May 1, 1899.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
797 
THE VOGAN COMPANY AND 
PLUMBAGO MINING. 
Colombo, Ax>ril 1;)- 
Sir, — Ret'eiTing to the iollo^ving remark 
made by one of the Vogan shavehbldti'S at 
the meethig of that Gompauy*- liekl ou 1.5th 
April, viz. : — i , ■ 
"Too mvieli importance was • attached, tb the 
offer. The people to whom they gave the ' con- 
cession would probahly do uothing at ail. -He 
thought they would get the concession aucl t hen 
put it up tor sale in the Londoii, market; and 
get a good price for "\\ii;it they obtained ■ for . a. 
mere song'." 
We, as representatives of the Morgan Cru- 
cible Co., Lil., in Ceylon (since the Ch.jiiriruin 
of the Vogan Co. did not at I lie time see 
fit to contr.-idict it) beg to state thiit the 
remark was absolutely and entirely without 
fact or foundation. — Yours faithfully, 
p.p. AITKEN, SPENCE & Co., 
A. S. Berwick. 
MANURING COCONUTS. 
Colombo, April 19, 
Dear Sir, — As promised we now beg to en- 
close copy of Mr. Beven's interim rei^ort on 
manuring cocoiuits, carried on Fraukhmds 
Estate, Veyangoda. — We are,, .dear sir, yours 
faithfully, 
FREUDENBERG & CO. 
IIBPORT OK THE APPLICATION OF AP.TIFICIAI, MANURES 
ON FHANKr,AND3 ESTATK, VEYANGCDA. 
The manures applied for a sci-ies of years are cattle 
manure oncl bone meal; sulphate of ammonia, Thomas' 
phosphate powder (Bassic Slag) and Kaiin't were used 
aide by aide with them, so that the fields might be 
compared both in appearance and in resulta. 
The two first plots expeiimented ou oontiun trees 
wrdch have been in bearing for several yea.'s and 
have been regularly manured every other year. 'J he 
third and fourth plots contain oidy a few trees just 
coming into bearing, the rest being too young to 
bear, and most of them have had cattle ued under 
then for the first time; ihe drofpiugs of two. 
cattle tied under each tree for ten days teing dug 
in 2 or 3 lb. bone meal. The trees in plots 1 and 2 
have cattle manure brought from the roadside ap- 
plied to them : — . 
Plot No. 1. — This plot I divided into four blocks, 
viz., A containing 32 trees, B 33 tree.'^, C S^trees, and D 
35 trees. Of these A was manured with 8 bp.sket c-.ittle 
manuie and 3 lb. bone dust per tree; B with 2 lb. Tho- 
mas' Phosphate and t) ih. kniiiit per tree, C with catilo 
manureand bones and D with -i lb. kiriuic and ^ lb. aid- 
phate of nm-nonia per tree. The soil in A and 
B is somewhat clayey and in C Bind D gravelly. The 
general appearance of the trees is. much the some. 
The mnnures were applied in NoveTb.er and IJeceni- 
ber 18!)7. since when 1 liave kept a record' of'ttie num- 
ber of nuts plucked in eacli block. , 
rer tree. 
The trecB are j lucked six times a year, the flist 
phickint; being in April, the beginning of the tinancial 
year. The disappointing crop in Febrnory is, I bolievo 
1897. 
1898. 
1898. 
00 
C5 
GC 
1898. 
. -00 . 
■o 
00 
r-l 
1898. 
Dec. 
Feb. 
April 
.June 
< 
d 
A 
ir, 
02 
ICS 
2iO 
3 8 
7.'> 
B 
132 
1'7 
100 
:!S() 
4iC> 
191 
i:.3 
C 
01 
107 
•)n-i 
310 
386 
175 
135 
D 
122 
00 
274 
412 
572 
24 (i 
IVl 
wholly uueonuected with the manure, and is due partly 
to the season, but chiefly to the unusually heavy crops 
of June and August. 
. I give beluw the total amount plucked for the 
year ending April, and the crops plucked for the 
two previous years, when cattle manure and bone 
was applied. 
April 1896 97. April 1897-98. Anril 1S93 -99. 
5,340 5,466 ' 5.525 
Considering that it is ,]nst over a year since the 
manures were applied, four or six months must yet 
elapse before I can determine whetiier the tieea 
have re.^pojrded, with regard to their bearing capacity, 
1^0. 2. — Is a block cut up into two (a) gravelly 
soil cont.aining 72 trees, manured with 74 lb. castor 
cake, IJ lb. Thomas' Phosphate and 4 lb. Kaluit per tree 
in November '97 (h) light blackish soil containing 
75 trees manured with 2 lb. Thomas' Phosphate, 
1 lb sulpha' e of ammonia and 1 lb. sulphate of potash 
also in November 1897. The nuts plucked in each is. 
5_ a =F 
< >^ < 
C5 <^ 
6 ^ 
a 136 175 280 623 750 315 187 99 2,565 35,6 per tree 
b 356 3-13 525 900 10-20 483 434 236 4,296 57.2 " „ 
Below I give a similar comparison as the above, in 
lot No. 1. 
April 1896-97 April 1897-98 April 1898-99 
4394 5944 5852 
The trees in both the above fields are about 20 years 
old. 
No. 3. — Consists of 48 trees, coming into bearing, 
on the slope of a hill of fairly stiff soil. The trees 
were m.iirared in Dec. '97 with 1 lb. Thomas' Phosphate, 
i lb. Sulphate of ammonia, and 1 lb. sulphate of potash! 
No separate record was kept of the nuts plucked,' 
owing to no separate record having been kept before! 
only a few cf the trees are in bearing. With regard 
to the general appearai.ce of the trees, of which I 
made a noce at the time of manuring there .seems to 
be no difference compared wiih those immediitely 
surrounding which were manured with cattle drop- 
pi: gs and bones, 
No 4. — Is another block of 56 trees, which I marked 
out and to which was applied 2 lb. kainit, 1 lb. Thomas 
phosphate and * lb. sulphate of ammonia in Dacem- 
ber '97. The soil is a fairly stiff brown. The same 
remarks as I made at No. 3, apply to this. 
No. 5.— Ihavo also applied 2 lb. kainit with cattle 
inanure and bones to otiier fields but can trace no 
improvement so f-»r. 
The Kice Trade— European competition 
.seems to be ste.ulily increasing in the rice trade, 
ami that is in favour of lower prices. An Iiidi.in con! 
ten,porary reports tiiat European nien-liants have 
been tlie largest buyers of )i,aday this year in 
Akyiib ; and literally nothing is 'being exported 
to Iiulia. Tiifi Aralcan Ncics states that this 
time last year there were 2.5 native crafts iti the 
pore loading with paddy, wliere.is now there are 
oaly 6 European scoanurs. Fado'y lia-s ri.sen very 
considerably in con.?equence. Probably, tiie lime 
IS nob so far distant when tin; market rate of 
I)'.iK!yin nio>t; jdaces in Bunnali will not difler 
v.i.stly fioni the rtdingrate* in IJangco-i. Prices of 
l)iddy ruling lower ill Kan.yoo.-i than in the cii.s- 
uiiets, the cull ivalors ai e lioldirg l)a<'k their .vup- 
]jlies hoping for a ri.-e in the niij.rkct rate. Tlieie 
is ail unu>ii;d absence i-f shipping fioni the jiort, 
sliowiiig how well calculated ami carefully con- 
sidered Iims befii the li.Ning of t'e present r.-itps 
and the tn-.\nuMivre.s generally of the ii:eivhant.s 
and ship! er-'. who, however, ciinuot j ut buck the 
Eiii'ope iieinaiiil imicli longer. 
