May 1,, 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
AGiUCULTUEIST, 
765 
teacliing of his experience, an application of 5 
cwt. of cattle slietl manui e per tree once in three 
years. Tlie composition oi cattle shed manure 
varies considerably willi the cliaracter of the 
food of the animals, of the litter, and of the 
management of the manure. If we reckon it as 
about^equal in fertilising properties to the average 
of ordinary farm yard manure, i.e. as contain- 
ing per ton about 8 lb. nitrogen, 9 lb, of potash, 
an'd 3'6 to -tl lb. of phosphoric acid, then 5 cwt. 
per tree would furnish per tree— nitrogen 2 lb., 
Potash 2 "25 lb., Phosphoric acid -9 to 1-125 lb. 
Another experienced planter, Mr. W Jardine, 
who has frequently written to the local press 
on the subject of coconut cultivation, has recom- 
mended the following mixture as a suitable ap- 
plication once in two years per tree : — 
Castor Cake .. 12 lb. 
Bone Dast . . ^ ,i 
Wood Ashes . . 12 ,, 
This mixture to be supplemented by one 
bushel of cattle manure when available. With 
materials of good quality these ingredients should 
furnish per tree about 
Nitrogen .. 1"1 lb. 
Potash . . 1 „ 
Phosphoric Acid . . 1'36 ,, 
An experienced planter in the Kurunegila dis- 
trict informed me that, with liming the soil once 
in live years, the following mixture applied every 
two years yields 90 nuts per tree, viz, : — 
Castor cake 6 lb. 
Bone dust 3 ,, 
This would supply at least half a pound of ni- 
tro"en per tree, about '07 lb. potash and -82 lb. 
phosphoric acid. The soil, in a case like this, 
must be rich in potash compounds on whicli the 
lime acts, liberating the alkali for the use of 
the plant ; thus dispensing with the necessity of 
applying potash salts, i-ime, by assisting in the 
process "of nitrification, will also render avail- 
able the more inert forms of nitrogen. Thus, 
by the addition of lime to the soil not only are 
applications of potash salts rendered unneces- 
sary ; but the proportion of nitrogenous manures 
required are also, for a time at least, reduced. Of 
course, it must not be lost sight of that, in ad- 
dinw lime to the soil, the soil is not thereby 
enrfched with an\ of the three important ele- 
ments of plant, food, so that the success at- 
tendant upon liming the soil will be in propor- 
tion to the natural resources of the soil. 
Gathering up the foregoing results, I shall draw 
QWl in tabular form, for easy comparison, the 
amounts of fertilising material drawn from the 
soil per tree per annum by crops of 40 and of 
80 nuts per tree, and also the amounts of the 
same materials which the different systems of 
manuring referred to furnish per annum per tree, 
togetherwith some other interesting data :— 
LB, PER ANNUM PER TREE. 
Phos- 
phoric 
Nitrogen. Potash. Acid. 
■330 '(iTS -118 
■660 1-350 -23(5 
•269 -242 -102 
in 80 nuts without husks -538 '484 -204 
In copra of 40 nuts ... '225 -136 •09-2 
In copra of 80 nuts 
In food or manure of graz- 
ing cattle— about40 lb. grass 
per head per diem 
In 5 cwt. cattle shed 
uianure equal in quality to 
ordinary farm-yard maiinre 
applied ouceiu three years '066 
•750 
3 to 
•375 
In 40 nuts with husks 
In 80 nuts withhuska 
In 40 nuts without husks 
•680 
410 
•450 
•052 
•272 
•754 
•184 
In castor cake 12 lb , bone 
dust 4 lb., wood ashes 12 lb., 
cattle manure one bushel 
applied once in two years. . '550 •SO 
In castor cake 6 lb., bone 
dust 3 lb. applied once in 
two years to soil that has 
been limed .. ... -250 ^035 
Mi.xtures recommended by 
others vary from ... -250 -09 -JIS 
to ... -500 -66* •oOO 
In large nuts according sodium 
to a local analysis : chloride 
In 40 nuts with husk ... '857 
In 80 do .. 1714 
In a year's rainfall ao- 
according to Mr. Bamber's 
analyses for Oolombo . . -102 6 549 
On inspecting the foregoing table, it will be 
observed that the amounts of nitrogen the cattle 
manures supply, equal, or nearly equal, that re- 
quired for good crops of whole nuts. It does not, 
however, follow that the trees require all this 
nitrogen to be supplied in the manure, as the 
amount of cattle jnanuie required is determined 
more by the amount of phosphoric acid required, 
than by the nitrogen ; phosphoric acid being the 
fertilising ingredient in which cattle manure i.s 
most delicient. Cattle shed manure, supposing it 
to be equal in quality to ordinary farm yard 
manure, has an advantage over the manure of 
grazing cattle in respect of phosphoric acid, which 
in five cwt. of the former, is moie than is in 
three crops of 80 nuts pertiee. The amounts of 
potash, in these two forms of cattle manuring are 
about the same, and are in excess of what is 
required for crops of 40 nuts, but for crops of 80 
nuts a very considerable balance has to be drawn 
from the soil. 
In the mixture of manure recommended by Mr. 
Jardine, the amount of nitrogen slightly exceeds 
that in 80 nuts .vithout husks and with the 
nitrogen in the rainfall added nearly approxi- 
mates to that in two crops of w hole nuts of 80 
per tree per annum. The mixture has nearly 
three times the amount of phosphoric acid that 
is in the crops of 80 whole nuts ; but it is mostly 
in the slowly available form and so cannot be 
regarded as excessive. The amount of potash is 
much greater than in the copia of two crops of 
80 nuts per tree. It slightly exceeds that ,in 80 
nuts without husks ; but falls short of that in 40 
whole nut crops (unless the ashes used are much 
above the average of wood ashes in respect of con- 
tent of potash) so that, for crops of 80 whole nuts, 
a considerable demand would be made on the 
potash of the soil. 
In the mixture used by the Kurunegala planter, 
the amount of nitrogen plus that in the rainfall, 
falls short of the amount of copr;i from two crops 
of 80 nuts per tree ; but this planter gets 90 nuts 
per tree, hence the balance must be obtained 
from nitrification of the soil— nitrogen or other 
bacteiial action, most of the potash is supplied in 
this ease by the soil. 
According to a recent local analysis, a tree 
bearing 80 nuts of large size removes from the soil 
in crop 1-714 lb. of common salt, Avhile Mr. 
r.amber's analysis of a year's rainfall for Colombo 
shews a supply of common salt trom this sourc* 
of —6-549 lb. per tree per annum. These twg 
