November 2 , 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
299 
the costs are nearly equal the planter must first oon- 
eiiler his true requireineuts, and the suitability of the 
mannre to his working conditions, climate, soil, ka. 
If it is necessary to assist the trees over a bad attack 
of loaf disease, which by denuding them of leaf pre- 
vents the ripening of crop, quick acting manures are 
essentials ; and though costing more per nuit ton are 
the cheapest in the end, as they will often repair the 
damage before it is too late ; they should bo carefully 
backed np so that the first good effects are not lost. 
Ammonia and lime may be looked n|>on as stimulants, 
and like spirituous liquids must bo used with discre- 
tion, alittle whisky orwine-oflen aids digestion but 
it IS advisable to have something in the stomach to 
digest, otherwise Ihs results are not satisfactory. So it 
is with plants if you give them stimulants, you must 
give them food to digest: they must have pbo.sphates, 
putasb, sulphur, chlorine, iron, &c. &o. As regards 
phosphates wo have a wide -choioo ; tliere are bones, 
raw of varying grades of fineness, steamed bones, and 
bone ash, mineral phorphatss, precipitated phosphate, 
superphosphate, guanos, and fish. Disregarding the 
native manures we will just consider the phosphates 
pure and simple; they should be in such a physical 
condition that I hey may ho easily mixed with burnt 
earth Ac. Bone ash and mineral phosphates should 
be suflioiontly fine to allow of at least 90 per cent 
passing through a sieve of 80 meshes pjr linear 
inch. The amoont of phosphates in bone ash accord- 
ing to MacAdam varies from 62 to over 80'por cent; 
pure or bone ash contains 86'34 per cent and the 
average of six samples analysed gave 73’5 per cent. 
It is usually sold on a basis of 70 per cent. It is 
muoh more readily taken up by the plants than 
raw bones, and is an excellent ferlilixer where phos- 
phates are required. 
Of mineral phospbates high class Spanish, oammonly 
called Bstramadurito, has from 75 per cent to 82 
per cent phosphater; inferior qualities are often in the 
market with only 50 per cent or so in them. Oanadian 
and Norwegian apatites andaruba phosphatearegener- 
ally very rich having sometimes ns much as 90 per 
cent tricalcio phosphate. There are a great nunibor 
of others bnl these ate the most suitable, and 1 
prefer arutia as it is as soft and easily decomposed 
as bone ash, and is generally cheaper. 
Breciptated phosphates are in n much more 
beautiful physical conditicu than it is possible 
to produce by mechanical means and they are 
almost us valuable as super pho.sphato the 
average percentage of phospates is about 60 per 
cent. A high class superphosphate with 41 to 45 
per cent soluble is as a rale worth twice as much 
per unit as raw bone flonr tho physical oonditiou 
is perfection and the food is at onoe available for 
the plant. 
Trees bearing a heavy crop snffet from a bad 
attack of leaf-disease, we wish to assist them, and 
determine to apply a complete maonre ; cattle manure 
at once suggests itself, the weather is favourable 
and it is applied, the trees slowly feel its effect and 
recover, but there is a good deal of light coffee and 
some of the crop has dropped. We try bones, oil- 
cake, and woodashes ; the results are mnoh worse 
than with the cattle mannre, the mixture is too 
slow in action. 
Next saporphospbate, ammonia sulphate and kanito 
are tried, the trees feei the effeots at once and 
throw out a grand flusb of leaf, and the leaves fill 
ont^ in a wonderful mannro. If we know tho com- 
pesition of the soil we can proportion tho manure 
to suit it and the plant's requirements and produce 
tho greatest effect at the least coat. 
In fact the value of a manure to the tree or plant 
depends^ on tho proportion in whloh the oonstitntents 
are in it ; the fertility and suitability of a soil for a 
pven crop depends on the relative proportion that 
the easily assimable elements bear to one another 
and its physical condition ; from this it follows that 
If there is a proportionate dofloiency of auy element 
in the soil that is not supplied by the manure, tho 
results will bo to say tho least disappointing. 
The heaviest loss of value oocurs when tho mannre 
appli ed has the same deficieuoy as the soil, A soil is rich 
in phosphates and nitrogen and we feel surprised that 
bones and oil cake produce no result, commensurate, 
with tho expenditure; cattle manure does muoh better, 
therefore tho natural couc'iisiou is that it is the 
better manure for coffee, probably tho addition of a 
little kauite would improve the bone and cake 
mixture, but it is by no means improbsbie that if it 
did 80 , it would also improve the cattle mannre, and 
an analysis of the soil would roveal the fact that 
the soil was short of ma^nsaia, chlorine, sodinm, potash 
or possibly sulphuric acid, and it is quite possible that 
the ksinito alone would have givan as good results. 
If to the cattle manure we add what the loil de- 
mauds to supply its defects wo can mannre with the 
oertainty, provided the season is favorable of obtaining 
good crops, and in bad seasons fair ones and a full 
return for the money spent on manures, soil analyaea 
such as tboss given by John Hughes and myself 
wbioli show tho relative propurtion of the elements 
av-aiUble for plant food to enable tho planter to econo- 
mise in his manuring by applying the necessary 
manure, avoiding tho applioatiou of what is nonecos- 
sary,-»,%nd the disappointmont and waste of money 
attendant thereon. 
To make manuring a success and to ascertain tho 
value of a manure to him on his estate a planter 
mnst consider the following points 
1 . His soih 
2. His produce. 
3. ( Jarriage. 
4. Capital. 
5. Labour. 
Without tho last two manuring and manures are 
impoasibililios, and if tho supply of these two 
neoesayies is limited, the planter must out his coat 
according to his cloth ; if the supply is insufficient a 
planter’s host efforts are often cramped, and he has 
to work when ho can, not jnst when he wishes to, 
and knows be will get the best result. 
Work well done at the right season is the oheapest in 
the end, and tho manure beat adapted to his soil and 
produce is the most ooouamloal to use. 
, WILLIAM PRINGLE. 
Ilangalors, Sept 20tb, 1891. 
♦ 
COCONUT AND PALAIIBA PALM CUL- 
TURE IN THE NORTH OP THE ISLAND. 
If it were not that palmiras are so slow of 
growth, we should feel strongly inclined to advise 
our oorrespondent, the Pallai planter (see his letter), 
to leave the plants to grow amongst the coconuts. 
There would then be a valuable sugar, fibre, aud 
timber yielding property to fall back upon, when the 
ooconut palms had passed from maturity to decay 
which we suppose they Are likely to do at an earlier 
stage of existence in the Northern portions of the 
island than in the Western and Southern ? This is 
just one of those oases where the praotioal experienoe 
of a man like Mr. Jardine would entitle him to 
be heard with respect, — at home as he is in 
coconut, cacao, cinuamon, coffee and tea culture. 
We fancy he would say, " If the palmira plants 
must be sacrlfioed, so as to give the coconut palms 
full room and nutriment, and it there is danger 
of grubs, burn all save the leaves, and bury leaves 
and ashes round the roots of the ooconut palms." 
This is our advice, if there is no doubt of the 
superior value of a ooeonut grove of 70 trees to 
the acre, to a deuae forest of palmiras at the 
rate of several hundreds to the acre. 
But the letter of out oorrespondent gives us a 
new idea of tho ease with wbioh the Forest Depart- 
ment could grow palmiras over a large portion 
of the northern distriots of the Colony, suppose 
the jungle from which our correspondent’s estate 
was formed is a fair specimen of the forest gene- 
rally. II 0 O, vaat traota of jungle are filled witli 
