March i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



649 



THE POSSIBILITY OF REVIVING THE SUGAR 

 ENTERPEIZE IN CEYLON. 

 Our correspondent " Honolulu," (see page 657) whose 

 experience in the volcanic island, whence he borrows his 

 ncmi (In plume, rniglit well have given him the idea that 

 rich soil was the first element of success, insists 

 that the whole enterprize hinges on good varieties of 

 cane. No doubt much depends on the selection of 

 cane— an attack of "rust" having been got rid of 

 mainly by this means in the great Queensland sugar 

 district of Mackay, while some canes excel otliers in 

 luxuriance and rapidity of growth, in quantity and 

 density of juice and in amount of crystallized sugar 

 produced. But the result of our reading and ob- 

 servation is, that the great essential to success is a 

 soil rich not merely in humus but in such mineral 

 constituents as phosphates and carbonates of lime. 

 " Honolulu " in addressing us and " J). E." in wi-itiug 

 to the local "Time?." make rather light of climate 

 and fall into an error of some magnitude in stating 

 that a rainfall of over 50 inches is unknown in the 

 Australian colonies. We suspect that well up on the 

 anges of Mount Dalrymple, Mount Elliott and othre 

 elevations in the northern and tropical portions of 

 Queensland, twice 50 inches fall in a year. For at 

 Mackay, on the fiat delta of the Tioneer River, the 

 annual ramtall ranges about 70 inches, while, for 

 a Urge portion of the year, the atmosphere is saturated 

 with mois*'ire to a degree fully equal to that of 

 Colombo, so that there, as here, clothes and boots 

 become niojldy, and the covers come off books. 

 Humidity is represented by so high a figure as S0°. 

 Extremely saturated atmosphere lasts for three weeks 

 at a time, while extremely dry atmosphere in the 

 hot season lasts only for a few days. The mean 

 temperature is 73' against our SG° in Colombo ; the 

 mean minimum being somewhat over 62" and the 

 mean maximum somewhat above 81°. There ai'e two 

 rainy seasons, December to April or May, and again 

 in October-November, the number of rainy days in 

 the year being 130. That would be a small propor- 

 tion but for the quantity of moisture held in suspen- 

 sion in the atmosphere for a large portion of the 

 year. The climate of Mackay, therefore, is a good 

 sugar climate. But here as in the delta of the 

 Burdekin River (further north, nearer the equator 

 but more distant from the high mountam ranges), 

 the great feature is the rich, deep blacli alluvial 

 soil — the deposits through countless ages of matter 

 disintegrated from mountains above, themselves the 

 prodiicts of ancient volcanic action. We have no such 

 soil in Ceylon, whatever our advantages of clunate, 

 labour supply and means of communication may be. 

 The climate of the Burdekin delta is drier than 

 that of the delta of the Pioneer, but an immense 

 series of swamp* and lagoous, alternating with slightly 

 elevated parklands, the latter rich in gra^ and in- 

 terspersed with timber, afford great facilities for 

 irrigation. Our good friend Mr. MacmiUan, of Ard- 

 millaa (born in Argyllshire and educated at the In- 

 verness Academy) tried the experiment of pumping 

 up water into a eane-tield, with marked success, 

 the growth of the cane and the density of the juice 

 being all that coull be desired. A French neighbour, 

 on hearing of this experiment, shook his head and 

 exclaimed : " Monsieur Maomillan, he must arroyate ; 

 he vill nevare succeed!" But the accounts which 

 have veiiched us since we saw the gre.at steam plough 

 at work on 800 acres which were brought into cul- 

 tivation in one year, prove that success is certain 

 without " arrogation," it only Mr. Griffiths, the new 

 Premier of Queensland, does not ruin the grand 

 sugar enterprize of the colony by rendering impossible 

 an influx of cheap labour from India, while the supply 

 of " Kanakas " is daily becoming more and more 

 83 



inadequate. If only this labour difficulty can be 

 overcome, the Queensland sugar planters have the 

 great advantage of a large and rapidly-expanding 

 m.arket at their doors. For the sweetening of tea 

 and coffee, the preserving of fruits, the brewing of 

 beer, &c., the consumption of sugar in Australia is 

 enormous, the rate per head of the population bi-ing 

 considerably higher even than in Britain, where sugar 

 from all parts of the world is duty free. We had 

 the advantage of visiting the Mackay sugar estates 

 and those of the Burdekin in company with Mr. 

 Jeflray of Melbourne, the head of the firm of Sloane 

 & Co., to which " Honolulu " refers, and we under- 

 siood that this one firm had invested halfa-niilliott 

 sterling in sugar- land and machinery in Northern 

 Queensland. It is just possible that the fatuity of 

 the G ivcrnment of Queensland may compel Mr. .leffray 

 and others to look to Ceylon, and " D. E." draws 

 a tempting picture of the rich soil about Dambulla 

 and via Polonnaruwa down to the Bay of Kottiyar, 

 while the lloodwaters of the Mahaweliganga are re- 

 presented as needing only the guiding hand of the 

 irrigation engineer or expert to be converted into 

 sourcjs of laughing fertility. Granted the fertility of 

 the Soil, we should fear not merely thn arid nature 

 of the climate but its pestiferousness, especially near 

 the banks of the great but erratic river. And does 

 it not occur to " D. E." that, if the waters of the 

 Mahaweliganga had been tractable enough to be 

 utilized for irrigating in dry weather the soil they 

 have deposited when in flood, the ancient inhaliitanta 

 would not have neglected this source of wealth as 

 they seem to have done. The overpowering strength of 

 the occasional floods and the effects of malaria, singly or 

 united, may account for the sparseness of population in a 

 region described as distinguished for some of the 

 richest soil in Ceylon. Such a region is surely cap- 

 able of reclaniati'iu from the fever demons and the 

 forest fauna, but, alas ! for the pioneers ! Will 

 '■ D. E." accept the risks ? But there is really no 

 necessity to go into the depths of the desert to 

 try experiments with the culture of sugar by 

 means of irrigation. There can be no objec- 

 tion to sugar cultivation anj' more than rico 

 "under" or by the sides of the irrigation channels 

 or dams formed or in course of construction in the 

 drj' and arid regions of the north-eastern portion of 

 Ceylon. Experiments on a moderate scale might be 

 tried alongside the already restored portions of the 

 Yotla-ela, and, if a trial on a large scale is ventured 

 on, there is the fine soil under the Kantalay tank 

 near Trincomalee ready to hand. The experiment of a 

 native vice Company having turned out such a miser- 

 able Jiasco, Government can s-nrely offer no objection 

 to granting an appreciable tract of the laud to a 

 European capitalist, on conditions which will render 

 it north his while to give a full trial to sugar, and 

 perhaps cacao, rbea grass and other similar products. 

 The rice-cultiv.ators having rejected or misused the 

 advantages offered to them, it is only just and right 

 that those advantages of rich soil, covered by good 

 timber with water stored to irrigate the soil when 

 tilled, should be offered to others who can turn them 

 to the best account. Tobacco has been tried, and we 

 suppose it has failed. We mention it only to turn up 

 our nose at it, as the least useful and yet most 

 wasting product of the soil. On the other hand, the 

 more sugar the human race consumes, in preserves or 

 with beverages, the better. But experiments in Ceylon 

 towards anything beyond the supply of local demand 

 must be qualified by at least two considerations. There 

 is the emphatic repetition by our correspondent " C. 

 S." of the oft-told but " owre true tale" of previous 

 complete failure and disastrous loss, and there are 

 the statistics of sugar production from cane and beet, 

 stowing that for tiie present supply has gone beyond 



