AuGt'ST 1, im.] THE TROPICAL 
and potash, but one of them may be combined in 
an insoluble form and therefore is no more of use to 
the plants than if it were absent. In such cases 
it would be better to use some means for 
RELEASING THE IKERT ELEMENT, 
ather than apply it in a more soluble combina- 
tion. Therein eiists a large part of the valine 
of lime. It causes a re-arrangement of the mat- 
ter already in the soil, and puts plant food into 
an available form. A growing plant can find in the 
»oil food material of which a chemist with all his 
manipulations could hardly find any trace. To illus- 
trate what I mean, suppose I add uniformly to an 
acre of laud, deficient in potash, one cwt of kainit. 
Is it likely that a chemist, analysing a fair sample of 
this soil, could find any appreciable difference in the 
amount of potash, and in that of an adjoining acre 
of the same soil to which none had been applied ? 
This one cwt would hardly give him a trace of 
difference, and yet even this small quantity would be 
shown distinctly in the growth of a crop planted on 
the land. 
No good agricultural chemist places much reliance 
now-a-daya upon chemical analysis of soils. Any 
intelligent farmer can find by experiment, better than 
any chemist can tell him, what particular element 
is lacking in the soil, by trying different elements 
in combination separately, and comparing the results. 
In many soils phosphorus is a substance which is 
frequently deficient ; this is applied as superphos- 
phate of basic slag. Nitrogen, in any of its com- 
pounds, is hard to keep in any soil, but we may 
aaaume that it abounds in a soil full of humus or 
decayed vegetable matter, though in some of these, 
•uch as peaty soils, in an inert state. On such soils 
heavy applications of lime will usually render it 
available. While Nitrogen is one of the most import- 
ant elements, one of the hardest to keep, ana the 
most costly to buy in an artificial form, we know 
now that it is comparatively easy to keep up a anpply 
in otu soils by the growth of 
LEGUMINOt:S CROPS, 
in a rotation, aided in their development by a liberal 
supply of the cheap combinations of potash and 
phosphorus, and by the occadional use of lime in 
connection therewith. If any soil has lost part of its 
original fertility, it is safe to assume that phosphorus 
is largely what it has lost, since all our cultivated 
grains and the bony constructure of all our domestic 
animals take large quantities from the soil. In soils 
which are the result of the decomposition of granite 
or felspathic rocks, as are many of our clays, it is 
safe to assume that they are not particularly deficient 
in potash, though it may often, or even geneially 
exist in such a form that heavy applications of lime 
may be needed to render it availible. On a sand- 
stone formation, and indeed on most of otir light soils, 
potash is generally deficient. 
There is no one subject in agriculture which de- 
mands at the present day more care, continued and 
widely extended, than the practice of manuring. A 
soil cannot be cultivated properly until it has been 
gubjected to such examination as will tell us, as nearly 
as any examination can, what is necessary to render 
it fertile. The theory of scientific agriculture is 
based upon a complete knowledge of soils, plants, 
animals and manures, and it is evident that until 
these elements are thoroughly understood, no attempts 
at improvement, or plans for increased production, 
can possibly be successful. 
C. G. Fbeee-Thongee, m.r.a.c, f.c.s. 
— Cvloidol College Magazine. 
Loc;woOD wa.s exportetl from Jamaica in 189G 
to the amount of 8-1,000 tons, which I iiave pre- 
viously stated was valued at £300,000, or 20 per 
cent of the export ot that island. Now we can 
grow better logwood and can get higher prices 
than Jamaica can, as I have inure than once 
droved by coiisif^nmeut.s from our (Queen's Park 
trees, and yet it is apparently despised. — Mr. Hart 
of Trin idad, 
AGRICULTrPJST. ir,i 
INDIAN AND CEYLON TEA COMPANIES. 
The Scotsman, of June Ctli, has an article on 
the prospects of Indian and Ceylon Tea. It 
remarks how that eighteen months ago when the 
promotion of Indian and Ceylon Tea Companies 
was being pur.sued with considerable activity 
they pointed out that tlie business was being 
overdone and that the enterpri.^e bore the ap- 
pearance of being forced to an excessive e.vtent. 
Since then things have taken an unfavourable 
turn. They may mend, bat at the moment the 
outlook is not altogether encouraging, and one 
had only to study the speeches of the eliairmeu 
of the various Companies to see that for a time 
progress has been arre,sted. One of the great 
drawbacks was the rise in the exchange of the 
rupee, by which it is estimated tliat the ad- 
vance of which has taken place is equivalent to 
an extra charge of 30 per cent in the est of 
]iroduction, and to the entire tea-gro\\ing industry 
of India and Ceylon a loss of about" a million 
sterling per annum. There were other indus- 
tries in India similarly prejudiced bv this and 
there was considerable dissatisfaction "that these 
were not represented on the Currency Committee. 
If every trade were represented on the Committee 
it would become unweildy, audits work seriously 
hampered. .\s it is now composed there is no 
reason to doubt that it will perfoi ni its function.? 
more effectively and thoroughly than if every 
elass_ concerned in the problem had been given 
a voice in the final decision. The article "then 
refers to other disadvantages, against which the 
tea planters have to contend. The famine had 
meant an increase in the cost of rice, the staple 
food of the CDoiies, while a lower price had been 
obtained for tea, which together meant that the 
Companies were to the bad to the extent of Id 
per pound on the season's output. That famine and 
earthquake with an adverse state of exchange, with 
a deterioratetl market, will again overtake the Com- 
panies simultaneously was improbable, but on the 
other hand it would be a mistake to think it would 
be all plain sailing in the future. The time li.ad 
arrived for putting a check on the industrv. In 
many cases Indian and Ceylon Tea Companie.s 
have eitner wholly or in part abandoned their 
plans for extension. Nine out of fourteen Com- 
panies have been compelled to pay smaller divi- 
dends than in the previous year, while one 
which distributed 10 percent for 1896-7 lias been 
able to pay nothing for 1897-8. Not a single one 
has increased its dividend, but it could 'not be 
said compared with other industries, investors 
have done badly. The production of tea in 
Ceylon and India has increased enor.uously during 
the last few years. Competition with China" 
Japan and Java wouhl be felt because of the 
high exchange with which India and Ceylon were 
handicapped. The one thing producers must 
keep in view was that the market is threatened 
with a glut of Indian and Ceylon tea and pro- 
duction will have to be curtaifed if prices are to 
be maintained. As to the question of exchange 
and increase in the cost of production, that Is 
a matter to which the business has to adjust 
itself. 
Trinidad Royal Bot.anic G.ardens.— Bulle'.in of 
Miscellaneous Information April, 1S98. Contents : 
Lecture on " Minor Industries."; Ferment ition ; 
Paratism in Scrophularineje ; Botaniciil Notes. No. 27. 
— Ustilago Maydis, D. C; Oranges (the Bitter and 
tlie Sweet) and variation from seed; Cacao: An 
estimation of the characters of three varieties of 
Cacao ; The Agricultural Exhibition. 
