Sio 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb.  r,  1893. 
question  has  been  aske.d  : have  the  Chinese  found 
it  necessary  to  apply  manure  to  their  tea  ? As 
among  the  best  horticulturists  in  the  world  and  as 
their  gardens  are  generally  small  holdings,  we 
may  be  sure  the  Chinese  do  not  overlook  the 
advantage  of  returning  fertilizing  matter  to  the 
soil  in  the  oase  of  tea  as  of  their  other  cultivated 
plants.  Meantime,  we  append  the  useful  informa- 
tion afforded  by  Mr.  Hughes  in  regard  to  “ Ceylon 
Coir  Dust  as  a Manure  for  Tea,”  which  is  sure  to  be 
read  with  interest  by  planters: — 
Ceylon  Coie  Dust  as  a Manure  foe  Tea. 
Attention  having  recently  been  directed  to  the 
utilization  of  coir  dust  as  a manure  for  tea  and 
coffee,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  publish  an  analysis 
of  this  material  which  was  made  by  myself  in  con- 
nection with  a special  inquiry  into  this  matter  in 
conjunction  with  the  late  Mr.  Borron,  in  March  1891. 
In  general  composition,  coir  dust  as  represented  by 
this  analysis  closely  resembles  that  of  ordinary  farm- 
yard manure  so  far  as  the  actual  quantities  of 
nitrogen,  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  except  that, 
unless  the  coir  dust  has  fermented  by  being  allowed 
to  remain  in  a moist  state  in  a heap  for  some  time, 
it  is  not  likely  to  decompose  and  Become  available 
as  plant  food  as  rapidly  as  ordinary  dung.  It  is 
obvious,  therefore,  that  such  a material  will  not  pay 
for  removal  any  great  distance,  the  percentage  of 
the  important  plant  food  elements  being  small, 
while  there  is  always  the  possibility  that  the  native 
ingenuity  towards  fraudulent  adulteration  would 
cause  the  proportions  of  water  and  sand  to  become 
unduly  increased  above  those  shown  by  this  analysis. 
Provided,  however,  that  caution  be  observed  in  this 
respect,  there  is  no  reason  why  coir  dust  should 
not  be  used  as  a means  of  supplying  useful  plant 
food  on  tea  estates  situated  near  the  railway,  as- 
suming that  a low  rate  for  carriage  could  be  obtained. 
Of  course,  it  could  be  used  for  mixing  with  more 
concentrated  fertilizers  such  as  castor-cake,  fish 
guano,  dried  blood,  or  bones,  though  the  fact  of 
being  mixed  with  more  valuable  materials  would  not 
increase  the  natural  intrinsic  value  of  the  coir  dust 
itself. 
On  soils  such  as  those  of  Ceylon  tea  estates, 
which  are  not  particularly  rich  in  humus  or  vege- 
table organic  matter,  the  addition  of  a material 
such  as  coir  dust,  containing  at  least  67-27  per  cent 
of  organic  matter,  must  be  beneficial,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  plant  food  constituents  directly  sup- 
plied, but  also  as  furnishing  a plentiful  store  of 
carbonaceous  matter  which  on  decomposition  would 
become  resolved  into  carbonic  acid ; and  this  would 
exercise  a solvent  action  on  the  mineral  resources 
of  the  soil  which  would  be  rendered  available  as 
plant  food  more  rapidly  than  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances when  such  organic  matter  was  supplied. 
Indeed  this  is  a special  advantage  which  organic 
matter  of  a carbonaceous  character  always  possesses ; 
hence  the  value  for  shrubs,  of  dead  leaves  for  making 
leaf  mould,  and  we  find  that  planters  approve  of 
the  plan  of  allowing  the  prunings  of  the  tea  to  re- 
main on  the  surface  for  a time,  because  they  furnish 
a protection  from  sun  and  rain,  while  the  leaves  are 
gradually  decaying  and  forming  suitable  food  to  be 
afterwards  covered  up  and  afford  nourishment  to  the 
feeding  roots. 
John  Hughes. 
ANALYSIS  OF  COIE  DUST  FKOM 
CEYLON. 
Water  (lost  at  212°  F) 
12-50 
* Organic  matters 
. . 67-27 
Phosphoric  Acid 
•27 
Lime 
1-20 
Poash 
•78 
Soda 
•43 
Oxide  of  Iron,  Alumina  ) 
Magnesia,  Sulphuric  Acid,  etci  J 
. . 2-89 
Sand  . . 
14-66 
100-00 
* Containing  Nitrogen,  * . 
..  '56 
equal  to  Ammonia  . . 
..  -68 
From  the  above  results  one  ton  of  this  coir  dust 
would  contain  as  follows; — 
Nitrogen  ..  ..  12J  lb. 
Potash  . . . . 17J  „ 
Phosphoric  Acid  . . 6 „ 
TEA  IN  UPPER  AND  LOWER  DIKOYA— 
SPECIALLY  BOGAWANTALAWA. 
DEL  BSY — THE  FLATS — AND  KOTIYAGALA, 
(From  an  Old  Planter.) 
I was  up  to  Bogawantalawa  the  other  day,  and  on 
my  way  I kept  my  eyes  open  ; and  I must  say  that 
taking  the  appearance  of  the  tea  into  consideration, 
say  from  Abergeldie  up  to  Kotiyagala,  the  yield  for 
the  next  six  months  is  bound  to  be  heavy.  Every 
place  I went  through  seemed  in  grand  trim  for 
flushing.  Del  Rey  is  a sight,  and,  all  the  flats  (that 
used  to  be  “ patana”)  from  Tientsin  Bridge  to  Kotiya- 
gala are  also  well  worth  the  journey  to  see.  No 
doubt  Bogawantalawa  is  the  place  for  tea  in  Ceylon. 
The  coffee— and  there  is  still  a good  lot  about — is 
very  poor  as  far  as  crop  is  concerned ; and  it  does 
not  look  as  if  it  would  do  much  the  coming  year.  So 
I fear  its  days  are  numbered. 
I see  you  have  been  advocating  planting  timber 
trees  on  all  estates.  You  are  again  right,  for 
we  do  want  a lot  of  shelter  and  also  firewood. 
The  Great  Western  Rajah  is  also  right  when 
he  told  you  that  there  has  been  a great  deal 
Planted  already  which  only  wants  time  to  show. 
iast  year  there  must  have  been  millions  of  plants 
put  out.  I have  put  out  some  thousands  myself 
and  will  put  out  more  next  year. 
Kotiyagala  estate  is  the  place  you  ought  to  see. 
There  you  will  find  all  the  fields  laid  out  with 
original  jungle  belts  and  any  number  of  other  trees 
— in  fact  it  is  a model  estate. 
THE  TEA  PLANTING  ENTERPRISE  AND 
MANURE. 
We  are  now  enabled  through  the  oourtesy  of  the 
General  Manager  to  give  the  figures  showing  the 
quantity  of  manure  carried  upcountry  by  the  railway 
for  a series  of  years.  The  statement  appended  goes 
baok  to  1882,  when  there  were  not  7,000  aores  of 
and  indeed  up  to  1885, 
we 
should  say,  show 
manure 
which  must 
have  been 
used  for  coSee 
rather 
than  tea  fields.  The 
tonnage  of  manure 
carried 
by  rails,  is  as 
follows  : 
— 
Years. 
Tons. 
Years. 
Tons. 
1882 
4,173 
1888 
2,098 
1883 
5,332 
1889 
2.519 
1884 
3,928 
1890 
5,576 
1885 
2,093 
1891 
3.355 
1886 
1,881 
1892  (llmonths)  3,011 
1887 
2,507 
The  minimum  was  reaohed  in  1886,  and  since  then 
there  has  been  a satisfactory  inorease  especially 
in  1890,  when  a total  was  reached  in  excess  of 
that  for  last  year  or,  we  suspect,  for  the  present  year 
though  we  have  the  figures  for  eleven  months  only. 
We  suppose  the  whole  of  1892  will  show  about 
the  same  return  as  1891. 
♦ 
NEW  PRODUCTS— AND  THE  NEED  FOR  THEIR 
DEVELOPMENT  TO  COUNTERBALANCE  TEA. 
The  letter  (on  page  521)  which  ‘‘An  Old  Coffee 
Stump”  sends  us  in  answer  to  our  correspondent, 
“ Wanderer,”  is  a truly  alarmist  one  1 To 
remind  fhe  planting  world  of  Ceyloa  thaij 
