322 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1883. 



4 years' interest ou cost of land RG.OOO = l,920at8p. 



2i do do ou 1st year 10,985 = 2,195 do 



l| do do on 2ud „ 22,315 = 2,078 do 



J do do on 3rd „ 25,250 = 1,016 do 



Interest 



64,550 

 7,809 



7,809 



72,359 

 Less profit by 18,000 lb. tea sold 



250^54359^217 

 500 



435 

 250 



1859 

 1750 



109 

 4th Season July 1886 to June 1st 1887. 



Weeding 25 acres at Rl 

 Nurseries and supplying 

 Pruning 100 acres and burying pruuiugs 



do 150 at R4-50 

 Upkeep of roads and drains 

 Additional withering space extra sieves, &c. 

 Contingencies 

 New Lines (16 rooms) 

 Repairs to other lines 

 Superintendence 

 Tea house man 



Manufacturing 80,000 lb. tea at ICc. 

 Transport to Colombo 



Or. value 80,0001b. tea at 60cts. 



. R3,ono 



250 



. 1,1100 



675 



500 



450 



500 



640 



60 



. 5,000 



480 



. 12,800 



. I,0u0 



. 26,955 

 . 48,000 



Profit 



R21,045 



COFFEE CULTIVATION IN CEYLON : 



Manceing and Pruning. 



From the Procudimjs of the Dimbula Planters' 

 Association,. 



Friday, 28th Sept., 1883. 

 The CuAlRM AN, addressing the meeting, stitted, the 

 business now before the meeting is the report presented, 

 and which will be read to you by Mr. Keith, who 

 acted as Secretary to the Sub-Committee. It speaks 

 for itself, and I will make no remark on it, except 

 to say that, as far as I know as one of the Com- 

 mittee, the emiuiry has been carried ou, and the 

 conclusions drawn, without bias. That individual men', 

 bers of the Committee may have extreme views, 1 

 will not deny, but, I am, 1 think, right in saying 

 that the Sub-Commit'ee as a whole is net binssed for 

 or against cultivation. There are, however, Bome points 

 whicli, I think, should be buiue iu mind in discussing 

 this subject, and, consequently, in considering this 

 report ; and they are these, that, generally .speaking, in 

 the district we have estates giowing cuflfee solelf 

 and ou many of them unfortunately, mortgages and 

 other debts. A state of things has arisen that makes 

 it impossible to sell c slates, and we must work them 

 and payoff the debts by woikiug them ; the question 

 then presents itself to u,^, how can this best be done ? 

 iSome say, no deiubt, by planting tea and ciuchona ; 

 and, gentlemen, I do not wish to say anything against 

 plan ing tea and cincLoua, but I do eay this, how 

 are we to live and pay iuleiest on loans and also 

 plant tea and cinchona, if our coffee gives no yield? 

 and I fear we have foiinil out during the last three years 

 that, if coffee be not cultivated, it will not bear. I 

 hope it will not le inferred from what! have said that 

 1 look upon C'llee as a meaus only ;or planliug new 

 ptoducts. Far from it, iot I venture to eay that ia 



Dimbula there are many fields of coffee which, pro- 

 perly cultivated, those interested in them would be 

 sorry to see planted with any other product. But I 

 wish to point out as distinctly as I can that it is 

 impossible for those who have determined to supersede 

 coffee with tea and cinchona to ignore and neslect 

 their coffee. We have in many cases been disappointed 

 with our coffee, but, as far as I can judge of the 

 present state of things in the district genei'ally ne must 

 look upon coffee as our bre:'d and butter, or perhaps 

 more propeily speaking, as our curry and nee, and 

 cinciioua as our beer and whiskey. We may be able 

 to do without beer, bul; we cannot do without bread 

 and butter; so that gentlemen, it comes to this : all of 

 us coffee planters, cinchona planters and tea planters 

 must face tlie question how can we best make our 

 coffee pay ? It was with this view that the sub. com- 

 mittee was appointed and 1 think that you who read 

 the report careiully will see what style of cullivation 

 has givtutha best results. With regard to the advis- 

 ability, or I would ratlier say the vital necessity of 

 cultiv.itiug our good cuffee or not, look back on the 

 results of the working of the past three years. We 

 learn some lessons which should not be ignored by us ; 

 for iuBtauce, what has been the result of neglecting 

 cuffte altogether? The result has been no crop at all, 

 and I venture to say that, three years ago, few of 

 those who determined to stop cultivating their coffee 

 anticipated the result. They may have thought that 

 in place of getting 5 cwt. per acre they would get 3 

 cwt. per acre, but did not anticipate getting 3 bushels 

 per acre or not enough to keep an estate in any sort 

 of cultivation. And what again has been the result of 

 neglecting your cnffee so (ar as carrying on neces- 

 Siiry works out of season in order to plant and work 

 cinchona. It has resulted in disappointment iu very 

 many cas.-s it has been leaving a re.ility to run after a 

 shadow? I do not mean to say we should uot plant 

 cinchona, and that largely, but, looking back, I feel sure 

 that loss has bueu sustained by neglecting coffee works 

 at their proper season. And now, gentlemen, having 

 explained ;o you what the points for consideration are, 

 namely, that having coffee estates, we must try and 

 determine how best to make them pay in the immediate 

 future, for this is of vit.al importance to many of us 

 You will now hear the report read. 



The report was then read as follows : — 



REPORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE ON MANURING 

 AND PRUNING OF COFFEE. 



The principle adopted by the Sub-Committee in the 

 inquiry they liave undertaken has been to find out from 

 reliable sources, verifying where possible the information 

 given them, the actual results of the cultivation of coffee 

 in the district, it being their wish to lay before the As- 

 sociation, not their views or opinions on these points, but 

 actual facts as far as they can be arrived at in an in- 

 quii'y of this nature, so that it may be possible for any- 

 one who reads this report to form his own deductions. 

 With this view they have sent a set of questions (which 

 will be found in the appendix) to estates which tboy con- 

 sidered methodically cultivated and from their position 

 representative. The.se questions have been fully and in 

 many cases carefully answered, and the Sub- Committee 

 take this opportunity of expressing their thanks to the 

 managers of estates referred to for so readily giving them 

 information. The Sub-Committee have made an abstract 

 of the answers they have received and have tabulated 

 them iu the appenihx under the dift'erent questions. Names 

 of estates are uot given, but each estate that has sent 

 answers, has for the purpose of this report had a number 

 giveu it, which is the same whenever the estate is re- 

 referred to. The following are the results arrived at by 

 the Sub-Committee from the information they received : — 

 MANTJKmo. 



Question 1. The general range of crops resulting from 

 mauuiiug appears to be from 3 to 10 cwt., and the 

 average oj cwt. 



% Crops ii'om unmamued coffee nothing to 2 cWt, 



