Aug. 1, 1903.1 . THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. §1 
y ieWs from iro to '100 per cfnt, more than any other 
lice. It yielded this year 4 or 5 barrels per acre with- 
out any water except "rain. The Honduras rice grown 
under the same conditions prodnced nothing. The 
straw is so tongh that the seeds will not whip cff in a 
storiri. It mills 30 to 50 per cent more head rice 
(unbroken grains) than the Honduras. The Depart- 
ment never spent money that helped the country 
more than that spent in the importation of this 
Japanese i ice. It ht s brought about the opening up of a 
development of an extensive region iu South-We&tern 
Louisiana and South liastern Texas, where the land 
was rot previously of any value except cattle giazing. 
It has lesnlted iu the investment of probably 
§20,000,000. It has increased the production of rice 
iu Louisiana more than |1,0(.0.000 per annum. 
Rice novf has a future in United States second 
only to wheat. This rice has now been grown three 
se&sons in Sonth-Weslern Louisiana and Scuth-Eastern 
Texas, the best expeit says that it does not deteriorate 
under cultivation. 
Sowinc/s at Kola Estate. 
A small quantity of the true Kinshu Paddy was sown 
twice as follows :— First sowing ISlh Stptember, 
bloomed 25lh October, 38 days ; reaped 25th November, 
1902, in all 68 days. Second sowing on the, same field 
7th January, bloomed 14th February, 38 days, reaped 
14lh March, in all 6S days. Thongh the plants grew 
and blossomed well, the cultivation of the range of 
Paddy fields not having been at the same time or 
season for the yala harvest, the crop was infestsd with 
flies Bud and birds and cons'derably damaged. It is there- 
fore intended to sow the said fields on or about the 25th 
October next, so that the pladts may come into maturity 
along with the Paddy sowing for the maha harvest. 
1 consider that this Paddy could be cultivated pdvan- 
tageonsly in Ceylon three times a year, as is now done 
in the Onited States. 
The Kinshu Paddy takes one or two days more time 
to germinate than any other existing varieties in 
Ceylon. 
J. L\ W, 
THE UTILITY OP ALKLINE PHOS- 
PHATIC MANURES. 
By John Hughes, F.I.O. 
THE UTILIIY OF THE NEW MA>iUIiE. 
Basic sr.perphcsphBt-e can be applied, indeed has 
been applied in Ihe season of 1901, with great ad- 
vantage on soils deficient iu lime, such as sand, 
gravel, granite, peat and clay. Briefly, it may be 
stated Ihut all soils containing less than 1 per cent, 
of lime will be greatly benefitted by the application 
of basic superphosphate instead of slag er ordinary 
enperphosphate, It is of practical importance to 
slate that, (hough originally invented to uupplement 
the deficient solubility of slag, which is fully recog- 
nised by those interested in its sale (they therefore 
recommend its application duiiuK the winter months), 
it has been fountt by actual field results that the 
new maiiuro is superior alto to superphosphate on 
soils deficient in ume. Mr. Wiiliam E. Bear, of 
Magham Down, Haikham, employing equal quantities 
of basic super and ordinary supei phosphate, was 
able to obtain a growth of radishes, 66 per cent, 
greater in weight by theuseof the former manure, 
than he did by the latter. In this case the soil 
contained, aecoroiiig to Dr. Bernard Dyer's analysis, 
only "68 of lime per cent, in the diy state. In 
another experiment on the farm of Mr. Ouston, near 
Grimsby, in Yorkshire, basic super used at the i ate 
of 5 cwt. per acre, gave a specially good crop,' and 
the soil on analysis was found to contain only "78 
of lime per cent. Mr. Edward Packard, at Sax- 
mundham, obtained by the application of 5 cwt. of 
basic super per acre, 185 tons of swedes, against 15 
tons produced by 5 cwt. of slag, and Hi tonsfroin 
the no manure plot, the soil iu this case containing 
1'75 lima per cent. It is well known that aoih subject 
to the disease known as finger and toe in turnips 
are naturally deficient in lime, containing in fact 
considerably less than 1 per cent., and ou such soils 
it is reasonable to suppose that an alkaline phos- 
phate manure would naturally be a more suitable 
dressing than an acid phosphate manure such as 
superphosphate. During the seasonof I'JOl, numerous 
instances were recorded in which basic super has been 
used on such soils with very marked advautagp, 
the virulence cf the disease bting materially reduced, 
and in soiue remarkable cases in Scotland, its 
application has completely prevented any attack, 
while other parts of ths field manured with 
ordinary supei phosphate had suffered v^ry much 
from the disease, in connection with this subject 
it may be convenient to point out by means of 
the following tabulated figures, the relation in which 
lime and phosphoric acid are respectively removed 
from Ihe soil by ordinary farm crop?. 
LIME AND PHCSPHOEIC ACID liE.HOVED PEB ACHE BY 
FARM CKOrS. 
53 
Clover hay, 2 tons 
Turnips, root, 17 tons 
„ leaf 
Mangels, root, 22 ton 
„ leaf 
Swedes, root, 14 tons 
,, leaf 
Beans, grain, 30 bushels 3'0 \ „„ 
straw SOOj'^'^ 
Meadow hay, IJ tons ... 28 
Lime. 
lb. 
.. 86 
25-5 U,^ 
48-5 ) 
24-0 
29 
19 5 j ^2 
22-5 ' ^'^ 
4-0 / , 
Phosphoric 
acid, 
lb, 
25 
22.5 1 
1(V5 ) ^'^ 
26 
24-0 
27 
3.0 I 
12-0) 
7-OJ 
23 
11-5-1 . 
8-5|' 
15-0-120 
5-0 j" 
Potatoes, tuber, 0 tons 3 0 
„ haulm 23 0 . 
Oats , grain, 45 bushels 2'01ii, 
straw 100) 
Wheat, grain. 30 bushel l-0\,, 
„ straw 10-0 / 
Bailey, grain, 40 bushels I'S) 
,, straw 8'5 j 
It will be feen that in respect of an average crop 
of clover, hay, turnips, mangels and swedes, lir^ie 
is relatively required in greater proportion than phos- 
phoric acid. It is lifeless, therefore, to expect to 
grow good crops, or crops free from certain diseases, 
if there is a deficiency of lime. On the other hand 
ic would appear that wheat, b;irlev, and oats require 
phosphoric acid in greater proportion than lime, 
though the actual quantities are much less than in 
the case of root crops or clover hay. This table of 
figur£s IS also useful in illustrating the great waste 
of applying lime in large quantities, such as 3 or 4 
tons per acre, for the actual crop requirements 
would appear to be less than 100 lb. per acre. If 
2 or 3 cwt. cf superphosphate are considered sufficient 
to supply the requisite quantity of phosphoric acid, 
surely 3 or 4 cwt. of lime should be sufficient 
to supply the requisite quantity of lime. Of 
course this remaik only applies to the appli- 
cation of limu to ordinary well-draiaed soil, and not 
to damp sour giass land where the natural acidity 
cf the soil, wor;id require larger dressings of lime. 
But under ordinary conditions large dressings of lime 
are practically wasted because the slaked lime, which is 
not absorbed by the soil or the plant, rapidly becomes 
converted into caibonate of lime, in which form it 
is but little soluble in ordinary ,water. Usually, where 
the soil is deficient in lime, the cost of its appli- 
cation is very great by reason of cariiage from a 
distance, and in all such cases basic supei phosphate 
will be found pariieularly useful and decide fly eco- 
