattle 
and  hogs  go  on  it. 
Mr.  Shelton  further  said  he  would  not  put  the 
manure  direct  to  the  roots  unless  the  manure 
was  thoroughly  rotted.  The  principle  in  forming 
a farra-jard  manure  heap  was  not  to  let  it  rot 
rapidly  as  ot  meant  waits  by  the  escape  of  the 
nitrogen  with  the  ammonia  as  shown  by  the  strong 
amel),  hence  the  advisableness  of  covering  with  a layer 
of  soil. 
In  reply  to  Mr.  Stevens,  he  said  that  the  trash 
itself  he  thought  would  be  a better  manure  than 
the  ashes. 
Mr.  Dunne  said  there  were  three  green  crops  which, 
could  be  used  he-e  Corn,  Sorghum  and  Sweet-potato, 
Were  the  potato  vines  a good  green  crop  to  grow? 
Mr.  Shelton  raid  he  did  not  think  the  vine  was 
much  good  but  it  still  had  some  value,  say  to  put 
the  product  of  10  acres  on  one.  Potato  vice  was 
heavy  on  the  soil.  On  heavy  clay  soils  he  would 
plough  in  sorghum  and  corn,  but  he  would  not  do 
so  on  light  soils. 
In  reply  to  Mr.  Paget,  he  said  he  did  not  Ih'nk  the 
manure-spreader  could  be  applied  to  an  ordinary  dray- 
go  thought  the  price  of  the  wagon  and  spreader  in  the 
Stales,  was  about  £25.  He  thought  the  StrawBoniser 
would  be  suitable  for  bone  dust  and  manures  ; it  costs 
about  £40.  It  does  its  work  well  and  is  good  if  the 
work  required  from  it  is  sufficient. 
In  reply  to  Mr.  SteveDS,  he  said  that  there  was  really 
no  waste  from  the  manure  blowing  away,  in  spreading 
with  the  Bpreader. 
Mr.  McDonald  stated  that  in  Trinidad  he  bad  ex- 
perimented with  five  different  mannres,  at  a plaoe  he 
was  on  in  Trinidad,  blood-maDure,  Sulphates,  yard- 
manure,  guano  and  a mineral  manure  and  fonnd  the 
best  results  from  guano  and  yard  manure.  He  found 
the  beat  method  to  apply  guano  was  5 cwt.  to  the  acre 
J at  a time  the  second  application  to  be  made  when 
the  cane  formed  the  first  point  as  after  that  the  cane 
deteriorated  and  formed  molasses.  The  guano  he  used 
was  the  Peruvian.  He  thought  it  better  to  feed  stook 
on  the  ground  than  fallow  it. 
Mr.  Shelton  said  the  fallowing  deprived  the  grubs  of 
food  and  starved  then.  ont. 
Mr.  McDonald  said  green  megasa  was  a bad  manure 
to  use;  be  thought  it  injured  the  land  the  juice  in  it 
doing  harm  rather  than  good  Lime  he  found  was  bene- 
ficial on  the  whole  as  it  prevented  souring. 
Mr.  Stevens  said  they  were  making  a compost 
at  Homebush  of  megass  and  the  filter  press  cake,  etc. 
Mr.  Shelton  said  the  filter  press  cake  was  an  ex- 
cellent manure.  In  reply  to  Mr.  McDonald  be  said 
that  the  manure  when  spread  out  on  the  soil 
dried  quickly  and  did  not  ferment  as  moisture  was 
required  to  produce  fermentation.  The  ground 
would  seize  on  the  ammonia  and  thus  there  would  be 
no  waste. 
In  reply  to  Mr.  Man  as  to  how  to  use  green  manures, 
Mr.  Shelton  said  Messrs.  Young  of  Fairymead  were  ex- 
perimenting with  200  acres  of  cow  pea  and  we  would 
presently  have  the  result  of  their  experiments.  Barn 
yard  manure  should  not  be  applied  direct  to  the 
plant  but  pi  reed  above  it  and  thus  the  valuable  ele- 
ments would  sink  down  and  be  followed  by  the  roots 
of  the  plant.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Penderson  he  said 
that  bone  manure  would  be  better  if  the  bones  were 
crushed  before  being  boiled  or  used  in  a refinery  as 
all  the  elements  except  the  phosphoric  acid  would 
be  boiled  out.  The  best  way  to  nse  them  would 
be  to  puddle  a piece  of  ground,  put  them  alternate 
layers  6 in.  deep  of  farm  yard  manure  and  bones  the 
whole  to  be  covered  and  kept  moiat  and  to  remain 
for  6 or  8 months.  The  bones  would  then  fall  to 
pieces  under  the  hammer. — Sugar  Journal  and  Tropical 
Cultivator. 
■ « 
MANUFACTURING  INDUSTRIES  OF  THE 
MADRAS  PRESIDENCY. 
Of  all  the  indigenous  manufactures  of  the  Madras 
Presidency,  weaving  continued  to  be  the  chief  one 
during  the  year  1891-92  among  the  population  outside 
the  agricultural  classes.  Although  it  is  difficult  to 
give  the  exact  number  of  looms  at  work,  they  are 
steadily  od  the  decrease,  being  runout  of  the  market 
by  the  competition  of  cheap  machine-made  foreign 
goods,  End  tbe  decline  during  the  year  has  been  more 
marked  in  consequence  of  the  distress  which  prevailed. 
To  add  to  the  difficulties  under  which  Native  weavers 
labour,  large  mills  worked  by  machinery  have  been 
started  daring  the  last  decade  in  several  districts 
of  the  Presidency.  There  are  four  of  these  spin- 
ning and  weaving  mills  at  the  town  of  Madras, 
three  in  tbe  Tinnevelly  district,  and  one  each 
in  Malabar,  Bellary  and  Coimbatore.  The  quan- 
tity of  cotton  worked  at  these  mills  was  estimated 
at  over  230,800  cwts.  Besides  these  mills  the  Basel 
German  Mission  in  the  Malabar  and  Canara  districts 
have  extensive  weaving  establishments,  at  which  excel- 
lent cloths  are  manufactured  in  large  quantities 
annually.  The  quantity  manufactured  by  the  Mission 
Establishments  during  1891-92  was  263,600  yards, 
valued  at  Rl,50,000.  There  were  also  38  cotton 
presses  at  work  in  the  Presidency,  of  whioh  14  were  in 
the  black  cotton  soil  districts  of  the  Dekkau,  11  in 
