Dec. 1, 1902.] THE TliOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
301 
crop in Brazil is subject to such fluctuations as 
cacao, and for this reason comparisons with 
previous crops are valueless. Little interest is 
manifested in the product in this region. The 
total shipments from the Amazon for 1902 have 
been : — The total tor seven months, January to 
July, being 2,890 tons. SometlMns; more than one- 
third has been taken by the United States, and 
the balance by Europe. France, as usual, is the 
largest consumer, with Holland second. The trade 
with the United States is, however, increasing, 
and before long that country will doubtless con- 
sume the bulk of the cacao product of South 
America,— Soarrf of Trade Journal, Sept. 25. 
MANURE YOUR COCONUT PALM, 
Under this heading, an esteemed correspondent 
sends us the following valuable particular : — 
There 13 a coconut estate in Heneratgodda which 
it ia worth while to look at for those who are engaged 
in that occnpation. The soil ia generally hard and 
composed of large gravel, except as usaal in ths 
Agras. The trees stand, some 18 feet apart, some 
twenty, and some twenty-four. Almost every tree 
bears its indelible marks of early neglect. When the 
present proprietor took the estate in hand some six 
or seven years ago, the average yield per tree was 
ten nnts in the year. This can be readily believed 
when you look at the trees on the estates surround- 
ing this one, For, they are certainly incapable of 
yielding more than ton nnts. By persistent mauaring 
the present proprietor of the estate of which I speak 
has raised the average step by step to something over 
fifty nuts already. He is not likely to stop until he 
reaches the round hundred. I have obtained an 
average of 135 on au experimental block of two and 
a-balf acres where the situation, soil, age and dis- 
tance between trees are all more favourable. Some 
of thoas trees have given me more than 200, An 
average of 100 is, therefore, ho impossible result for a 
proprietor who manures. 
According to general experience a weak tree stand- 
ing in the midst of strong healthy ones never regains 
its strength so as to bear as well as its neighbours. 
What I saw on the Heneratgodde estate seems to be 
exceptional, A weak tree standing among, and having 
a trank the circumference of which is scarcely one 
third of that of its neighbours, bears here as well as 
they. 
The cost of the manure used and its application 
cannot be computed at less than one rupee per tree, 
which represents the value of 25 nnts. Anything 
therefore that a tree-yields over 35 nuts must be put 
down as clear gain. Add to it the gain from the breed- 
ing of cattle, deer, sheep, pea fowl and bee, which takes 
place on this estate, and no proprietor has cause to 
grumble over the smallness of the return from the 
coconut as compared with other industries. The 
worst that can be said against the coconut is that it 
takes some 25 to 30 years to bear on hilly ground, 
though it flowers at the fifth year and brings a good 
income about the tenth year in lowlands composed of 
alluvium. 
In Jaffna and Batticaloa it ia usual for the 
natives to manure and plough their coconut estates. In 
the Colombo District only a very limited few do it. 
It is a means of quadrupling the income of one's estate. 
But here one prefers to extend one's acres instead of 
increasing the yield by manuring and ploughing a 
limited area. There seems to be no remedy for pre- 
judice." — Ceylon " Catholic Messenger," Oct. 14. 
CACAO, 
EXPERIMENTAL PLOTS AT GRENADA. 
A report by Mr. Murdo McNeill, the Agricultural 
Instructor for June last, gives an account of the work 
^909 |n ognaQSioq with (he espetiment oaoao plgta at 
Vendome, Belle Vue, Vincennes, Nianganfoix and 
Columbier estates, and other agricultural efforts in 
that colony. Considerable improvement is recorded 
in the condition of the dfcao trees in these plots since 
they were placed under the oara of the Imperial 
Department of Agriculture. ' Results of the mmurial 
experiments have been so f xr extremely satisfactory. 
At Nianganfoix estate, on Section A of the plot 
treated v/ith pen manure, only an average yield of 5 
bags per acre for the last two years were obtained, 
while on Section li, to which basic slag followed by 
sulphate of ammonia hid been applied, an average 
yield ot 6 bags per acre was obtained in 1900, and of 
8i bags per acre in 1901. This would seem to indi- 
cate thit the latter method of manurial treatment ia 
the one most likely to prove successful in renovating 
old and neglected cacao trees on red clay lands in the 
interior of the island. Several visits were paid by tho 
Agricultural Instructor to the holdings ot peasant 
cultivators and, where possible, practical demonstra- 
tions were given in budding oranges and other plants. 
Efforts are also being made to encourage the cultiva- 
tion of limes in localities unsuited for the growth ot 
cacao, and allusion is made to an interesting experi- 
ment in reforestation at present being carried on by 
the Hon, W. H. Lisoelles near the Grand Etang Lake.' 
The trees which consist of the native ' gommier ' 
C Dacrijodes hcandra) planted 4Et. apart either way, 
ave now two years old and are described as • being' 
from two to two-and-a-half feet high and growing 
well.' — Agricultural Neios, Aug. 30. 
WEEDING OF GRAIN IN INDIA. 
In the hilly districts of Western India, along 
the Sahidra mountains or Western Ghauts, where 
rain falls nearly every nif/ht during June to 
September, and even in daylight hours the clouds 
descend with striking frequency, the weeding of 
the principal grain crop, called Natchni, is a carni- 
val of hard work, conducted on a communal system. 
The crop is a very prolitic small-grained cereal, 
grown on steed hillsides under heavy rainfall, and 
transplanted when about a month from seed- 
sowing. Botanically it is Eleusine coracana, 
known as Natchni, Ragi, and many other names 
in India. Thibet, and Abyssinia, 
Word having been sent round that the field 
belonging to Bagu, the son of Babaji, is ready 
for weeding, all the workers of the village, pro- 
pably 100 or more, assemble soon after daylight 
at the house of Bagu, [t may be raining 
heavily, and Bagu's house is not commodious ; 
but as each guest carries a rain-hood made of 
split Bamboo and leaves, giving protection from 
crown to hip, and has Nature's water-proof on the 
limbs, the lack of house room is of little con- 
sequence. The guests arrange themselves in a 
semicircle, with back to the wind and with the 
knees at tlie breast.sit on the heels as only an Indian 
or a coal-miner can do, and eat a hearty break- 
fast of boiled Natchni, flavoured with Chillies 
and Asafcctida, amid discussion of the season's 
prospects and the character of the latest tax- 
gatherer. Then, headed by the village musician 
beating a drum with his hands, they proceed in 
single tile to the field, and range themselves on 
the windward margin ; at a signal the weeding* 
hooks are unhitched, the naked brown legs, doubl- 
ing in front of the body, disappear as by magic, 
and weeding is started in time with a harmonious 
refrain, describing the mercy of the gods, the 
liberality of thsir employer, and the probability 
of dinner being equal to their sumptuous breakfast. 
But tUia only a prelude j the drum is tapped fasterj 
