92 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[August i, 18S2. 



in Java oi' India. Such names as Christie, Koberts, 

 Wm. Smith and others are creditably connected with the 

 cultivation of this prince of products. Mr. Wm. Smith 

 has achieved marked success' in opeu-air grafting that 

 has proved of more value than the metliods of Govern- 

 ment scientists, and will no doubt prove a most 

 important money-making cultivation of itself — I mean 

 the grafting and propagation of Ledger plants. 



The dying-out of cinchonas results from the following 

 causes : — 



(1) Bad seed, from which plants are raised, and after- 

 wards languish and die through want of stamina of 

 constitution in the plant. 



{2) Planting in hard cabooky land, into which the 

 roots of the cinchonas fail to penetrate freely, with the 

 result that the growth is retarded, and eventually 

 checked altogelher. 



(3) Planting in virgin laud, mth clay subsoil and 

 wet climate, where the ciuchonas giow surprizingly 

 well at first, stimulated by the top humus and the 

 moisture, but where the mortalitv is serious and sud- 

 den in tiie second or third year, owing to the roots 

 penetrating to the sour clay beneath. 



(4) Planting in watersheds, (. e. in valleys which 

 are the source of streams on the ridge of a mountain 

 range and full of slab bed rock and innumerable 

 springs. 



(5) Planting out immature seedlings placed in the 

 ground by a chip of the mamoty, and lett to themselves 

 to fight their way in the world. 



(6) Wsini} rich mould and manure for the nursery 

 beds, thereby producing a plant full of forced vitality, 

 which vitality slowly but surely retrogrades when 

 brought in contact with the ruder soils of the mountaiu- 



(7) Canker. But, in mentioning this, I would 

 state my belief that it results from the above causes — 

 one or all of them — and is only another word for 

 "dying out." It is a result rather than a cause. 



I disagree with those who say drainage will pre- 

 vent dying out. Holes, either above or below each 

 tree, or close surface drains, have hitherto generally 

 failed in baffling this mortality when it sets in. Ltt 

 those with good deep soil and thriving nurseries take 

 heart of courage, and not fear canker or "dying 

 out," Drainage will modify certain evils resulting 

 from surface wash; but that is all. The best way 

 to avoid canker is to choose suitable land. Make 

 your nursery with sand and "spoil " of roads in equal 

 parts ; water regularly and moderately ; pick out 

 carefully under fern ; reduce shade till the plants 

 can remain naked in any weather ; don't plant 

 these out till they are six to ten inches in heigbt, 

 and have been exposed to all weathers a month or 

 two; put them out in one-foot holes into which the 

 top-soil has been carefully filled, and see that care 

 be taken in arranging the roots; plant in "April" 

 weather, that is, alternate showers and sunshine, 

 w'dhout shads ; or with very temporary material to 

 last a few days onl.v; keep the collar of the roots 

 near the surface, and prevent the weeders from heap- 

 ing rubbish round the plants:— exercise all this care, 

 and you will be rewarded in having fine cinchona 

 clearings ; but remember tliat it may all be thrown 

 away, if your land be unsuitable : that is the chief 

 point. 



Some say, "Lop your trees "; others, "Don't lop at 

 all." The medium I tbiuk is tlie best ; liut it must be 

 done with a view to future shaving. So in loppiug it is 

 best to leave a piece of a branch which will form a si ep, 

 as the shaving operations extend beyond the reach of a 

 a coolj. This stump of branch eprouts freely ; so there 

 is DO fe.ar of its dying off. I think the earlier shaving 

 is begun the better, after the tree's second year. 

 Some shave during the second year, and, perhaps, they 

 are right. The majority advocate covering the shaved 



stem with some material, such as mana grass, plant- 

 ain leaves, wild cardamom or giug- r leaves, or even 

 with the leaves of the cinchona itself. Th>> first- 

 named is best, it wilh'n a conscionable distance. 

 They say that, if you do not cover the bark, the 

 alkaloids do not increase ; that any breach "f the 

 cambium spreails as the bark renews and grows; 

 and that often fatal injury to the tree results. It 

 is sofer to cover, and does not cost much. I do not 

 wish to enter into details, such as cost and tasks ; 

 but there are many who c.^n give us relialile figures. 

 In loppiug, the barking of the branches has to be 

 considered. The old method was scraping oft' the bark 

 with a knife at a great cost. Now the papers are 

 full of new "dodges" and machines for peeling twig, 

 I would say that the simplest is the best. Bottles, 

 alavangas, old mangles, bits of sticks, are ail used, 

 showing that a good deal of twig bark is being har- 

 vested. There is great room for improvements on the 

 spoke-shave. There are one or two, but I have not 

 seen them. Uprooting, coppicing, stripping ribbands of 

 bark with mossing, are obsolete systems to the pushing 

 planter of tJeylou. Dr. Triraen, Mr. Moeus, &c., &c., 

 are all in tlie back eddy ; and Ceylon planters are at 

 work, with their mangles and alavaugas, down the full 

 stream of enterprize and success. 



V. Tea. — As the last heading has occupied so much 

 room, I must deal with this as my space will admit. 

 The speculator, the greedy huugerer for returns, the 

 Galle Face lilanter, need not have anything to do with 

 tea. We want capital aud careful work to effect slow but 

 sure returns. Ceylon tea is assuming an honouraljle place 

 in the world's markets ; and, as we get to understand 

 more about it, it will prove a favourable and profit- 

 able investment for capitalists. There is more assist- 

 ance from machinery in this than in any of the other 

 products. An easy way of coucentratiug operations, 

 and, at the same time, of extending the acreage under 

 tea, is by central factories being established aud pre- 

 sided over by a skilled tea-planter ; by these factories 

 purchasing green leaf at a reasonable cost from sur- 

 rounding gardens ; and by their also importing ma- 

 chinery which will enable them to pay the grower of 

 the leaf remunerative prices, and to put the cured 

 article in the market at the lowest possible cost with 

 the highest iwssible sale-jirices. They also would give 

 employment to many ex-coffee-planters in field work, 

 which would differ but slightly fi-om that on a coffee 

 estate. Then the Uva railway could bring down un- 

 limited timber to the central saw mills, in which tea- 

 boxes could be manufactured by machinery. I see 

 a very wide field opening out ; but capital must 

 come first. Never for one moment listen to the 

 croakers who look at things with tlieir telescopes 

 reversed, and narrow down the future of the country 

 as their hopes of rapid fortunes fail to be realized.* 

 I have heard it said : — " The worst of tea is that it 

 will grow well .anywhere." That may be taken to 

 mean that one is tempted to pusli it in all climates 

 and at all elevations because it grows, witiiout making 

 sure whether it will " llush to pay " : also that, should 

 everyone "go into tea," the market would be over- 

 stocked. That fear has never been realized in Ceylon 

 with-regard to any product. Ceylon will never upset 

 the world's markets with any produce. Tea-growers 

 in Ceylon are deeply indebted to Mr. A. M. Ferguson : 

 there is no doubt at all about that. The results will 

 now make tliemselves felt ; and a great rush for tea may 

 be looked for in Ceylon in a few ye.ars. Let the dis- 

 contented, the useles.s, the drones, be drafted out, and 

 let the steady young fellows wait for the coming wave 

 that will bear thcni right up on the heights of fortune, 



* And yet om- correspoudeufs first paragraph leiives 

 the reader to iuter that he reconmieuds the abandonment of 

 250,000 acres of Ai'abiau cotlee ! — En. 



