June  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
7/9 
With  the  aid  of  Table  V.  this  comparison  is  easily 
made  and  it  will  be  at  once  seen  that  500  lb.  of  made 
tea  removes  nearly  three  times  as  much  nitrogen  and 
nearly  twice  as  much  mineral  matter  a&  500  lb.  of 
coffee.  , . , , 
Of  the  mineral  matters  it  may  be  pointed 
out  that  tea  removes  11  lb.  of  potash  as 
compared  to  6§  lb.  in  the  case  of  coffee ; 
also  4 of  Phosphoric  acid  against  1§,  and  3 of  lime 
as  against  1 in  Coffee. 
If  to  these  facts  we  add  the  exhaustion  caused  to  the 
Tea  bush  and  the  damage  through  exposure  of  the 
surface  soil  to  the  effects  of  rain  and  sun  which  severe 
pruning  every  two  or  three  years  must  produce,  it 
will  probably  be  admitted  by  practical  planters  that 
tea  is  decidedly  more  exhausting  than  Coffee;  further 
that  both  in  the  cultivation  and  in  the  manufacture, 
more  care,  skill  and  constant  attention  is.  required  on 
the  part  of  the  Superintendent  and  his  assistants  than 
were  necessary  in  the  days  of  Coffee. 
Admitting  however  that  Teaismore  exhausting  than 
Coffee  and  that  under  negligent  management  it  may 
become  increasingly  so,  still  it  cannot  be  considered  to 
be  exhausting  in  the  same  manner  or  to  anything  like 
the  same  extent  as  for  instance  a crop  like  Sugar  which 
except  in  land  specially  rich  cannot  be  profitably  grown 
continuously  without  the  assistance  of  substantial  dres- 
sing of  manure. 
In  table  VI  the  composition  of  an  average  crop  of 
Sugar  is  given  for  the  sake  of  comparison. 
It  will  be  only  necessary  to  compare  the  results  in 
this  table  with  those  in  table  V to  see  that  Tea  and 
Coffee  are  both  of  them  only  very  slightly  exhausting 
as  compared  with  a tropical  crop  like  Sugar. 
In  his  official  Report,  as  well  as  in  many  private  Re- 
ports since  1878,  the  writer  has  repeatedly  pointed  out 
that  Coffee  could  not  be  considered  an  exhausting  crop 
in  itself,  and  that  it  was  only  the  conditions  under  which 
it  was  cultivated  that  rendered  manuring  necessary 
or  even  desirable. 
It  was  the  exposure  to  wind  and  wash  or  the  occur- 
rence of  slab  rock  in  too  close  proximity  to  the  surface 
to  admit  of  the  trees  getting  an  extensive  hold  on 
the  subsoil,  that  led  planters  to  believe  in  the 
efficacy  of  manuring  on  certain  estates. 
If,  therefore,  it  was  necessary  in  the  old  days  of 
Coffee  to  apply  manure  on  certain  estates,  and  this 
is  only  an  assumption  for  the  sake  of  illustration, 
it  certainly  would  appear  necessary  on  such  estates,  _ 
when  replanted  in  Tea,  either  to  continue  manuring 
or  else  not  to  expect  that  tea  plucking  could  go  on 
continuously  with  any  large  margin  for  profit. 
The  conditions  of  situation,  soil  and  season  which 
were  unfavourable  to  Coffee  on  certain  estates  apply 
with  equal  force  to  Tea  with  however  the  additional 
exhaustion  to  soil  and  shrub  due  to  severe  pruning. 
The  Ceyl°n  Tea  industry  has  been  favoured  with 
a rapid  and  most  remarkable  success  and  the  hill 
districts  of  the  Island  are  undoubtedly  specially 
suitable  to  the  production  of  frequent  flushes  of 
leaf ; but  the  industry  is  still  in  its  infancy  and  it 
is  just  as  well  to  look  ahead  and  as  far  as  possible 
endeavour  to  improve  the  cultivation  and  to  avoid 
undue  exhaustion. 
Also  in  selecting  new  estates  to  get  soils  as  rich 
in  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  as  can  be  conveniently 
obtained  for  the  preceding  analytical  results  appear 
to  show  in  a very  definite  manner  that  the  market 
value  of  tea  is  largely  associated  with  its  richness 
in  soluble  ash  constituents  such  as  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid. 
Nitrogen,  according  to  recent  researches,  is  un- 
doubtedly largely  obtained  both  from  the  air  and 
from  rain  by  natural  absorption  either  through  the 
leaf  or  the  root ; but  as  regards  the  mineral  portion 
of  made  Tea  that  must  como  from  the  soil,  and  if 
the  soil  cannot  supply  a sufficient  quantity  then 
we  must  either  supply  artificially  the  mineral  con- 
stituents that  are  requisite,  or  else  be  prepared  to 
take  a lower  price  for  what  the  estate  will  produce 
naturally  and  without  the  aid  of  manure. 
JOHN  HUGHES, 
Analytical  Laboratory,  79  Mark  Lane,  London,  E.C., 
April  21st  1893. 
Table  III. 
Showing  the  Important  Constituents  of  Plant  Food 
removed  by  Tea  : — 
Indian.  Ceylon.  Cbica. 
1 ' 
u 
0 
© 
as 
d 0 
tO  Q_| 
<3 
Normal  value  is  53  to 
Is  6d 
Sold  at Is  3 
2 
fc'  § 
-a 
S§ 
w 0 
” 02 
■<3 
6jd 
m 
3 
& 
<x> 
P-. 
a 
0 
© 
0 
Is  Id 
l]£d 
4 5 6 
.M  M «S  J 
® a a § 
no  o.S  " 
O 2 O e* 
7?  0 © 0 a 
.as  3 
0 « 0 
6 ls6d  to  4£d  to 
IS 6d  5d 
7i  la  7d  64 
Water  (lost  at 
212°F) 6-30 
6-13 
5-63 
0-26 
8-86 
8-73 
♦Organic  Matters  87-70 
87-87 
88-44 
88-04 
85-21 
85-51 
♦♦Mineral  Matters 
(Ash) 6-00 
6-00 
5-93 
5-70 
5 93 
5-76 
100-00  100-00 
ioo-oo  : 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
♦Containing  Nitro.  3'83 
3-88 
3-80 
3-94 
4-08 
3-94 
♦♦Consisting  of 
Potash 2*38 
2 26 
2-26 
2-16 
2-25 
2-25 
Soda ’22 
•03 
■22 
•39 
•04 
-.30 
Plios.  acid '83 
•70 
•85 
•67 
•83 
•67 
Lime -39 
•64 
‘53 
•65 
•30 
•46 
Sulph.  acid -3u 
•32 
*36 
•29 
•St 
•37 
Sand -43 
•50 
•10 
■23 
■53 
•56 
Carbonic  acid. 
Magnesia,  Man- 
ganese  &;Chlorin  1-45 
1-55 
1-61 
1-31 
1-69 
1-15 
6-00 
6 00 
5-93 
570 
5-93 
5-76 
Table  IV. 
Showing  the  Important  Constituents  of  Plant  Food 
removed  by  Oejlou  Parchment  Coffee: 
Water  (lost  at  212°F.) 13-31 
•Organic  matters 83-39 
••Mineral  matters  (Ash) 3-ao 
100-00 
•Containing  Nitrogen 1-47 
••Consisting  of:  — 
,,  PotaBh  1-35 
,.  Soda  -06 
,,  Phosphoric  Acid -26 
„ Lime  -19 
,,  Sulphuric  Acid -08 
„ Sand  -09 
,,  Carbonic  Acid,  Magnesia 
Chlorine,  &c... 1-27 
3-30 
Table  V. 
Showing  the  Constituents  Removed  respectively  by 
500  lb.  Made  Tea  as  compared  with  600  lb.  Paroh- 
ment  Coffee : 
Ceylon  tea,  pekoe 
Organio  matters 
and  pekoe 
souchong. 
Ceylon  coffee 
parchment. 
417  lb. 
Including  Nitrogen 
74  „ 
•Mineral  matters 
..  29  „ 
164  „ 
•Consisting  of : — 
,,  Potash  ........ 
• 11 
62  „ 
„ Soda  
. n ., 
4 
,,  Phosphorio  Aoid 
. 4 „ 
14  „ 
,,  Lime  
. 3 „ 
1 „ 
„ Sulphuric  Acid . . 
la 
• *4.  » 
4 .. 
,,  Silica  or  Sand.. 
a 
i » 
„ Carbonic  Aeid, Mag- 
nesia, Manganese, 
Chlorine,  &o.. ...  7 „ 
52  „ 
29  lb.  161  lb. 
