H4 



THE TROPICAL AGKICULTURI8T. 



[September i, 1883, 



QUESTIONS ANENT TEA. 



Halcliiuumilla, 23rcl August 1SS3. 



DiiAR Sir., — I shall feel oMiged if yon or any of 

 your readers can inform me how many seedsaraanud 

 of tea seed contains, and the average numlier of plants 

 one may expect ptr mauud. How long after pruuiug 

 should picUiug be recomniuuced, at an elevation of 

 5,000 feet?— Yours truly, ENQUIRER, 



[The number of seeds in a maund varies according 

 to the sizo of the seed, but 25,000 seedlings as the 

 result of sowing a maund of seed may be deemed 

 good. Cultivators of tea at low elevations may answer 

 the second query, but the rule we mentioned the 

 other day of not pluoknig except from' ivvigs about 

 8 inches in length is a good one. — Ed.] 



COFFEE : INTERMEDIATE CROPS AND WEEDS. 

 Deak Sir, — AVhen Baron Liebig told u.s to grow an 

 intermediate crop, to what question was that a reply i^ 

 AVas tlie question "What .shall we do best for ourselves ?" or 

 was it ''AA'hat shall we do best for the coffee ?'' I say the 

 latter was the question, and the reply was, grow an inter- 

 mediate crop. AV"ithout considering for a m'tmeut we planted 

 ijitermediate crops, that would benefit ourselves and which 

 have proved substitutes and very poor sub.stitutes. AYe diil 

 not want to go to Baron Liebig to be told to grow substit- 

 utes, we quite ignored the fact, that we had asked what 

 would benefit the coffee and also that Baron Liebig had told 

 rus Ijefoe, that " the wliiteweed contained the very es- 

 sential food of the coffee tree." Now if we look back to the 

 time when estates were not kept thoroughly clean, we have 

 proof that weeds were beneficial to coffee. Take estates, 

 take districts. Eothschild's when it was not kept clean used 

 to give forty thousand bushels of parchment every year as 

 regularly as clockwork, wliat came over it after it was kept 

 clean? Take Delta it used to give enormous crops, and 

 one year I believe gave eighty thousand bushels of parch- 

 ment: what has come over it since being kept. clean. Take 

 Hangoorauketty : it used to give a profit of £40,000 a year, 

 although a large portion of that coffee was over a hundred 

 years old. and yet after being kept clean it is worked at 

 a loss. Take the old estates in Uva when they were 

 weedy: they had to shovel any remainder of the old crop 

 into the nearest stream to make room for the new crop; 

 what has come over them since they have been kej>t clean? 

 Was not Haputella a warning to us. When it was opened 

 it was conducted on the clean weeding system, what be- 

 came of the first proprietors ? (excepting a few very rich 

 ones who were able to stand out?) The same that we are 

 all drifting to, if the present system is still enforced and 

 when they were ruined the estates got weedy and the next 

 proprietors made fortunes. Was not Kakwana considered a 

 fine district, was not Dolo-sbage a good district, was not 

 Matal.i considered the crack district of Ceylon, and what has 

 come over Uva that it is considered wonderful for one 

 estate in it to give eight cwt. au aci'e? L)id not the 

 merchants of former days make princely fortunes, and had 

 they not such confideuce in coffee that they con.sidered that 

 they could not niv^st their money on anything safer than 

 lending it on coffee? Take the merchants now-a-days : go 

 round and try and get a loan or take a drive round 

 Colombo, and see the numlier of mills that have been 

 closed one after the other as crops got shorter, and 

 six rter, walk into one of those that are open, and in- 

 stead of seeing the jiiles of coffee one may see a few 

 casks of coft'ee and a little cinchona being pressed into 

 bales. Then see what one of the directors of the Oriental 

 Bank said at one of their last meetings, he said " that 

 they must remember that Ceylon in former days did a 

 great deal for the Bank." What has Ceylon done for it 

 for some years past. Then see what one of the du'ectors 

 of the Ceylon Company said at one of then- last meet- 

 ings: he said "in former years they got large dividends. " 

 Take their reports for some years past and see what 

 ■ the Chairman says. He commences by 8;iying, that the 

 weather had been unf.avourable for the' blossom, but lioped 

 that next year would be better, and went on .year after 

 year till those hopes get too stale to hold out to the 

 shareholders, and then they turned their hopes to ciucliona. 

 When Citates were weedy, wc did not hear of leaf-disease or 

 grnb. I hope Hpw I have convinced you and your reader,'* 



that what ails our coffee is only a natural consequence, 

 and can only be remedied by natural means. If there 

 are any that will still hunt after shadows for nostrum.s, 

 I must i-emind them of the dog that went after his 

 shadow. There is a medium in all things, even in weeds. 

 I do not say that there should be no weeding, and I do not 

 say that we should allow the weeds to grow up so as to 

 choke the colfee, and some places may be so improvished 

 that weeds alone will do no good. Coffee has been called 

 King Coft'ee and kings liave their carpets and yet there are 

 those that will deprive King Coffee of his : let him have 

 his carpet and he will still be KiNf;. — Tours truly, 



G, F, HALLILEY, 



INDIGO IN CEYLON. " 



Dear Shi, — In Dr, Nolan's "History of the Brit- 

 ish Empire in ludia atul the Ea-it," he says that 

 during the time of the Dutcli rule indigo was 

 cultivated in, and exported in consiilerable quant- 

 ities from, Ceylon, but since the British acquired the 

 island th;xt that cultivntion h.a9 fallen off. As I do not 

 believe there are any indigo plants in the island, 

 can you, or any of the many re;iders of your valu- 

 able paoer, inform me as to whether indigo b,as re- 

 ceived extensive cultivation, and large quantities 

 been exported since Ceylon became a British colony, 

 if so where, and why it is not still cultivated ? 

 What part of the island is the soil likely to be 

 suitable for the growth of indigo, as Dr, Nolan 

 further says, the plant is indigenous, and the soil 

 of Ceylon adapted to yield a superior quality under 

 proper management, I certainly do not see myself, 

 why indigo should not succeed in Ceylon and give 

 a handso.ne profit, as everyone more or less is 

 going in for something new to replace poor " ohl 

 colfee." Any information in regard to above, will 

 be sratefully received by, yours truly, 



INQUIRER. 

 [In the introductory review of the Ceylon plant- 

 ing industry iu our Handbook for 187t)-S, we 

 made the foUowmt; remarks : — 



The cultivation of Indigo in the Seven Korales, begun 

 by the Dutch in lUtO, was unsuccessful, ami Governor 

 Barnes in l.S.G lost money over this article. Mr. Henley, 

 a Bengal pKantcr, tried indigo also in the Southern Province 

 but failed in his attempt to grow it pro)ierly. 

 In Bmnett'a Crt/lon and ila CapahUUies, chap. IX,, 

 the subject is fully treated of, the author complaining 

 bitterly of the neglect of indigo by the Brilish, the 

 last export having taken place in 17S13, He says the 

 district of Tangalla is best suited for indigo. Mr. 

 Lemarchand cultivated indigo at Jaffna, but his crop 

 was eaten i ff by insects. — Ed.] 



GENUINE CALI.SAYA MORADA SEED FROM 

 BOLIVIA. 



Dear Sie, — I have just been reading over the report 

 of a meeting of Iho Linnean Society in the Tropical At/t-i- 

 cnltiirift for July last (page 2-^), on the subject of cin- 

 chona ; and as a point I think geiier.Tlly of some import- 

 ance, I trust you will kindly afford me space to correct a 

 slight and very natural mistatemeut made at the time by 

 Jlr. Howard, in crediting others with a position, I have 

 hitherto supposed, I alone really could lay claim to. 

 Whether the fact of having a relative of some twenty 

 years' residence in the country, possessing intimate friends 

 in a position to Pupply it, justifies me in adhering to the 

 belief, that I am the only one who has so far been able, 

 or can still at all rely on procuring, genuine seed of the 

 sort,, it is not uiy object now to discuss : rather for those 

 whom it may interest to form their own opinions. Let it 

 suffice to point out, that it is not a question of how to 

 get supplies of seed " so-called " of the best varieties — 

 no trouble aViout this in quantity — the difficulty is, and 

 it is apparently as great a one as ever, to procure it 

 genuine. Here, Mr. Millie's letter in the Tivjiicnt AiiricnlU 

 ni-ist, for, I think, October or Novembor I8S2. may well 

 be referred to ! and I cannot alter my belief in the im- 

 possibility of procuring other than spurious seed through 



