25S 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



OS we have had for the past IS months or so little 

 direct sun's ray. They had the result of Mr. Bo- 

 sauquet's ixperimeuts in mauuriug, showing that good 

 Coffee would respond to cultivation with only a fair 

 season. They heard Mr. Armstrong who had just told 

 them that he would not sacrifice good coffee even 

 for tea. Having had bad seasons they could but 

 hope for better, and with them he was confident 

 that good coffee would be cultivated to their advan- 

 tage and profit. He requsted them to support his 

 resolution. 



Mr. G. F. Walkek s.iiil, lie had the greater pleasure in 

 seconding the resolution in th.^t he felt certaii: it would 

 be carried by a large majority and he ti'usted would act 

 as a counterpoise to the report of their last meeting 

 which they had that day animadverted on. Tiiis sub- 

 ject had, however, been so thoroughly threshed out at 

 the late meeting that, as many of those there tod.iy 

 had been there then too, ho did not care to again 

 take up their time b.v stating his views at any length. 

 But ot this he was couvinced, not only from his own 

 observations, but guided also by those of others, that 

 good coU'ee would certainly pay then' well, and that, 

 while they must replace all unprofitable coffee by tea 

 or other products, it woidd be foolisli in the extreme 

 to abandon the good coffee which they certainly had 

 on very many estates. There was no reason why they 

 should be led away by a panic fear about coffee more 

 than about auy other kind of cultivation. 



Mr. Greig said he was at one with Mr. 

 Kelly's resolution so far as it concerned the in- 

 troduction ot now products, but tlie part referring 

 to coffee, while most carefully worded, he considered 

 to be in a great measure misleading, especially backed 

 up by the mover's remarks as to tlie general appear- 

 ance and prospects of coffee in Dikoya. The opinion, 

 then to be recorded by that large and influential 

 meeting he considered, to be ot vital importance, and 

 coming from so important an Association, should 

 C'nvey, as far as possible, a char and honest estimate 

 of the future of coffee. As he considered the resolution 

 fell short of that cud, he proposi'd the following amend- 

 ment: — "In view of the steady decline in the product on 

 of our coffee, and the hopelessiicss of ever a<lequately 

 combating leaf disease, this meeting is of opinion that 

 it IS unwise to place any confidence in coff-e, beyond 

 the immediate future, and that evi>ry effort should be 

 made before leaf disease plaees us in the position of older 

 districts to replace tiur Cfflfec with tea, for which the soil 

 and climate of this district are pie-einineutly adapted." 

 He doubled if he should ever have been bold enough 

 to have brought forward this amendment, but for the 

 able and highly satisfactory paper Mr. Arinstronf; had 

 just read to them. After what they had heard as to 

 the actual results obtained from t'a atsimilar altitudes 

 to theirs, he thought (here could I'e no doubt as to 

 the course opeu to tiiem. With returns based on ac- 

 tual experience, shewing, after allowing for many con- 

 tingencies such handsome profits as RlOO at K150 per 

 acre, they might well sigh for a taste of them. 

 An opinion seemed to prevail in the district that 

 it was a mistake lo talk publicly of the downfall 

 of coffee. He said that this was a great dehieion 

 and that with leaf-disease as active and virulent 

 in our midst as ever it was, if not more so ! — with 

 no prospect of iinprovemeut but tlie reverse, he main- 

 tained that the sooner all this was realised by those 

 interested the better, and th.at as sodu as it v/as seen 

 that coffee %vas no longer to be depended on, then, 

 with sucli a trump caid as Mr. A; nistrong had placed 

 in their h.ands, to show, would capital come back to 

 the country, and with it, the much needed prosperity, but 

 not till then. They had nothing to lose but all gain. 



Mr. SholTO .SlCRlxE said: that it gave him 

 great pleasure to second Mr. (ireig's amendment, 

 which he considered e.xpresstd far better than Mr. 



Kelly's resolution the real opinion of this district. 

 They ough' he thought to be very grateful to Mr. Greig 

 for bringing forward this anieudment for, should 

 the resolution be carried, it would he was con- 

 vinced, convey to the public a totally wrong impress- 

 ion of the real sentiments of the district on this 

 Bul'jcct. lie seconded it the more readily in that he 

 felt sure it would command the votes of the ma- 

 jority of those present there that day, more especi.illy 

 as it could not fail to have the support of that 

 member of their district of whom they were all so 

 justly proud, he referred to their plantiug member. 

 It might be prsumptuous in hiin to count thus con- 

 fidently on his support, were it not for that able 

 paper which he had read to them at their last mee'ing 

 in which he so clearly exprees^d sentiments in unison 

 with this amendment. In order to show that he was 

 not speaking hastily or counting without cause on 

 Mr. Shand's support, he would now read some notes 

 which he had taken from his paper that bore on 

 this point. After calling their attention to the three 

 different crises through which coffee had passed, Mr. 

 Shaud continued thus: "Our crisis is more serious 

 than ,auy other crisis in that fall In prices and 

 financial difficulties are temporary troubles which 

 time adjusts, but the failin'e of our laud to pr.duce 

 ci'ops from a disease which we have no prospect of 

 curing, IS a far graver matter or would be were it 

 not for altered circumstances. For many years indeed 

 until lately, it was an accepted theory that it paid the 

 Kuropean to cultivate cofi'ee in Ceylon, that anything 

 else would ruin him, and that when an estate ceased 

 to yield coff'c e profitably, it ceased to be of any value. 

 We have changed all this and have proved that tea 

 cinehoua, cardamoms, and cocoa, &c. cm be profitably 

 ■cultivated, and many of the most valuable properties 

 in Oeylon are those on which coffee has been ex- 

 hausted." He Hually sums up his able paper thus: — 

 '"Those who have the opportunity of going about the 

 country, of seeing tea, cocoa, cinchona and other 

 things thriving where coffee has ceased to be remuner- 

 ative, of seeing lauds at Polghawelle and elsewhere which 

 a few years aijo were considered valuelees, giving pro. 

 mise of sp'endid ietui-n=, must agree with me that 

 it is not jet noon in Ceylon, and I am sanguine 

 enough to think that with care and energy, on the 

 put ot the planter and help and symtathy from Gov- 

 ernment extended to .all classes, we shall tide over 

 our time of depression and place the island on a firmer 

 basis than it has ever been on before." This, he said, was 

 the substance of Mr. Shand's paper, and they would, 

 after listening to these notes, admit that he was not 

 overconfident in reckoning on Mr. Shand's support. 

 They would notice that there was no word of the 

 oomiut; lai'go cofi'ee crop of that next year, of which 

 they were all so sick, but the future to which Mr. 

 Shand pointed was the future of new products and 

 a future which lie was happy to say he thought they 

 all believed in. He was he said one of the oldest 

 members of that district present there that day, and 

 he had had the advantage of seeing coffee in 

 Dikoya both in its days of prosperity and 

 now in its adversity. Against his will he had 

 been forced to the opinions he now held, which 

 were, that collee, as a profitable cultivation, was 

 now a thing of the past. In support of those views, 

 he maintained that, if they were to take the thi-ee 

 young districts of Uimbida, Dikoya and Maskeliya, 

 they "would liud it dilficult to point out among all the 

 estates they contained, a dozen on which, if they 

 were to deduct from their returns the value of cinchona 

 bark sold, the yearly profits would iavc amouuted to 

 as much as five per cent on their sujiposed value 

 during the last four years, and he feared that in many 

 there had been a clear loss. He admitted that there were 

 two genilemeu present there that day who could boast 



