hence the good effect of the nitrate, but as I mentioned previously, an application of nitrate had produced no perceptible effect on another estate belonging to the same proprietor, which had been regularly well manured with bones and cattle manure and composts, and because, of course, the land was so well supplied with nitrogen that the coffee required no more.  In concluding my remarks on the effects of nitrate of soda, I may observe that by using this manure, unremunerative coffee might be turned into a paying estate in less than two years, while without the aid of it, from three to four years would be required.

Potash is a manure as to which I can give no distinct information, or, at least, only information of a negative kind.  I once sent out a small quantity of the muriate of potash, but my manager could perceive no effects from it whatever, and I have been informed of an instance of its having been applied to an estate in Coorg at the rate of one quarter of a pound a tree, or at the rate of between 3 and 4 cwt. an acre, without any perceptible effect having been produced from the application.

Then it must be remembered that the quantity of potash removed by an average crop of coffee is only 7-1/2 lbs. an acre, that potash is firmly held by the soil, and that it is constantly being supplied in small quantities by the fallen leaves (these contain 3/4 per cent. of potash) of the shade trees and the decomposition of stones in the soil, and in applications of farmyard manure.  And with reference to the demands for potash by the tree, I may mention that I, in conjunction with a friend, endeavoured to estimate the consumption of potash by the crop, and we sent to Professor Anderson, of Glasgow, a carefully drawn sample of soil taken from between four coffee trees from which twelve crops of coffee had been removed without any manure being supplied, and also a sample of virgin soil adjacent to the coffee (soil similar in every respect except that it had not been cropped), and asked him to spare no expense in analysis.  The result was remarkable, for the soil from which the twelve crops had been taken was found to be very little deteriorated in anything except the quantity of lime it held, which was less than in the virgin soil.  The explanation evidently was that the leaves from the shade trees, and perhaps decomposing stones, had supplied all the potash removed by the crops.  “Why, then,” asked my friend, who had called on the Professor to hear the result of the investigation, “can young coffee easily be grown on the virgin soil, while it would come on very slowly and poorly in the soil from which the twelve crops of coffee had been taken?” “Simply,” was the answer, “because the untouched virgin soil is in a beautiful physical condition, while the soil in the plantation has been rained upon and walked upon, and thus had its physical condition impaired.”  I need hardly add that what I have just written is highly instructive, as it corroborates what Sir John Lawes has said, and which I have previously quoted, as to the physical condition of the soil being of more importance than its, strictly speaking, chemical composition, and it shows us the importance of maintaining a perfect physical condition of the soil, partly by cultivation and partly by additions of bulk manure—­farmyard manure—­top soil, and composts.