March i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



659 



inent ia widely difterent parts of the. Sonthern, 

 Western, and Central Provinces, in times when almost 

 the whole country was at their disijosal. The lands 

 so selected comprized virgin toreste, and the allnvial 

 Hats on the banks of several principal riveis. 



The proprietors for whom these experts were en- 

 gaged included companies, and men of great wealth, 

 such as BaroQ Delinar, Lord Elphinstnie, Tiudall, 

 the great ehip o^ner, and oihers, who spared no 

 oapital that was necessary to ensure success. My own 

 friends would willingly have supplied any reasonable 

 amount of money, or modern appliances which pro- 

 miged suocl'ss. 



Tlie appliances already known in tliose days com- 

 prized the vacuum pan, and s-^veral other less ex- 

 ppHsive contrivaiious for evapor.iting the cane-juice 

 at low temperatures. Not having kept pace during 

 the last 20 years with the process of improvements, 

 I cannot speak confidently as to the exact amount 

 of advantage or eeonomv that may be gained thereby, 

 but I kuow enough of the principles involved to feel 

 perfectly sure that by none of tliem could the scale 

 have been turued iu favour of the abandoned estates 

 in Ceylon. 



Varieti'"^ of Cane. — Though unable to state what 

 varieties of cane «cre tried on other plantations, I 

 can testify triat canes of every important variety then 

 kuowu were tried on the estate in my charge. We 

 liad canes from China, Bourbon,, the West Indies and 

 oth r coui: rit", of numerous kinds. In fact, no pains 

 or expense wore spared to obtain success. The Bourbon 

 cane succeeded liest, on the whole, and attamed a 

 most luxuriant growth. I have measured many of 

 22 feet length exclusive of top, and as thick as my 

 wrist. Of these canes a .Mauritius planter exclaimed 

 that this was the conntry for sug>r, as Mauritius 

 could not produce such cane. He changed liis note 

 when he savv how tlie saocharometer stood in the 

 boiling-house. It would be tedious, even if I could 

 trust my memory, to spcoiiy the details of peculiarity 

 of the different kinds of cane. Some were large 

 and others small, some were striped and others plain, 

 some yellow and otiiere purple, s-^me grew well lint 

 would not rattoon, or they did so very badly. But 

 all rave poor lifiuor ! The common characferistic, 

 however luxuriant the growth, was poverty in sac- 

 charine. The saying was that our climate was too 

 forcing, .■•ud that the canes grew well, but would not 

 ripen. 



Soils, — Someone writing about sugar, lately, says 

 tliat the one thing needful is rotation of crops. But 

 what would rotation avail wlien virgin forest fails ! 

 Especially, I would ask, what good could citroneUa, 

 the proposed alt«niating crop, do for any laud ? As 

 well miglit you alternate with mana grass ! Let those 

 who please aigue for black or any other coloured 

 soil: sufficient is it for me lo have seen canes cultivated 

 with every care possible on virgin forest, on drained 

 deniya land, on alluvial flats, and all with the same 

 result, in varying degrees, of failure. The finest canes 

 and best crops 1 ever ( btained were grown on deeply 

 drained deniya land, and the next best in my experi- 

 ence were on the Giuiara at Shandon, and the plain 

 of Peravleniya I never saw the ernes at Dumbara : 

 the estate tliere was abandoned before my time. 

 Tytler, orig.naliy a sugar planter, had either opened 

 or had something to do with it, and he was strong 

 in the conviction that sugar would not succeed in 

 Ceylon. 



Pesls. — Of all tlie products that have come unrler 

 my observation, the large caue stands pi-e-eminent for 

 the number and pertinacity of its enemies. Pigs, 

 jacliala, c:vttle anrl buffaloes ueed to be kept out of 

 the fields by costly fences. But monkeys, rats and 

 squirrels defy all precautions. Borer and a host of 

 insect pests also infest the plant tit all stages of its 



growth, but mainly at the critical time of harvest, 

 when sometinns half your canes may Ire soured, more 

 or less, by those enemies, and their sugar turued to 

 molasses. 



Season. — The sugar planter in Ceylon is sore troubled 

 to bring his canes to harvest »t a suitable siason, 

 failing which he must lose largely. The dry seasons 

 are so short, and so uncertain, that his best calcul- 

 ations may be futile. 



In conclusion, my experience, after a severe struggle 

 for bare exsistence, was that even that small measure 

 of success could only be eusurerl so lung as retail 

 prices conld be obtained for the produce. In the 

 end, I was fortunate enough to sell the estate to a 

 gentleman whose convictions were so strong that he 

 purchased the estate with a full knowledge of all my 

 dilficulties, and of the failures of all but two other 

 estates, which existed, as mine did, on retail sales. 

 This goutleman went energetically to work, spent 

 about K70,000 on the estate, and then abandoned it 

 in tola. 



If, after this brief history, anyone with the courage 

 of bis opinions should choose to buy sugar in Ceylon, 

 let him be content to do it on a scale to do himself 

 as little harm as possible. G. W. 



[On this subject " G. W." speaks with special 

 authority, and his warning deserves respectful atten- 

 tion.— Ed.] 



SUGAR CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 

 (From the local "Times.") 



SiE, — ^The questiou lately raised iu connection with the 

 revival of sugar crdtivation in Ceylon appears to deserve 

 greater attention than it has. so far received. A de.-ultory 

 correspondence from one or two people who liave heard 

 this, that or the other, or who (like myself) have sent 

 for half a gallon of treacle once a month to the Peradeniya 

 sugar factory, will hardly elicit facts which are neees.sary 

 to be known as such, before the matter can be put before 

 those who hold the required capital for such an expensive 

 operation as sugar-growing. Hitherto, the result of inquiry 

 has been merely to point to past failure, and a recom- 

 mendation to apply to some old broken-down gentleman, 

 who was, at some antediluvian ircriod, a siuna dorrc under 

 an inebriate old planter whose carelessness, or worse caused 

 the enterprizing proprietors to retire without a fortune. 

 Of course, I am not pointing to any particular instance, 

 but that seems the general tendency when anything in 

 this island is first put before the pirblic — especially, if it 

 be an old cnterprize sought to be revived. 



Past failrures, when duly inquired into and explained, 

 are useful as warnings and guides to those who attempt the 

 cultivation iu the present duy. The great questions to be 

 answered arc three i — Have we tire soil in a favorable 

 position for cultivation and transport; have we the climate 

 suitable for remunerative production ; and have we the 

 labour ? Now, first, about the soil and how does it bear. 

 Sugar, we are told, and some of us have seen it, to pay 

 well requires a black rich soil in fiats or gently undulating 

 fields. Ceylon has millions ot acres of land which 

 apparently satisfy these conditions, but there is nothing 

 volcanic about it, such as they have in Mauritius and .Java. 

 I have lately had the opportunity of meeting sugar- 

 plarrters from Fiji, Queensland, Demerara, and IjOuisiaua, 

 and I have seen sugar-growing iir Mauritius and Madngascar 

 I am told that lime is required ; or, at any rate, that the 

 black soil with limestone, such as we meet with in (Jeylon 

 in many places, is very suitable for sugar. If this is 

 the case, and our large area of otherwise suitable soil is 

 proved by analysis to be wanting in lime, it is very easy to 

 apply it artificially in the situations to which I am irow 

 about to refer. The attempts which iir former years were 

 made to grow sugar were in tho west and central 

 portions of the island, prineiprrlly, if nut entirely, 

 so. Wo all know that .the soil there is cabook, or 

 gi-avel, and (iai?dly an acre ot anything which may 

 i)6 called rich soil— at any rate on flat or gently uudulat- 



