“Having had,” he observes, “my attention drawn to an account of an analysis of the Jamaica coffee berry, made by Mr. Herapath, the Liverpool chemist, I have paid some little attention to the subject of the coffee plant of this island, forming, as it does, so very important a feature in the resources of this colony.  The desire that I thus felt for obtaining some information regarding the constituent parts of the Ceylon tree and its fruit, was heightened by a knowledge of the fact, that not a few of those coffee estates, which once gave good promise of success, are now in a very precarious state of production.

I much regret that the means at my disposal have not allowed me to carry out any quantative analysis, but the result of my labours are sufficiently accurate for my present purpose.  I have analysed the wood and fruit of trees from two different localities, as well as the ashes of some plants sent me from the Rajawella estate near Kandy, and they all tend to bear out the result of Mr. Herapath’s inquiries.  Placing the substances traced in the coffee plant in the order in which they occur in the greatest quantity, they will stand thus:—­

    Lime, potash, magnesia, phosphoric acid, other acids.

    Of these lime is by far the most prominent, forming about 60 per
    cent. of the whole.

I cannot help, therefore, arriving at the conclusion that, to cultivate coffee with any degree of success, the first-named substance must be present in the soil; or, if not present, must be supplied to it by some process.

Now it is a singular fact that the rocks and soils of Ceylon are greatly deficient in alkaline matter; and, taking this view of the case, one no longer wonders that many estates cease to produce coffee.  That all, or nearly all the plantations did, in their first year or two of bearing, produce liberally in fruit, may readily be accounted for by the fact that the alkaline poverty of the soil was enriched by the burning of the vast quantities of timber which lay felled on all sides.  Whilst this temporary supply lasted, all was well with the planter.  Heavy rains, and frequent scrapings of the land with the mamotie, or hoe, soon dissipated this scanty supply, and short crops are now the consequence.

But nature, ever bountiful, ever ready to compensate for all deficiencies, has provided to our hands a ready means of remedying this evil of the soil, by scattering throughout most parts of the interior supplies of dolomitic limestone.  The dolomite of Ceylon is not pure, far from it, being mixed freely with apatite or phosphate of lime.  Even in this very accidental circumstance the coffee planter is aided; for the phosphoric acid thus combined with the limestone is the very substance required in addition.  Some of the finest properties in the island are situated on a limestone bottom, and these no doubt will continue to yield