September i, 1883,] 



THE TROPICAL AGBICULTURIST, 



161 



and lasting. It is usually a brownish red in colour 

 varying iu places to a chocolate, in others, somewhat 

 lighter in colour Ijut usually, it is deep and good with no 

 great difference below in character ; thus of great depth 

 and even (juality. The higher blocks did not always 

 appear to have the depth of soil possessed by those 

 at lower altitudes, at least it was not so evenly deep, 

 yet most of it was good land. The chief object of 

 all proprieters should be to plant their blocks up 

 with that product which is most suited to the soil 

 and climate and iu domg this 1 fear Onfea arabica must 

 not be in all cases strictly adhered to. I saw good 

 coffee bearing heavily and well and no very great dis- 

 play of leaf-dieease, yet enough to encourage the wish 

 that other economic plants might be tried instead. 



Cardamoms were growing well, with every promise 

 of proving a paying investment and their extension 

 should be encouraged. 1 thought they did better 

 above 2,000 feet, rather than below. 



Cocoa, however, upon the lower blocks was certainly 

 the most promising cultivation. Where sheltered and the 

 soil deep and moist I .saw growths I have never seen ex- 

 celled elsewhere. The pods, notwiihstanding a month's 

 drought were full and large, the stems smooth, healthy 

 and robubt. Upon ridges they were not equally 

 fine and I think there should be belts of (shelter 

 and shade trees, so as to have as much of a clearing 

 as possible lying beneath their jirotection There was 

 no indication of really injurious winds, those experi- 

 enced being more dry and somewhat hot and for 

 these nothing could be better protection to the cocoa, 

 than ridge-belts of well foliaged trees. During the 

 north-east monsoon the wind is strong, yet from what 

 I saw I think there is none likely to materially harm 

 most cultivations and certainly not cocoa, with ordinary 

 provision. Cinchona too, had been planted, it was most 

 of it too youngto form any certain opinion of its success. 



I spent some days upon the hill and met with gi'eat 

 hospitality frum the residents who I may say num- 

 ber six, far more than I expected lo meet in so out-of- 

 the-way a district. 



The one great want at present is an outlet. There 

 are six Europeans working away upon an isolated bill, 

 having their communic;iti' us with other disticis cut olT 

 with all the many difficulties of pioneers to contend with. 

 Labour precarious", supplies not absolutely certain, fever 

 not u!ifrequent. Time was, when all these difficulties 

 might have been called fate (kismit) but surely they 

 are now surmountable. The present outlet is by Pas- 

 sara, right across the course of the streams and tin.iUy 

 up a very steep and consequently nuver-in order bridle- 

 road. It is now generally considered that the most 

 satisfactory point to reacli is Yalkumbura upon Ihe 

 Batticaloa-Badulla cart road, lo which a tavalam road, 

 could be taken from the hill m about the same distance 

 as Passera without any abrupt rise or tall and with- 

 out crossing so many and iu wet weather dangerous 

 rivers, — indeed I believe there will be none or at 

 moat only one. Much of the existing taval;im ro'id to 

 Madagama could be utilized. The chief am, however, 

 should be to have a well-traced, and afterwards well 

 mainlaiued outlet, so that the subject may be settled, 

 once and for all. The question at pre-ent is whether 

 this should be done by the estate proprietors or by 

 Government ? It is an absolute necessity, not only for 

 the district, but to induce a Govcrumeut official other 

 than an assistant to come this way occasionally, and so 

 Bie things himself. — W. F. L. 



El.uE-GUM Culture, on the Nilgieis. — Now the mon- 

 soon is fairly ou us, the planting of this highly useful tree is 

 being carried on most extensively, and prices for plants range 

 from K3 to Itupees per 1,000. We would advise our friends 

 engaged iu this enterprise to use pl.ants in baskets if at all 

 procurable. The Blue Gum planted under ordinary circumst- 



ances is very capricious as regards growth when first planted ; 

 therefore every precaution should be taken by planters, 

 several plots which have come under our notice h.aving been 

 planted up not less than fom- times. — South of Iiidiu Oh.^erver, 



The Life of Tbees. — The ordinary life of unprotected 

 timber structures is not more than twelve or fifteen years. 

 Timber exiJosed to moistm-e in the presence of air, especialyl 

 if in a warm x^lace, or to alternate wetting ahd drying, will 

 decay rapitUy. Sap and moisture retained ib timber, by 

 painting or closing in the sticks before they are seasoned 

 tlu-ough, wiU cause decay of a very insidious kind, as it 

 works in the interior, leaving an apparently soimd exterior 

 or skin, which is the layer that had an opportmiity to season. 

 Paint on unseasoned timber is, therefore, more hm-tful than 

 serviceable. Large sticks of timber dry so slowly that, be- 

 fore they are seasoned through tout, decay may begui; and 

 hence pieces of smaU scanthng are preferable to large once. 

 Dampness and a lack of ventilation combined will hasten 

 decay. The best seasoned timber wUi not mthstaud the 

 efltects of exposure to the weather for muck over tweuty- 

 five years. — Liaiihcr TVorlth 



The Indigo Chop does not promise well this season. The 

 InOAijo Planters' Gazette says : — " The saj-ing that a good 

 mango season means a bad indigo one, has been strikingly 

 verified this year in Purueah. One mishap seems to have 

 followed another. No rain during the preparations, May 

 drought, heavy rain in the middle of Jmie, and early fioodhigs 

 from most of the rivers. A7bat Mttle plant there was has 

 been considerably damaged, and the produce up to the first 

 week of July has been wTetched iu the extreme. Jlost of 

 the iudigo concerns have had to tlrop down to few vats 

 only, while others have fitcrally had to close nian\ifacturing 

 altogether, so as to allow backward plant and kboonties to 

 grow. Since the he.avy June rain the weather has been very 

 hot and close ; indeed, a little rain now would bo highly 

 advantageous to the indigo on the high lands. What with 

 the backward crop, bad produce, and the inability of plant- 

 ers taking advantage of the prevailing fine weather to push 

 on mahai, proprietors scarcely hope to realize half of the 

 out-tiu'u first estimated for." 



Cinchona Plantations in Bengal. — The residt of plant- 

 ing operations in the Government cinchona plantations in 

 Bengal dm-ing 1882-S3 shows a total of 50,000 trees less than 

 iu the returns of lSSl-82, which is attributed to the uproot- 

 ing of a large number of hybrid varieties, and about 100,000 

 red bark trees. The total number of ciuchona trees of all 

 sorts at the close of the year was 4,711,168, and the crop was 

 the largest yet harvested, amounting to 390,'JSO pounds of 

 dry bark. The whole of the produce was made over to the 

 f.actory, except about 41,800 pounds of bark which, at the 

 request of the Secretary of State, was sent to London to be 

 there converted into various forms of febrifuge, and returned 

 to this country for trial by the Medical Department. The 

 revenue derived from the sale of febrifuge, seed, plants, and 

 b.ark .amounted to Rl,52,807, leaving a profit of 1-106,284, 

 which is equal to a dividend of 6| per cent on the capital. 

 The cost of an equal quantity of quiniue at ItOO per pound 

 would have been K4,01,32S, whereas the febrifuge used cost 

 Efi8,988, leaving a saving to the Government and the public 

 of K3,32,3-40.— PiOHcer. 



Sugar fkom Melons. — Southern farmers do not seem to 

 know that a beautiful and excellent article of sugar can 

 be made from water melons. Press the Juice out of the 

 mclous, boil it down and treat iu about same manner, as 

 when malcing sugar from maple sap. The sugar will be 

 found clear and sweet, and entirely free from the shaip 

 or caustic ta.ste which is usually found iu the best sorghum 

 sugar, being as pleasantly sweet as the water melon itself. 

 A gallon or gallon or l>arrel of the juice will make as 

 much sug.-u' as the samo quantity of maple sJip. More gal- 

 lons of juice .and pounds of sugar can be made from the 

 melons grown from an acre of land tliau from beets or 

 sorghum grown on the same space of ground : and then, 

 as every farmer knows, it is so much more pleasant to 

 raise, gather and handle mclous than beets, which nnist 

 be dug from the earth and washed. Parmers of Arkansas 

 can make experiments on a small scale at a slight cost, 

 to test the maoter to their own satisfaction, and we think 

 they will not only be plaesed with the result, but they 

 yet bacome one of our rchablc staple productions. — Hot 

 i'piiiir/s iHtiitiiiol-iiila); 



