782 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



IV— "Ohoadi Kadu," 195 acres, has only given three 

 crops 68, 39, and 82 tons respectively, and the average yield 

 has teen 6k cwts. per acre. The present appearance ot the 

 estate is not such as to preclude the hope that, when five 

 crops are harvested, the required 7A cwts. per acre may be 

 topped. J^^^s Chisholm. 



♦ • 



NEW INDUSTRIES:— NILGIEI NETTLE; 

 LAVENDER; HOPS. 

 Mr W .J Kemp thus writes to us in allusion to the 

 paragraph in our last issue in referring to the price real- 

 ized tor a sample of the Nilgiri nettle fibre recently for- 

 warded to Messrs. Christy & Co., London:— 



"I notice your issue of Saturday last brings under observ- 

 ation the value per ton placed on a sample of Nilgiri 

 nettle fibre, forwarded by me in September last^ to Mes.srs. 

 Christy & Co., Fenchurch Street, London. £60 per ton 

 is I believe, considered a very fair price, although I under- 

 stand a gentleman who took home samples some months 

 before, obtained a valuation of considerably over £100 per 

 ton Thus it seems that the value would be liable to 

 fluctuate considerably according to quality &c., should large 

 quantities be placed in the market. The plant is usua ly 

 found lu.'iuriating among manurial accumulations in the 

 vicinity of Toda-muuds, or in loose friable soils, contigu- 

 ous to borders of sholas, and so far as I have observed, 

 it scarcely ever occurs on grass land away from trees, 

 and when it does, it assumes a starved stunted growth. 

 The conditions so favourable to its development in the wild 

 state would require to be considered it its cultivation was 

 ever undertaken as a speculative enterprise. I have no 

 doubt it would succeed and pay well if systematically cult- 

 ivated after somewhat similai- principles requisite tor 

 the growth of the Hemp plant. The best sites for its 

 cultivation would be good light grass land, sheltered as 

 much as po.ssible from sweeping winds. The ground would 

 require a good digging and manuring previous to plaut- 

 iu'^', and I calculate that three acres well worked should 

 vi?ld fully one ton of superior fibre annually. 



The cultivation of Lavender for distillation and scenting 

 purposes, appears to be another most remunerative uuder- 

 taking, the demand for Lavender oils and scents being 

 practically ineshaustible. Lavender flowers, in the crude 

 state also fetch the high prices of £50 to £60 per ton m 

 the Loudon Market, and as the Lavender plant has been 

 known to yieM two crops of flowers per aunuin, m some 

 favoured parts of the Nilgiris, the profitable returns per 

 acre per annum should be something substantial, and I 

 see no reason why distillation could not he earned out 

 in the locality. ., ,-, , ^ ■ a ^ 



Before concluding, I should like to allude briefly to a 

 question often mooted in your excellent paper, viz., the 

 cultivation of Hops on the Nilgu-is. Certain portions ot 

 the district possessing a moderate rainfall, offer excep- 

 tional advantages for the successful cultivation of this plant; 

 the soil, if well worked, being very fertile, lacking natur- 

 aUy however, certain calcareous and saline properties ne- 

 cessary for the successful and perfect development of the 

 Hop plant ; but as these small deficiencies might be cheaply 

 applied artificially, any difficulty encoutered iu this respect 

 might be readily surmounted. "South of India Observev. 



♦- 



COCOA OR CACAO. 

 Agricultural ami Horticultural Society of India. 

 Read following communication from Mr. A. H. Blech- 

 ynden respecting Cacao : — 



•' It is satisfactory to know that though some ot our 

 older Indian products, notably silk and ludigo, are not 

 ■what they were, there are others which have taken their 

 phice to some extent, primarily tea and now wheat and 

 tobacco There is another product to which attention 

 mi-'ht be du'ected with advantage, namely Cacao. 

 Al? attempts to raise the Tlieohroma Cacao in Bengal ap- 

 pear to have failed ; the tree attains a certain age and 

 then dies. But there are other parts of India where the 

 chmate might be found suitable to its production. 

 Perceivin" that it is not prudeut to trust so much to 

 ,.ne indultry,— and that industry suffering so severely 

 from a disease which has hitherto baflied all attempts 



towards eradications,— the Ceylon planters are now turning 

 their attention to Cinchona. Tea, Caoutchouc-yielders and 

 Cacao. As respects the two former they have apparently 

 met with sufficient encouragement to move onwards. 

 The following extract from a letter which has been kindly 

 placed at my disposal by a Jlember of a firm in the city, 

 who are largely connected with Indian and Coloni;il pro- 

 ducts, is, I think, sufficiently interesting to iuduce me to 

 bring it to the notice of the Society. Though it refers 

 specially to Ceylon, the remarks contained therein neeil 

 not be confined to that island, for, as already observed, 

 there are several localities in India where the Chocolate 

 tree might be successfully cultivated. The writer of the 

 following remarks has as.sured me that he has beenrauch 

 surprised and gratified to find how excellent is the 

 quahty of the Ceylon Cacao,— approaching very closely 

 that of Trinidad." 



" It is very gratifying to notice that while Ceylon 

 Coffee Pl.anters .are iu a state of depression with regard 

 to the cultivation of Coffee, owing chiefly to the awful 

 scourge of the leaf chsease, aggravated by adverse weather 

 their attention should be directed to the cultivation of 

 other articles which appear to becoming to the foreground 

 by further developing the capabilities of the Island. It 

 is also of material advantage that a prominent position 

 has been given to the .article of Cocoa (or more properly 

 Cacao) in the extracts of Dr. Trimen's report appearing 

 in the Observer of the 6th May. There is, however, no 

 need to he alarmed that Coffee cultivation in Ceylon is 

 a thing of the past, but as time advances, skill and 

 enterprise must necessarily be also directed to the produc- 

 tion of other articles for which the soil of Ceylon is ad- 

 mirably adapted. We have already seen the sati-sfactory 

 progress made in Cinchona and Tea, and there is every 

 reason to believe that Cocoa promises to occupy an in- 

 portaut position in the products from Ceylon. The small 

 quantities which have ahready appeared in this market 

 adduce sufficient evidence of the value in which it is 

 held, and r.o doubt c:in be entertained that with proper 

 care and attention, this article may rank auiougst the 

 highest qualities produced in any part of the world. 

 Trinidad, of course, as we all know produces the largest 

 supply, but Ceylon has yielded in the comparatively 

 small qu.antity seut, a rjuuriti/ much appreciated by some 

 of our best Chocolate manuf'aturers, 



The report already alluded to and extracteil so copiously 

 in the Observer should be of very practical utility to Cey- 

 lon Planters. But while selection of plants and suitable 

 localities are e.ssential to favourable results, and judicious 

 pruning highly necessary for full productiveness, the 

 question ot fermentation is one of material importance. 

 It is difficult to draw strict rules as to the requisite 

 time for this process to be carried on as much depends . 

 on circumstances. While forty-eight hours might be 

 sufficeut in one case five or six diiys might not be 

 too much in another, — all depending ou the amount of 

 heat -generated in the process of fermentation, and which 

 ftan only he ascertained by watching the progress most 

 attentively. Four d.ays would .appear iu most instances ; 

 sufficient. If allowed to be too long, the Cocoa becomes 

 heated and burnt, and thereby loses much of its aroma 

 and colour ; but if too short a time, the moisture is not 

 sufficiently driven out and the nuts become mildewy 

 and decayed. A healthy brightness of colour with ful- 

 ness of aroma are the desirable results ; and it may al.so 

 be remarked that it is the insides of the nuts which are 

 subjected to this test an'l not the skin. These fewo bserv- 

 ations are ofl'ered for the purpose of rendering some 

 assistance if possible in the encouragement of a branch 

 of industry for which there is ample scope for develop- 

 ment, and may ultimately prove of substantial remuner- 

 .ation to those engaged in the productions of Ceylon." 



CINCHONA CULTIVATION IN .lAVA. 

 The introduction and Cultivation of Cinchona in India is 

 nOw an assured success, and on all accounts it may be looked 

 on as a triumph for English enterprise and English bot.anic.al 

 science. But it must be remembered that if the eminent 

 Indian botanist Royle was the first to advocate the enterprise 

 so far back as 1839, it w^is not till 1859 that auy practical 

 steps were taken (by Markham .and his coadjutors) to reahse 



