t88 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept, i, 189 ;^, 
SALT IN AGRICULTURE. 
Pending a translation of tlie papers we have 
received from Germany on the use.s of salt 
in agriculture, and the methods by which it is 
denatured, it may be well to observe that the 
present is only a renewal of a campaign 
which has been waged for many years, to 
induce the local Government to issue salt at 
cost price, or at a reduction, for agricultural 
purposes. Our Siyane Korale correspondent, we 
remember, was very strong, so far back as 
the “eighties,” in urging the importance of 
salt as a manure for coconuts, in inland districts, 
especially those far removed from the influence 
of salt-laden breezes ; and several past volumes 
of our Tropical Agriculturist bear evidence of 
his pertinacity and industry in pressing the 
matter on official and general attention. We 
were not aware, however, that the agitation then 
begun had been continued within the past three 
years ; or, when we drew attention to the informa- 
tion brought back from Europe by the Hon. P. 
Coomaraswamy, that Government had been 
applied to so recently as March 1895 to sanction 
experiments with salt at cost price in coconut 
cultivation. But “F.B.”, whose letter on the 
uses of “ coconut husk and husk-ash as a 
manure” we give elsewhere, sends us, as 
promised, some important correspondence with 
the Colonial Secretary which has not been 
previously published, and from which we are able 
to judge of the attitude of our last Governor. 
During the administration of Sir Arthur Gordon, 
some attempts were made to move the Government 
to issue salt at reasonable rates tor agricultural 
experiments ; but the early years of his 
administration were so beset with financial 
troubles — our revenues having run down by 
about one-third within a decade — that Sir Arthur 
hesitated to touch any branch of revenue. It 
was pretty well known that he was favourable 
to Auditor-General Ravenscroft’s propos 1 
to do away with the present system 
of Arrack Rents ; but the Government Agents 
had only to suggest that any change would re- 
sult in a diminished revenue from arrack, at 
least for a time ; and the Governor had imme- 
diately to let the matter drop ! So, with any 
request at that time, that salt should tie issued 
at a low rate for agricultural experiments — the 
suggestion that it might tell on tlie salt revenue 
was sufficient to ensure a refusal 
A Veyangoda coconut estate proprietor, however, 
anticipated a more liberal policy when all anxiety 
regarding the revenue was at an end ; and Sir 
Arthur Havelock had not the same excuse in 
1895 as his predecessor had in 1887 for giving 
anxious attention to the immediate present, 
and refusing to hazard a rupee of revenue. 
But it is so seldom that officialdom in Crown 
Colonies can take a large and liberal view of 
things, or adopt a new line on any matter 
whicHr has previously come up for consideration 
and been adjudicated upon. An illustration will 
be found in our Correspondence column, in 
the reply which “F.B.” received to his modest 
and very reasonable application to the Govern- 
ment of Sir Arthur Havelock. In reference to 
this answer our correspondent writes to us 
“ I was more struck with the courtesy and the 
considerateness of tone, of the reply, than with its 
force or logic. My application was not, as the first 
paragraph might imply, for a gift of the salt. I 
offered to pay the cost price of the salt, or the price 
at which is sold for exportation As you are 
aware, salt cost the Government about 40 cents a 
cwt., and it sells it to dealers at R2'36 ; bat it 
sells salt for export at R4'25 per ton, or 21 cents 
per cwt. !* So there was nothing unreasonable 
in the application. I admitted that the experi- 
ment was not undertaken from wholly disinterested 
motives ; but it would cost me some money. I therefore 
wrote, ‘ I do not ask for a free issue of the salt, 
though if it were offered I should not decline it, 
as I shall have to incur some expense in connection 
with the experiments.' 
“ The reasons for the refusal set forth in the 
2nd paragraph are transparently inconclusive. I 
offered to carry on the experiments, if necessary, 
on lines suggested by tbe Government, or under 
tbe direction of the Superintendent of the School 
of Agriculture ; and nobody would expect the 
Government to issue salt to anyone and everyone 
who applied for it. It would be a sufficient answer 
to say, an experiment is being carried on and we 
are awaiting results ; or, better still, salt might 
have been issued for experiments to half-a-dozen 
typical estates — typical of soil and climatic conditions, 
and typical of our different products ; and then a 
more comprehensive and conclusive answer would 
have been available to charges of favouritism. 
“ The suggestion that a cooly, who would not use the 
salt himself, would pollute his hands with washing 
it clean, and would run the risks of an illicit sale- 
all for a few cents, a® sodium chloride, though indis- 
pensable to human life has not yet reached the 
value of gold dust or uncut gems ! — the suggestion, 
I say, is not one demanding serious refutation. 
Yet, I anticipated it, for 1 reasoned, on the 
assumption that the revenue would be defrauded 
to some extent, that the total loss would not be 
comparable to the gain to the revenue if the 
application of salt really benefited the soil and made 
it more productive. \Vhat would a few illicit sales 
here and there be, in comparison with the benefit 
to the people and the Government by the increase 
of crops even by one-twentieth, and by the protection 
of herds against the diseases which carry them away 
in such numbers?” 
We are only surprised that the matter was 
not carried farther in 1895. Had the Corres- 
pondence been sent to us, we should have con- 
demned the extremely illiberal and impolitic at- 
titude of the government of Sir Arthur Have- 
lock. We cannot believe that our present Ruler 
will content himself with following the precedent 
of 1895 or even ten and thirty years earlier. 
In the Gazette of May 1869 we find recorded 
a number of unsuccessful experiments made by 
Mr. Russell, Government Agent, Northern Pro- 
vince, under the direction of Dr. Charsley, 
P.C.M.o. , to denaturalize salt, chiefly by the 
admixture of carbolic acid. Equally unsatisfactory 
were similar experiments by Mr. Macready — {son 
of the great tragedian, the “Willie” of Brown- 
ing’s well-known verse.s)— when Assistant Agent 
at Puttalam. But it was rather absurd to 
quote the failures of 1869, or the refusal — 
probably to Mr. David Wilson— of 1887, as 
precedents for Government in 1895. However, we 
are now likely to be equipped for the campaign in 
an altogether different way, thanks to the 
courtesy of Mr. Coomaraswamy and his friend 
Mr. Lange ; and with the German law and 
Iiractice before it, we do not think Sir West 
Ridgeway’s Government will need much per- 
suasion, to allow a trial at least to be made. 
Meantime, it is of value to have the Correspon- 
dence of 1895 placed before the public. We 
should also reprint the Reports of the Experiments 
of 1869 had they any practical value now ; but 
we take it they are altogether too primitive 
in the light of the latest chemical science on 
the subject. 
* What— at half the cost of manufacture— a dead 
loss ? — El). T.A. 
