April i, 1891.] TMF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 707 
gentleman saw in it, hov/ever, a confirmation of 
liis anticipations as to the peculiar value of this 
new stimulant. It proved to him that the new 
fertilizer was acting as had been expected 
by him, that is to say it was acting but slowly , 
but that while not stimulating to any sudden 
development, it was parting with its constituents 
after the manner which he believes to be best 
suited to the requirements and conditions of our 
climate. Mr. Hughes has drawn for u.s a contrast 
between the needs of home agricultural operations 
and those of a comparatively equable climate like 
that of Ceylon. In England, as he points out, 
the summer, the season for agricultural operations, 
is limited to a few months. The manures sought 
for by the British fartnu’S must therefore be 
rapid in their action, they must yield their con- 
stituents to the soil ns quickly as possible so 
that their efieot may be achieved in the few 
brief months available. Here in Ceylon we are 
possessed of a climate which enables agricultural 
operations to proceed throughout the entire twelve 
months. ‘‘The more haste the less speed” is a 
well-known, trite, and often necurato saying, and 
in the case of manuring in Ceylon it would seem 
to be of special application. Undue forcing, as 
wo well know, is injurious in many ways to the 
enduring strength both of animal and vegetable life. 
Slow development ensures a longer vitihly in 
almost every instance to both forms of life. 
Mr. Hughes believes that the applioatioa of forcing 
manures to many forms of cultivation is distinctly 
detrimental, and this has been found to be the 
case on many of the sewage farms established 
throughout England with the object of disposal of 
town drainage. In cases of the kind where super- 
saturation has occurred, the plants grown, although 
large in quantity, have become coarse and in- 
capable to a great extent of reproduction. Whether 
some such underlying principle as this may, as 
the result of the use of strongly forcing manure, 
have been in part accountable for a weakening 
of our coffee trees wljicli have succumbed to leaf- 
disease we do not feel competent to decide. We 
know, however, that the point has been asserted 
by several among those who have endeavoured to 
account for our past troubles over this matter. 
Arguing by analogy, we can conceive it to be 
possible that the free application of highly forcing 
manures — and especially of those having a mineral 
basis — may in some degree have operated to 
weaken the coffee trees when at matu ity, and 
the chance that this may have been so must make 
it mucli to be desired that the ultimate course of 
effect of the slower acting stimulant applied on 
the Mariawatte esta'.e should be carefully watched 
and recorded. Animal excrement applied in Eng- 
land has a peculiar value because it parts so readily 
with its fertilizing constituents and enables the 
brief suinmor to bo fully availed of. So with 
bones inado soluble as superphosphate. No such 
characteristic is necessary or desirable in our own 
case, and we hope that important knowledge 
may yet bo gained and useful couctusions 
arrived at from the Mariawatte experiment. It 
seems to be generally recogniz-sd that in the 
case of our new staple as in the case of oolfee, we 
cannot dj belter than apply castor calm and ground 
bones in dm proportion. If some iish manure is 
available so much the better. The bones contain 
some ammonia besides the phosphate of lime, and 
the castor cake oontains all the potash wanted by 
a soil supplied by that ingredient from the decom- 
position of felspar and mica. The tffcjt of such 
an application is expected to last for three yeais: 
at least that of the bones and cake, if llie aiuiuouia 
iu the liah should bo taken up more rapidly. 
AETIFIGIAL DRYING OF ‘‘COCOA.” 
(From the ‘‘ Trinidad Agricultural Record.") 
Government House, St. Anne’s, 8th Jan. 1891. 
Sir, — You have doubtless heard of the “ man in 
the street,” and do not attach implicit reliance to hia 
statement : I think the same may be said of the 
” Ceylon man.” I may have been wrong iu assuming 
that four-fifths of the cocoa e.xported from Ceylon 
was dried artificially. If so I freely admit it, What 
I wished to o'ill attention to was the statement of 
the Director of the Koyal Botanic Gardens iu Ceylon 
th-.t a hot air apparatus "for drying leans in wet 
•weather is regarded as an absolute necessity and is 
universally employed." Whereas wo have not half a 
dozen in this Island and tiio result is a loss to us of 
thousands of bag.s of good cocoa, and the manufacture of 
thousands of other bags of different staff which go to 
reduce the prestige and average of Trinidad cocoa 
generally. 
I now forward to you for publication further oorres- 
poudeuco which I have received from Ceylon on this 
iutersting subject and which I hope will be of use to cocoa 
planters. 
The “Ceylon man” may have the benefit of the exces- 
sive rainfall stated by me. 
fhe intention of my brochure was perfectly clear, 
and the general accuracy of my statements has been 
admitted at Kew and in Ceylon. — Yours, &c., William 
liOBINSON. 
Queen’s House, Colombo, 28th November, 1890, 
Sir, — In reply to Y'‘our Excellency’s letter requestin'^ 
fur'her particulars with regard to the artificial drying 
of coo'ja in Ceylon, I have the honour to annex a 
copy of a letter received from the Director of the 
Koyal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya furnidiing in- 
formation as regards the temperature to be maintained 
lor the prooe.ss. 
2, I have also much pleasure in sending you a 
copy of a Report by the Director of Public Works 
on my request lo him for a model of the Fan and 
a rough drawing of the arrangement of the stove and 
air passages. — I have, &c., A. E. Havjblogk, Governor. 
Hia Excellency the Governor of Trinidad and Tobago. 
Royal Botanic Garden, Peradeniya, 13th Nov. 1890. 
Sir, — In reply to your letter of 3rd November, I have 
the honour to inform you that I have made inquiry 
of several leading growers of cacao as to the point re- 
ferred to by Sir VV. Robinson, and now forward the 
result for His Excellency’s information. 
1. No definite temperature is maintaiued in the 
house during the process of drying. The object aimed 
at is to get the room as hot as possible with a good 
strong current of air passing through. This is prac- 
tically limited by the coinfoit of the coolies eemployed 
in it. In the smalUirying house described in my former 
letter the thermometer is marked at 110° F., and the 
coolies are instructed not to allow it ever to fall lower. 
One or two men have to be always inside turning over 
the cacao, and occasionally moving the trays from the 
hotter to the cooler end of the house. This is very 
necessary when there is much wet cacao iu the 
house, as the damp gets down forward by the cur- 
rent and is apt to sweat rather than dry the cacao 
at the end next the exit of the air. One planter (ells 
me that he has known the temperature in bis bouse 
as high as 170 ° F., but there is a general consensus 
of opinion that 120° -110° is the highest that is re- 
quired. 
2, The main point is to keep the fans going. In the 
small drying house described this is ellected by hand- 
power ; but it is of course much more efficiently done 
by steam or water-power. Jackson’s tea-drier has been 
found a perfect cacao drier, and the American fruit- 
drier has also boon used here with success.— I am, &o. 
„ Hknuy Tki.men, Director, ’ 
Hon. tbs Colonial Secretary, Colombo. 
{Copy of Report referred to.) 
l^ir, I annex copie.s of letters from Messrs. John 
Walker A Company, Blessrs. W. H. Davies & Co 
and Mr. U, J, Vollar of Fallekelly on the eubjeot! 
