May 1, 1900,1 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 753 
Each Manager of an estate is the best juclf'e or 
should be, as to wlietber the virgin soil es^tale 
should be manured. I take it a bi;>- proportion of 
estates liave old coffee land and virgin .soil ; in 
my own case I am manuiing the old coffee land 
but not the virgin soil at jnesent. 
PEOl'KIETOK. 
No. V. 
Ilolniwood, Agrapatna, March 22. 
Deak Sin,— In reply to your query re Manui- 
ing Tea on virgin soil, 1 can see no harm in 
supplying to the soil any mineral ingredient in 
which it might be shown by analysis to be 
deficient, and by adopting such a course I think 
the trees would be built up of stronger constitu- 
tion ; but manuring with the object of forcing 
an unnaturally large yield, 1 should eousider a 
very risky proceeding, and therefore belter left 
alone.— Yours faithfully, W. D. B- 
THE MANURING OF TEA. 
Colombo, Ceylon, March 23. 
Dear Sir, — Mr. Joseph Eraser sends us t.oday 
the statistical results wliich he obtained during 
the second year of his experiments in manuring, 
and y-'e take pleasure in annexing a copy of the 
same. 
Tliese statistics are drawn upon the same lines 
as those published in the Ceylon Observer on 
the 6th April, 1899** and will no doubt prove of 
great interest to the public generallj'. Mr. Eraser 
adds the following remarks : — 
" The tea was tour years old, and well grown 
when the experiments began. The field was in 
Guinea and Mana grass before being cleared for 
tea. There was no pruning in the first year, but 
all tl'.e ploto were pruned in the second. 
" The similarity of the increase in the field of 
plots five, six, seven, and eight in the second year is 
rather vable, though it varied to a certain 
extent from month to month. You will observe 
that the manure applied shows a maxiniuni and 
niininiutn application of the three fertilising in- 
gredients in the four plots. No. 6 is the most 
puzzling, as in all my experiments carried out 
previous to this, in old coffee land tea, a low 
percentage of nitrogen meant a \om yield, and 
tins is borne out by plot No. 3, where the nitrogen 
was suppressed. The only explanation that sug- 
gests itself to me is that in the |)lots from five 
to ten inclusive, there were a considerable number 
of ' Albizzia Stipulata ' trees growing naturally 
in the land. A considerable number of these 
were cut out when the land was cleared for tea, 
and a fair number alloived to grow along with 
the tea. The decay of the roots rich in nitrogen 
and the fall of the leaflets yearly (the Albizzias 
being atmospheric nitrogen collectors) may have 
afforded a sufficient supply of nitrogen naturally. 
The decay of grass roots, would no doubt also 
have aided in this respect, but then all the plots 
had these equally. Plots one, two, and three had 
no Albizzias and four only one or two. The 
general appearance of the bushes in the various 
plots, as regards health, vigour and succulent 
growth stand in the order of six, five, seven, ten 
and four — eight and nine suffered most again from 
grey blight and the mite family of insect pests, 
of all the plots, and indicates that the mixture, 
as rcgai'ds potash was noc properly balanced, and 
this might; be al! the more marked as the Albiz- 
zias are e.trong potash feeders. 
" Results from the increased proht per acre point 
of view, are in the order of eight, six, ten, five, 
seven, nine and four — No. S and 6 take the lead as 
in the previous year, but ten jumps from 7tli to 
3id place. The experiments have been again 
repeated, and will be recorded for another two 
years. 
" I had tiie soil of plot No. (j analysed, but as is 
usual with soil analyses, it heljis little to an 
interpretation of results." 
We further annex copy of the analysis made by 
Mr. Cochran cf the Pitakande soil, and his report 
on the same and remain — Dear sir, yours faith- 
fully, FI^EUDENBERG & CO. 
(Copy) 
M. Cochran, 
City Analyst's Office, 56, KoUnpitiya Boad, Colombo, • 
25th November, 1899. 
Analysis of a Sample of Soil from the Pitakande 
Group, received on the .Srd November from Mr. 
Joseph Eraser, per Mr. J. Morris. 
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS. 
The !3oil which passed thronsh a sieve haying 10 
mpshes to the lineal inch consisted of 
per cent. 
Coarse Earth . , . . 46-5 
Fine Earth .. .. 53 5 
1000 
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FINE EARTH. 
per cent. 
Moisture . . , . 3'650 
•Organic and volatile matters .. 13'050 
Soluble in standard Hydrochloric Acid. 
Oxide of Iron .. .. 12-143 
Alumina and small quantity of oxide of 
magnesia ... .. 21"039 
Lime ... ... .. '168 
Magnesia .. .. ., '400 
Potash .. .. .. -233 
Phosphoric Acid ... .. -128 
Silica, Insoluble Silicates and undeter- 
mined matters ... ... 4i0'199 
10000 
* Containing nitrogen ... ... '156 
This sample of soil is rather richer in nitrogen 
than the sample analyzed in January, while the 
latter had somewhat more potash and phosphoric 
acid, and was also richer in lime of magnesia. 
The sample just analyzed has more alumina, 
and also rather more organic matter, but, never- 
theless, the dried sample has less moisture than 
the sample analyzed in January. A drier condi- 
tion of the atmosphere, when the present sample 
was prepared, is probably the explanation of 
this. 
With regard to the general characteristics of 
the. soil, it ha.s the composition of a soil that 
should be fertile for tea ; nitrogen, however, 
being relatively less than the other important 
constituents. 
(Signed) M. Cochran, E.C.S. 
* See Trojncal AgricuUnrist foi May.— Ed, T,A, 
City Analyst, 
