March  i,  1897.]  THE  I'ROITCAL  AGRICULTURIST.  623 
cake — one  of  tlie  former  to  three  of  the  latter — in 
1894.  Kesults  have  been  most  satisfactory; 
the  held  was  pruned  in  July  last,  the  results 
since  pruning  have  heeii  more  apparent  than  before. 
It  is  ilushing  now  like  fun,  and  giving  20  to  80  Ih. 
leaf  )jer  cooly  every  eight  days.  LJnmanured  liehls 
no  way  near  it. 
Manuring  with  hulk,  I have  only  done  a few 
acres  with  line  refuse,  &c.,  near  cooly  lines.  Re- 
sults are  highly  satisfactory,  but  unless  your 
land  is  fairly  level  and  soil  sutticiently  free  to 
admit  of  forking  in  the  manure,  the  expense  of 
applying  bulky  manure  would  he  prohibitory. 
Imagine  cost  of  cutting  and  lilling  in  3,000  holes 
to  an  acre  and  if  you  give  4 a basket  to  a tree 
with  any  distance  to  carry.  On  fairly  Hat  land 
free  soil  that  could  he  forked,  application  miglit 
be  brought  within  reasonable  limits.  How  much 
of  this  land  is  there  in  Uva?  Planter. 
No.  LVIII. 
Kotagala,  Feb.  3. 
Dear  Sir,— So  far  as  1 have  observed,  manur- 
ing is  pretty  general  on  tea  estates  but  not  very 
extensive.  I mean  that  most  estates  manure  a 
little,  both  in  old  and  new  districts. 
2.  Rulky  manure  is  not  available  in  large  quan- 
tities with'  a few  exceptions, — and  application  is 
necessarily  expensive  unless  for  lields  near  a cart 
road. 
3.  The  manure  sent  up  by  railway  is  gene- 
rally used  alone,  sometimes  mixed  with  pninings 
and  with  bulk  when  available  such  as  Line  and 
Factory  sweepings.  Bazaar  refuse,  etc.  Bonemeal 
and  Castorcake  appear  to  be  most  generally 
used,  with  occasionally  Nitrate  of  Potash  in  small 
quantities,  and  there  is  also  an  a])i)reciable  quan- 
tity of  Fish  manure  used.  1 have  no  experience 
of  the  latter,  but  would  fear  its  use  would  encour- 
age blossom  and  seed  on  the  bushes. 
4.  1 do  not  think  any  harm  is  being  done  to 
thehushes  from  the  use  of  artilicial  manure— rather 
the  opposite.  On  )>oor  land  an  apiilication  of  man- 
ure even  to  conqiaratively  young  tea  is  henelicial 
as  it  improves  the  wood  and  expands  the  hushes. 
On  very  rich  .soil  artilicial  manure  appears  to  give 
the  tea  a rankness  which  I do  not  think  im- 
proves the  quality.  In  fact  on  rich  land  I think  it 
is  a mistake  to  manure,  as  it  makes  the  Hushes 
too  Hhrous  and  coarse. 
5.  Unless  oveidone  manured  tea  compares  fa- 
fourably  with  umnauured  especially  on  poor  old 
land. 
To  enable  planters  to  give  necessary  manurial 
assistance  to  laud  requiring  such,  Oovernment 
ought  to  give  all  po.ssible  assistance  in  providing 
cart  roads  to  stations  as  otherwise  transport  is 
prohibitive. — Yours  faithfully,  W.  H.  W. 
No.  BIX. 
Ambagamuwa,  Feb.  12. 
Dear  Sir, — Now  tiiat  you  are  about  to  close 
your  columns  to  the  “Manuring”  discussion,  if 
you  think  it  worth  publishing  my  experience  in 
that  line  I now  submit  it.  Since  1890  1 have 
manured  this  estate  both  with  artificial  and  hulk  ; 
the  former  comprised  of  either  fish,  kapok,  and 
blood  manure  mixed  6 ounces  to  the  tree,  or 
• istorcake  and  bones  mixed — same  quantity  ap- 
plied. This  was  resorted  to  only  on  inaccessible 
fields,  I always  found  that  in  3 months  the 
manure  had  begun  to  act  and  its  effects  were 
appreciably  noticed  up  to  say  from  15  to  16 
months  after  ap))lication,  the  hushes  responded 
in  a marked  manner,  the  yield  was  J more  than 
it  was  before  application,  but  after  the  run  of 
16  months  I always  noticed  a falling-off ; and 
at  about  the  end  of  two  years  you  weie  no  better 
than  when  you  started,  if  anything  worse  ; the 
bushes  pre-sented  an  all  gone  seedy  appearance 
suggesting  as  it  were  “ I want,  a stimulant  to 
fig  me  u[i,”  a secoml  application  of  a like  ([uantity 
(6)  ounces  did  not  by  any  chance  result  in  the 
same  way  as  at  first  although  it  did  some  good. 
I  am  therefore  of  ojiinion  that  if  artilicial  manure 
is  to  he  applied  it  will  become  nece  .sary  to  in- 
crease the  dose  at  every  suh.sequent  manuring; 
just  likens  one  to  an  oinum-eater ; first  a 
minute  quantity  hardly  pereejitible,  till  in  after 
years  -i  an  ounce  would  he  aliout  the  sufficing 
quantity  to  allay  his  craving.  Will  artificial 
manure  pay  in  the  end  ? ! 
Bulk. — Situated  as  lam  and  being  possessed  of 
grazingland  I keep  a.  stock  of  native  cattle  which 
yearly  gives  me  enough  manure  for  from  40  to  50 
acres  ; a basket  of  cattle  manure  to  4 trees  ; this 
application  takes  longer  to  tell  ; but  once  it  does, 
the  bushes  present  such  a luxuriant  growth  with  a 
strong  healthy  dark  green  a])]iearance  which 
makes  the  heart  of  man  glad  to  look  at  ; its 
elfects  will  last  out  a gmod  2j  to  3 years,  and  a 
second  application  will  only  require  to  be  made 
after  that  time,  the  quantity  being  far  le.ssthan  on 
the  first  ap|)lication.  Say  a basket  to  0 trees, 
your  bushes  never  present  that  unhealthy  woe- 
begone look  which  is  noticeable  after  the  elfects 
of  artificial  manure  have  ceased  to  tel!,  so  that 
theie  can  he  no  two  doubts  that  the  stafiility  of 
tea  will  in  a great  manner  depend  on  the  kind 
of  manure  you  ajiply  ; the  yielding  powers  from 
bulk  manure  may  not  be  quite  so  much  as  from 
forcing  artilicial,  l ut  the  fact  remains  that  there 
it  is  in  |iaying  quantity  and  udll  remain  so  long 
as  you  last.  <J.  T. 
No.  LX. 
Feb.  15. 
Dear  Sir, — I have  not  been  asked  for  my 
obiter  dicta  regarding  manuring  and  yet  intended 
writing  you  before  now,  since  it  .seems  to  me  I 
have  more  data  on  the  subject  than  anybody 
else  this  end  of  tea-land.  The  season  ] 895-1896 
saw  the  completion  of  a systematic  cycle  of  culti- 
vation and  the  estimate  realized  nearly  100  per 
cent  increase  on  the  1894-1895  crop.  Experi- 
mental handling  of  artificial  manures  has  given 
Castorcake  and  Crushed  Bones  the  laurels,  and  a 
schedule  should  show  manuring  to  be  no  outlay 
of  ca])ital  for  the  crop  doubled- jmur  tea  is 
cheaper  f.o.b.  Colombo.  Here  are  a few  blocks 
as  examples  : — 
1 Fields, all  old  \ 
coffee  land  I 21  35  41  27  43 
of  say  35  j Acres  Acres  Acres  Acres  Acres 
years  j 
2 1894-1895  yield 
per  acre  2041b.  3041b.  1431b.  1861b.  3051b 
3 Manured  Do.’95  Mr.’95  Ja.’96  Nv.’96  Dc.’95 
4 1895- 1896  yield 
per  acre  4251b.  7261b.  3101b.  3171b.  6371b, 
There  are  so  many  factors  to  be  remembered  in 
cultivation  that  space  forbids  enumeration. 
Pruning  and  character  of  tea  to  be  treated,  rain- 
fall dates  and  nature  of  soil,  being  the  chief. 
Then  has  to  he  considered  method  of  application, 
for  loss  of  soil  cannot  be  permitted  and  is  easily 
obviated  on  steeps.  The  mamoty  is  a sorry 
cultivator  compared  to  the  fork  ; but  don’t  spread 
manure  broadcast,  get  it  into  the  ground  with 
an  alavangu  followed  by  forking,  treading  down 
the  new  earth  exposed.  You  Avould  not  ask  me 
“ why,”  for  the  prima'y  question  is  what  is  the 
crop— fruit  or  leaf : Manuring  is  demanded  by 
