AVG. 2, 1886,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST* 



ITi' 



home political world, will pass away and better 

 prices return. What Ceylon planters have to con- 

 tinue to do is to produce as cheaply as they can, 

 but always to keep in view quality which will 

 enable them to hold their own in competition 

 with teas which are now being grown " from China 

 to Peru." 



In this connection it is interesting to learn that 

 Mr. Gow has consented to read a paper before the 

 Dimbula Planters' Association for the benefit of 

 Ceylon tea planters. Added to his prolonged ex- 

 perience as a planter in Assam, and his acquaint- 

 ance with the London tea market as the head of 

 a well-known broking firm, Mr. Gow has now 

 acquired a very fair idea of the Ceylon planting 

 districts ; their capabilities and advantages as well 

 as drawbacks. We are glad to learn from Mr. Gow 

 that on the whole he is well satisfied with Ceylon. 

 He has had occasion already to report favourably 

 on the prospects of tea here from a business 

 point of view to London firms, and Mr. Gow's 

 report on the Degalessa lands for the Kelani Tea 

 Company, shows that he thinks highly of Ceylon 

 as a tea-growing country. Lut, as might be ex- 

 pected from an old Indian planter, tea-maker and 

 tea-seller, Mr. Gow sees many things capable of 

 improvement as he goes about the districts, more 

 particularly in connection with " plucking " and 

 manufacture. He has already given evidence of his 

 ability to improve the local system of tea prepar- 

 ation by the admission of several planters 

 who have had the benefit of his advice and 

 instruction ; and while we can scarcely expect Mr. 

 Gow before the Dimbula Association to tell us 

 all he knows about our tea and the proper system 

 of preparation, still the presentation of his opin- 

 ions and ideas, even after a general fashion, cannot 

 fail to be interesting and instructive. Mr. Gow is 

 particularly strong as to the proper modes of " pluck- 

 ing," " withering " and " fermentation " of the leaf 

 so as to do justice to its chemical properties, and 

 the appearance and trial in Colombo, shortly, of his 

 own " witherer " (for which at length the local patent 

 has been granted) will add to the interest felt in what 

 our correspondent describes as " Mr. Gow's new 

 system of tea manufacture." 



PLANTING NOTES FROM UVA. 



KAINFALL AND GOOD CBOPS — COFFEE IN NATIVE GAUDENS 

 — THE U.ULWAY WANTED— CATTLE MUUEAIN — CHIMES — 

 PADDY CROPS— BAD ROADS. 



Haputale, loth July. 



There has been more wind and rain up here during 

 the last two months than usual at this time of 

 tlie year. During May and June we had very 

 strong gusts of wind at times, and the rain was 

 accompanied by thunder and lightning and hail 

 stones on one occasion. You will see by the follow- 

 ing what the rainfall for six months has been on 

 the Haputale Pass compared with the rainfall for 

 the same period in 1885 : — 



1886. No. 188.5. No. 



Rainfall, of days. Ilainfall. of days. 



January .. !»-53 21 .. I'll 11 



February.. 0-84 (i .. O'T'i 5 



March .. 1-29 8 .. 172 10 



April .. 11-84 1.5 .. .^-O'.t It; 



Mav ,. 9-4.^ 20 .. 12-21 -id 



June .. 2-40 JO .. 4-01 17 



82 



:w-;53 80 2K-79 



Nearly 10 inches more rain in almost the same 

 number of rainy days both years. The month 

 of July connnenced very wet and monsoonish, and 

 from 1st to 7th there were six wet days and a 

 rainfall of 2-,45 inches recorded, and for a time 

 plaurcis of the higher estates who depend chiefly 



on spring crop, an 1 Airguft hhssoms, were ge ting 

 very anxious abjut the weuther chang-iug to fiLe and 

 dry, which, I am happy to say, it looks jik; ru ing 

 the last day or two. Ou all the hither esf.alts, t) er ■ is 

 abimdauce of wood in fit condition for a gr<ird tilossim 

 and bumper crops, if the weather will only keep fine 

 for the next mouth or six weeks. The autumn crop 

 now ou the trees, especially on some estates below the 

 Pass, are exceptionally fine, and the Laird of Kelburne 

 particularly will reach the island in time to see one of 

 the biggest crops picked not only from Lis own pro- 

 perty but from many other e.states in Haputale. The 

 native c/ardcits, also show abundance of crop wherever 

 the coffee is iu condition and not neglected. All over 

 Uva leaf-disease is gradually disappearing, and coffee 

 regaining vigour every month. A year ago I thought, 

 and many other experienced planters as well, that 

 many places on the Haputale Pass would never 

 recover and were doomed to extinction, as far as 

 coffee was concerned ; but after a visit to 

 Haldummulla a few weeks ago I was most 

 agreeably surprised to find the coffee everywhere — on 

 estates and native gardens alike — lookiug moat luxuri^ 

 ant, very free from leaf-disease and bearing very fine 

 crops. Now would be the time for any sceptic and 

 disbeliever in the future of coffee (at least ou this 

 side of the country) to come and see our estates. For 

 my part 1 would just as soon plant coffee as tea on 

 new laud and virgin soil in Uva. If the crop of 

 1884-8.5 was a short one, that of 1885-86 promises so 

 far to be one of the largest dispatched from Uva for 

 many years back. 



Cottle Marrain or hoof-and-mouth-disease has beea 

 prevailing for some weeks past amongst cart bullocks ou 

 the Eatnapura road and village cattle. Why the Govern^ 

 ment do not adopt or even attempt some remedy to try 

 and stamp out this dreadful animal epidemic, to is a 

 mystery, and one which "no fellah can understand."^ Year 

 after year tens of thousands of cattle of all kins are 

 carried off or die of this disease, and the wonder id that 

 any are left in the island of the old stock ofs iudi- 

 genous cattlfl. Why not legislate on the subject an have 

 a Mt'dwal (irdinaiice for the villagers and thedr sick 

 cattle? The Medical School or College in Colombo 

 annually turns out a number of cheap doctors 

 to practise oa the public and delight the coffee 

 planters, and the country is getting overstocked with 

 them. Out of their superab uulance a few licensed 

 cattle or bullock doctors might be manufactured to 

 try their skill on the quadrupeds. Besides sick cattle, 

 in this sporting age, there are any number of mangy- 

 hounds iu towns and countrj' that owners would 

 gladly pay handsomely to see cured. Why not have 

 a veterinarmn class attached to this so-called college 

 and make the subject of endemic cattle diseases, 

 murrain, hoof-and-mouth-disease, a special study. W aa 

 it not by legislative act and severe penalties attached 

 that rinderpest, was stamped out in Europe and o tber 

 countries? A great deal more might be written on this 

 subject but I am afraid it would be labour in vain. Our 

 paternal Government might reply it was interfering 

 with the po .r natives and distressing to impose upon 

 them the burden of looking after their sick cattle. 

 It is only the planters who require looking- after, and 

 Ordinances for Cattle Trespass, Cattle Stealing, Medical 

 Aid Wants, Cooly Ordinances, Register Keeping, Im- 

 migration Returns, Birth aud Death Reports &i-. The 

 poor native must be left to live just as he pleases, rob, 

 murder, ravish, commit arson, and live at his European 

 neighbour's expense. .1. A. 



GEMMING. 



An enterprise (writes a correspondent) in which 

 the general public seems entirely left out in the 

 cold is that of gemming. The most casual glance 

 at the Ceylon Court of the Indian and Colonial 

 Exhibition cannot fail to strike any one with the 

 innuense value of stones yet unfound even in this 

 one productive island. A good deal of business 

 also is carried on in this court, sapphires aud 

 rubies being bought and ordered by many ladies 



