6^8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



- . . .' 



[March i, 1S84. 



I think he sufforcd somewhat in pocket £rom an attack 

 cf the or>mplaint. * 



The firs; extended experiment was made at Pera- 

 deniya, then at Ncgombo, at Awisawella, in the Rayi- 

 gam Korale,- and largely in the Galle and Matura 

 districts. 1 should think at least i300,000 was lost 

 in the attempt to oouuteract the poverty of the soil 

 in the west and southwest portions of the island. 



Under the most favourable circumstances of 

 soil and climate, the profits of the cultivation 

 of sugar by Europeans is now so small, that the cost of 

 increasing the yield from one ton per acre (which is 

 the average yield of new forest land in the weet and 

 Bouth-west of Cevlon after the first crop,' to two-and-a- 

 half tons by high cnltivation not only swamps all profit 

 but entails a loss which ends in disastrous failure. 



Ni'ither skill in manufacture nor modern appliances 

 can counteract an ou'lay fur manure of at least RlOO per 

 acre, to produce an article which in a crude state is now 

 only worth in London £12, and, when crystallized by 

 means of costly machinery, £22 per ton. 



Tbat the sugarcane will grow well in Ceylon, admits 

 of no doubt whatever, and there are localities where the 

 soil is rich enough to pronnce two tons an acre, but in 

 these the climate is as antagonistic as the poverty of 

 the soil is in the west and south. 



In India, with its cheap labor and rich soils, though 

 the natives produce enormous quautiliis of crude eugar, 

 nothing but failure has attended the attempts of Kurop- 

 eans to cultivate the sugarcane on a large ecile. As there 

 is a protciive colonial duty of RjO per ton. I quite 

 believe it may be profitable to cultivate sugar and mann- 

 factnrc it in vacuum pans in Cevlon, to the rxient of the 

 local consumption; but when the production would exceed 

 that limited quantity competition with beet sugai- 

 and the produce of richer soils is out of the question. 

 Looking at the enormous increase iu the production 

 of beet in Europe, the rising cultivation of sugar in 

 %\hat will soon be called the Australian Confeder- 

 ation and in the iSouthern States of North America, 

 all of which with the exception of Greut Britain 

 and a few other kingdoms have highlj' protective 

 fciriffs, I think the time will come when Brazil and 

 the foreign and colonial exporting islands wdll have 

 even a greater struggle to cultivate the cane profit- 

 ably than they now have. In India, China and the 

 Pnilippiue Islands, gi'cat quantities of crude sugar 

 will always be produced by the natives, because the 

 cost of growing the cane and making the sugar is 

 very little. KGO or 70 per ton on the spot allbrds 

 them suiKcient rennuieration ! 



The misfortune of sugar cultivation by Europeans 

 hi Ceylon is, that they cannot experiment in it on 

 a small expenditure of capital. '1 he cost of the build- 

 ings and uiaehinery required to manufacture the best 

 descriptions and obtain the largest yield is prohib- 

 itory. Sugar may grow w< 11 and yield largely in the 

 IS'orth-Eastern rrovince, bnt who will be liold enough 

 to try tlie exijcrimeut with the risk of siukiug 

 RIOO.OUO to K200,000»— Yours truly, C. S. 



NORTH BORNEO. 



Sandakan, 3rd Jan. 1 S84. 

 Bkak Sik, — Since I last wrote, a great reduction 

 of olliccrs has been made, and is still goii g on, it 

 having been foun<l necessary to reduce expenditure hy a 

 considerable amount, i he step takeu has, I think, met 

 wi'li general approval, and has not in the leastshakeu the 

 faith in the C ompany ; on the contrary, the opium and 

 spirit farms are double this year what they were laat, 



* No: Dr. Elliott sold his estate, Dalpatuged,ara, near 

 Kegomho, for a good price, to Mr. Fraser, an old West India 

 I'lanter, who was supported by Messrs. Arbuthuot & 

 Co. of Madras. Mr. Fraser failed to inalce this jjlaceor 

 Charlie's Hope (near Kalutara) pay. — Ed. C. O. 



and private enterprize, in the way of planting, hotels' 

 etc., is going along right merrily. 



Our Governor has been appointed acting Governor 

 at Labuau and Consul General for Borneo, ajs well as 

 his present appointment iu the B. N. B. Company. 



The anient tor the Australian Sugar C omp-iuy is 

 expected here in April, to commence operations. A 

 sugar mill and fibre machine have been imported. 



Mr. Gibson, an experienced tobacco planter, is 

 expected to return here with some skilled labour, to 

 commence operations at once. Mr. Robertson is busy 

 cutting out land near Silam for the Australian Sugar 

 Company. 



The Government have abandoned the intention of 

 having a large staff of Guvernment surveyors, and most 

 of the work is to be done for the future by contract. 



Among the specimens coUeded by the late Mr.Hatton, 

 mineralogist, is one containing silver, but, to ascertain 

 whether it is in paying quantities, a laiger sample is 

 to be sent home. I feel quite certain there will yet be 

 found valuable minerals in North Borneo, but in a 

 country covered to a gi'eat extent with dense forest 

 it must take time to find their whereabouts. 



The experimental garden is finished, and the products 

 planted are thriving well. 



I hope to call in at Colombo on my way home, and 

 Mr. Callaghan who has resigned his appointment ac- 

 compaaies me I hope, however, to return to Borneo 

 after having recruited my health. 



I am glad to see Ceylon is holding its own not- 

 withstanding the general depression, and trust that the 

 cnltivation of tea, fibres and .sugar, besides many other 

 new products, that will, I am sure, be discovered, will 

 be the means of assisting those who are in pecuniary 

 difficulties and also be the means of bringing capital 

 to the country. 



The Chinese are not favourites of mine, but I 

 cannot help thinking there must be mmy part.s in 

 Ceylon, such .as abandoned coffee-land, etc. , where they 

 could as small proprietors with the help of their 

 beloved pig m.ike a very decent living. The re should 

 also be a good opening for them iu the gemming 

 districts. ,, . ! L. B. VON 0ONOP. 



G. W. ON SUGAR PLANTING IN CEYLON. 



Sir, — As I am probalily the only survivor, now 

 in the island, of the old sug.ir planters, I venture 

 to address a few words of caution to those entn'- 

 prizing spirits who may be thinking of renewing an 

 attempt to introduce sugar cultivation in Ceylon. 

 Though no one would rejoice more than I to see 

 another new resource added to the list of those by 

 which the decline of our old staple is to be counter- 

 aolcd, T should be son-y indeed to see another added 

 to the list of failures, especially in these critical 

 times. 



Whatever may be the conditions of rainfall, season, 

 climate, and soil, necessary for the succps°ful cultiv- 

 ation of the sugarcane, no one living can say with 

 certainty that sugar could be produced remuneratively 

 in any given place except by actual trial. I will 

 not attempt theiefore to confute tho^e of your cor- 

 respondents who fancy they see assured success in 

 the conditions to be found in certain parts of this 

 island, hut will confine my lennrks to the facta of 

 the local history of sugar planting in this island. 



The pioneers of this enterprize, he it observed, were 

 practical sugar plautprs imported from, or specially 

 trained iu, old sugar-growing countrii-s. They, there- 

 fore, nnderetood tlioir business, and were better judges 

 than most of those who now seek to revive the 

 cultivation. 



The lands chosen for the early efforts were for the 

 most p?rt selected by these very experts, who did 

 not all cluster round one spot, but tried the experi' 



