116 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Auo. L 1901. 
" ACACIA DECURRENS " : AS A 
•'NEW" PRODUCT FOR CEYLON, 
Albion, Nuwara Eliya, June 20. 
Dear Sir, — Your paragraph in Observer 
bf 17th instant, re acacia decurrens as a 
possible new product for Ceylon, is likely 
to give anyone intei'ested the impression 
that it has not yet had a trial. I first 
planted acacia, decitrrens here in 1887 on 
very ordinary patana soil, and there is 
no doubt as to its being a success, as I 
have marketed several tons of bark from 
•A small belt, and during the past few years 
have . sold (mostly locally), over 300 lb. of 
seed, the produce of my older trees ; while 
a sample of bark that was sent to the 
last Paris Exhibition was awarded a medal. 
(The tree that produced it was raised from 
my own seed.) To make it a really paying 
concern it should be grown on a large 
■cale for export, and if in a locality where 
the timber would command a sale (fuel), 
that item would add considerably to the 
profits. You might publish some of the 
detailed estimates given m Maidan's " Wat- 
tles and Wattlebarks ;" and if a syndicate 
could be formed to take the matter up. 
Government might reasonably be asked to 
lease or grant free for a term of 10 or 12 
years, a few thousand acres of the now 
useless patanas, not only in Uva but say 
beween Nanuoya and Summit Level. Mr. 
Thomas Kent "discovered" the virtues of 
mimosa bark extract and received as a 
reward (10,000) ten thousand acres of the 
richest land he could find in Tasmania. — 
Yours faithfully, A. J. KELLOW. 
BASIC SUPERPHOSPHATE AND " HUGHES' 
PATENT." 
London, June 2lst, 1901. 
Dear Sir,— The Overland Observer received 
this week contains a criticism on the above from 
a planter who, you state, " has paid a good deal 
of attention to the subject of the proper manure 
for tea." 
It would be very out of place for me to oc- 
cupy your space with a view to supporting the 
merits of a manure introduced by myself. Basic 
Superphosphate must succeed on its own merits, 
and it will be sufficient to mention that the 
material has been devised upon chemical princi- 
ples in order to supply phosphate of lime in a 
readily available form, for application to soils 
naturally deficient in lime, upon which ordinary 
Acid Superphosphate, when used alone, cannot 
exert, its full benefit. 
The practical value of the invention has been 
recognised by the formation last January of a 
syndicate consisting of six of the largest manure 
firms in the United Kingdom who have taken 
up the patent richts, and the manure is now 
being ))repared and sold in considerable quanti- 
ties. Ceylon planters, who are shrewd men of 
buainesf, will properly appreciate the above facts 
and I now proceed to briefly reply to the points 
of objection raised by the planter already re- 
ferred to. He states that, unless Basic Super- 
phosphate is cheaper than Basic Slag, he does 
not think there will be much sale for it in 
Ceylon. In reply I can assure him that this is 
^o reasvu vlnatevei', because the new manure 
is of superior solu'ality in regard to its corapo- 
bition and therefore should conuiiand a higher 
price per ton. 
I quite agree with the planter that tea only 
lequiics Phosphoric Acid in ooiiipa.atively small 
proportion, but itiequires to get it in a torm readily 
available as plant fodil, and not in the coimIlIuu of 
a hard fused mass like slag, howe<er finely ;,he 
latter may be ground. 
"Planter" rather contradicts hini.self in first stat- 
ing that Tea only requires Phosphoric Acid as an 
essential ingredient to a moderate extent, and 
then going on to state that Basic Slag wliich 
contains fully .38 to 40 per cent of Pho-phate of 
lime is more effective .is a material for burying with 
pruiiinKS than even burnt an i .slaked lime which 
practically contMins no Piiospliate of Wme at all. 
The co^t ot Basic Snperpliosphaie in England is 
about £2 10s per ton for the usual quality which 
contains 26 per cent of Phosphate of lime soluble 
in a weak solution of Citric Acid (1 in 1,000 parts 
of water.) For foreign shipmentit has the great 
advantage over Acid Supeiphosphate that, being 
Alkaline in characier, there is no danger of the 
bags being rotted duiing the vf)yage;and importers 
will fully appreriate what pumuuity from 
damage in that respect means. 
"Planter" evidently recognises the valuf of the 
invention when he concludes his letiei by lemark- 
ing that concentrated Superphosphate of lime 
could be mixed with finely-slaked coral lime, and 
might be found a cheaper form for restoring the 
balance to crops which %re annuttls, but he adds, 
for Tea the problem is more complicated. 
My patent consists in the conversion of Acid 
Superphosphate into alkaline or Basic Superphos- 
phate by the use of lime, and I am not restricted 
to any particular strength or quality of the res- 
pective ingredients ; so that the mosi concentrated 
Superphosphate can be treated with lime prior to 
shipment, and thus all the annoyance of damage, 
through the rotting of the bags durmg transit, 
will be avoided and the manure will arrive in a 
fine, dry, powdery comiition admirably adapted 
for mixing with the other ingredients necessary 
to form a suitable complete compound fertiliser 
for Tea or Coffee, 
I enclose you an official reprint of my paper 
read before the Socieiy of Chemical Industry at 
Burlington House on April 1st, which also gives aa 
account of the discussion which followed the same. 
JOHN HUlmES, 
Agricultural Analyst, 
TEA SEED OIL. 
AN ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS. 
Mount Lavinia, June 22, 
Dear Sir,— In answer to your request for 
some information regarding tea seed oil, 
perhaps the following notes may be useful : — 
Some five years since, I experimented with 
this oil, which was extracted in two- differ- 
ent ways:-(l) by pressing the seed in a 
" chekku " and (2) by boiling the seed, when, 
the oil was removed by skimming the surface 
of the liquor. The first kind was like fine 
olive oil in appearance : and, according to 
the City Analyst, to whom I submitted 
samples, it was possessed of many of the 
latter's properties. It made an excellent illii- 
minant, being in that respect fully equal to 
coconut oil : and was also very useful as a 
lubricant for machinery, b?ing equal tq tbe 
