May 2, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



7^ 



THE INTEODUCTION OF COFFEE CULTUEE 

 INTO THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 



To Mr. Advocate de Vos of Galle, we are in- 

 debted for the following translation of some notes 

 of P. A. Leape on the history of coffee culture 

 in Ceylon found among a collection of Dutch MSS. 

 Mr. de Vos found the writing very indistinct, but 

 he has done his best with it. Can the original of 

 this be in the Government Record Office '? The 

 letter dated •27th July 1719 was written by the 

 Directors to Ihe Principal Government, that is at 

 Batavia. As it referred to Ceylon, a copy of it must 

 have been forwarded in the usual course to the 

 Ceylon Government : — 



In the " Nieuwe Amsterdamsche Courant" Alge- 

 mcne Handelsblad (General trade list) of the 29th 

 January No. l'.),704, we read under the East Indian 

 intelligence from Batavia of the Kith December last 

 year in a report of the oliicer the Heer C. "VV. P. A. 

 van Spall on coffee culture in Ceylon, amongst others 

 the followmg : — ■" That the cultivation of coffee in 

 Ceylon by the native population was commenced in 

 l(i90 when that island was under our rule: that that 

 culture was continually encouraged by the servants 

 of the East India Company with more or less earn- 

 estness with "the result that the exportation of 

 coffee in 17H0 from that island amounted to 100,000 

 pounds etc." This is in a certain sense — so far as 

 the introduction of coffee culture is concerned — op- 

 posed to fact. We are forced to infer that Heer 

 van Spall is unacquainted with a little work entitled 

 " Invoering van Koffy Kultuur opJava" (Introduction 

 of coffee culture into Java) contributed by us to the 

 " Koninklyk Instituut voor de Taal — Land — en Vol- 

 kenkunde van N. I." (The Royal Institute of the 

 knowledge of language— countries and peoples) and 

 incorporated by the Government into their memoirs 

 where it is said, " that 111 the year 17Ht in Ceylon, 

 the experiment should be tried to make the lease- 

 holders of legally and illegally acquired lands being 

 suited to the cultivation oit coffee to reserve (unite) 

 them for that culture." 



Thus it was not before 1719 that people thought 

 of trying the experiment of planting; coffee in Cey- 

 lon. We are in a position to state what brought this 

 about. In the letter sent by the Directors to the 

 Principal Government in that year, •27th July 1719, 

 we read the following: — " The low and marshy lands 

 mentioned by Governor Rumph and Council in their 

 letter have made us think of coftee culture (being a 

 tree) which requires almost no trouble or labour, and the 

 Company will in the present state of affairs, profit 

 much if people will zealously engage in it and if it could 

 be obtained from its own soil and marshes. There- 

 fore, we cannot refrain from taking this opportunity 

 of submitting to your consideration what has occurred 

 to us in resppct of thi.s matter, viz., that this tree 

 prefers a shady spot or inar.'-hy soil and once 

 planted grows without need for any further trou- 

 ble, nay ought or can one prune it being in 

 need of no other care than only when the tree 

 becomes hjg and sometimes through nver-beariug Home 

 of its branches, which are always thin wnd long, fall 

 off they roust be broken to make room for the new 

 ones which .loon shootout from the stem. Tlie gatli' 

 erirg of the buries is also not much trouble ; for, to 

 get good, ripe and full coffee-berries, they ought not 

 In be phicked from the tree hut one should wait till 

 tiey fall oil and then collect then in a dry place 

 with a «<ma]l wooden rafee with teeth so close to 

 each other a?: Hot to aJiow the berries to pass between 

 them till they afe again stofed ift a dry place 

 under cover without anj'thin// further being required. 

 'J'he stones sufficiently grow of fhetffseJves H only 

 they are not too dry and hard of lind an we fdmd 

 out from the coffee seeJs forroerely brought from 

 Mochfl, and it is reckoned that each tree produces in 

 the. tlnrd year at least one and in the tenth year at least 

 ^ lb. of cured cofiee. liemembering, therefore, the be- 

 nefits which will result not ^^nly to the owners and 

 renter" of lands but also to tije Oum])any, we tliiiit 

 that it is well worth trying the ezperiaient," 



AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 

 EUROPE. 

 {/Special Letter.) 



Taeis, March 19. 



M. Andourd, chemist, draws attention to the loss of 

 nitrogen resulting from the mixture of nitrates and 

 phosphates. lu one of the departments of France, a 

 mixture of nitrate of soda and mineral phosphate 

 was carefully prepared and sold to various farmers. 

 The mixture represented six per cent of nitric acid. 

 In a short time the fertilizer rapidly lost its fertility 

 which wen ton .steadily declining. Between the (!th June 

 and 1-th July, the percentage of nitrogen declined from 

 t)j to 3^. Another mixture at the moment of fabric- 

 ation, registered 2 per cent of nitrogen, lost in fifteen 

 day.s, something over the moiety. In some of the 

 samples, the alteration of the nitrogen was so rapid 

 that the mass was full of bubble-holes, caused by 

 the elimination of nitrogenized gases. Indeed some 

 of these were gathered in a receiver. Artificial ex- 

 periment confirmed the escape of nitrogenous gases 

 from the two mixed fertilizers, varying in the space 

 of one mouth, between 17 and 33 per cent. 



In the case of sulphate of ammonia, the loss was 

 from 5 to 1.5 per cent. What then must be the loss 

 at the factory, where the mixture is prepared in 

 large (luautities, and exposed to the sun's rays? be- 

 cause, between a temperature of 77 to 100 degrees ¥. 

 the disengagement of nitrogen is very active, and 

 once commenceci will be kept up even when the temper- 

 ature falls as low as bi degrees. Slow or quick, the 

 elimination of tlie gas is cer'aiu when -the nitrate and 

 phosphate are intimately mixed. And yet the escape 

 of nitrogenous ^'ases can be only checked by em- 

 ploying the nitrate in a lumpy form, that which is 

 injurious to vegetation. Clearly the mixing of the 

 fertilizers should take place close to the time of using 

 them. 



Since nearly quarter of a century. Saxony suffers 

 from a scourge of iu.-iects — nonatodia — which prey on 

 the roots of sugar beet, as the phylloxera does on 

 those of the vine ; the damage is relatively as serious 

 Professor Kuehen has tried sulphuret of carbon, but 

 not with much result. He relies on " trap plants," to 

 catch the myriad-enemy. The nematodes are also 

 partial to all crucifer;e plants ; on a soil infected with 

 the insect, sow white mustard, rape &c. AYhen the 

 latter have attained a pulling height, pull them ; cast 

 them away, as the roots will be a mass of the 

 insects. Repeat this plant-trap two or three times, 

 and the enemy will be extirpated, while the beet 

 which had fallen to seven tons per acre, will increase 

 to seventeen. M. Girard relies on sulphuret or carbon ; 

 dose, 10 ounces per square yard, deposited in the 

 soil, the fumes of the chemical killed the insects 

 right off, and the hmd, purged from the enemy, the 

 yieki of beet rose from two to nineteen tons per 

 acre, and the saccharine riches of the roots, from 

 ■1 to VI per cent. 



French farmers appear inclined to pay serious at- 

 tention to tobacco culture. It would seem that seed 

 from Southern-Russia suits best their soil and regions. 

 Aiany authorities m>fintain, that the Russian equals 

 the best secnud class Turkish t^'bacca, while tb« 

 plant )!♦ more hardy. 



♦«-- 



THE JAPAN CEjUAB. 

 ( Crypiomeria Japonlco,). 



The following are extracts from a notice in h'ari'Stry 

 of the Japan tree from with most of the tea boxes 

 whie.h Ceylon is now receiving from Japan are made: — 



Forty-one jfi.irs ago, or during 18-J4, the Horticul- 

 tural Society of Iioiidon, through their collector,- M*. 

 Robert Fortune, sent seeds of the nho^e. interesting 

 tree from Shanghai, the produce of which has nt'w in 

 this country attained, in several instances at least, 

 heights Varying from ()(' feet to f5 feel — rapid growth^ 

 it must be admitted, for a Japanese conifer in Britain. 

 Delighting and thriving m(Nt luxuriantly in cool, damp 

 sells, the humiil atmosphere of threat Britain is 

 peculiarly well suited for the successful cultivation 

 of this handsome conifer. When seen at its best, tl}§ 



