December i, 1891.I THE TROP!GM„ AOmOtM-Ty RUST, 
435 
OUR BUILDING MATEKIALS AND 
THE GOVEENMENT. 
Not long back we devoted oonaiderable space io 
a series of articles dealing with tlio different 
forms o£ material used in this colony for building 
operations. We therein pointed out how much 
might be done to improve their natural qualities, 
or the manufacture of such items as have to be 
prepared for use. We are glad to realize that our 
Government has seen the desirability of afl'orciing 
help towards carrying out the second of those 
suggestions, and that an experienced man from 
home is to be put in charge of an endeavour in 
that direction. This is not the first time that 
our rulers have recognised the desirability of afford- 
ing some aid towards the improvement of our 
building materials. It is now fully thirty- five years 
back that brickmaking machines were obtained 
from England and distribuied throughout our 
several provinces. We never heard, however, that 
any success wa3 achieved by these. Perhaps they 
were in advance of the neceKsiiies of the time 
and that their possible output was too largely 
in excess of requirements to enable them to be 
profitably worked. But it is further possible 
as we know that at that lime large makers 
of bricks in England preferred hand labour 
to the use of these machines— that they were 
nothing like so well adapted to their purpose as 
those made in the present day. At all events, what- 
ever the cause may have been, no appreciable resalts 
appear to have foUoived from the attempt v/e have 
alluded to. The second endeavour made to intro- 
duce improved building material was we believe 
somewhere about 186-1, when Mr. Giles was sent 
out from homo to join the Public Works 
Department, ha having previously undergone a 
training at home in the manufacture of artificial 
Eton 3 from silicious materials easily obtainable in 
the colony. We think this artificial stone was 
named after its inventor, Mr. Banaome. Although 
a very considerable expense was gone to with the 
object of producing a material the uso of which 
might relievo the then monotonous appearance 
of our public buil ings, Mr. Giles's attempts appear 
to have failed of success, from what cause we do 
not now remember. The only stooo^ of a permanent 
nature to be obtained in Ceylon is granitic 
gneiss, with oocasionrtliy pure i,ranite ; and the 
cost of working these rocks for ornamental 
purpoBSB is almost prohibitory. It Mr. Giles had been 
successful, utidoubiedly we should have seen pleasing 
results; but, as we presume, disgusted with the failure 
of the first two efforts made, our Government 
appears never again to have departed from its 
beaten track, although it obtained from England 
an architect to whom improved materia] easily worked 
would have been an invaluable aid. We think it very 
likely that a mistake was made in the endeavour 
to introduce a new material instead of devoting 
the monoy that ende.ivour cost to an attempt to 
improve, existing local methods of nianufacturiog 
building material. It was with such a view in 
our mind that we wrote the series of articles 
dealing wiihsuoh matters aa the making of bricks, 
tiles, &o., and recommending that endeavour 
should bo made at improvement. It is in this 
latter direction that our Government is now mov- 
ing, and we rap.y hope ero very long to see some 
beneficial result from ils action in this dirt* ion. The 
sorvicus of an expert in any special branch of mate- 
rial need not bo very long retained, and when he has 
trained native pupils sufficient to disseminate his 
teaching, an expert in fome other branch might 
profitably be engaged. By such a method we are 
sure sooner or later to obtain improvements which 
as wo pointed out in our previous articles referred 
to. are so desirable if our buildings are to be works 
of permanence and not to bo possessed but of a 
brief life only. Matters eueh as wo have indicated 
will come well within the legitimate scope of the 
Technical Institute about to be established. 
THE EFFECT OP MANURING ON TEA. 
The following letter was, as will be seen, cir- 
culated for the opinions of experienced planters, 
but BO few have responded that we suppose most 
are in the position in which Mr. W. F. Laurie 
acknowledges himself to be, unable to speak from 
experience on the point at issue. Here is the letter 
and our foot-note: — 
{Circular from "Observer") 
A planter has addressed the following letter to 
the Editor, whose own opinion is adverse to the 
idea that the application of fertilizing matter 
could deteriorate the quality of tea. But he 
naturally desires the opinions of the leaders of the 
planting community on the subject, and will feel 
much obliged if favoured with the result of your 
experience and observation at your earliest con- 
venience. Oct. 15th, 1891 
[Letter referred to.) 
October 12th. 
Dear Bie, — I would feel obliged if you or some 
of your numerous correspondents would give me 
their opinion on the effects that Poonac and Bones 
have on the quality of tea. I am a novice myself 
and I would not bother you, but still I have had a 
little experience, and my opinion is that artificial 
manure does not improve the quality. I know an 
estate that has been all manured within the last 3 
years with castor cake and bones, 0. C. f , B. J, 
about half a ton to the acre, and the said estate 
previous to manuring always topped the market. Now 
for the last eighteen months the prices have 
tumbled down at least '65. per lb ; what is the 
reason ? I know for a fact that the tea has always 
been treated iu the fame way for the last five years, 
so there is a something ; is the munuro drawing 
some dormant chemical matter out of the soil which 
is fifieoting the tea ? Now, Mr. Editor, you as a 
party directly interested iu our welfare should do 
your best to find this out. I could give you a list 
of estates that have been manuring heavily the last 
2 years, and now instead of their prices being 
above the Ceylon average, as they used to be, they 
can't now get within a pnnuy of the average. My 
own experience is that the yield is enormous but 
there is in ray opinion a laste in the tea that 
should not he there. I could enlarge on the subject 
if I were not a _ NOVICE. 
[The results of an extensive experiment on a 
Ohittagong estate, a few years ago, were not only 
increased, quantity, but improved quality, price 
being the criterion of the latter. — Ed. I'. ^/.] 
Mr. W. P. Laurio's response runs thus: — 
October 22nd. 
Sir,— I am uot ia a position to say whether the 
inauaring of tea results iu the tea produced lacking 
flavour or not, although I should thiuk it possible. 
It would not, I presume, bo owing to the manure 
drawing some chamical property from the soil, aa 
'' Noviui' " implies ; afcleast,if the result be deleterious 
to the produce, it would iu all probability arise from 
the habit plants have of absorbing a sujall proportion 
of highly solvent material from ihe ingredients of the 
soil, unneceHsary for their healthy existence or general 
economic;', such as has been imlieputably proved by 
water culture aud do not wholly change in the elabor- 
ation of the Siu\}. 
In the aualjsis of healthy plants, many of the 
poonliar properties of the laud upon which they are 
grown have been discovered in them, 
