174 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[September i, 1891. 
It should be got out as soon after the heavy mon- 
soon rain is past as possible. H put out jutt after 
crop it is expoBed for months to a blistering suo, 
followed by 20 to 25 iuchfs of rain in June and July. 
With a monsoon of C6 inches over 6,690 tons of water 
full on au acre ot l^nd, sufficient, if ull fell at ouce,- to 
submfrge the whole district to a depth of 5 ft, U inches. 
Of this enormous quantity of water about 1,000 to 2,000 
tons fall in June end 1,500 to 2,000 in July. During 
these two months the rain is geuerally so continuous 
that only a very small prcportion is evaporated, 
the temperature only varyitig from O'O deg. to 70 deg. 
Fh. the barometer almost steady at 26 5 inches, 
and only about 3 deg. between the wet and dry 
bulb thermometers. The bulk ot the rain must (heze- 
fore pass off by surface or subsoil drainage. In either 
case this heavy downpour will wash all the sdublo 
Bjlis down below the feeder roots or c^rry t! em off 
with the surface wash; at any rate a very large loss must 
occur, and this is probably the reason why such a em'ill 
percentage of potash is found in tropical soils. The 
lollDwing experiment proves that such is the case :— 
20 lb. cattle manure or rather pure dry gram-fed 
cattle dune was placed in a basket, which Ttas buried in 
the ground up to the rim, in such a way that it wos 
not subject to surface Wash, b at was f a nearly as ppsgiblo 
under the same couditious as the surrounding soil. 
To preserve the basket it was carefully vjashtd with 
a strong solution of arsenite of copper and then tarrr d. 
It was lelt exprsed for four months, namely, May, 
June, July, and Augufct. 
Tne dung tnken out dried and weighed was found to 
have lost 22'.5 per cent in weight and deteriorated in 
quality over 50 per cent. 
The following analyses will help to make this clear : — 
Pure Dung. 
Before Exposure. After. 
(1) Organic Matter 
Lime 
Alkaline Salts 
Fhosphorie Acid 
Iron 'and Alumina 
Insoluble Matter 
Undetermined 
Pdrts per JOO 
65-86 
. • 62-51 
1-87 
. 1'49 
1'31 
•48 
•90 
■83 
108 
. 1-39 
28'60 . 
. 38^03 
•38 
•27 
lOO'OO 
. 100 CO 
•517 
•212 
(1) Oontaining Nitrogen 
Should these figures fail to convince anyone let 
him just look at the rush of water over and off the 
guit'xo of a piece of flat land such as a tennis 
Court, or a road, when a thunderstorm of an inch 
or more rain falls in an hour, or when there is a 
puo'a bur.st of the monsoon, registering 4 to C inches 
in 21 hours, and I think he will agree with me 
that it is necessary to supply the tree with easily 
astimilable food as soon as possible after the heavy 
rains are past, to compensate for the monsoon loss. 
I cannot too strongly urge the planters of Coorg to 
put out their manuies dnriug the first break at the 
end of July or in August. All otl'er works should be 
subordinated to this, even supplying. It is the crop 
that pays for this and every other work. If labor is 
obtained there is plenty of time for supplying, but the 
time at which mauure can be applied to obtain maxi- 
mum results at the minimum cost is very limited. 
The cofftc tree is a surface feeder; and unless 
the land has been deeply cultivated from the 
b 'ginning and is of loose and friable character few 
feeder roots are found below G inches in com- 
parison with the number above that depth. This 
points to the necessity of surface, broadcast man- 
uring, by which I moan that in good cofieo free 
from blanks, that the manure should be evetly scat- 
tered over the surface up to within about a foot of 
the stern, »nd lightly forked in. An account of an 
interesiiiig txpi:riment first devised by Nobbe will I 
hope satmfy you of the necessity for-chsliibutiug the 
muiiure evenly round the tree. 
Any planter can make the experiment and so satisfy 
himself of the correctness of the following statements. 
Take r good-9ized tub Bay 2 feet ia diameter by g ft, 
deep, bend a piece of tin (an old kerosine oil tin 
will do) at an angle of 90 deg. and place it on end in 
the tub fitting the edges to the tub sides, to that it 
is possible to fill the tub with. well washed sand 
without encroaching on theencloEed fourth. Bore some 
holes in the bottom of the tub, fill in for three'incbes 
with clean washed pebbles or broken quartz, pieces ^ 
to 1 inch will do, fix the tin in position, fill with 
clean well washed sand outside the tiu. And in the 
fourth enclosed fill with first-class soil ; arranging 
in it three verticul tubes place about three inohCB 
or BO apart and eqnidietant from the centre. 
The tubes ehould not be over two inches in dia- 
meter; they may be of tin, copper, glass or any other 
material; stiff paper rolled round a rod and glued 
so as to form a tuho will do. Compact the soil gently 
round the tubes, and fill one with bonee, one with fifh, 
and one with cattle maunrp, all in fine powder. Now 
withdraw tbo tubes, leavii g the colnmns of m&nures 
standing in the soil, and then withdraw the angle tiu, 
leaving the soil and eand in contact; if the woik 
is well and carofnlly done the manure will 
not be mixed wnh the eoiJ, nor tbo soil 
with the sand. 
Having prepared the tub (or fix of them to guard 
against accidents) plant a coffee seedling in each at 
the centre point of the junction of the sand and soil; 
the plant then has sand on tbtee sides and soil on one. 
At the end of twelve months take the plant that 
appears most vigorous, knock the hoops off the tub, 
and carefVllv wash all the soil and sand away from 
the roots. You will find very few feeder roots in the 
sand, while il.o manures are surrounded by a mass 
of them. As far as the roots go the plant is quite 
lopsided. Now if manures are put in alavanga holes, 
or in trenches cut a short distance from the tree, the 
roots are prepared to grow and dovelope in the 
soil enriched by them. But that terrible weapon 
the mamotie comes into play, and often cuts 
through the roots just when the demand for ■'plant 
food is greatest, when the tree is ripening crop. I 
most unhesitatingly condemn all mamotie digging. I 
have taken clods of earth after a mamotie digging, 
carried them home and washed tOut the fine feeder 
roots, often finding the clod one mass of them. Need- 
less to say that on many estates leaf diseaEe followed 
the digging when the trees were carrying crop. Ex- 
cept a light folk over at the end of July or in the 
beginniiig of August when the manure is put out, 
there should be no digging from the time the blossom 
sets till crop is picked. Every planter should do all 
he can to preserve his surface soil and save his tree 
roots. When the soil is light and friable and has 
been deeply and well cultivated from the beginning, 
the feeder roots are found at a much greater depth 
thau when it is stiff and bard a few inches from the 
surface. 
Deep fork digging once a year just after crop 
sends the roots down, and they are less affected by 
the 6un and drought. 
When rain falls in the spring, if the feeder roots 
are just below the surface a light shower will start 
the blossom, but may not be sufficient to set it, and if 
no rain falls for a month or so to back the first 
shower up, the blossom runs a great risk of being 
burnt. With deep cultivation this seldom happens, as 
the rain which is suft ciently heavy to reach the roots 
and bring out the blossom will also serve to set it, 
the sun not having the power to evaporate the mois- 
ture which is well down into the soil. 
Superficial cultivatiou.and want of manure are the 
main causes of the failure of crops to come on after 
a good blossom ; the rain his run off and been eva- 
porated before the trees had time to gather it to 
thenuelve?. 
Cultivate deeply, but not excessively, manure 
systematically, do it at the right time, keep the sur- 
face soil up to the tree, do not humbug the roots by 
niiimotio ditgiug while crop is on the tree: in fact; 
assist Nature, do not bully her, and good results may 
be depended on. WILLIAM PBINGLE, m.s.c.i., 
Agcioultural Obemist, 
Bangalore, July dlst, 
