418 



THE TBOPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[December x, 1883, 



seeds per mauud to geiininate from Indian seed. 

 You can always examine looally-growu seed on ar- 

 rival, and if it is bad return it. But you cannot do 

 so with Indian eeed. " It 's a far cry to Loch Awe." 



I hope you will excuse the length this letter 

 has run to, but " Planter " ought not to make such 

 sweeping statements as " 99 cases out of 100." 



His statement that every Assam planter }ie had 

 met ridiculed the idea of the advantage of country 

 seed soimds vei-y mucli as if Bass had ridiculed the 

 idea of anyone drinking AUsopp's ale. — Yours faith- 

 fully, OEION. 



TEA AND FIG TREES; QUERIES ANSWERED. 



Dear Sir, — When was the tea plant introduced to 

 Ceylon ? In a late issue of the Observer, a correspondent 

 staes that the tea plant was introduced to Ceylon in 1S41, 

 but the plant was here when Moou's C.italogue was 

 published in 1824, and perhaps one hundred years 

 before then, though there is no record of the fact. It is 

 most likely that William Kerr, the first English gardener 

 appointed by Government, and who came here from 

 Cliina in 181 1, brought tea plants with him to 

 Ceylon. I have seen tea plaufs growing in various 

 parts of Ceylon since 1839. [Tenneut mentions that 

 the Dutch attempted the cultivation of tea in Ceylon. 

 See our "Planting and Agricultural Review" pre- 

 fixed to Directory of 1S76-S. — Ed.] 



3rd ; Would the introduction of the Moreton Bay 

 fig tree be a great accession to Ceylon ? 



In your issue of this date you quote a 

 paragraph from the Quecnslandcr in praise of 

 the Moreton Bay fig, Ficns iiiacrophylla, and its 

 mode of cultivations, and you add at the and that 

 this Moreton Bay fig would be a great accession 

 to Ceylon. We have from 20 to 30 indigenous fig- 

 trees in Ceylon and several foreigners, inchiding the 

 bo-tree, the oldest historical tree in the world, and 

 nearly everyone of them are as remarkable for their 

 mode ot growth as the Moreton Bay fig-tree. Are 

 not most of them the great destroyers of old build- 

 ings, dagobas, temples, torts, walls, and even hewera 

 of rocks, should w and why introduce more of our 

 enemies to crumble our ancient temples into ruins 1 — 

 Yours, W. E. 



Xnii CACAO PLANTS AMONGST COCONUT 

 PALMS. 

 KalutaiM, 27th October 1883. 



Dear Sir, — Referring to a letter signed G.F.Sauliire, 

 (page 415) giving such a plausible account of cacao flour- 

 ishiuCT betwe :i) the rovvs and under the shade of oocoauts, 

 would that genth man be good enougii to mentiou the 

 name ot the estates where these are to be seen ? I, 

 for one shall put myself to the trouble and expense 

 of going and seeing it; for it seems hardly credible 

 when taken into tousideratiou that more than one 

 proprietor of coconut property has moat carefully 

 tried the experiment even witii the aid of manure, 

 but without success. We all know that the coconut 

 palm spreads its roots like a network all over the 

 ground between the rows, so that any other plant, 

 more especially a delicate plant like tlie cacao, has 

 no chance of existence. Now to this perhaps G. F. 

 Sauliere would say : how is it that we often find fruit- 

 trees growicg aud beariug under and alongside the 

 coconut? My answer is that the fruit trees must have 

 been planted simultaneously with the coconuts, and 

 when the soil was new, and in this case, too, it is 

 not often, or rather not in every instance, that 

 success is gained. We often find mango, jack aud 

 other fruit-bearing trees planted between the 

 tows of the coconuts and doing well near habitations, 

 And that is owing to iio ptUti' reasou than tliat 



they are attended to by beiugkept clear of weeds 

 and indirectly manured by the daily sweeping 

 which t.xkes place. 



The only way that I partly succeeded in my at- 

 tempt to grow the cacao plant underneath the shade 

 and between the rows ot the cocouut palm was by 

 cutting trenches 1 x IJ ft. in depth all rouud, at a 

 distance of 2A to 3 feet from the stem of the cacao 

 plant, and with the aid of manure in shallow holes 

 all round the stem. The trenches have always to be 

 kept clean, for, with the accumulation of dirt and soil 

 by wash, the coconut roots will be found to make their 

 way througli this, to the manure applied, with amazing 

 rapidity, and thus check the growth of the cacao 

 plant. — I am, de.ir sir, yours faithfully, 



A NATIVE PROPRIETOR. 



MB. JAMES SINCLAIR ON COFFEE, TEA 

 AND CINCHONA. 



2Tth Oct. 1883. 



Dear Sir, — Although my views regardiug the future of 

 our infaut industry may be of small import to you or 

 your readers, I trust you will allow me space in an early 

 issue, in correction of a wrong impression which my re- 

 marks at the last Dimbula meeting seem to have given 

 rise to. He would be a pessimist indeed who could resist 

 beiug impressed favorably with the prospects held out by 

 those who have recently spoken on the subject of tea, 

 most of them being gentlemen who evidently know 

 wh^t they are talking about. My observations had reference 

 only to a portion of tliQ Liudula section of the Dimbula 

 district, ami, had a full report of wliat I did say reached 

 you, it would have been seen that I indicated, without 

 naming all the estates, the particular locality in which I 

 considered it would be impolitic to plant tea. 



I think, sir, that you agree with me that much 

 good coffee has been rendered non-paying for 

 some years back through another product having been 

 planted out amongst it, which, alas, has proved in 

 itself such a brokeu reed ; and it was for the purpose 

 of bringing this to recollection that I directed attention 

 to the fact, and not that I do not believe in tea where 

 coffee has ceased to pay. 



I thiuk 1 am right in statmg that the gentlemen who 

 have .sjjoken and written on the subject, and who are com- 

 petent to express au opinion from experience in both pro- 

 ducts, with one voice advise taking care of good coffee, 

 as tea will never give the return that the former does 

 even at 4 cwt. jjer acre. 



I consider that tea is a perfect godsend to those whose 

 estates are played out for coffee (of course depending 

 much on in what respect they are played out), to those 

 who planted coffee where it has proved a failure and to 

 those v^osc fortunes have not been secured by cinchona ; 

 but I maintain that it would be very imprudent to rush 

 tea into coffee estates which have during the whole cur- 

 rency of leaf-disease given most satisf.actory returns, but 

 oiving to recent severe attacks of au .addilion.il but remedi- 

 able pesfc have become uuremunerative temiiorarily. The 

 Scotch bouscnHfe's aphorism in I'egard to servants is very 

 apropos, " better the ill kail than the guid unkail, " 

 which being translated for the beiieftt of the Sassenach 

 runs "better to be served by a bad servaut whom you 

 you know than a good one you do not know." 



iSearing in mind the result of the previous planter's 

 resuscitator, for the planting of which precisely the same 

 arguments now being brought forward in support of tea 

 were used, aye, even down to results from actu.al experi- 

 ence — "an acre realized so and so," a large tree was to 

 be seen on an estate iu some low district, ditto on a high 

 estate, and so on — I cannot help thinking that wc are 

 apt to overlook contingencies which are bound to crop 

 up as we proceed, and which mil assm'edly take off a 

 good deal of the gilt. 



For instance, can we expect immuuity from all pests 

 are prices likely to keep up, aud last but far from least, 

 is tl lis degree of permanency of tea over its elder brother 

 to lie a reality? My qucstiou to Mr. Hay as to cultiv- 

 ation w.as for the purpose of getting some idea as to the 

 latter, as I cousid^i; tlwt iu tli« event of cultivation otli«l' 



