Oct, X, iBS6:j 



THE 'P^OPfeAt ACiUmtJlWmBT. 



m 



at a less cost aud commaud a higher average than those 

 of India. As the plaut is now being cultivated with 

 successful fiuaucial results from the sea-board to an alti- 

 tude of (JjOOO ft. it is impossibie to say where the limit 

 of production may lie. It is estimated tbat iu the 

 present year 140,000 acres are under tea, aud this area 

 is rapidly increasing, for coffee planters are making all 

 haste to turn their estates into tea plantations. There 

 seems, however, to be some danger iu all this haste. Wa 

 believe that the plant may be shorn of its leaves iu 

 Ceylon much more frequently in the year than in China ; 

 but is there not some danger of exhaustion in this rush, 

 and that in the course of a few years both the plants and 

 the soil may be exhausted. However, with so competent 

 an adviser at hand as the Government botanist, Dr. Tri- 

 meu, dangers of this kind need not be blindly incurred. 

 Ceylon teas maj' be had in retail at all prices from lid up 

 to 20s per lb. The average price of the tea sold in Min- 

 cing-lane in 1885 was Is 3i^d per lb. But the com- 

 paratively high duty on tea aud the e.xtortionate pro- 

 fits of retail dealers increase the wholesale price iu 

 bond largely before the tea reaches the consumer. How- 

 ever, we believe that an excellent Ceylon tea may be 

 had for 2s per lb., aud what the Ceylon tea-grower 

 should do is to take some means of securing agents 

 iu this country who will be trusted to give Ceylon tea 

 when asked for. The following figures as to area and 

 export may be interesting: — 



Area 

 — under Cultivation. Export. 



1875 ... 2,700 acres 1,438 1b. 



1880 ... 9,000 „ 162,575 „ 



1885 ... 100,000 „ 4,353,Oro „ 



188G ... 140,000 .. (probable)8,.300,000 „ 

 For 1887 it is estimslted that 14,000,000 lb. will be ex- 

 ported, and for 1888, 25,000,000 lb. Still Ceylon has a 

 long way to go before it can compete with either India 

 or China. The value of the tea exported from Ceylon 

 in 1885 was about £250,000 ; that of China was about 

 seven millions sterling, and of India over four millions. 

 Though coffee is in danger of being put into the 

 shade bj tea, still the many fine samples shown in 

 the Exhibition prove that it still remains one of 

 the most important, if not the most important, 

 cultures in the island. How it has declined may 

 be seen from the fact that in 1877 the quantity ex- 

 ported was '.)71.000 cwt., while in 1SS5 it was only 

 ol0,;)22 cwt., and the estimate for the current sea- 

 son is not mrce than 200,000 cwt. Still, the value 

 of the export iu 1SS4 was £1,10(),000, by far the highest 

 export item, though the lowest value for cofl'ee since 

 1853. It would surely be a pity to let it lapse en- 

 tirely ; there must be some means of preventing the 

 plant from utterly deteriorating. Next to coffee, 

 hitherto the most important export has been cocoa- 

 nut oil, of which, as well as of copra, a good many 

 excellent sainples are shown. The export of oil has 

 risen from j.!l,000cwt. in 1876 to 428,830 cwt. in 

 1884, though itfell to 274,990 cwt. in 1885. The value 

 of the oil e.\;)ort in 1884 was. £448,000. Another oil, 

 an essential oil, which has rapidly increased as an 

 export, is that known ascitronella, used by soapmakers 

 and perfumer.s. The quantity exported has risen from 

 1,700,000 oz. in 1881 to 5,721,000 oz. iu 1885. Next 

 to products of the cocoa tree cinchona is tlie most 

 imjioitant economical exhibit in the Ceylon Court, 

 and, indeed, it bulks more largely, as the product 

 is shown in all states, from the broken bark to the tree. 

 It was only in 1872 that planters seriously turned their 

 attention to it, but the progress was so rapid that in 

 1881 the value of the export was over €389,000. The 

 qu.intity exported increased from 18,730 lb. in 1873 to 

 11,078,360 lb. in 18S-5, the result being to greatly reduce 

 the price of this invaluable bark in the market. Still, 

 there have been disappointments in its culture, arising 

 from extravagant expectations. One familiar method 

 of collecting the bark is to strip it from the treeiu al- 

 ternate layers, a new coverinf^ rapidly taking the 

 place of that stripped off. Whether this method is 

 deleteriou.s to the tree, as one would expect, results 

 have not yet proved. Specimens of the tree so stripped 

 arc shown in the court. As will be seen from tho many 

 samples exhibited, Ceylon has many other drugs anil 

 spices to show : the proauctiou of these by natives I 



could be increased to any extent required, and certainly 

 should be encouraged. Dr. Trimen exhibits a collection 

 of over 360 native vegetable drugs from the Central 

 Province. The tobacco exhibits ' remind us that a con- 

 siderable qu'intityis sent across to India to be made into 

 cigars ; while the native cheroots of Jaffna can be had 

 at from 4s to 20s per thousand, cheap enough 

 smoking surely for those who care for it in 

 this form. Cane-sugar, though shown, is of little 

 importance, though the Jagghery, or sugar of the 

 Palmyra palm, is in some demand as an export, 

 and is capable of development. Wo have, of 

 course, specimens of the famous arrack of Ceylou, 

 and, besides these, a pot arrack still. Govern- 

 ment derives a large revenue from the licences to arrack 

 shops— £153,500 in 1885. A good many specimens of 

 cacao will be found in the court, and of this t'32,000 

 worth was exported in 1884. The export has grown from 

 122 cwt. in 1880 to 0,863 cwt. in 1884, though it fell to 

 6,758 cwt. iu 1885, mainly, we believe, owing to the 

 attacks of an insect pest, combined with prolonged 

 drought. Paddy and rice, the staple food of tho people, 

 have, of course, their place in the Exhibition, but al- 

 though over 5,000,000 bushels of rice are produced an- 

 nually, as much more has to be imported. Ciunaniou, 

 of which some bales are .shown, has not now the im- 

 portance as an export it once had, the price having 

 fallen tremendously; still 1,574,022 lb. in bales and 

 629,000 lb. in chips were exported iu 18S5. It would bo 

 useless to go over all the other food products, spices, 

 aud drugs, which have been sent from this productive 

 island. Over £81,000 worth of cinnamon was sent to 

 England alone in 1884. 



Although nearly four-fifths of the area of Ceylon 

 is still a forest country, still timber has not that 

 importance as a commercial product which it might 

 have under aa intelligent and energetic fore.st depart- 

 ment. In the Exhibition, heavy timbers are par- 

 ticularly prominent, and some of the woods 

 are marvellously beautiful. A Forest Act has 

 recently been passed. It is only in the extensive 

 and thinly-inhabited dry plains of the northern parts 

 of Ooylon that any extensive forests remain, and even 

 here in most places the good trees have been cut out. 

 But all that is needed is demarcation of the best por- 

 tions and rigid protection and proper conservancy of 

 them for a few years to render them a permanent 

 source of valuable timber. 



The exhibits of wood in the Ceylon Court consist, 

 first, of an extensive series of hand specimens — i. e., 

 blocks about 15 in! high, illustrating no less than 255 

 specie.3 of Ceylon trees. These have been prepared 

 with th.3 bark left on, and exhibit, besides transverse 

 sections, vertical, tangential, and oblique mies, thus 

 fully showing the character of the wood. The native 

 and botanical names are painted clearly on each speci- 

 men, and much pains have been taken in the accurate 

 determinttion of the latter by Dr. H. Trimen, the 

 director of the Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, who pre- 

 pared and exhibits the collection ; secondly, a ser-es 

 of handsome planks of the best or most ornamental 

 timbers arranged to form a panelled wall or dado. The 

 woods employed here are .satinwood, eb onj', jack, nedun, 

 tamarind, sapu, wa, suriya, suriya-mara, pamburu, and 

 calamander ; thirdly, a series of discs, including, beside.*) 

 sora^ of the above, also kumbuk, del, palu, goda-kirilla, 

 &c., many of large size ; fourthly, miscellaueous speci- . 

 mens, inclu ling several palms, as the coconut, kitul palm, 

 areca palm, and four entire palmyra palms from the 

 north of the island surmounted with carved capitals 

 of the same wood.» 



Oat of the great nurabec of woods many of ex- 

 cellent chiiracter, growing iu Ceylon, only a very 

 few sjrts are exported — ebony, satinwood, halmilla 

 or Trincomalee wood, and wewerane or ranai. Teak in 

 not native to tho island, but grows well iu the southern 

 pirts and ought to be extensively planted. India is 

 the principal market, but ebony goes to England and 

 also largely to China. This is a very hard wooil, but 

 the .Sinhalese carpenters turns out high'y-carved 

 furniture, of which Que examplccn arc shown in thu 

 Court. Satinwood is a heavy, strong and beautiful 

 timber, woll-kuowu aud generally aduiived, c^peeially 



