May I, 1891.] 
THE TROPiCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
To the Editor. 
PLANTING IN THE NATIVE ESTATES. OF 
THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
To the Editor “ Geylon Observer,'’ 
Dear Sir, — In forwarding you the crop reiurns of 
ourestite.'t perhaps a faw words on the subject m-iy not 
prove unwelcome. 
Ill 1878, when I was leaving Ceylon, I promised to 
send to a persona! friend a treatise on the rotation of 
manures, a subject which had econp'oj much of my 
attention in connection with the estates of which 1 was 
manager in Ceylon. 
I finally came to the conclusion in Ceylon that we 
had started too late, at any rate on most estates, and 
for estates to become more permanently productive it 
would be necessary to do more to cultivate the laud, 
and that trees should be younger at the time of com- 
mencement to give the cultivator satisfactory returns. 
The hard life of a pioneer, 13 not calculated to foster 
writing in any form and therefore my promise was 
never fulfilled, and ns time has gone on and I have gra- 
dually been developing what might have been called 
theories into praoticp, I have felt less and less inciiua- 
tioa to write until 1 could, as I can now, refer to 
actual ri suits. I think that the measure of success 
so far attained will gradually be developed to an even 
greater extent. 
Estate Nurseries. — I will commence with the 
nurseries of an Estate. These have always been made 
from seed from oar,, fully selected trees iu the youngest 
planted clearings in some instances, and in others 
from the older coffee. But recently marking the great 
improvement in the form of all the last planted 
clairings in having their primaries quite close to the 
ground, I have decided only to plant the cherry from 
the selected trees of the youagest clearings. The 
seed having been gathered, is pulped by hand, and 
any small parchment and malformed beans rejected. 
The seels are then laid on raised platforms wdth earth, 
ashes, etc., to germinate, and as they germinate tliey are 
carefully put into the beds in the nurseries, where they 
are kept constantly top dressed with burnt earth, ushes 
and lime, if available. In one of the last nurseries out of 
16,752 germinated seed 16,750 were put out into the 
field, I am inclining more to again bring selection 
into play, by ptlanting my nurfertes 8 in. apart and 
only putting out the selected pliuls, which it is my 
intention iu future only to put out after they are 
shewing primaries. The clearings, having been planted 
with selected plants, from selected seed, from selected 
trees, are only treated in the ordinary way, except 
that should a plant show signs of weaknes.s in any 
respects, it is either at once taken out and destroyed 
or another plant is put alongside it, and when the 
time comes the selection made as to which is to have 
its life granted. The youngest clearings are being 
topped at 5 ft. 6 in. having ample primaries they are 
planted 9 ft. by 10 ft. but I am inclined tj think I 
shall probably leel my way back to 12 ft. by 12 ft. and 
putting out much larger plants than I have hitlierto done. 
Stumps come on splendidly, but I have the greatest 
objecli.'U to that little piece ct .load wood that you ciu 
generally find iu a plant, liowever vigorous, if it is 
cut across just above the place of junction between the 
bud and tbe top of the stump. Even when they are 
old trees you can finl this. From thi.s until the Ith or 
5lh year the plants receive ordinary care and attention, 
except that they are pruned every (> sveeks, or at longest 
two months. From the fifth year at latest com- 
mtuccs the c ritivatiou of the land. You will remark I 
do not say manuri.-.g the free, although at first it 
really amounts to that. 
For Iho first yen' I have rued oil cakes of various 
kinds, aalies and bones mixed witti as ranch earth as 
posiiblo. Iu iny opiuioii tao quaulity of earth W.lh 
which a fertilizer shoul 1 be mixed caimot be loo great 
101 
although it is an advantage to pi.t athes (the potash 
being so heavy and sinking so r.ipiJly) on the mixed 
earth. For the second year I use much the same 
mixture, with the addition of burnt earth, but dif- 
ferently applied. 
For the third year, according to the nature of the 
soil, I either mulch with iaiang {Arundinaaa huper- 
ata) Ellcok it is called iu Ceylon ; or else lime the ;aud 
with quick-lime, about 40 pikuls to the acr.', a pikul 
being 133 lbs. It would depend upon the nature of 
the soil, and transport facilities which I should have 
done first. 
This is as far as I have got at present, but t he fifth 
cour.se of the rotation would include digging over the 
land and turning the weeds in. 
I should mention that woods are allowed to grow 
sometimes for 3 mouths on eud, after the 4th year, 
ftiid they have been allowed to grow for ^s kng as 
6 months, and then cleaned up and kept clea'^ by weed- 
ing, once in 3 we -ks, for 6 months on e“d. I am 
entirely opposed to an estate being always clean after 
its fomth year, although I would keep the clearings 
clean, there being sufficient humus ou the soil to absorb 
the rain and fix the phosphoric acid contaiaedj iu the 
rain water. 
I will now proceed to give you a few remarks ou 
Climate, which we can only change for the worse wil- 
fully ; Land, which it is in our hands to improve ; and 
Labour, which with the aid of the Government could 
be put upon a satisfactory basis. 
OLm.\TE. — In 1879 I referred to the climate as being 
near perfect! 11 for the growth of Liberian Coffee, and 
I think that the results may be said to bear out that 
view, that is to say, the present climate ; but if or 
when the climate is changed by the denudation of forest 
over large areas we shall probably sec that our coffee 
will fail in the same way thatit has iu many other places. 
With this experience to look back on, I submit it would 
be well worth while the Government considering how 
this is to be prevented, more especially as they derive 
an income from export duty and rout on the land. 
At this stage of the development of the country 
it would ha an easy matter to prevent that 
loss of moisture in the atmosphere and to prevent 
any radical changes in the climate. The amount of 
moisture contained in the atmosphere, the heavy dews 
and morning misls lying over the trees, often until 8 
o’clock in the morning, are some of the most impor- 
tant factors in the successful, growing of large crops of 
coffee per acre. Whilst they exist, with care and 
cultivation we may look for equally good if not better 
crops than those- the statement I forward you shew. 
When these misls and dews have disappeared by reason 
of the forest being extensively felled, we may look 
for our crops to fall off, as they have elsewhere. This 
certainly will bo remembered by some of the old plan- 
ters of Ceylon. 
How then is it to be prevented ? By the Govern- 
meut reserving the right iu the public interest 
to control tlie felling of the trees. Thus A wishes 
10 plant an Estate of 300 acres, the Government sell 
him 1,000 or they tell him .300 as ho wishes, and retain 
the 700. When his 300 acres have been planted and 
p;.'!haps part of it worn' out, he applies for part of 
the 700 ucros which should be granted to him acre 
P' )• aero for his land, that is for the time worked out. 
That 13 planted with an agreed number cf forest in 
fruit trees per acre that are visible and subject to 
verification. But 23 years’ observation of tropical 
cultivation leads me to believe that perennial culti- 
vation, to he successful, is a system of long crops and 
long fallows, which the system I advocate admits ou 
although I fear the desire of those in charge of new 
countries to increase the revenue at the cost of the 
cai-itai of tlie country, which is as much in its climate, 
as its soil, ami its mimral.«, may not procure lor 
these views the consideration that tho results of culti- 
vation in s niilar tropical climates would lead one to 
espeot and hope for. 
I am well aware that for one or two yiar.s the dryer 
atmO 5 plu.ro will produce even more blosrom and some- 
timej oven crop, but tho trees will not stand up to 
ir crop or recuperate so quickly. 
