460 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[Jan. I, i8g8. 
greater value, whilst the only expenses beyond 
those of harvesting would be the cost of two annual 
weedings, pruning, and occasionally replacing a tree. 
These £5 per acre would more than cover. The 
profit, therefore, for the seventh and succeeding years 
would be £17, 14s, lid., or 87 per cent, on the ori- 
ginal capital expenditure of £20, lOs. Id. per acre. 
The figures given by Sir Henry Bering show a cost 
per acre to the sixth year of £20, 1.8s., and a net 
annual profit of £53, but his calculations are based 
on 300 trees to the acre, which, in my opinion, is 
too many. Enough has been written, however, to 
show that chocolate growing is a very paying occu- 
pation . — From “ Chamber’s Journal,” Oct. 23. 
AGKI-HORTIGULTURAL AND 
COTTAGE SHOWS. 
Mach credit is due to the Executive Coinmitee 
and office-bearers connected with the late Agri- 
Horticultural Show at Nuwara Eliya— one of the 
most successful and useful in every way ever 
held in the island. The rock on which such 
Shows usually split is the financial one; hut it 
will be seen by the accounts given elsewhere, 
how well matters liave been managed this time, 
and how the Committee have been able to 
supplement with medals and votes where merit 
called for the same. The only omission we can 
observe in this part ot tlie busine.ss has refer- 
ence to Mr. Nock who, we suppose, more than 
any other individual, laboured for the success of 
the Show. We should have liked to see a gdft 
or at least a special medal sent his way. The 
proposal to follow with a Cottage Show' and to 
maintain sucli Shows once a year, is a most com- 
mendable one and h.as our liearty sn])port. Still 
more important and suggestive is the further i>ro- 
posal included in our Special Telegram on Saturday, 
and reported more in detail elsewhere, and we 
sincerely trust that His Excellency the Governor 
may see his w'ay to support the appeal for a 
pkrmanent A.ssociation to arrange for Agri- 
Horticui.TURAL Show.S at intervals at different 
stations throughout the i.sland. Our reader.s aie 
aware that an annual Show, Fair and Spoet.s 
specially for the benefit of native agriculturists 
in connection with each Kachcheri, has long been 
advocated bv us as a most desirable innovation. 
But Ave are“aw'are of the difficulties in the way. 
Most of tliese would be removed if there were 
an Association with permanent plant which could 
be utilised for any station w’here a Show was 
proiected. Such an Association with a fixed 
Committee and Rules could make tlie arrange- 
ments a much easier matter for the Provincial 
or District Agent, and there w'ould then be no 
chance of one Show clashing with another. 
Shows of the extent meditated if held once in 
tliree years at most stations, could be supple- 
mented in betw'een with purely native gather- 
ings in the shape of a Fair amL Atliletic Sports 
under the patronage and guidance of the “Agent- 
Mahatmaya.” Anover-true complaint of the natives 
is that the British Government which has given 
them Law Courts, Police Stations, and Arrack 
Taverns, has done nothing for tlie innocent 
amusement of the people in fixing Holidays with 
attendant Sports (free of gambling !) and if pos- 
sible Shows of Stock and Produce, while the re- 
quisite Fair w'oiild be sure to come in of itself. 
o 
RICE FROM SOUTHERN INDIA. 
The thanks of his brother planters are cer- 
tainly due to Mr. James Ryan for his exertions 
to make all clear about getting rice readily 
from Southern India. Unfortunately, to all ap- 
pearances, we are on the eve of some- 
thing like a Famine in the Madras Presidency 
counterbalanced by abund.ant— even superabun- 
dant — crops in Bengal and Burmali, whence 
tlierefore, it is evident our wants are shortly 
bound to be supplied. Madras Presidency, we 
fear, ivill require all the nee grown within its 
borders for some time ; and indeed we may anti- 
cipate a rush of coolies to Ceylon early next y'ear 
if the scarcity extends — so that a plentiful and 
cheap supply of labour should be the rule in 
the Spring of 1898. 
THE SOY BEANS. 
The Madras Government sends us a paper .show- 
ing how Surgeou Lieutenant-Colouel AV. G. King, 
M.B., C.M., D.P.H., Sanitary Commissioner for 
Madras, addressing tlie District Medical and Sani- 
tary Officer, Vizagaiiatam, the Deputy Collector 
of Bellary and the Tahsildar of Saidapet, on 8th 
September 1897, says : - 
I have the honour to forward herewith oz. of soy 
beans, with the request that you will kindly cause them 
to be sown in any suitable place where they can be 
carefully watched as to progress of growth, and that 
you will oblige me by stating the nature and amount 
of crop obtained and whether you think the beans can 
be grown successfully in your district from the expe- 
rience so obtained. I need not remind you that the 
“Soybean” is probably the most nutritious form of 
r' adily assimilable pulse at present known, and that, 
should it prove possible to introduce it widely in this 
Presidency, it would prove of great advantage in jail 
administration and also to the poorer classes generally. 
The enclosed extra.ct from “ Church ” will show you 
the method of cultivation and the various 
use to which both the seed and the stalk can be put. 
2. As this is a suitable period of the year for sowing, 
I trust you will oblige by taking aciion in the matter 
as soon as the seeds are received. In asking you to 
kindly undertake the experiment, I may state that it 
was only after long and persistent search in India 
and Burma that I have ultimately obtained specimen. 
The Soy Bean. — This crop is generally grown by 
itself; the seeds are sown from June to September; 
the harvesting takes place between November and 
January. It is consequently a kharif crop. The 
seeds should be placed at a depth not exceeding 1 to 
inch ; 18 plants may be left, after weeding and 
thinning, to the square yard. A peaty soil, or one 
rich in organic matter, suits the plant best; a cal- 
careous soil is also favourable to its growth. Sulphate 
of potash is a good manure ; nitrogen may be supplied 
either as nitrate of soda, or, in the case of soils poor 
in organic matter, in the form of rape or mustard 
cake, but it is rarely needed, while large applications 
of nitrogenous manure exert a distinctly injurious 
effect upon the yield of beans. Sb far as we know, 
this very important, vigorous and productive pulse 
is not attacked by any insect or parasitic fungus ... , 
That composition entitles the soy bean to the highest 
place, even amongst the pulses, as a food capable of 
supplementing the deficiencies of rice and of other 
eminently starchy grains. Very few vegetable pro- 
ducts are so rich as this bean at once in albuminoids 
and in fat or oil, the former constituent amounting 
on the average to 35 per cent, and the latter to 19 ... . 
In China and Japan three preparations are exten- 
sively made from the soy bean. Soy sauce is the 
best known of these, but more important are the soy 
or bean cheeses, and a kind of paste. The beans are 
sometimes pressed for the sake of the oil they yield ; 
the residual cake forms an extremely rich cattle 
food, containing as it does 40 per cent, of flesh- 
formers and 7 per cent, of oil. The soy bean may 
also be grown as a fodder plant. If cut just when 
the pods are fully formed, it makes an excellent hay, 
superior to that of the lentil. 
