May 1, 1899.J 
THE TEOPICAL 
AGPJCULTUKIST. 
787 
generally fair, excliidiiig small patches 
of China, and although the soil is not of the 
best, some of the old estates being worn out, 
it responds to cultivation, while the shuck 
fields are little by little struck off. It is 
cheering to learn, in view of recent experi- 
ments and our consistent advocacy of 
manures, that manuring both improves the 
tea and is profitable. There is no complaint 
about factories, the labom* supply is ample, 
Inedium iwuning is the rule ; and only the 
Kelani Valley Railway with its branch to 
Ratnapura, is wanted to give the old, and 
rather inaccessible district a spurt, and 
attract settlers by its climate, and its 
capabilities, not alone for tea, but also for 
cocoa, coconuts, and even coffee, if trans- 
port difficulties are overcome. 
The tale from Morawaka is not so cheery ; 
for although its factories are deficient 
neither in machinery, nor in motive power, 
they are not generally provided with sufficient 
withering sijace. The jmining, while not 
severe has to be pretty frequent to force 
jjayiug flushes, and that miist tell on the 
bush. Though the district has a svifficient 
labour force, and is well suited for tea, it is 
handicapped by land badly opened with in- 
sufficient di'ainage, and planted with poor 
jats to the extent of quite one-half. In these 
circumstances, the tea tiu^ned out is natm-ally 
poor, and although confidence is expressed 
in manure, as a means of improving both 
the quality and the yield, the plea is put 
forward that the cost would svrallow up the 
profits "at present prices." But prices have 
improved since October ; and we trust that 
the outcome of experiments noio undertaken, 
will demonstrate the remunerativeness of 
inanm'ing even when prices are lower ; for 
though there is splendid soil in parts of 
Morawaka, it cannot be said to be generally 
rich. 
IN BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 
NEWS OF i^m. A. WHTTE. 
We have inteUigence of Mr. Alex. A^Tiyte, 
so well I'emembered in Ceylon and who is 
Naturalist and Botanist to the Biitish Central 
African State, but who has this time been 
on a special mission to British East Afi-ica, 
travclhng from the Coast up to Uganda. 
Mr. Whyte's letter to a friend in Ceylon is 
from "Kampala orMonyo, capital of Uganda," 
but without date. He was well and hearty 
when he wrote and_ full of interest in the 
natural resources of the coimtry. He had 
had a very tedious journey up, occupying 
over fom" months, owing to the gi'eafc 
scarcity of portei-s. This, however, enabled 
Mr. Whyte to look round all the Governmeiit 
stations, and to form some idea of their 
capabilities, as he has to report on the same 
to the Foreign Office. He has been freely 
collecting seeds and dried plants on his 
journey— many of the seeds being from 
magnificent timber trees. Some may come to 
Ceylon. . He is anxious to introduce economic 
plants into Uganda, alwaj-s barruig coffee 
(at least from Ceylon), though he remarks 
that Uganda is a good colTee country and 
that ho is trying to got the natives to 
cultivate rice on a large scale to save the 
jjnjjortfng of Indian rice. Coffee so far ig 
only cultivated in small patches by the 
natives who raise it not fi'om seed, but from 
twigs, both ends of which are stuck in the 
ground ! Thio must mean a rich soil and 
forcing climate; and, indeed, Uganda is not far 
off the original habitat oi coffee, which is 
supposed to be Abyssinia or in the region 
south of it. Mr. Whyte concludes by saying 
how much he ^irizesthe Tropical Agriculturist 
which he receives regularly. 
MANURINa TEA AND RECENT EX- 
PERIMENTS. 
Mr. Joseph Eraser writes, in correction of 
an error which we noticed and con'ected 
immediately after oiu' daily issue ; but it is 
well to put Mr. Eraser's remarks with his 
additional observations on record : — " In your 
remarks on the Pitakande manui-ing experi- 
ments, I find an error has crept in, which 
might be corrected, before the inclusion of 
the returns in the Tropical Agriculturist. 
You say 'so with No. 6 which comes next 
in profit, but has most fungoid affected 
leaves.' The paragraph in my letter from 
Avhich you evidently drew this inference, 
should be ' so far as appearance of the 
bushes is coucei'ned, they look best in the 
following order 5, 7, 10 and 6, while 9 shows 
most fungoid affected leaves and a falling 
off in the vigor, and succulence of the 
flushes, and 8 shows a falling off to a more 
limited extent." Six therefore comes 4th in 
order, as regards appearance and vigour of the 
bushes, and was little affected by fimgoid 
or insect pests. Nine and 8 were the two plots 
that suffered most in this respect. The 
healthy condition of the bushes judging by 
the foregoing is largely the outcome of a 
liberal supply of available nitrogen and 
potash, and this is confirmed by the fields 
I have systematically manured on similar 
lines for the past 6 to 10 years. 
' ' I have for the past 4 years had clear 
indications that by indu-ect means, the 
organic matter in the soil may be so acted 
on, and aid the nitrifying organisms in 
their work of rendering inert nitrogen 
active, that the cost of manuring so far as 
the direct application of iiitrogenous manures 
is concerned, is gi-eatly reduced, but in thie 
case the supply of organic matter will have 
to be kept up, while a liberal supply of 
potash and a more limited quantity of 
phosphoric acid will in most cases, have to 
be added to the soil." 
Books on Tea. and Tea Pests.— A leading 
colonist, after reading both book?, writes : — 
"Dr. Watt's book and Kelway-Bamber's are vety 
interesting reading, and ought to be in the posses- 
sion of such bodies as the Planter's Association and 
the Chamber of Conimence, as well as of all those 
wlio largely control the cultivation of tea in tlie 
island." 
The Experimext with Aloes.— A correspond- 
ent writes that " it wouhl be of interest to Know 
what the result ot the recent experiment in ex* 
tractiii^ fibre from Aloes was — what the cost 
was, the proportion of libra to the weight of leave.<i 
operated on, and local valuation of tlic tbre. Of 
course, the linal vuluiition and decisiou depend on 
London." We hope short ly to yivy somQ infornifv- 
tiou on this subjecti 
