S8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882. 



fifteen by ten miles of coffee-planted land in Coorg 

 is so thoroughly shaded that from a contiguous em- 

 inence a stranger would suppose it to be all forest. 

 The testimony. to the value of "shade" for coffee 

 (at an elevation of from 3,500 to 3,800 feet) is so 

 opposed to nearly all experience under similar cu'- 

 cumstances in Ceylon, as to be unaccountable were 

 it not for other advantages possessed by the fortunate 

 planters referred to. The "bamboo" land under 

 shade is amongst the richest in the hiUs of India : tlu-ee 

 and four feet deep of virgin forest mould and free rich 

 soil is not uncommon, and the climate is so forcing, and 

 yet dry, that the cotfee has no diliioulty in forming and 

 setting blossom — indeed, the shade probably prevents 

 the blossom being burnt oft'. The prolonged periods 

 of drought in Coorg go a great way to account for 

 the freedom from leaf-disease. But more remains ; 

 high cultivation has been systematized to such an 

 extent that, as Mr. Meynell says, coffee cultivation 

 is now as carefully conducted on the generally flat bam- 

 boo land as market gardening is at home. The late Mr. 

 Stewart laid down the rule that, for every bandy-load 

 of coflee transported to the coast, a load of manure 

 must be carried back. This is easily managed, because 

 there is no rice or food supplies to be carted for coolies. 

 The labourers buy their rice freely and cheaply in the 

 surroimding villages, and the Coorg planters liave now 

 a superabundant supply of labourers. Mr. Meynell's 

 constituents have then- own manure works on the coast, 

 importing the raw material — coprolites, bones, and 

 guano — direct, and preparing and mixing them in theii' 

 store. That "bamboo" estates are well supplied with 

 fertilizing substances as well as kept perfectly clear of 

 weeds, will be understood when we mention that the 

 rate allowed for expenditure is equal toRlOO per acre. 

 In Ceylon during these " hard tunes," plantations 

 are worked for less tlian half this amount, kept clean, 

 but not of course manured. Indeed, we know of estates 

 in good order on wliich the expenditure does not 

 exceed R30 and R40 per acre, one-fourth of which 

 again is allowed for superintendence ; but, alas ! 

 this includes no manure, and it is very evident that, 

 if we are to see good crops of coffee here again, ex- 

 penditure in fertilizing substances must be incurred. 

 Meantime we can only wish our Coorg neighbours 

 a continuance of then- good fortune and equal success in 

 the cinchona enteipi'ise (more particularly M-ith Ledger 

 seed) which tliey have lately begun. We may men- 

 tion that the Nalkanaad coffee seed received iu Cey- 

 lon shewed no exemption from the leaf fungus : the 

 plants in the nursery were very severely attacked, but 

 not killed out, as was the case with a nursery formed 

 out of an importation of very fine picked Java seed 

 which two Dikoya planters got over at considerable 

 expense some years ago. This Java investment was a 

 complete failure. 



It might be worth trying in a comer of the Badulla 

 district — with gooil soil and a hot di-y elLmate — 

 whether the cultivation of shade trees after the Coorg 

 fasliion would save coffee from the fungus ; but then 

 the shade ought to be backed uji by liberal cultiv- 

 ation, and how can manures be transported and applied 

 without railway extension ? 



THE TROPICAL SWING : PROSPERITY 

 AND DEPRESSION. 



(The views of an old plmiter and merchant.) 



The sketch given in your leader of the 1st inst. of the 

 present state of agiicultural depression in Ceylon and of 

 previous ebbs in the tide of local enterprize is true and 

 very interesting. Still, whether regardi'd as a historical 

 sketch, or as a view of the present as compared with 

 former periods of depressir.n, it is. of course, incomplete. 

 As far as it goes, neither friend nor foe could gainsay a 

 word of it ; but, as a friend of the Ceylon planter, I 

 feel strongly tempted to add a few words. 



Historioallv, when tile present situation of agricul- 

 tural enterpiize is comp.ired with past periods of aepres 

 sion, the parallel soon fails. There are some general 

 points of resemblance, but also strongly m.arked differ- 

 ences. The points in which the rlepression of the pre- 

 sent time resembles those of former visitations are ' 

 obvious ; but the differences are not so evident, even 

 to those who, like myself, have witnessed and closely 

 watched all the successive ebbs since 1846. Reiluced 

 incomes; forced restrictions of domestic and nati' nal 

 expenditure ; stagnation of trade and commerce ;aud 

 individual distress and ruin hive, in all such periods, 

 produced their inevitable train of miseries, personal 

 and general; but even these common results of adver- 

 sity have been intensified in this last, and still present, 

 period by its unpreoedentedly long duration. 



In all our disasters, the indomitable spirit of the 

 planters has been cousidcuous, but in no previcuis per- 

 iod has this characteristic bienso strongly developed 

 as in this long protracted ebb, ptrsistei-tly pnrsuiig its 

 course through a whole dtcade. If, in the earlier years 

 of this period, high prices sustained the hopes and 

 energies of the planters, and, if good crops, altera atin" 

 with the disastrously bad ones, helped to keep up 

 their spirits ; yet, the fact th,xt each successive altern- 

 ation showed a f itelul decline upon the one preced- 

 ing looked portentous and shook the very ground woik 

 of their hopes. And when, at length, the crop which 

 in accordance with previous altern;itioris, should have 

 been a large one, proved to be the worst of all, the 

 sickness of deferred and disappointed hope struck' des- 

 pair into many a brave heart. S:ill, toe cu;mination 

 of mistoitni.e was yet to come. A heavy fill in prices 

 brought about a climax, of which our previous history 

 furnishes no example. The loug-protracted ebb, 

 wrought by a comijination of elemental disturbances' 

 natural pests, and financial difficulties, duriu"- which 

 so many brave men liave been stranded, has no 

 parallel in any former period. 



In ISil) the blow to our enterprize was sharp, Le- 

 youd all the disasters we have siiflered since, but it 

 was sliort. Tlie fall then was terrible, but it was 

 one frightful plunj^e, in which the utmost depth was 

 reached at once. Recovery, thouuh slow and painful 

 at first, began almost immediately after the shock 

 and was stead) and progressive. The planter realized 

 at ouce the full measure of his misfortune, and was 

 not then subject, as he has lately been, to the frii/ht- 

 ful ordeal of succe.-sive falls, in each turn bringing 

 new disappointments, and landing their victims in still 

 lower depths of ruin. 



Another stionglj -marked point of difference between 

 this last and previous periods of depression, is in the 

 comparatively few changes of proprietory. In 1846 a 

 ocmvulsion of the agricultural enterprize was caused 

 by the immense number of estates which changed hands, 

 and which during the change were, in many cases', 

 allowed ito fall into neglect. At that period many 

 estates were deluged w ith weeds and a prey to disorder 

 presenting a picture of desolation and ruin. 



A stranger visiting our country now would hardly 

 believe in the fact of agricultural depression, if h 

 judged by the beautiful order which almost every wher 



