United States or Democratic Republic of the Congo ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
When more manure is required to be added say bone-meal it is scattered on the soil in the pit, or the top soil in it is scraped off and the manure scattered and then covered up. I now propose to consider our manurial resources in detail, and shall begin with the first stay of all agriculture, farmyard manure, as to the value of which for coffee I have never met with any difference of opinion.
But the garden in question raises one very important point in the mind, and that is whether it would not be better to abandon all inferior soils and situations on an estate, and concentrate all the labour and manurial resources on a more limited area, every operation on which could be carried out exactly at the right moment.
It would also be interesting to experiment with ordinary good soil taken from the grass lands. I am informed by a native farmer that the terraces on which ragi is grown, are occasionally dressed with such soil, and that the manurial effect of it lasts for two years, but no doubt the effect is much increased by the physical effect caused by the addition of the soil.
We have now glanced at all the local manurial resources at the command of the planters, and also the manures which may be purchased at a distance from the plantations, and as to the latter the question now naturally arises as to how the planter can best lay out his money when manuring his coffee.
In order to have the effects of the different systems of manuring under constant observation experiments with different manurial mixtures can be best conducted at places where four roads meet. I need hardly say that in the observation of results, nothing should be left to memory, but the planter, the moment he has observed any result, should on the spot write it in his note book.
Here, then, is a matter that should be taken up by the Government, which in this respect should follow the example of the Sussex Agricultural Association, the chemist of which publishes every spring the most economical manurial mixture which the farmer can use for his various purposes.
And a section should be devoted to lines, or coolie houses, and sanitary precautions regarding them. Careful record should also be entered of all the coffee sold, and the prices obtained for it, and remarks as to the changes, if any, in the quality of the produce, as such changes would perhaps throw light on the treatment of the property, and the manurial system most advisable.
Nor is the fact a matter of slight importance that this power is specially demanded for the production of an electric current for heating purposes, because the transmission of such a current over long distances to the places at which the manurial product is required will save the cost of much transport of heavy material.
After estimating the cost of making cattle manure, and calculating as closely as possible the cost of obtaining and applying jungle top soil from land adjacent to the plantation, it was found that in the case of the best sample of top soil, obtained by removing only four or five inches of the soil, it paid nearly twice as well to use it as a manurial agent as it would to use cattle manure, and I may add that three tons of the soil contain the same manurial matter as two tons of ordinary well-made English farmyard manure.
And it is very important to call attention to this point, because hitherto planters have not in any way allowed shade to disturb their manurial practices, but have applied their manures equally to land under the direct shade of the trees, and to the open spaces between them, which are only under the influence of lateral shade, or, in other words, have manured their land as if there were no shade trees on it whatever.
Word Of The Day