5° 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
lJULY  I,  1896, 
out 
'Ceylon 
Cusms  Can  any  of  your  correspondents  in- 
form me  where  I can  get  these  delicious  aromatic 
tats  for  hai^.ging  round  a verandah,  and  the  pio 
able  cost  of  a tat  say  9ft.  by  10ft.  ? 
The  planting  of  Liberian  coffee  is  going  briskly 
ahead  here ; and  during  the  last  few  weeks  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  plants  have  been  pu- 
in  this  district  (Serdang',  while  our  old 
friend  Mr.  Inch  is  going  big  licks  in  Deli. 
can  be  no  doubt  Serdang  will  hold  its  own 
A few  months  ago  one  estate  sen.  a 
shipment  to  Singapore,  which  was  so  highly 
of,  that  it  fetched  one  dollar  per  picul  above  the 
day’s  market  rate.  Another  estate  recently  shUipea 
to  "Havre  a parcel  which  created  such  a /wore 
was  sold  at  S&Gl  per  picul.  “ Such  Liberian  cohee 
had  never  been  seen  before,  it 
faithfully,  W.  TURING  MACKENZIE 
[The  rubber  referred  to  by  “ W.  1.  M.  m his 
letter  of  Oct.  25,  1895,  as  suitable  for  shade  tor 
Liberian  coffee,  was  the  Castilloa  variety.  VV  e oe- 
lieve  that  cuscus  tats  can  be  purchased  in  Colomoo, 
thev  can  be  procured  from  India,  where  they 
■ ' season. — En. 
There 
in  prices. 
or 
are  largely  used  in  the  hot 
CULTIVATION. 
13 
on 
in  Jaffna 
the 
COCONUT 
De.^r  SiR,-“Yourg  Planter”  is  I see  exercised  by 
what  “they  say”— that  “grubs,  worms  and  insects  bred 
in  the  ca ale-manure  applied  to  lagging  coconut  plauts 
will  destroy  them.  He  may  make  his  mind  perfectly 
easy  on  the  subject  and  go  on  with  his  manuring  opei- 
ations,  as  the  only  insect  known  to  destroy  coconut 
trees  in  Ceylon  is  the  red  beetle,  and  it  is  not 
bred  in  manure  heaps.  As  to  the  age  beyond  it 
not  safe  to  transplant  coconut  plants,  he  will  hnd 
page  0 of  tiie  hook  he  hac  e^uoted,  that 
a plantation  was  opened  with  plants  8 years  in 
nursery.  I myself  have  put  out  as  supplies,  plauts 
3 and  4 years  old.  The  nursery  for  these  was  made 
ill  a well  drained  swamp,  the  plauts  were  taken  up 
with  a large  ball  of  earth  and  placed  in  coconut 
leaf  baskets  to  prevent  the  ball  breaking  up,  and 
transported  to  their  destination  in  carts.  Ihe  advau- 
ta<'es  of  putting  out  plauts  of  this  age  as  supplies 
are  many  and  obvious.  'The  veteran  planter  and 
authority  on  coconut  cultivation  Mr.  AYright  could 
say  that  he  put  out  plants  older  tb an  3 and  1 years 
old  and  that  they  grow  successfully. 
Now  as  to  the  method  of  applying  manure. 
Experience  has  satisfied  me  that  it  is  more  economi- 
cal and  effective  to  spread  manure  round  the  tree  at 
some  distance  from  the  stem  and  dig  it  in,  than 
to  pack  it  in  a trench  cut  round  the  tree,  liy  the 
one  system  the  manure  is  mixed  up  with  the  soil 
and  becomes  available  to  a large  number  of  root 
points  ; by  the  other,  the  manure  is  in  a mass  and  the 
ground  occupied  by  it  in  a short  while  becomes  a dense 
network  of  rootlets.  The  system  of  applying  manure 
iu  a small  area  immediately  round  the  stem  of 
a tree  is  peculiarly  native  and  cannot  he  too  strongly 
condemned. 
AgricuUui'isls  must  luidcrsland  that  trees  take  up 
nutriment  by  the  points  of  their  roots  or  rather 
rootlets.  By  increasing  the  area  in  which  manure 
is  applied,  we  increase  the  root  surface  and  the  num- 
ber of  points  that  feed  on  the  manure.  This  is  of 
paramount  importance  in  the  case  of  products  with 
a limited  lease  of  life,  as  it  involves  the  greatest 
benefit  to  the  greatest  number  in  the  shortest  time. 
But  it  is  not  ot  such  importance  in  the  case  of  per- 
ennials, as  the  feeding  on  the  manure  wberever  ap- 
plied becomes  a matter  of  time,  and  the  only  ques- 
tion involved  is  one  of  good  or  bad  husbandry.  If 
you  increase  the  area  manured,  you  increase 
the  area  dug  up  and  cultivated  and  permanently 
benefited,  you  increase  the  number  and  vigor  of 
the  roots,  and  as  a consequence  the  vigor  of  the  tree, 
and  the  last  though  not  tho  least  consideration  is 
that  you  prevent  tho  rootlets  getting  matted  round 
the  tree,  wliich  has  such  a pernicious  after-effect  on 
it.  A matter  of  allied  importance  is  tho  liueness  of 
the  particles  of  manure. 
Ill  my  last  communication,  I dwelt  on  the  impor- 
tance of  salt  in  coconut  cultivation,  and  was  a great 
deal  disappointed  that  the  subject  was  not  pressed 
on  the  attention  of  Government  editorially.  I have 
been  a consistent  advocate  of  the  use  of  salt  iu 
coconut  cultivation  for  along  while,  and  was  the  means 
ot  its  being  pressed  on  the  attention  of  Govern- 
ment directly.  On  that  occasion  the  Government 
as  a reply  inquired  what  the  probable  quantity  of 
salt  was  that  was  likely  to  be  used  in  coconut 
cultivation,  before  it  could  decide  the  question  as 
to  its  issue  for  this  purpose  at  wholesale  rates.  The 
question  was  puerile,  and  the  Government  must 
have  know'll  as  much  when  putting  it.  Who  could 
say  the  probable  present  consumption  of  salt  for 
the  puipose  of  experiment,  or  the  probable 
development  of  its  use  once  it  had  passed  that 
stage  ? 
In  my  agitation  for  the  issue  of  salt  for  agricultural 
purposes  i was  supported  by  Mr.  Hoole  of  the  School 
of  Agriculture,  whom  I must  take  this  opportunity 
of  congratulating  on  his  success  at  Bombay  in  Veteri- 
nary Surgery.  He  supported  mo  with  a few  modern 
authorities  on  its  use.  I have  since  come  across  the 
authority  of  Johnson,  who  says  : — “ A mixture  of  salt 
aud  lime  was  recommended  as  a manure  by  the 
German  chemist,  Glauber,  more  than  two  centuries 
since.  The  mixture  was  most  fit  for  dunging  trees, 
and  to  be  used  instead  of  common  beasts’  dung.” 
It  is  also  described  as  “ the  cheapest  of  all  mixtures 
for  the  enrichment  of  poor  and  barren  soil.”  As  here, 
so  in  Euglaud,  “the  considerable  duties  so  long  imposed 
ou  It,  naturally  prevented  any  extensive  use  of 
this  fertiliser.”  The  Essex  farmers  are  said  to  steep 
seed-wheat  in  water  mixed  with  salt  and  of  sulficieut 
gravity  to  tioat  an  egg  and  then  roll  llie  salted 
seed  in  lime,  both  to  prevent  smut  aud  to  increase 
the  vigour  of  the  resulting  plauts.  Mr.  Hollingshcad 
wrote  in  1800;  “Lime  prepared  for  manure 
should  ho  slacked  with  salt  water,  lime  so 
slacked  will  have  a double  effect.”  In  1804,  of 
twenty-five  manures  used  experimentally  for  potatoes, 
lime  and  salt  was  found  superior  to  nineteen  others. 
The  history  of  the  use  of  salt  as  a manure  is 
traced  to  biblical  time.  “ It  the  salt  has  lost  its 
savour,  it  is  neither  fit  for  the  land  nor  fit  for  the 
dunghill.”  An  explanation  is  given  of  the  puzzling 
expression  of  salt  losing  its  savour.  “ There  is  found 
in  Syria  a peculiar  kind  of  fossil  or  rock-salt, 
which  in  progress  of  time,  by  exposure  to  the  air, 
loses  almost  entirely  its  taste,  except  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  lumps.”  “ Cato  150  b.  c.  commends  it 
for  cattle,  hay,  straw,  &c.,  as  does  Virgil.  The  early 
German  larmers  knew  of  its  value  for  sheep.  In 
1570  Conrad  Herebashius  commends  it  as  a certain 
prevention  of  murrain  or  rot.”  Salt  promotes  the 
decomiiosition  of  animal  and  vegetable  matter.  2. 
It  destroys  vermin  and  weeds  which  are  converted  into 
manure.  3.  It  is  a plant  food.  4.  It  is  a stimulant. 
5.  It  renders  the  soil  more  capable  of  absorbing  the 
moisture  of  the  atmosphere,  of  great  importance  in  dry 
situations  or  seasons.  'The  result  of  various  experi- 
ments with  salt  in  combination  with  other  manure  is 
given  and  uniformly  points  to  better  results. 
“Now  I come  to  treat  of  the  mother  of  all  manures, 
namely,  salt.  'Take  six  bushels  of  salt,  six  bushels 
of  lime  and  six  bushels  of  dry  ashes,  mix  them  to- 
gether, this  is  sufficient  for  an  English  acre.”  “ Take 
;-i2  bushels  of  lime  and  slack  it  with  sea  water,  this 
quantity  is  sufficient  for  an  acre  of  ground,  and  may 
be  thrown  over  the  land  with  a shovel  or  made  into 
compost  with  forty  loads  of  moss  or  earth.  Its  com- 
ponent parts  are  muriate  and  sulphate  of  lime, 
mineral  alkali  in  an  uncombined  state,  also  muriate 
and  carbonate  of  soda.  There  is  one  instance  in 
which  it  was  tried  in  comparison  with  72  cart  loads 
ot  soaper’s  waste  and  dung ; and  althongh  this  was 
an  extraordinary  dressing,  yet  that  with  the  salt  and 
lime  manure  was  fully  above  the  average  ot  the  field.” 
We  are  advised  to  make  a mixture  of  2 of  lime 
and  one  of  salt  and  cover  up  the  heap  with  sods  for 
2 or  3 inontlis.  Tho  muriate  of  lime  formed  by  the 
decomposition  of  the  mixture  is  said  to  be  one  of 
tho  most  inoisture-loving  substances  known,  and  as 
such,  it  is  said  when  aiqjliod  to  the  land  to  help 
vegetation  to  overcome  drought. — Yours  Ac.  B, 
