July 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



77 



that the system of working must be rather different 

 in India ; but uufortimately '" Aberdouensis " does 

 not fully euligliteu us as to the difference. He is a 

 little bit sarcastic and vei'y suggestive; but he just 

 stops short at the point of exact practical information. 

 No doubt there are secrets to be learn: in India; 

 but the time is past when tliese can be regarded as 

 a monopoly. For what ■• Aberdouensis " tells us we 

 are thankful, but like "Oliver Twist" our cry is 

 for " moi'e " I - 



"Owen's Pamphlet. — This " brochure" is fitted for 

 Ceylun planters wlio may have small reserves of 

 available forest and who indulge in this cultivation as 

 in a fancy article. Hut the whole scale is that of a 

 priviite orchard : ^reat expense in upkeep, or great 

 occupation of capitrl wnich might be more protibly 

 employed, are two things avoided in cardamom cultiv- 

 ation. You must have good roads ; clerihew and barbe- 

 cues and store ; abundance of timber for boxes and tire- 

 wood ; a large temporary laboui force while c op and 

 concomitant works are in progress ; a large extent 

 of land on easy terms, lease or otherwise ; and a proper 

 knowledge of the wants of the plant in the way 

 of light tiie wants of the labour, iu the way ot 

 advance and wages — and the wants of the Englis'i 

 buyer in the market iu the way of thi- cured article. 

 Ceylon men can't understand why we d m't require 

 to clip the fruit, and how it 13 that though we pull, 

 yet there is no splitting. We can't toll ripe fruit a ly 

 other way, nor can anyone with aurety. You must 

 find that nut, and it will pay you to do so. Partially 

 green fruit does terrible d. image. Mr. Owen siys 

 " the lei.^t touch detaches it from the st:m. and he iCe 

 the picking i« very diffiuuli," Put "easy" instead of 

 difficult, and you get comparatively nearer the mark ; 

 only the stooping down is rougli on the pickers com- 

 pared to coffee. Coffee pickers pick by s giit ; Card- 

 atuoin pickers by touch. So you must; reverse Mr. 

 Owen's note on this point. Ceylon mm go 1 1 Walker 

 & Co. with their trouble-i an I tliat firm are kind and 

 responsive. Hence ths long-legged sc ssjrs, the brass 

 wire-gauzii business and the brgbtly polisherl and 

 merrily burning stove. The ' eyion driing-iooiu is a 

 tine place f.ir putting missus's dress-boxes and drying 

 master's wet clothes in the mon-oon, Mr. Owen is 

 out in the curing. In fact his cardamoms instead of 

 being cured are crude. Also the trimming and 

 " tittifyiiig" of the stools as the racemes sprout is a 

 Ceylon notion, bearing out my former comparison. The 

 eye guides both Ceylon durais and coolies in coft'ee and 

 everything else: The touch is better as regards fruit 

 in the ciise of cardamoms and rup-es iu the case of 

 result. Never mind the eye. Pick b) the touch : it 

 wiU prolit you much, to listen to such proper hints. 

 As for procuring plants iu Ceyl in, Mr. Owen says far 

 too much ab lut; villagers bringing bulbs for sale. As 

 the natives do not cultivate or grow the better variety; 

 and as the villager dearly loves a market for an 

 easily acquired article about which unpleasant questions 

 are nol asked ; and as planters are sorely tempted to 

 secure cheap bulbs andstiti- their consciences if poss- 

 ible ; and as bulbs are kuowu to be stolen Lirgely ; 

 and as no new clear. nga ap^joar in the neighbourhood 

 ■ the thefts — it follows — sequitur — that Mr. Oweu's 

 . lies on "uat.ve venlors" ought to be left' ouc or.be 

 less prominent. Reverse Mr. Owen's ideas on nurse- 

 ries. ".Vly.-ore" (so-called iu Ceylon) a dark mystery. 

 There is no variety of flie kind here. Root it out 

 lid and bulb. Stick to a good thing aud don't have 

 I .! other to cumber the ground. It is spoiling your 

 market. — Aberdonensis." 



CHOCOLATE, CACAO, AND COCONUTS. 



We quote what Professor Skeat says on these words 

 in his excellent Ktymolorjiccd Dictionary of the Enylish 

 Language (IS82| -. — 



Cacao, the name of a tree. (Span., -Mexican.) In Blount's 

 Gloss, ed. 1674, we find : ' Chovohte, a kind of compound 

 drink, which we have £i-om the Indian ; the principle in- 

 gi-edient is a fruit called nu-iio, which is about the big- 

 ness of a great black fig. See a Treatise of it, printed 

 by Jo. Okes, 1640.' The word cacao is Mexican, and was 

 aiopted inco Spaiush, whence probably we obtained it, and 

 not directly. See Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, cap. v. "^ 

 ■The cacao-tree, Tlieohroiii'i cncoo, is a totally different tree 

 from the cocoa-nut tree, though the accidental similarity 

 of the names has caused gi-eat confusion. 



Chocolate, a paste made from cacao. (Span., -Mexican.) 

 In Pope, Rape of the Lock, ii. 13.5 ; Spectator, no. .54. E. 

 also quotes from Dampier's Voyages, an. 16S2, about the 

 Spaniards making chocolate from the cacao-nut. Todd says 

 that it was also called choculatu at first, and termed ' an 

 Indian drink;' for which he refers to Anthony Wood's 

 AtheniB Oxonienses, ed. 1692, vol. ii. col. 416. — Span, choco- 

 late, chocolate. — Mexican chocolute, chocolate, so called be- 

 cause obtained fi'om the cacao-tree; Prescott's Conquest 

 of Mexico, cap. v. For the Mexican chocolatl, see also 

 Clavigero, Hist, of Mexico, tr. by CuUen, i. 433. Spelt 

 jacolatt, Evelyn's Diary, Jan. 24th, 1682. Introduced in 

 England ab. 16.50 (Haydn). 



CocoA (1), the cocoa-nut palm-tree. (Port.) 'Give me 

 to drain liie cocoa's milky bowl ;' Thomson, Simmier, 1. 677. 

 — Port, and Span, coco, a bugbear ; also a cocoa-nut, cocoa- 

 tree. ' Called coco by the Potuguese in India on account 

 of the monkey-like face at the base of tlie nut, from coco 

 a bugbear, an ugly mask to frighten children; see De' 

 Barros, A.sia, Dec. iii. bk. iii. c. 7 ;' Wedgwood. Cf. Port. 

 fazer coco , play at bo-peep ; Span, ser uit coco, to be an 

 ugly-looking person. The orig. sense of Port, coco was head 

 or skull : cf. Span, cocotc, the back of the head; F. coquc, 

 a shell. AU related to Lat. concha, a shell; see Coach' 

 Conch. ' 



Cocoa (2), a coiTupt form of Cacao, q. v. 

 We are surprised that Professor Skeat has not pointed 



out that coconut should be spelt without an a 



(a useful distinction, were \% only to distinguish 

 it from the product of the shrub which iu the London 

 m^rketsreiort is uralterably fixeil as "c ooi;" Dr. Tri- 

 nien suggested as a compromise that the tree should be 

 popularly spoken of in Ceylon as the ' chocolate tree,' 

 30 tew, at present, speaking of 'cacao,' but of "00003,' 

 plantiug, which is apt to mislead). Skeat's derivation 

 of coconut seenis to be the correct one. It is 

 curious to notice how the Dutch giadually 

 dropped the name which they borrowed from the 

 Portuguese, and adopted the Malay name. In the 

 older Dutch books of travels and voyages the coconut 

 is called kotos, but after the Dutch had gained 

 supremacy in Java and the adjacent islands the word 

 klapper ( \lalay l-alafia) took the place of its Portu- 

 guese rival. The latter is still however used, especi- 

 ally in Holland, ilaj/pcr being current among the Java 

 colonists. Another source of confusion is the coca 

 of Pern. So long ago as 1682, de Vries, in his Curieuxe 

 Aenmerckingcn, impressed upon his readers not to con- 

 found this with cacao. 



MOTHER SWAN'S WORM SYRUP. 

 Infallible, tasteless, harmless, cathartic; for fcverishness, 

 restlessness, worms, constipation, Is. B. S. JIadon & Co., 

 Bombay, General Agents. 



QUliENSLAXD SUGAR PROSPECTS FOR 18S3-84. 

 It is with some feelmg of pleasure that we come before 

 our readers with our annual sugar report, Ttith which we 

 combine a forecast of the coming' season's operatious ; and 

 while the former, though nearly equalling our anticipatious 

 placed on record at this time last year, are by no means 

 highly satisfactory, it is very pleasing to be able to look for- 

 ward to the comin^? season as one which, unlr.ts auv unfore- 

 seen accident arises, will go far to make good the losses which 

 some growers at least must have experienced durin" the 

 past year. It is generally understoml that om' sugar year 

 ends on March 31st, and it is up to that date each year tha 



