July i, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURT^'^' 



OEYLON AS A PLANTING FIELD OF ENTER- 

 PRIZE FOR YOUTH. 



It is curious to note, how, during the course 

 of a long connection with Ceylon, it has been found 

 necessary at ahnost recurrent periods to vary the 

 advice to be given to parents seeking a field in 

 wliich their sons may commence life. " What 

 sliall we do with our boys ? " is a question 

 constantly ' heard in England from parents and 

 guardians. Only a short time back, we were 

 obliged to tell such that this colony presented no 

 opening ; tliat the market for young men was 

 overstocked ; and we had to instance to them the 

 numerous cases of sad distress which were witness- 

 ed among us. We do not say that wo should be 

 altogether justified in changing the tone of that 



advice even now as regards tliose who may desire 

 to select Ceylon solely with a view of obtaining 

 employment. It will be some time yet, we fear, 

 before the demand for young Europeans at a rate 

 of pay commensurate with their wishes, and even 

 needs, can render it desirable that any consider- 

 able influx of such men should be counselled. But 

 there is another class for wliom, jjerhaps, the 

 condition of affairs in Ceylon and the prospects 

 it opens out, will shortly offer a singularly eligible 

 opportunity. We feel, therefore, that we may well 

 direct the attention of parents in England to the 

 opening this island is now developing for their sons, 

 wiio may have the prospect before them of ultim- 

 ately being able to invest capital. 



Some years have passed since we were able to 

 make a recommendation of such a character, and 

 there is no doubt that instances[of ill-sUccess during 

 the prevalence of the depression which has through- 

 out those years characterized our planting indus- 

 tries have given this colony a bad name at home. 

 Parents who some ten years back looked to a start 

 in Ceylon as ensuring to their sons a prosperous 

 future, have long ceased to regard the island in 

 such a light, and have preferred to send them 

 even to the distant farming lands of Manitoba and 

 British Columbia rather < than here. We have been 

 so repeatedly appealed to for our oi^inion on the 

 subject of this island as affording an opening for 

 the start in life of British youth, and have 

 for so long a time past deprecated its selection, 

 tliat it is doubly a pleasure for us now to feel 

 justified in improving the position in this respect 

 that it has lately occupied. 



We may feel confident, however, that the dis- 

 trust we have above alluded to will not suddenly 

 be removed. It has been engendered by conditions ! 

 which have unfortunately been too long existent I 

 to justify any hope that it can be so : nor have ' 

 we failed, when personal reference has been made, ! 

 to insist on the desirability of further waiting before 

 sending out young men with tlie object of future 

 investment in Ceylon planting pursuits. A great 

 responsibility necessarily rests upon those who tender 

 advice upon which the life of a youth just enter- 

 ing upon manhood may be ultimately wrecked. 

 We have felt this responsibility often weigh heavily 

 upon ourselves, and have constantly refrained even 

 when of late we had felt almost justified in en- ■ 

 dorsing the desire of many friends to send out 

 young men to begin life as planters among us. 

 That hc^.^itation, we now feel assured, need no 

 longer be felt. We are satisfied that the improve- 

 ment in our planting prospects has every chance 

 cf bjiiig pt-imunent and progressive, and under 

 that imprf^.^ion we desire no longer to tell our 

 I 



friends in England to wait, but, on the contrary, 

 to assure them that the present time affords op- 

 portunities for their sons, of which they will do 

 well to avail themselves. 



It is in a transition time, indeed, that such op- 

 portunities have a specially favourable character. 

 One or two thousand pounds sterling judiciously 

 invested within the next few years, will, we believe 

 go as far as double the amount will do later on 

 in the history of our tea-industry. We cannot 

 and ought not to forget the lessons of the past , 

 how land rose to a price at which, although it was 

 eagerly bouglit, h could offer no prospect of re- 

 munerative culiivrition. It was the eager, the al- 

 most insane, rusli after land when selling at such rates 

 tliat contributed greatly to intensify the distress which 

 was afterwards experienced when bad seasons, and 

 that fell enemy of our coff'ee trees, the leaf disease, 

 at'tlicted us. We desire tlierefore never again to witness 

 such a mania for speculation in land as we saw during 

 the years 1S7'2, mi at intervals, to 1878. But we 

 feel that if this is to be avoided, young men 

 possessing capital must begin their career here 

 before increasing scarcity of land brings about any 

 chance of a recurrence of what took place during 

 tliose years. A youth coming out now might well 

 serve an apprenticesliip to planting in all its 

 branches including of course, tea preparation, for 

 a term of say three years. The rule of thumb 

 no longer applies to estate cultivation in Ceylon. 

 It has become a science, one that requires to be 

 studied before success can be hoped for. An 

 aspirant for that success should, while learning 

 the methods which alone can ensure it, make him- 

 self acquainted not alone with the routine of tea 

 cultvation and preparation, but with those peculi- 

 arities of soil and situation, knowledge as to which 

 can alone fit him to select judiciously for his opera- 

 tions where experience has prepared him to 

 undertake them. With the reservation, therefore, 

 that in all cases this preliminary training should 

 be submitted to before investing, we feel that we 

 can, with sincerity, recommend fathers and guardians 

 once again to regard Ceylon favourably as afford- 

 ing the prospect of a successful career to Englif.h 

 youths. 



"THE CEYLON DIRECTORY AND HAND- 

 BOOK." 



THE CHANGE IN THE COLONY IX EK.HT Yii.UIS. 



{ComviKiiicated.) 

 The Ceylon Directory for l8H.5-S(i duly reached 

 me, and I must really add my testimony to the 

 many complimentary remarks on its usefulness, 

 already published by you. In my library I have 

 the guides and directories of almost all our co- 

 lonies, but none of them can compare, in the 

 smallest degree, with the Ceylon one, which is not 

 only a Directory but contains a general outline of 

 the history of the whole country and an immense 

 amount of information of various other kinds. 

 Comparing the present volume with that of 187('i-78, 

 which I brought home with mo, when I left Cey- 

 lon, I find the new one larger and more complete, 

 and in every way belter, although, at the time 

 the other one was published, I thought it could 

 not be more complete tlian it vran. In some re- 

 spects the matter which is contained in the new 

 directory, is not pleasant rcadi)ig : for, on turning 

 up the list of estates in the old district, in which 

 I lived so long, I find several estates abandoned ; 

 one of the best ones, now in the hands of a native, 

 has been abandoned to the extent of more than 

 one- third of its acreage ; and another, which, in 

 my day, liad over 200 acres of coffee, now only 



