THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  i,  1893. 
fo6 
vigoroua  as  if  the  other  were  absent.  Coconuts 
do  not  adversely  affect  coffee  or  oaoao,  and  the 
three  produots  may  be  grown  together,  without 
muoh  harm  to  each  other,  provided  sufficient 
manure  is  returned  . to  the  land  to  replace  what 
is  removed  in  the  shape  of  crop ; but  if  it  is  ex- 
peoted  that  all  three  will  grow  and  yield  as  much 
crop  as  if  each  were  grown  apart,  great  dis- 
appointment will  follow,  and  all  the  products 
suffer.  W.  J. 
INDIAN  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIENCE. 
Dear  Sir,— You  should  copy  into  the  Tropical 
Agriculturist  the  avtiole  in  the  Madras  Mail  of  the 
11th  March,  headed  “ Indian  Agricultural  Notes.” 
The  first  part  may  not  be  of  much  interest  to 
Ceylonese,  but  oertainly  the  seoond  part  is ; for 
besides  showing  how  good  crops  of  dry  grain  can 
be  successfully  grown  on  fiat  lands;  it  also  illus- 
trates how  hard  it  is  to  get  conservative  people 
to  adopt  new  ways  though  ths  benefit  may  be 
demonstrated  before  their  eyes,  for  even  one  hun- 
dred years  I — Yours  truly, 
OLD  PLANTING  RESIDENT. 
[Bee  page  716  — Ed.T.  A ] 
TEA  CULTIVATION  AND  MR.  HUGHES'S 
IDEA  OF  A LEAF  CROP  BEING  MORE 
EXHAUSTIVE  THAN  ONE  OF  COFFEE. 
BERRIES. 
Dear  Sir, — I was  muoh  interested  in  reading 
your  article  “ Proposed  Tea  Analyses,”  as  well  as 
your  London  Correspondent’s  letter  giving  Mr. 
Hughes’s  views  with  regard  to  the  manuring  of  tea 
estates,  in  your  issue  of  the  8th  instant;  but  must  con- 
fess that  I was  not  a little  surprised  to  read  : — 
“ Now  we  have  full  evidenoe  that  a leaf  crop  is 
far  more  exhausting  to  the  soil  than  is  a seed  orop,” 
and  '*  It  is  manifest  from  this  that  the  plucking 
of  the  tea  leaf  is  more  exhausting  to  the  soil  than 
the  gathering  of  the  coffee  berry.”  I always  thought 
it  was  the  other  way  about.  Of  course  I cannot 
refute  Mr.  Hughes’  statement  as  he  must  have  a 
scientific  reason  for  saying  so,  and  I can’t  prove 
that  he  is  wrong. 
However,  I fancy  he  arrived  at  this  conclusion, 
more  from  his  experience  of  the  crops  of  hay 
wheat  &o.  grown  on  farms  in  England, 
than  from  his  actual  knowledge  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  tea  bush  is  pluoked, 
and  the  almost  microscopic  quantity  of  green  leaf 
that  the  bush  is  deprived  of  at  each  pluoking.  1 
oannot  quite  see  the  analogy  between  the  annual 
farm  orops  of  England  which  amount  to  tors  and 
tons  per  aore,  where  the  entire  produce  of  the  soil — 
Btraw,  seed  and  roots — is  carried  off  bodily,  and  the 
perennial, — tea  plant  of  the  tropics  with  its  minute 
yield  of  leaf, — not  removed,  mind  you,  at  one  fell 
swoop,  but  little  by  little,  a handful  at  a time,  as  I 
shall  proceed  to  show. 
400  lb.  of  tea  an  acre  is  considered  a good  crop 
In  the  “ high  districts,”  without  manuring.  Roughly 
speaking,  an  aore  contains  3,000  to  4,000  trees — 
say  3 200.  Now  2 ounoes  made  tea  per  tree 
per  annum  is  equal  to  400  1b.  per  acre  (xaotly: 
and  2 oz.  made  tea  is  equal  to  8 zs  green  leaf. 
If  yon  divide  8 oz.  by  36 — tie  ;number  of 
pluokings  in  the  year — that  is,  three  rounds 
a month,  the  result  is  -22— say  \ oz.  of  green 
leaf  from  each  tree  every  ten  days.  There 
jevt  b&ve  the  whole  produoe  of  the  tree  for  the 
year,  in  green  leaf,  viz.  8 oz.,  whioh  you  could 
very  comfortably  put  in  your  coat  pooket ; and 
the  result  in  made  tea,  2 cz.,  in  your  waistcoat 
pooket.  In  owt.,  the  above  comes  to  3J  as 
against  10  cwt  of  coffee  which  was  considered 
a good  crop.  I leave  your  readers  to  judge  which 
is  the  most  exhausting  to  the  soil. 
It  might  appear  from  what  I have  written  that  I do 
not  believe  in  manuring:  on  the  contrary  I am  a strong 
advocate  in  favour  of  it,  although  1 oannot  speak  of 
its  effeots  on  tea  from  my  own  experience.  Still, 
I know  an  estate  where  a field  doubled  its  yield 
from  one  application  of  poonac  and  bones : and 
all  to  whom  I have  spoken  on  the  Eubjeot  strongly 
recommend  it.  I believe  the  orops  of  the  well- 
known  K.  A.  W.  Group  have  been  increased  about 
50  per  cent  by  the  judicious  application  of  oastor 
cake  and  bones.  The  worthy  Manager  of  that  group 
would  confer  a great  boon  on  his  fellow  planters 
were  he  to  give  them  the  benefit  of  his  experience 
with  manure — the  quantity  applied,  the  cost  and 
the  increase  in  crop  oompared  with  unmanured  fields. 
It  is  almost  unneoessary  to  say  that  we  have  no 
choice  as  to  the  kind  of  manure  that  should  be 
applied  to  tea  on  a large  scale.  It  is  “Hobson’s 
Choice” — poonao  and  bones  or  nothing,  and  from  all 
accounts  it  suits  admirably.  It  would  no  doubt 
be  very  interesting  to  get  soientiflo  opinion  as  to 
the  ingredients  which  the  tea  plant  extracts  from 
the  soil,  and  what  should  be  returned  to  restore 
its  fertility,  but  would  it  be  profitable?  In  n.y 
opinion,  the  quantity  of  tea  and  increase  in  yield 
can  be  improved  only  by  fine  plucking  and  manur- 
ing and  we  oan  do  both  the  one  and  the  other 
without  the  aid  of  agricultural  chemists. 
BROKEN  PEKOE, 
COCONUT  CULTIVATION  IN  CEYLON  : BY  AN 
EXPERIENCED  PLANTER. 
Pamban,  March  24. 
Dear  Sir, — After  the  recent  discussion  on  the 
bearing  capabilities  of  the  coconut  tree,  perhaps 
a few  remarks  upon  its  cultivation  may  not  be 
out  of  place.  The  soils  upon  which  coconuts  grow 
vary  greatly ; and  upon  the  quality  of  the  soil 
depends  the  future  of  the  estate.  I would  ar- 
range coconut  soils  in  the  following  order  : — 
1st.  A light  friable  soil  mixed  with  sand  and 
humus,  which  impacts  but  little  in  the  driest 
weather. 
2nd.  A dark  chocolate  friable  soil. 
3rd.  A thoroughly  disintegrated  laterite  soil 
mixed  with  small  stones  or  gravel. 
4th.  White  sand  with  a very  little  admixture 
of  good  soil. 
5th.  Hard  oabook  and  stiff  sandy  days. 
The  first  in  my  experience  is  the  best  suited  for  the 
suooesBful  growth  of  ooconutB,  and  responds  the 
moet  readily  to  good  treatment. 
Nos.  2 and  3 follow,  and  are  benefited  even  more 
than  No.  1 by  deep  ploughing  and  digging. 
No.  4 will  not  derive  much  good  from  these 
operations,  as  there  would  be  very  little  in  such 
a soil  to  be  acted  upon  by  atmoepherio  influences. 
Nos.  5 and  6.  The  outlay  in  bringing  even  a 
foot  depth  of  surface  into  a fit  condition  for  the 
roots  to  travel  freely  through  it  would  be  great, 
and  the  result  would  hardly  justify  the  expendi- 
ture ; while  the  subsoil  would  still  remain  cold 
and  wet  and  impervious  to  the  roots.  I would 
warn  all  fgainst  venturing  to  plant  upon  Buch 
lands,  even  if  given  as  a gift  ! Where  however 
estates  upon  landB  of  thia  kind  already  exist  1 
would,  before  spending  money  on  surface  digging  or 
manuring,  advise  that  drains  be  dug  one  chain  apart 
