6o 
TMP TROPICAL AORtOULTURIST, 
[July i, 1891. 
I honestly say that of my own personal knowledge I 
do not know that he is a ProfessT. Not only must he 
be » Professor, but ono who " has mafle a name and 
position in his own hranoh of investigation," or accord- 
ing to his own showiiig " Old Planter" would net 
have thought fit to parade his opinion. In the March 
nnmber of the Tropical Agriculturist there appeared 
an article on " Tl:e Action of Lime on Clay Soils" signed 
" Alexander Johnstone," E iinliurgh University, ant 
extracted from Nature. In it I read with a areat de- 
gree of astoni-ihmeut the s'a^r-mont quoted by " Old 
Planter," and 1 mentally clussed it with the startling 
and revolutionary theory if Mr. J. A. Reeve", that as 
it was apainst the laws of gravitation for water to as- 
cend and it could rise only some thirty feet by capil- 
lary attraction, therefore it wns impossible for eap to 
rise. He attributed to thp roots the fnoctions usuf.lly 
ascribed to leaves and vice versa. I regarded it as a 
bold bid for fame, more especially as he states in the 
opening sentences of bis article thi\t to the best cf his 
belief " the scientific reason for the beneficial action 
arising from the application of quiuino has not been at 
any time satisfactorily explained" ! Tins in the fnc^ of 
all the "scientific reasons" given by learned ohemifts 
down to very recent times. To supply this omipsi he 
offers "an explanation, or rather theory, which, to my, 
doubtless, somewhat partial mind, semis to go a con- 
siderable way towards the elucidation of the problem." 
It will be observed that what he advances is only a 
" theory," which seems to go a considerable way to his 
^arZiaZ mind towards &c. And yet this is what "Old 
Planter" triumphantly puts forward. Professor Jobn- 
fctone goes very much further than thofo whoso ex- 
periments only went to prove that silica was not es. 
sential to plunt growti;. He avers that it is " de. 
oidedly injurious," particularly to agricultural plants. 
And yet it abounds in the earth, from which I eupposo 
people yet believe, in spite of ?.'Ir. Eeevea, that plants 
mainly draw their sustenance, to the extent of more 
than a half of its composition. I suppose it will be 
conceded without demur that the earth was mainly 
created for the growth find support of ve.ijetation. C;iu 
we reconcile with our belief of an all-wi.se Creator the 
composition of the earth with a substsnce which is its 
predominating constituent and which is yet " deci- 
dedly injurious" to all vegetation ? If it were a", injuri- 
ous plant food, plants would avoid it, but what do we 
actually find ? "The wheat plant is always found to 
contain a large proportion of silica, although it may have 
been i-aised on a lime soil." Is it not against the laws 
of nature to find a plant deliberately choosing what is 
" decidedly injurious" to it ? 
What to my lay mind is a weak argument that Pro- 
fessor Johnstone adduces in support of his theory, is 
the fact that silica is to be found generally in the ex- 
ternal tissues of plants: this he regards as the at- 
tempts of vegetation to get rid of it hs speedily as 
poPB^ble — that is to get it out of the way of its general 
circn lation." To my mind these external incrustations of 
■ilioa both on grain and in the outside tissues of plants 
and trees prove that they are intended by nature 
to serve a very useful purpose. They act as a 
shield to them aKaiu.st injury and insect attacks. In 
the case of paddy we know that till the ontsida 
covering of the grain is hardened they are liable 
to be punctured or sucked dry by bugs. In the case 
of coconut trees, the hard outer-covering of the stem 
is that which protects them from the attacks of 
red beetle. So wiih other trees. 
Believing as I do, what Dr. Wolff's experiments 
prove that silica helps in the assimilation of o'her 
plant food, and that its presence in a soil helps to 
the better development of vegetation, I must be 
pardoneil for holding tenaciously to the belief that 
salt by helping towards the solution of plant food 
in the soil, including silica, will help coconut trees in 
time to overcome toe bad habit of not being able to 
support un^ided their fruit bunches. 
it may bo superliaous to add that I have discus-ed 
th's question entirely from the point of view of a 
Ift/man. B. 
[Iron has long been i idtrvalued as a mineral 
pOBflesBed of (ortilizing properties. It is so under- 
valued no longer, at any rate by tea planters in 
Ceylon. Soils largely ferruginous suit this plant 
admirably, while the virtues of iron slag as a manure 
are now loudly proclaimed. Silica, too may have 
virtues not dreamed of in our philosophy. In any 
case we cannot biing ourselves to believe that the 
most prevalent of all minerals is injurious to 
agricultural plants,— Ed. T. 4.] 
TEA STATISTICS AND PPvOSPECTS. 
Colombo, May 20th 
Sib,— In 1868 the export of tea 
from China by sea was 
do by land 
The export from Japan, India 
&o , say 
164,000,000 lb. 
14,OUt),000 ,, 
12,000,000 „ 
190,000,000 lb. 
393,000.000 
Gow, Wilson & Stanton's " Tea 
Consumption " make the World's 
annual averaee consumption of tea 
for the 5 years 1885 to 1889 
Increase 203,000,000 lb. 
Taking the average of 1885 to 1889 to be equal to 
the conFumption of 1887, the increase in 19 years, 
as we may suppose the exp ;rt. for 1868 to equal 
the consumption of that year, is at the rate of 
10 684,210 lb. 
The export from Ceylon for the present year to 
18th May (5| months) is 9,694,025 lb. in excess of 
the export to same date last year, so we seem to 
be going ahead too fast. The falling-o£f in exports 
from China may be balanced by increase from 
India and Java.— Yours truly, NEMO. 
PLANTING STATISTICS. 
C. P., May 21st, 
Sir, — Up to what date were the figures for cultiva- 
tion on estates given in your last Directory ? Am I 
not right in saying they are now about a year 
old and that the area under tea must be a good 
deal larger now ? — Yours tni^y, 
TEA. PLANTER. 
[Our Planting Statistics in last "Hacdbook and 
Directory " were made up as to 30th June 1890. 
No doubt there has been a considerable increase 
in planted area since and, notwithstanding the 
risk of over-production, we suppose a good many 
c'earings are to be planted during the present 
mo nsoon season. We are arranging for a fresh 
compilation in a smaller volume, of which more 
anon.— Ed. T. 4.] 
AN ENEMY OP THE COCOUNT. 
May 26th. 
SiR__Under separate cover I try to send you two 
beetles, the larvae of which are called by the 
Sinhalese kanda panuwa and which are responsible 
for an immense amount of damage in young 
coconut plantations. Will you kindly give their 
scientific name, for which I have searched through 
your publication " All About Coconuts," but 
without success. COCONUT PLANTER. 
i;We cannot find the scientific name of this 
very common weevil : perhaps some reader can 
supply it.— Ed. 2'. A.] 
LABOUR SUPPLY FUND. 
G.ammadui, May 28th. 
Dear Sib, — The prpsent time is not precisely 
similar to the past, inasmuch as in the past (th« 
old coffee days) the labour supply was required 
