736 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[Apbil I, 1884, 



Mouth. 

 1883.— March 



April 



May 



Jane 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 

 18.SL — January 



February 



Excess in bins at 

 end of 1883 ... 



No. of Tea 



Days ricking. Made. Rainfall. 



11 1,317 3-78 



21 3,134 6-29 



16 3,519 11-61 

 19 2,141 7-93 

 19 2,139 16-77 



22 2,213 15 

 19 3,017 5-71 



17 3,467 7-04 

 22 4,731 7-30 

 24 3,670 6 

 24 4,906 -61 

 22 S,S86 -72 



1,420 



236 



44,500 88-82 



Acres 105)44,500 lb. made-tea(424 

 420 



256 

 210 



4G0 

 420 



40 8 



105 ~21 



424 8-21sts lb. per acre. 



StJGAB CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 



Kandy, 15th March 1SS4. 



Siu —The subject of sugar cultivation in Ceylon should 

 not by any means, be dismissed -n-ith a few last words 

 from persons -H'ho have not only failed with sugar but 

 with coffee and everything else they have attempted to 

 crow because their methods of cultivation, always theor- 

 etically perfect, were often i>ractically useless, and ex- 

 tremely expensive. Carrying out capricious whims— such 

 as roading and draining an estate in jungle before a ti-ee 

 was feUed and then destroying the roads and drams by 

 felling and burning, and spending thousands of pounds 

 in tui-bines, etc. for irrigating— is not the way to make 

 anvtliing pini. It is a pity tbat the sugar enterprize should 

 have been started by those who imstcd so much money 

 for want of a little more of the practical and economical 

 method of cultivating. , , , ■ ii, 1 1 



" G W." says the men who planted sugar m the old 

 days were "experienced and practical men " : Mr. Montclar, 

 of leaf -disease-i-eally-curing-mud-hole-coustructmg tame 

 ■was I find, one of them. We all know -whaX ix pmctwal 

 man he was ! The others, doubtless, were very experienced 

 men in the West Indies, but when they came here they had 

 to leai-n all over again and adopt diifereut methods of 

 cultivation to suit climate, &c., as coffee-planters raperi- 

 enced in Ceylon culture find when they go to Brazil 

 Java, Fiji and other coffee-prodncuig countiies. U. W. 

 also asserts that they did not all cluster round one spot. 

 Wbat, I ask " G. W.," ia this, but clustei-mg round one 



spot, Galle ? ., ,. ^ „ 



1. Oodagama sugar estate, 30 miles from Galle. 



2. Hanagam do 12 do do 



3. Telicada do 9 do do 



4. Kohilawajura do 18 do no 

 .5. Mr. Eobt. Craig's estate near Galle, 



Nearly all the plantations, except reradeniya, were down 

 about sea-level, and no allowance had been made for 

 latitude. The canes were planted here at the same elev- 

 ation, as they had been planted in countries much far- 

 ther from the equator, where the gi-owth was not so 

 rapid and the quantity of saccharine matter, in consequence, 

 more' in proportion to the bulk of the canes. I may also 

 add that the elevation at which the boiling was carried 

 on might make a difference in the faciUty with which the 

 juice crystalized, even with vacuum pans, for the boiling 

 point is lower, the higher the elevation. "WTiy not experi- 

 ment with canes at 2.-')00 feet or even higher ? 

 To use a familiar illustration, cabbages heart wcU at 



bin-lcvtl in Fiji, but will not do 60 here ; and again, broad 



beans in Ceylon shoot up rapidly to a great height and 

 give no crop unless topped, when, the too luxuriant growth 

 being checked, they bear well. Why not check the too 

 rapid growth of sugarcane by some artificial means? 



Gum trees flourish in Ceylon at 6,000 feet above sea-level, 

 grow badly at 2,000 feet, and near the sea-level I doubt 

 if they grow at all. In Australia the gum and the 

 sugarcane flourish together : this should be suggestive. 



In the Observer of 1st March, the poorness of the soil 

 is blamed. I thought the subject of soil had been settled. 

 Certainly, near Galle the soil (largely cabook) is poor, and 



both soil and rainfall are more suited tor tea, but we 



have soil growing fine cacao and tobacco — both rich feeders 

 — and, in pai'ts of the lowcountry mentioned by "D. E. *' 

 in his able letter, the soil is magnificent, while at Triuco- 

 malee, I believe, volcanic soil will be found, else why 

 the hot spring, &c. ? 



It is absurd to say that the climate is too moist in a 

 country where the rainfall and humidity of the air rauge, 

 as they do here, between 227 inches rainfall at PadupoUa 

 and 33 inches at Hambantota. 



Surely this is a large enough range in which to find a suit- 

 able climate ! What " G. W." means by "the planter being 

 sore troubled to bring his canes to harvest in the dry 

 season which is so short and uncertain," I cannot imagine, 

 seeing there are parts of Ceylon where there are months of 

 fine weather with scarcely a break, and that even in the 

 wettest parts the cane would be cut in the morning, carried 

 off by portable trams to the mills, and crushed before night. 



The writer in the Observer of 27th Feb. questions the 

 statement made by " D.B." and Honolulu, as to the average 

 rainfall of Australia viz. 50 inches. I annex figures from 

 the Directory of 1878 which will prove it to be correct, viz. 

 Queensland 51 inches") 

 New S.Wales 50 „ 

 Victoria 20 „ }-per annum. 



S. Australia 21 „ j 

 and Tasmania 23 „ J 

 In Barbadoes— a sugar country — the rainfall and humid- 

 ity of the air are almost the same as in Ceylon — viz. 



Barbadoes, Ceylon. 



Mean temperature 75-0 80-07 



Absolute max. 85-0 95-00 



Absolute min. 64-0 6S-03 



Absolute range 21-0 26- 7 



Mean daily 6-8 9- 



Mean humidity 83-0* 83- 0* 



Average rainfall 07-0* 70- 0* 



The above needs no comment ! 



With new varieties of cane, improved machinery and our 

 abundant supply of cheap and efficient labour, the produce of 

 canes growTi in Ceylon, sugar, rum, and molasses, would 

 all compete with the sugar, etc., of Fiji in opcu markets, 

 the Fiji produce having to pay import duties equally with 

 Ceylon and in addition beiug hampered by want of labour 

 which, unless overcome, must eventually ruin all small 

 planters there. 



The Director of the Government Botanical Gardens at 

 Peradeniya seems to be imacquainted with sugarcanes, 

 their varieties, yield, etc., or he would have written giving 

 us some information on this subject, which is of such vital 

 importance to both Europeans and natives, and in partic- 

 ular -would have given us his opinions ou Honolulu cane 

 etc. as suited for Ceylon. 



I quotij Mr. Laurie's letter : — "One and all of the ' Pro- 

 vince WiUesley ' sugar planters were unsatisfied with my 

 reply, imd were unanimous in theii- opinion that with 

 a rainf:; il of SO to 90 inches, and high cultivation on FAIKLY 

 GOOD foil the first ' want of sacchai-ine matter in the 

 canes ' could not exist, and with modern means of boil- 

 ing crystalization could uo longer be a difficult." If the 

 Provmce Wellesley planters were unsatisfied how much more 

 unsatisfied the Cei/loii planters ought to be, if they allow 

 themselves to be' beaten for want of a little more pluck. 

 A valuable extract in the " Times of Ceylon " states that 

 beet-root only yields half the amount of sugar given by 

 canes, and yet hampered though it is by expensive European 

 labour, scientific methods of manufacture and improved 

 machinery, much of which cau be used for the manufacture 

 of cane suf/ar, has enabled it to compete with the more 

 favoured cane in the markets of the world. 

 The object of the Geylou planters should be to prove 



