680 
THE TEOPIOAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [April 1, 1904. 
€oxxtBiponbtntz. 
To the Editor. 
RAMIE FIBRE IN CEYLON. 
Mr D Edwards-lladclyffe, who is doing much 
to encourage the owing of ramie or rbea fibre in 
the British Colouies, writes to us from London, 
as follows : — 
In your "London Letter " I note you say the 
fibre is to be got out by hard labour ; it should be 
hand labour. I expect this will help, as the 
Government report has done, to choke oflF planters. 
I look upon your Colony as hopeless as far as 
ramie is concerned. What can be done when you 
have Government oflicial." who damn the possibili- 
ties of ramie without a proper trial ? If a man in 
authority spreads suih nonsense as " it won't pay 
under £70 per ton," how is it the Chinese sell it at 
£12 to £14 and strip it by hand ? Children can do 
, the stripping. Also he says that " the flax, cotton 
and other spinners oppose it;" of course, they do, 
in their folly ; they feel, if it ever gets headway, 
their occupation is gone. About as sensible aa 
the gas companies' opposition to the incandescent 
mantleS) or the former opposition to raihvays or 
Arkwright's looms. See the position in these trades 
today. 
Coiton will have its place, but if ramie were 
strong today the cotton crisis would not have 
happened. Then again, the Ceylon Government 
authority sayp, " Mercerised cotton has ousted any 
chance ramie had." About as sensible a remark 
as to say lemonade eSeivesces and sparkles more 
than champagne ; so why pay the ridiculous sum 
of lOs or more for "phiz" when one penny will buy 
lemonade ? I feel cross when I see such irrespon- 
sible and incompetent reports. Happily all Colonies 
are not paying attention to so-called oflScial " cold 
water." India has appointed a Director of 
Agriculture, a practical man who is giving ramie a 
chance. The Germans are subsidising ramie in 
their Colonies and the French are even approach- 
ing Indian planters. It is too absurd; for here are 
we, wanting ramie (see my Report to the home 
Government.) 1 would refer you to the passage in 
Scripture which says that even if one returned 
from the dead it would make no difference; they 
would not believe— and that's about the position 
of Ceylon. I could at the present moment place 
100 tons per week, but it is useless telling the 
Ceylon planters. Refer to the Colonial Office; 
they know the trade that is waiting for growers. 
1 made up my mind not to waste more lime 
over Ceylon, but will make another attempt, and 
if anything comes of it you deserve the Planters' 
thanks lor reviving my energy to help your 
Colony.— Yours faithfully, 
D. EDWARDS KADCLYFFE. 
West Hampstead. 
SALT IN COCONUT CULTIVATION. 
March 2nd, 1904. 
t)EAti Sir,— The reasons I have always adduced, 
for the necessity of salt in coconut cultivation 
tarried on away from the immediate sea-borde, 
a,e t— (1) That the original home of the coconut 
is the sea-shore ! (2) that salt has a mechanical 
and chemical effect on the soil ; and (.3) that for 
the above reasons, it is not reasonable to measure 
the necessity for salt in coconut cultivation by 
the results of chemical analyses. 
It is very gratifying to find a confirmation of 
my views by a hijjh authority, or, to be mote 
accurate, to find that the views I hold on the 
subject are in accord with those of a well known 
agricultural chetnist. 
In reading "Principles of Agricultural Practice" 
by Professor Wrightson, I find: — ''The parent form- 
of Mangelwurzel is a maritime plant, the Beta 
Maritima, which grows wild near the coast, in 
situations where chlorine, in the form of chloride 
of sodium, is abundant. lb is well-known that, 
while, even in inland districts, some twenty pounds 
of chloride of sodium per acre is yearly brought 
down in rainfall nearer the coast, here sea-frets 
are common a very much larger quantity is yearly 
poured down over an acre. Tlie Mangelwuizel 
being a cultivated form of Beta Maritima, ap- 
pears from long usage to reqiuie a large quantity 
of common salt, and the application of this sub- 
stance increases the yield by many tons an acre, 
especially on soils of light, loamy character. 
The^^e cases seem to show that special manures are 
of use in a manner quite distinct from soil 
requirements." Again, " Additions of sulphiite of 
potash, sulphate of magnesia and chloride of 
sodium (common .sail) often produce a considerable 
increase in Mangel, but it is open to the view that 
the effect is a good ileal owing to the common 
salt, rather than to the magnesia or even the 
potash." 
Will not the Government is.sue salt for coconut 
cultivation as an experiment to begin with ? — 
Yours truly, B, 
MINERALOGY IN CEYLON. 
March 3. 
Dear Sib,— I fear Col. Foss's remarks on the 
Mineral Resources of Ceylon, in your recent 
interview with him, are too vague to be of 
much value, and one is not aware that he 
has any practical knowledge of the country. 
Of course, it is very interesting if he really 
has some tin ore of Ceylon origin ; but a 
good many things have been reported to 
occur out here at one time or another 
without a foundation in fact, so that it is 
best to believe only what one knows per- 
sonally.— I am, yours faithfully, 
INTERESTED. 
COTTON-GROWING IN CEYLON, 
Dear Sir, — My experience of cotton growing 
out here, and elsewhere, points to the fact that the 
cotDon plant will grow and bear abundantly in 
bota leddish soils and sandy olackish soils at 
sea level ; and judging from the analyses of many 
samples of the black, or cotton-growing soils of 
India they seem to be far inferior to many of the 
present tea-growing soils of Ceylon. I suppose 
there is no other country the world over where 
cotton growing, and cultivation, is carried out to 
such perfection as in America, and throughout the 
cotton-growing belt of the United States I think 
further enquiry will elicit the fact that the 
cotton plant— of which there are many 
varieties or perhaps forms — grows in many kinds 
of soil, the constant and careful cultivation 
of the plant, the selection of seed from 
acclimatised and vigorous and good bearing 
bushes, having produced forms of the plant which 
the cotton faiiner swears by as being the best fpt 
