Oct. 1, 1897.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
25s 
where gram is cultivated raanurial experiments 
might be made in the use of the stalks and leaves 
after the removal of the grain. I believe vety 
good results were obtained in India some years ago, 
by the use of the leaves of Acacia decurrens and 
dealbata as green manure. The trees were grown 
in waste places and cropped periodically, the leaves 
being placed in open holes in the tea and allowed 
to partially rot before being covered up. I know 
from experience that the fallerr foliage of these 
trees forms good leaf-mould more rapidly almost 
than any other kinds. Grevilleas shed arr enormous 
amount of leaf ; but it takes a very long time to 
decay and form soil. I do net thirrk that we make 
sufficient use of material existing close at hand — in 
the form of coarse weeds and small scrrrb growing 
in ravines and wate land. Ail such green stuff 
thrown into the open holes and allowed to rot 
would form valuable accumulations of leaf-mould. 
It would be advisable to let the stuff rot in open 
holes irntil the sour stage of fernrentation is over. 
If it is thought necessary to cover the holes at 
once, a little lime might be included to neutralize 
the acidity. 
One argument that I have heard propounded 
against a reduction of weeding is “ How could 
we satisfy our labour force, if we reduced or took 
away their weeding contracts ? ” But while greatly 
minimising the cost to the e.state, a reduced sytem 
of weeding could be made to leave as large or 
even a larger margin of profit to the weeding con- 
tractor. To give an example : — Say that under the 
present system of monthly hand weedings a contrac- 
tor has to weed a 30 acre field for E45, employing 
6 coolies in the work. These coolies cost him — at 
an average of say 30 cts. — E1.80 per day, or for 
the 20 days on which they would probably be 
weeding, a total of E36 leaving a profit of E9 per 
month. With a bimonthly selective weeding the 
same contract could be rated at E30 per month, 
and 3 coolies would cover the same ground in the 
time, at a cost to the contractor of E18, leaving 
the large balance of E12 for his profit. 
Of course under any such system we must resign 
ourselves to a less trim appearance of our estates. 
These weedless expanses, that have been considered 
the acme of good cultivation for so long and have 
cost such endless trouble and expense, would please 
our eyes no more. But surely, if it can be con- 
clusively proved that a reduced expenditure in this 
particular is accompanied by an increased efficiency, 
no one would be willing to pay so largely for mere 
appearances. 
(7.) I have long thought that our elaborate sys- 
tem ofDEAINAGE — as at present carried out — is 
merely an ingenious plan for enriching our native neigh- 
! hours’ paddy fields at the expense of our own pro- 
I perty. The amount of soil carried off by every 
shower can be partially gauged by examination 
j of a drain that has been temporarily blocked by 
' some fallen stone or accumulation of tea prunings. 
I What is wanted is some arrangement for checking 
the flow of surface water to allow of the deposi- 
tion of the soil in suspension. I have tried 
the plan of growing ouscus grass above the drains. 
It answers most admirably from a mechanical point 
1 of view ; but there is the objection that it is itself 
! feeding upon the soil that it has saved. This grass is 
1 certainly a greedy feeder Some part of the loss might 
I be returned to ihe soil by repeatedly cutting the grass 
' (a process advisable also to prevent interference with 
the tea bushes) and using it as a surface mulching. 
This plan has certainly one strong point initsfavour- 
' It affords a great saving in labour and expense in 
I keeping the drains clean. Since the planting of 
this grass some tour years ago — these particular 
drains have not once had to be cleared out. Not a 
I stick or stone can pass the barrier, and the soil 
above the grass has gradually accumulated to a 
depth of at least 18 inches. I have also tried rows 
of cuscus grass instead of drains, with similar re- 
sults as to trapping the soil ; but here the volume 
of water increases as it gets to the bottom of the 
slope and is apt to score up the ground too 
32 
heavily. An ideal sysSem would be one in 
which the barrier is formed of non trowing material, 
but sufficiently permanent to last without need 
of repair for at least eighteen months, Could 
we not utilize our tea-prunings for the purpose ? 
At present they cumber the ground and add to our 
difficulties by blocking up the drains. Bundles of 
the green prunings might be fastened by stout pegs 
in lines following the course of, but about two feet 
above each drain. Or the primings from each bush 
might be similarly pegged crossways below each 
plant, forming a series of small breakwaters which 
would catch and retain any drifting soil. 
Your remaining questions) I will leave to others 
w'ho have studied those subjects. I have already 
occupied too much space over the earlier items of 
your circular, which are those in which I have more 
particularly interested myself. G- 
I-'.S. — With reference to my above remaikson “Weed • 
ing,” I am now able to give the name of the small 
plant which I there considered to be “ admirably 
suited to the purpose,’’ Mr. Willis informs me that 
it is an " Elatostemmu.'' Mr. Willis has also drawn 
my attention to a small clover-like plant — the roots 
of which bear the nitrogen-fixing tubercles — which 
he considers would be a most suitable plant to grow 
amongst tea. — G. 
P.P.8. — Firstli/. — The name of the weed suggested as 
suitable for cultivation amongst tea for the purpose of 
preventing wash and loss of soil is Pilea microphylla 
(not Elatostemina as stated in my last communi- 
cation). I see that this plant has an asterisk be- 
side its name in Trimen’s Catalogue of the Power- 
ing Plants of Ceylon — which indicates that the 
species is an introduced one and more or less natu- 
ralized in this country. I have frequently seen it 
grown in English greenhouses as an ornamental 
rock plant. 
Secondly. — With reference to my suggestion that 
tea prunings might be pegged down along the upper 
side of each drain, to catch the soil. Since making 
the suggestion, I have tried the plan — and found it 
wanting in practice. It answers admirably as long 
as it lasts ; but it is not sufficiently permanent. As 
the leaves and twigs decay, they get dispersed, assisted 
by the careless foot of the working cooly, who will not 
take the trouble to step over the trifling barrier.— G. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Grow Fruit. — A Capetown farmer lias obtained 
36s. per 100 for tine peaches and 6.3s. for best 
pears. A prominent man has just purchased 11 
adjoining farm.s near Paarl, and his tir.st order 
has been for 200,000 trees. — Natal Mercury. 
Coffee Planting in Columbia. — The vast pro- 
duction of coffee in Brazil is affecting coffee 
prospects everywhere. A consular report on the 
trade of Columbia contains the following from Barran- 
quilla : — “ Coffee cultivation has progressed favourably 
this year. Some 250,000 bags have been received in 
Barranquilla during 1896, against 190,000 bags during 
1895, Of the coffee received : h's year about 214,000 
sacks have been already shippeo, and the remainder 
will be despatched within a couple of weeks. The 
coffee exported in 1896 is valued at .£987,192. Growers 
have felt a certain degree of uneasiness on account of 
the depression in prices in foreign markets which has 
been experienced since the early part of this year. 
This depression is attributed to an excess of production 
in the Brazils. Fortunately the greater part of Colum- 
bian coffee is of the finer class, and the fall in price in 
it has not been so heavy as in the more ordinary 
qualities. The Government of Columbia has decreed a 
considerable reduction in the export duty paid on 
coffee, and should the decline in value continue this 
duty wdll be taken off altogether. The new coffee 
plantations alluded to in last year’s report as being 
under operation, in Tolima and Antioqma, wi'l be pro- 
ceeded with. On the slopes of Sierra Nevada, near 
Suita Marta, several large plantati ms are in course of 
formation, most of them aided by British capital. — E. 
(L C. Mail, Aug. 21. 
