178 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1883. 



conipulsiou put upon, the people to again render tbcir 

 lands profitable to tbemselves and to the country, and what 

 has been done for the European planter ? Roads have been 

 refused on all sides, and instead of reducing railway rates 

 ou manures and produce, which we might look for, the 

 freight upon cinchona bark has been increased, and an 

 export duty iu tliis the time of our greatest need has been 

 placed upon our produce, because we enjoy the same 

 medical advantages which are afl'orded gratuitiously 

 to all other sections of the community. But, as I have 

 pointed out, apathy and activity on the part of Govern- 

 ment have periodically succeeded one another, and I think 

 we may look for a reaction. 



And now, gentlemen, iu conclusion: I have been eighteen 

 years iu Ooylou, during which I have shared the ups and 

 downs commm to that period, and I never felt more 

 sanguine of being able to retire with a competency when 

 mv life's work is over than I do at present. 



We have had a hard fight ; many a man has had to 

 succumb to his difficuties after a brave struggle 

 more may have to do so ; but given health and strength 

 there is time for all to rise again, but especially to you 

 young men who are not hampered by previous investment 

 nor handicapped by advancing years does Ceylon offer an 

 opportunity which it has uever done before. A hundred 

 pounds does more now than a thousand pounds did eight 

 years ago : you will he able to buy cheap land, you won't 

 be allowed " to trade beyond yom- means, and property has 

 now a permanent value which it never had before. I have 

 put these remarks together uot so much to ronvey in- 

 struction as to encourage hope and perliaps discussion. 

 Those who have the opportunity of going about the country, 

 of seeing tea, cocoa, cinchona and other things thriviug 

 where coifee had ceased to be remunerative, of seeing lands 

 at Polgahawela and elsewhere, which a few years ago 

 were considered valueless, giving the promise of splendid 

 returns, must agree with me that it is not yet noon in 

 Ceylon, and I am sanguine enough to think that with care 

 and energy on the part of planters and help or .sympathy 

 from Government exteuded to all classes we shall tide 

 over our time of depressiou and place the island upon a 

 firmer footing than it has ever been on before. 



Dikoya. J. L. Shanb. 

 ^ 



CONSULAR REPORT,S : PROSPECTS IN 

 COCOA, COFFEE AND EUBBKK, PEAEL 



FISHERIES, &c. 

 By a recent mail our Loud lu cori-eapondeut sent us 

 number of interesting extracts from Consular Reports, 

 stating first that in a report by Colonel Mansfield 

 upon matteis connected with the trade, etc. of 

 Venezuela tlie following statements relative to cocoa 

 and coffee cultivation in th.it couutry, occur : — 

 Coffee a^d Cocia in' Venezuela. 

 Cocoa is always a profitable business, and the export of 

 the Touquin bean has brought a satisfactory profit in the 

 districts of Giiayaua. 



The depreciation of the price of coffee is most serious 

 to a couutry like Venezuela, which depends almost entirely 

 upon the export of that article ; and no alteration upon 

 this head cm be anticipated until the coffee-growers of 

 Brazil have been ruined, and untill railway communication 

 is opened iu Venezuela whereby to diminish the cost of 

 delivering the article upon the coast. It is understood that 

 the Brazilian grower already fiuds himself subjected to con- 

 siderable straits, and upon this the Venezuelan, perhaps 

 somewhat uncharitably, bases his hope that better days are 

 in store for him at no distant date. 



'* Tliere is a \ erj' valuable report by Mr. J. A. 

 Crome, Commeri.-d Attache to our Embassy in Paris, 

 touching the use of silos iu France. It is too long 

 for insertion here, but yon will find it enclosed, as 

 you might probably like to reproduce it ia the 

 Tropical Acjrictilturist ." 



In Mr. Consul O'Neil's report ou Agriculture and 

 Labour in Mozambique, he writes respectnig coffee and 

 indiarubber :^ 



Coffee and Rubber in East I.vdia 

 Coffee. — It is painful to have to repeat hero the old tale 



of failure. Stronger efforts have perhaps been made t 

 establish in this Colony the plantation of coifee than that 

 of any other product. "We arc told that in the first year 

 of this century, in consequeuee of recommeiulations from 

 the Court of Lisbon to encourage this industry, the Colo- 

 nial Government offered to purchase from all producers 

 the coffee they could not otherwise dispose of — a great 

 boon iu those days of dangerous and uncertain communi- 

 cations. Aud some years afterwards the Government 

 charged itself with the purchase of all the coffee that 

 could be collected. Mozambique coffee had been declared 

 at Lisbon to be of the best quality, even that which grew 

 wi'd ("todo o cafe do Mo(,'ambique era Optimo, ate o que 

 nascia espoutaneamente"), and His Majesty the King was 

 pleased to receive as an annual present all that was grown 

 in the province, presumably with the intention of extend- 

 ing the taste for it and encouraging its production. But if 

 we are to judge from the following statistics of coffee ex- 

 ported, we must conclude that, notwithstanding all this, its 

 cultivation was never eveu seriously embarked upon. 

 Amount exported in — lb. 



1811 ... ... ... 352 



1812 ... ... ... 314 



1813 ... ... ... None. 



1814 ... ... ... 320 



1815 ... ... ... 208 



1817 ... ... ... ICO 



1819 ... ... ... P6 



" The last present of coffee from Mozambique was re- 

 ceived by the King in 1832.'' 



The same recorder tells us that the failure of this in- 

 dustry was due to the indolence and inability of the planter.? 

 (" nunca progediu csta industria pela inhiibilidade e pregui(;a 

 dos .agricultores"). Another cause, probably, lay in the Slave 

 Trade of that day iu which all, to a greatpr or less extent, 

 embarked, and which stifled every legitimate enterprize. 

 It was easier and more profitable to export labourers than 

 to instruct and superintend them in the cidtivation of the 

 products of the soil. 



Coffee has f.ailed utterly in the adjoining Colony of Natal 

 after the expenditure of many snores of thousauds of 

 pounds iu efforts to make its cultivation successful. The 

 sudden variations of temperature, the uncertainty of rain 

 fall and liability to droughts, I have heard alleged as the 

 causes that brought about the failure. 



These certainly do not exist to the same extent iu Mozam- 

 bique, and 1 thiiik the profusion with which the tree grows 

 wild, and the quality of the berry from the tree iu that 

 state afford fair proof that it maybe cultivated here with 

 success. It is still collected by the natives aud sold to 

 traders ou the coast. The point at which I have seen the 

 l.irgest quantity is at Mwiudazi, iu Mwemba Bay, to which 

 port it is brought a distance of three and four day's journey 

 from the neighbourhood of the hills Eradi aud Mwaja. I 

 have been told that the slopes of these hills are thick 

 with the coffee bush, and that the natives, who pay no 

 attention whatever to its cultivation, shake the berries off 

 the tree at the proper season, collect them, aud bring 

 them down to the coast. A few words must now be de- 

 voted to these valuable products from the growth of which 

 — withtwo notable exceptions— the commerce of this pro- 

 vince derives, as yet, no benefit. Some of these are in- 

 digenous, others have undoubtedly been introduced, but no 

 reliable record remains of the date of their introduction. 

 Although they m.ay seem somewhat out of place under 

 the head of " Agriculture," yet no attempt to describe the 

 agrieultural capabilities of "the province would be com- 

 plete without mention of them. 



lniha-EiMi}-.—'T\\e collection of this product is of very 

 recent date ; but it has so r.apidly exteuded that it now 

 forms the largest and most valuable export of the Colony. 

 I regret that the imperfect nature of the returns of the 

 Custom-house of Mozambique do uot enable me to show 

 statistically the remarkable development of this industry ; 

 but I behove I am weU within the mark when I say 

 that uot less th.an 50,000?. worth of iiulia-rubber passed 

 through this Custom-houes within the past twelve months . 

 whereas in IST^i the export was only of the value of 443/. 

 Tlie rapid extension of the rubber industry is due en- 

 tirely to the natives, and in its working they have been 

 left fi-om the very commencement to follow their own 

 derices. Untaught and clumsy in their method of 

 collection, it is but natural that an enormous numlior of 



