April i, i8oi«l 
THE TROPIOM, A«B«1»LTORlSr. 
73S 
®xii|tl$s^ion4^nj30» 
To the Editor, 
COFFEE FREE PROM DISEASE: SHOULD 
SEED BE GOT FOR CEYLON ? 
Sydney, New South Wales, March 2. 
Dbab Sik, — 1 have juet read a paragraph in 
your Overland Observer of 5th Feb, on the " Re. 
vival of r’offee” (in Ceylon); and thinking it 
might be of value to those about to plant ooffee 
again and knowing the interest you take in 
such matters. I venture to state that I have seen 
in my travels sinoe I left Ceylon, twelve months 
ago, fine healthy Liberian ooffee trees, untopped 
and bearing a large orop, grown in a oountry 
absolutely free from leaf disease. I have as well 
seen Coffee arabiea, where there is no disease of 
any kind, Hemileia vastatrix included, and I would 
be obliged if you would let me know if seed from 
such trees would be required in Ceylon, as I can, 
I believe procure some ; at the same time would 
be glad to know the best means of packing the 
seed as thiy would be perhaps five weeks in transit. 
—Yours faithfully, 0. P. ATKINSON. 
[As Mr. Atkinson is returning to Ceylon in April, 
there can certainly be no harm in his bringing 
some of the coffee seed he refers to — though we 
should not recommend his investing in much. It 
should be packed in charcoal. Seed from coffee trees 
free of disease — Mocha and Liberian — was freely im- 
ported into Ceylon in the “ seventies,” by Oapt. 
Bayley among others : but the resulting plants were 
at once oovered. with Hemileia vastatrix. — Ed. T.A.~\ 
INDIAN TEA EXPORTS. 
Indian Tea Association, Calcutta, March 10th. 
Deab Sir, — The General Committee have the 
pleasure to hand you their usual Monthly Return of 
shipments of tea from Calcutta, and also a Return 
of Exports of Ceylon Tea for four years up to the 
23rd February 1891 : — 
Expobts OB' Indian Tea Feom Calcutta. 
1891 
1890 
1889 
lb. 
lb. 
Ib. 
Exports to Great Britain in 
Feb. 
3,988.534 
5,833,908 
4,433,655 
Exports to Great Britain 
from 1st May to 28th 
Feb. 
96,944,877 
94,963,710 
91,260,140 
Exports to Australia and 
New Zealand in Feb. ... 
203,47 
177,049 
105,765 
Exports to Aiistralia and 
New Zealand from 1st 
May to 28th Feb. 
4,648,267 
3,382,011 
2,856,538 
Exports to America in 
Feb. 
13,152 
212 
12,375 
Exports to America from 
1st May to ‘28th Feb. ... 
131,662 
164,697 
155,784 
Exports to otlier places in 
Feb. 
113,611 
62,034 
97,256 
Exports to other places 
from 1st May to 28th 
Feb. 
1,081,276 
1,392,004 
854,978 
Total Exports from 1st 
May to 28th Feb. 
102,7'19,829 
99,902,422 
95,127,440 
— Yours faithfully, S. E. J. CLARKE, Secretary. 
SALT FOR AGRICULTURAL PUEPOSFS : 
In Coconut Cultivation Especially. 
Veyanands, March 12th. 
Dear Sm, — I mean this to be *n appes' to the daily 
newspape a to help me to secure for the agriculturist 
‘lit on s, cial terms, I may mention at the ouisett 
I am not personally iuterssted in the subject 
My interest in it is indirect. Mv objects are (I) to 
benefit Agiiculturo ; (2) the rovoi'Ue. 
92 
Before I proceed to discuss the subject, it is nees8» 
esry to say that it was discussed ail nauseam about a 
couple of years ago, when I started it. The then 
Governor or his advisers did cot seem inclined to make 
the concession prayed for. My reviving it so soon 
after will, I trust, be looked upon as a measure of my 
earnestness on the subject, of my belief, by the light 
of experience and observation, of its very great value 
in agriculture under certain circumstances, and of my 
I determination to do what I can to obtain the conces* 
sion from the Government. 
Of the value of salt in agriculture there are no two 
questions. On its value in coconut Cultivation it would 
be absurd to dilate. But I am forced to it, as those 
who joined in the discussion when I started it before, 
taking their stand on works on Agricultural Chemistry 
which treat chiefly on the cultivation of roots, grasses 
and cereals in European countries, argued that as 
these state that the small quantity of salt discovered 
in the ashes of plants is invariably conveyed to the 
soil by natural agencies, therefore it is absurd to say 
that, in our little island, swept as it is by both mon- 
soons, there can be an insuffloienoy of salt in the soil, 
and this argument is extended to inland districts under 
coconut cultivation, where, it is contended, it is not 
necessary to supply salt by artificial means 1 Argu- 
ments such as these can be used only by those who 
blindly follow the dicta of science, without adapting 
them to varying circumstances. 
As we all know, the home of the coconut palm is 
where the “sad sea waves” break at its very roots. With- 
out entering on the vexed question as to whether the 
East or the West is the original home of the palm, 
I may state, what everyone will accede to, that the 
natural home of the plant is by the sea shore, and 
that its extension to uninhabited coasts was by the 
agency of waves and currents. Its cultivation inland 
was the work of man. 
Let us now examine the natural conditions under 
which the palm grows and aye, flourishes. It grows 
on a perfectly free soil through which the roots roam 
unrestricted in search of food and water ; (2) in situa- 
tion where the downward roots have a perennial supply 
of water ; (3) in a soil impregnated with salt ; and 
(4) in an atmosphere saturated with saline spray. Now 
we all know, or at least ought to know, that in cul- 
tivating a plant or tree we ought, as far as lies in 
our power, to conform in everything to the natural 
conditions under which it grows, if we wish to cul- 
tivate it successfully. Of course, it is not always 
po8.?ible to conform in every particular with its natural 
requirements ; but the process by which trees or plants 
adapt themselves to their surroundings is a slow ope 
and by no means violent. In process of time a tree 
can be made to grow under conditions which to it are 
unnatural, but not all at once. 
When the cultivation of coconuts was first under- 
taken in this island, it was on the seashore. It was 
gradually extended inland, but on the seuborde where 
the four natural conditions I enumerated existed, though 
in a modified degree, but where the soil being chiefly 
alluvial was far richer than on the almost pure sand 
of the sea-shore. As the low-lying lands on the sea- 
borde became exhausteil, the cultivation was carried 
further and further inland, till at the pre^enr time 
coconuts are cultivaied under conditions which do 
not conform in any one particular with the natural oon- 
ditious under which it grows It is cultivated in stiff 
ol.ays, gravels and cabooks, where water is seldom 
or never within reacn of the downward roots, and 
where neither the soil nor the atmosphere is largely 
charged with salt. 
That the coconut tree resents the gross violation 
of its requirements, all will agree who will intelli- 
gently compare trees as they grow, say in Colombo, 
and as they are grown even in the nu it bighiy favoured 
districts inland. For a comparison to be of any value, 
it must bo made between trees growing on soil of 
equal ricliuess. But if it be in <le between trees 
growing on rich and poor soils, ! ■ " if it be in favour 
of the latter, then we may well sl..y to inquire the 
reason why. I think it will be admitted on all sides 
that the soil of the Oiniminon Gardens at Oolombe i.s 
about the poorest, if not the poorest, to l.e me' ith 
