92 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[ August i, 1891. 
U does not ask for a large supply of food. A fair 
average tree at the end of the hot woather weighed 
201b. and had auventaen primaries and 2, SOU loaves ; 
aaoh a tree will yield 6 owt. of eofice per annum wi h 
its aocompanying pulp. Materials removed by ; — 
Trioaloia phosphate 
Ammonia 
Potash 
Lime 
Bulphurio acid 
5 owt. Coffee, 
lb. 
... 4 
.. 10 
... 0 
2 
i 
Pulp. Leaves. 
6 
1 
i 
41 
13.S 
101 
UO 
11 
The amount of material taken up by 5 owt. coffee 
is very small. That removed hy tho loaves auJ pruu- 
ings is what requires to ho replaoeii by manure as 
they deoompsa very slowly, tho soluahlo salts yielded 
^ them ate loat iu tho monsoon rains, and wash. 
The plant food is not there when the tree requires 
it to develope its fruit. 
Looked at from this point of view, we must, iu a 
manure that baa to be applied at the end of July or 
in August, have all the plant food iu un easily astimilable 
form, and provide fully for the plant’s wants. On this 
basil a coffee maonto should have 40 lb. Trioslcio 
phosphate, 140 lb. of ammouia.llO lb. potash, and other 
manurial matters in proportion, if the tree hae to 
depend on tho manure slouo for the supply of plant 
food. 
But the soil by alow doooraposition and di.'entograliou 
is also supplying foo.d, and the tree appears to bo 
cspablo ot takii'g np ammonia, or some form of 
nitrogen compi.ui'd Irom the air thrimgh tlio soil by 
its roots. The great qnislioii is what ie H' ctssaiy and 
how much ? To help in the settlement of this question 
1 submit the aggregate results of some of my ex. 
periments giving the weight of cieun coffeo jie'.dod, 
the results of 188U and 18110 are added together iu 
the following table : 
4 owt. 
yield 
lb. per 
aero. 
Bonea 
833 
Bones aud fish... 
783 
Fish... 
5.534 
Baperphosphate 
Mineral phoii- 
759 
phato 
Ammonia sul- 
910 
phate 
Potash nitrate 
983 
(nitre) 
Super and am- 
813 
monia 
713 
Super and nitre 
773 
Minerals and do 
Kainit potash 
648 
salts... 
607 
Mandue. 
8 cwt. 
4 cwt. 
8 cwt. 
yield 
yield 
yield 
lb. per 
oz. per 
oz. per 
acre. 
tree. 
tri e. 
752 
1.3-77 
12-84 
818 
1214 
13-12 
6554 
9 90 
11-93 
734 
It -34 
1111 
920 
1384 
14-90 
712 
16'30 
12-33 
998 
lS-,38 
16-79 
744 
11 41 
14-34 
834 
13 05 
12-23 
793 
10-43 
13-84 
S-44i 
9-18 
9-02 
Average... 781 779 12-85 12-95 
The average yield from tho 4 owt. of manure is the 
same as from 8 owt. praotioally speaking ; at any rate 
there is not sulUcient difference to pay (or the 
extra manure used. The rerolte were almost en- 
tirely ooutrolled by the shade whore it was 
thin the results were good, and vice vena. 
This was particularly noticeable in tho case of 
ammonian sulphate where 4c«t. yielded so muoh 
better results than the 8 owt. One of the 8 cwt. plots 
was under dense ]ak shade and tho results were re- 
markably poor, worse than an uninanured plot not 
thirty yards off where the shade was thiu. Nitre, tho 
8 owt. iiad the advantage of the thin shade and the 
resnlts are just the reverse of the sulphato of am 
raouia. Bones present a very ourions fflustraticn of 
the great effect of shade, 4 cwt. gave 18 77 oa. per tree, 
and 8 owt. only 12-84 oz. ... . , - , 
■When 4 cwt. of fish were added to 4 cwt. oi bouts 
e yinld was only 13-12 cz., considerably Ires than 
when the bones wore used alone. There was only 1.12th 
of an acre, 100 trees on each of three estates, or J acre 
in all under each quantity of each manure, and on 
thosQ small plots shade has had the power to mask and 
control the reeults, but in the aggregate tbey shews 
that under shade, 4 cwt of manure will produce a 
goad results as 8 owt,, and it is evidently folly to use 
more. 
From the preceding data and analyses, it would 
appear as if the chief requirementi ot tko coffee Ires 
aro phosphoric acid and nitrogen-, unless the surface 
soil has IjEon lost there would appear to be but a 
small demand for potash. 
I’otiish salts are very soluble in water, and appear 
to be easily assimilated by the plant, they are abun- 
dantly supplied by tho slow decomposition of tho 
feldspar and mica schist In the rooks, and the stony 
matter of the soils, together with lime and magnesia, 
but the accQmuiatiou of the salts iu the land is pre- 
vented by the monHoon rains. 
If tbey are required as in ahslyais 0 I Wonid advise 
the use of ferus for bedding cattle, particularly bracken 
where snob are procurable. The ash Of the bracken 
fern, according to Lester Arnold confivuied by John 
llughc.s, cnntaiDB : — 
Potash ... ... 42 par cent 
Phosphoric acid ... 10 „ 
aud is a very valuable manure wherever potash is 
required, and will well repay tho trouble of calleating 
the fern. 
Should ferns be unprocnrable and tbs addition of a 
potneb Bait necosaary, I would reoommend kainite. 
The buyer .should stipulate for 25 per cent sulphate of 
potash, at the very hast. Bat potash is uot ueoesiary 
ns H rule, and should never be used in exeessive 
quantities as it increases the quantity of pulp at the 
C'Xpciiso of the beau. This however does not apply to 
iiilrate of Potash, which acta more like an.monia 
sulphate than any thing else. Wbi rovcr there is 
plenty of nitrogen in the soil the leaves of the trees 
are large and of a beautiful glossy green, but the 
beau is small unless there is a fair share of phosphatoa 
proaelit alao. 
This leads to the oonolnsion that the coffee tree 
mu't have nitrogen and phosphates in the manure; 
whether potash ehould bo included or not depends 
greatly on the nature of tho soil. 1 would say that 
it was unnecessary with a retentive soil like B. Now 
with some soils, the anslys-s shows the weak spot at 
once and we can easily auUi-t a single manure to meet 
tho exigencies of the case; othera the manure must 
bo diffusive to cover the whole range of the necessities 
of tho plant and the poverty of the soil. 
The following ref resents a good type of a diffusive 
manure : — 
1 cwt fine hone meal 
1 „ pare fish 
1 ,, superphosphate of lime 40 per cent soluble 
4 „ sulphate ammoi ia 
j „ kainite 25 psr cent suiphato of potash 
This applied alter the heavy i-aiiii are over at tho 
end of July or August will supply plant food in a 
form immediately availalile for tho plant’s require- 
ments, and will greatly assist in the perfect develop- 
ment of a healthy bean. It is not stimulating, but holds 
the plant food in varying degreea of preparedness 
ready for the use of tho plant from season to season. 
4 cwt. per acre mixed with 1 cnbic yard of burnt earth 
or two good loads of cattle manure ia auffioieut for 1 
acre per anuum. It is well suited to the raising of 
supplies. 
In oonolusioii 1 must draw your attention to lbs ad- 
vautages of greon manuring. Nitrogen is a mnstei- 
ponaivo item in manures, but certain plants readily 
take it up from the air ill someway little understood at 
present. Lucero, clover, mustard, &o &c , may a'l bo 
planted under the coffee they are excellent manures, as 
they derive most of their nitrogen from the air and send 
their roots deep into the ground in search of food. The 
growth of white mustard is so rapid that it may be 
used to choke out other weeds, by sowing two or three 
crops in tucoession and forking them in. Green 
manuring, if carefully oarned out, should supply all the 
nacossory feed for the huHoeks used on the estate, and 
protect the soil from the action of the sun during the 
hot weather iu the dry distriuls. 
