March i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



609 



TEA AND OTHER MACHINEEY AT THE 

 CALCUTTA EXHIBITION. 



Our readers will be interested in tlie contents of 

 a letter from Cslcntta to a firm in Colombo, regarding 

 Jackson's t a machinery and other articles manufact- 

 ured by Metsrs Marshall, Sous & Co. of Gainsborough 

 •■•ud 79, Farringdou Read, London. Writing on Febru- 

 ary 6th, the correspondence .states : — 



All the awards out are for our circular saws, which 

 have got the finst-class certificate and gold medal ; 

 Kxcelsior tea-roller, first-class certificate and gold medal; 

 thrashing machine, first-cla.'<s certificate and gold medal ; 

 Eureka tea sorter, secoud-cla.ss certificate and bronze 

 medal ; and grinding mill, secuud-class award and bronze 

 medal. 



Our competitors in rolUng machines stand as follows: — 

 Kinraond, second-class with bronze medal. 

 Lyle „ „ „ 



Greig „ „ „ 



In sifting machinery. Ansell has the first-class certific- 

 ate and .silver medal; Eureka second, and Greig no award. 



In drying machinery, Kinniond two gold medals; one 

 of these is for a coke-dryer, which has not been used 

 in any of the tea districts. 



With regard to the " Eureka " sorter being second 

 on the list, unfortunately none of the jury happeneil to 

 know it, hut one of them works three of AnseU's 

 machines ; hence the results, 



AVe do not mind An.sell getting the medal so long 

 as we have got the business, the Eureka is a universal 

 favorite with .til who use, and who have seen it work. 



Its only fault lies in being two small for those im- 

 mense conce.ns we have in India, but it is to be made 

 three feet vdde to contend with this, and by another 

 year we hope to do a large business in sifters. 



Mr. Thompson as you are aware did not exhibit the 

 " Challenge" in Calcutta. 



CHILLIES. 



Somebody told me that the birdseye chilly had become 

 one of our exports, and that a good price was being 

 oifered. Having hunilreds of plants growing as weeds, I 

 stopped the cV ildren froju gathering them on their own 

 account ; but though the crops are very large, neither on 

 nor under the bushes do I ever find any ripe fruit. A 

 pound of green fruit can often be picked from a single 

 bush, but what goes with the ripe I cannot take upon me 

 to say. All kinds of feathered creatures are said to be 

 fond of them, but I never see them at it, though I have 

 watched for them. 



It is only a step from the small chiUy to the big one. 

 About two Tuonths ago, I planted in a small enclosure, 

 close to the bungalow, twenty plants of a variety that grows 

 to four inches in length. I secured the seed from a chance- 

 sown plant that supphed my household for six mo])ths, 

 and grew to three feet high and thi'ce feet mde. The 

 young plants are now from a foot to eighteen inches, 

 with from six to ten fruits. As they continue in full bearing 

 for nearly a year I cannot put the crop per plant at less than 

 I pound of dry fruit, and as -l.SJfl plants go to an acre ; the 

 crop of an acre would be 64 cwt. 3 qr. 8 lb., which at .')0s per 

 cwt. would give £162. A great deal too good to be true, 

 but sufficiently encouraging for an experiment on a larger 

 scale than twenty plants. The bazaar price of the com- 

 mon green chilly is 6 cents per 100, and the size of this ! 

 variety is about one to five inches. — Cor. 



COCOiSUT CLT^TURE. 



Though coconuts have grown in Ceylon from before 

 the dawu of history, it is only withm Uving memory 

 they have been planted in large tracts, for the purpose 

 of external trade. It is said that the coast Kne, to 

 the south of Colombo, was planted under the au.spices 

 of the Dutch Goverament, but till withm fifty years the 

 tree had hardly penetrated the country beyond the coast 

 line. Perhaps the tirst tract of 100 acres, or upwards, 

 was pl:iuted liy a Dutch grutlenian, about the beginning 

 ot the present century, on the banlcs of the Kalueanga, 

 ■ mile above the town of ICalutara, but a.s a coconut 

 ' tate it stood alone for nearly forty years. 



The true start of coconut planting took place after 

 the sale of the Government cinnamon jungles, when the 

 bulk of the K.idirana lands went into the ijosscssion 

 of English capitalists, several of whom planted consider- 

 able portions of their properties with thjs ti'ee, mucli to 

 the satisfaction of those who possess them now and do 

 them justice ; to those who take all, and give nothing, 

 they are not so liberal in their bounty. Soon after the 

 Kaderane estates had been formed, Europeans purchased 

 large tracts of land in the Northern and Eastern Pro%'ince3, 

 and there coconut planting was initiated on u large scale 

 and at a heavy cost. The original proprietors Inst largely 

 by the enterpiize, many of them were ruined, and others 

 disgusted. The estates were sold at what they would 

 fetch, when ten, twelve, and fifteen years old, and the 

 purchasers made their fortunes. 



It was only about thirty years ago thit the natives 

 began to turn their attention to coconut planting, and 

 found it highly suitable to their habits and mode of 

 thinking. The plant could survive through more neglect, 

 than any other : by giving the land over to goya.^, 

 and securing the land share of their crops, they not ouly 

 got the heaviest part of the work done for notliing, but 

 recouped themselves in the cost of the land and all other 

 expenses. Here, however, vast nmnbers of the native pro- 

 prietors stopped, till in 1860 anyone passing through 

 the Western Province must have been struck with the 

 numerous tracts of jungle, amid which a few coconut plants 

 here and there showed a few sickly leaves. Gradually, 

 many of those neglected fields came into the hands of 

 more wealthy or more energetic proprieturs, and the 

 work of renovation is still in i)rogi'ess. The old-school 

 native proprietor still clings to his old views of getting 

 a coconut estate \vithout spending anylhing in creating 

 it, but a new generation has come on the stage, with 

 minds opened by education for the reception of logical 

 deductions, men that can put themselves into harmony 

 with at least the more prominent facts of nature, and 

 now there are native proprietors who keep theu' propert- 

 ies in the best condition, so far as leavmg the whole 

 benefit of the land to the cultivated plant ; one thing they 

 still lack, but that, too, will come to them under pressure 

 of facts. Coconut cultivation has, like that of cinnamon, 

 fallen almost entirely into native hamls. The European 

 wants quicker returns, the native can wait ; he is among 

 his own people, and his sole living is not dependent on 

 his coconut land. In native hands, the cost is small for 

 the upkeep of a coconut property, and the native hope 

 of returns is not placed high ; no one ever thinks of sell- 

 ing his beai'ing property, and the only estates that come 

 into the market are tlae property of prodigals who have 

 wasted their substance, or traders who have come to grief. 

 Then he who has a coconut field has an income that 

 may fluctuate with the seasons and the markets, but is 

 never a total blank. — Cor. 



[Our correspondent ought to know, but our impression 

 has beeu that kurakkan and sweet potatoes are always 

 kirgely grown by natives amongst young coconut-palms. — 

 Ed.1 



WOOD FOE TEA BOXES. 

 (From the Indian Tea Gazette.) 



In my last I drew attention to Roghu, or Kodom, 

 formerly " Nauclea Kadamba," as one of our bett l)ox 

 timbers, also to Sotiana, Chutni, or " AlBtoniascholaris," 

 and Pati honda, which ia " Cinamomum obtusifolium." 

 I oniiited to notice that the last is called obtusifolium 

 perhaps in consequence of the way in which the points of 

 the leaves are damaged. 



I have frequently searched the foliage of a felled tree 

 for an entire leaf, and generally failed to get even one 

 perfect, — all seem eaten by some insect. It would be 

 interesting to know if this peculiarity is local, or 

 common. 



Poma — " Cedrtla tuna," or the Tun tree, before noted 

 in No, for June 16th, is an excellent box-wood ; !t is both 

 liaht and strong, though not very tough ; unfortunately 

 it is not a very comuu u tree, and if used tor boxes, the 

 supply would likely run short. It is easily propigatei, 

 and grows rapidly, so that it is a pood one to have in 

 reserves. It ia apt to s[jlit in felling, unless care i« 



