May 



1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



859 



PEPPER TINES OBOWN ON TO JAZ-TEEE BEEAXWINDS. 



Jak plants have been put in all over the estate as 

 breakwiuds, and for slight shade, and on the stems of 

 them pepper vines are to be trained; a email experiment 

 in growing pepper already having succeeded very well 

 indeed. I noticed little or no damage to coffee trees grow- 

 ing close to Oeara rubbers, but perhaps iu time they may 

 be injurious to the coffee and cocoa in their vicinity. 



FEUIT TEEE3. 



Anon we retrace our steps to the bungalow, and during 

 the short " gloamin, " have just time to inspect a large 

 number of fruit trees which the careful superintendent has 

 planted aU round the bungalow — indeed more or less all 

 over the estate. Every superintendent in Ceylon, but e.speci- 

 ally in the lowcountry, should make a point of planting 

 an abimdance of fruit trees ; and every proprietor shoxjd 

 insist on this being done. There is no estate to which 

 coolies can be got so easily, and in which they settle down 

 so readily, as that on which they can obtain fruits either 

 free or to pui'chase ; while to Europeans plenty of vegetable 

 diet means health in the lowcountry especially, and to 

 have such a variety as we find in this estate means luxury 

 too. The following hst gives you some idea, and was just 

 penned from memory : — Mangoes (varieties), mangosteen, 

 roseapples (varieties), guavas (varieties), soursop, custard- 

 apple, almonds (varieties), Brazilian cherry, lovilo\'i, 

 bilimbi, oranges (8 varieties), limes, citrons, pomegi'anate, 

 avocado pear,shaddock, grenadilla, jambu, tamarind, plantains, 

 splendid pineapples, grape vine, and several others ; while 

 tomatoes, knolkohl, lettuce, cabbage, beans, radishes, spin- 

 ach, onions, bandakai, &c., with a nice collection of crotons 

 and flowers prettily laid out, complete the contents of a 

 garden, as tasteful to the eye as the palate, and a preserver 

 of health in itself. 



But it is getting dark, and there is only time for a bath, 

 before the lamps are lighted and we sit do\vn to a most 

 enjoyable meal, seasoned with a pleasant flow of stories from 

 our host of " days of old," which make the time fly .so fast, 

 that we are astonished to find it so soon time to '* turn 

 in " when we would fain listen all night to such interest- 

 ing " yarns." 



After a very early tea next morning, I started off for 

 Delgolla estate in Kurunegala. 



The distance is twenty miles from UdapoUa, but by the 

 arrangement of our kind host of last night, in the shape 

 of relays of bullocks at different points on the road, it 

 was easilj' reached by 10 o'clock a.m. 



The drive along tliis fine road is very pleasant iu the 

 cool of the morning, and the continual change of scenery 

 makes it interesting too. 



PADDY HAEVESTING. 



Harvest operations are in full swing amongst the vill- 

 agers, and the " increase" in their case this year seems 

 to be bountiful. Large numbers of small ricks or stacks 

 were piled along the paddy-field bunds, while the uncut 

 paddy seems to be hanging nearly flat in many fields 

 with the weight of the grain. 



ACCLIJIATIZED TAMILS. 



I was surprized to see such numbers of Tamils settled 

 iu the houses alongside of the road, and a planter made 

 the remark iu explanation of it, that when once a cooly 

 gets acclimatized to the Kurunegala district, he rarely leaves 

 it, which I could readily understand from the numbers I saw. 

 Most of them were previously engaged on the abandoned 

 estates round about, and their remaining on in the district 

 is a great advantage to the estate superintendents, who, 

 iu their liusy season, can get any extra coolies they re- 

 quu-e at once, and pay them off immediately the work is 

 done. 



DELGOLLA ESTATE. 



At about 10 o'clock a.m. I reached Delgolla estate, and 

 a short drive along a road lined on either side with rubber 

 and fruit trees, and with neatly trimmed hedges, brought 

 us to the bungalow. 



This being the busy season, Mr. Fox did not arrive for 

 some time and this gave me time to write a few letters, which 

 I did. 



In front of the bungalow a long avenue stretching away 

 over a mile, and lined on either side with cocoa and jak 

 trees, with a little hill in the distance crowned by a 

 Buddhist temple produces a very pleasing effect. 



When the trees grow up and shade the avenue, this 

 will be a very pleasant promenade. 



500 ACRES OP COCOA. 



After breakfast we start for a round of this truly magni- 

 ficent sheet of cocoa, Delgolla and Dynevor having between 

 them an unbroken field of 500 acres. 



SHADE FOR COCOA. 



On both of those estates shade trees have been left all 

 over but they are being gradually thinned out and replaced 

 where necessary by valuable timber trees of quick growth 

 such as jak, halmilla, &c. 



After a couple of years cocoa requires much less shade 

 than at first ; indeed it can l>e planted without any, in 

 sheltered places, but trees help to act as windbelts till it 

 is firmly started, when by the arrangement of its own leaves 

 the tree shades itself in an umbrella fashion, completely 

 protecting the very delicate flowers from the rays of the 

 sun, 



HOOT GROWTH OF COCOA. 



The most careful planters have observed that for about 

 two years at first cocoa is mostly a taproot-feeder, and 

 diu-ing this period may make very slow progress, but 

 at about two years old it begins to throw out lateral roots 

 freely and grows away with astonishing rajiidity. 



THE " SINE QUA NON" OF A SUCCESSFUL CLEARING. 



Careful planting the first year and the absence of failures 

 are the siiie qua iiou in a successful clearing, which no 

 amount of supplying will ever make up for. 



All the planters here use baskets, pots, or transplanters, 

 and in one clearing on Delgolla 1 saw, in 40 acres only 75 

 failures had occmTed. 



PLANTING AT STAKE AND IN POTS. 



Here planting at stake has been very successful too but I 

 think that this is accounted for partly by the white-ants not 

 attacking the plants(a most curious circumstance, as there are 

 white-ant hills all over the estate). Pots seem to be most 

 commonly in vogue and are available for several seasons if 

 carefully used, and, although the first cost is higher than 

 baskets, they are as economical iu the long run. 



DISTANCE BETWEEN TREES. 



The cocoa on Delgolla is planted at various distances from 

 9 ft. X 9 ft. to 13 ft. X 13 ft. apart : the former with a view of 

 getting the ground covered and sbailed quickly, and large 

 maiden crops; and then by removing every other plant 

 the remainder will be about exactly 13 ft. >; 13 ft. (as 9 ft. x 

 9 ft.=82 ft. and 13 ft. K 13 ft.=169 ft.) which is the distance 

 the planters here seem to think cocoa will ultimately cover. 

 The trees in the field planted 9 ft. y. 9 ft. are already met in 

 the lines, and form a complete shade to the ground, on 

 which the fallen leaves are beginning to make a layer of 

 mould round the roots. Moisture and cool below and heat 

 above are what cocoa delights in. 



PRUNING — ESTIM.ATES OP CROP — COST OF OPENING ESTATE. 



Mr. Fox goes in for pruning out all cross and dropping 

 wood below, leaving fine strong upward growing primaries 

 with strength to bear any amount of pods, and on many of 

 them long rows of pods indicate the suitability of this treat- 

 ment. On Udapolla I refrained from giving estimates or 

 figures in regard to the cocoa, as it is so comparatively young 

 but here we have figures to go by, which show what a pro- 

 fitable cultivation cocoa will now be in Kurunegala. On 

 the trees in their 4th and 6th year there is a crop being 

 gathered ot 4 cwt. per acre; and the estimate will most 

 likely be exceeded. This is selling at E.50 to K55 V cwt., 

 anil Mr. Fox's forecast for next year of 5 cwt. per acre 

 from the same trees appears very moderate iu view of 

 the dift'erence in age. The cultivation of a cocoa estate 

 when once established is the simplest we have in the 

 island, and the opening of an estate and bringing it into 

 bearing need not cost more now (including cost of land) 

 than ];120 to R150 per acre. Suitable land is not very 

 plentiful, at least land of the same description as Del- 

 golla and Dynevor, which are nearly flat and fine soil. 

 The only difficulty appears to be in the curing, in which 

 the beans, as in the case of tea, must be fermented to a 

 certain point, and then fermentation stopped at once ; 

 otherwise the sample is inferior and price lower. On 

 every, cocoa estate a " clerihi;w" and steam or water 

 fan will be required to dry the cocoa, in the event of 

 wet weather, and aheady these have been erected on 



