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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



waflied off the bushes by rain too soon. It will be 

 seen that it is difficult — if not practically impossible — 

 to apply any remedy effectually over so wide an 

 are I, and as formerly stated there can he no doubt 

 but the best safeguard ia continu(?d light cropping 

 accompanied by careful cultivation. A^ noticed in 

 last report, the number of pests that prey upon the 

 tea plant seem to increase rather than diminish in 

 this district, tnit so far the red spider is the only 

 one that materially affects the Company's intfrests." 

 'I'he Company's manager surveyed and reported on 

 various properties whicli were for sale in tl.e autumn 

 of last year, and the directors authorized certain 

 purchases on what they considered equitable terms, 

 but 93 much inflation in prices occurred just at 

 this period, no purchese was effected ; but the gen- 

 eral manasjer is authorized to examine any tea estates 

 that may come into the niiirket, and which may be 

 eligible in quality and position, — H. and 0. Mail. 



NEW FIELDS OF ENTERPRI.SE :— " MADA- 

 GASCAR. " 

 The Tanala ConxTny. — This is nearly all a gi-eat 

 forest, with few villages of any importance, the great 

 bulk of the people being settled on the low country to 

 the east of it. The eastern edge of the table-land 

 has very steep sides, ■with many bold and rugged 

 mountains, and waterfalls of great beauty ; the coun- 

 try is well-watered and exceedingly fertile, sugar-cane 

 and rice growing in luxiiance, with coffee on the hill- 

 sides. Except the dwellers ui the five towns, the 

 population is migratory, shifting theii- quarters as they 

 move to fresh rice gi'ounds. From the Faraoua soxith- 

 ward, the country is vu'tually iiidependeut, and is un- 

 der the rule of Zafirambo chiefs, whose head success- 

 fully resisted the Hovas in his mountain stronghold 

 of Ikongo. This has a town and many rice-fields on 

 its large flat top ; no stranger, is ..allowed to ascend 

 it, and the only access is by long ladders of creepers let 

 down by the garrison. The dwellers in the forest are 

 woodcutters and uonworkers, much iron ore being found 

 at its western edge. The Tanala is the richest dis- 

 trict in Madagascar, and presents a fine field for Eu- 

 ropean enterprise in the. cultiY4tion of coftee, sugar- 

 cane, vanilla, and even tea.— Colonics and India. 



NEW AND OLD PRODUCTS IN CEYLON. 



(By the Senior Editor.) 



Lindula, July 22nd. 

 While expressing admiration yesterday of "Liberia" 

 and the other clearings a little beyond Polgahawela, 

 I said to a fellow passenger interested in Liberian coffee 

 and cocoa : ■ " There must be large tracts of land suitable 

 tor cultuVe between Polaghawela and Rambnkkana. " His 

 reply 'was that after six months' search through blocks 

 aggregating over , 2,000 acres surveyed by orders of 

 Government with reference to sale he had at length 

 ■fixed X)n a lot which was duly advertized for sale. But 

 'a forester sent to report on it indicated that the 

 land' bore a quantity of useful timber and was w"ithin 

 easy distance of the railway. The sale was, therefore, 

 stopped,. and the land, it is expected, will either be 

 l-eserved as Government forest or sold at an enhanced 

 ujiset price. In either case there wall be not encourage- 

 ment but discouragement to enterprize in "new pro- 

 ducts." Of course it is very important that Govern- 

 ment as representing the public should retain posses- 

 sion of a sufficiency of forest reserves to supply 'jrab- 

 Ue demand for timber, but Gp^^ernment must take 

 care that the interests of the eilterprize on which the 

 colony depends for relief iVonv present depression, are 

 not sacrificed to the one interest of foiestry. The 



natural desii'e of the professional forester will be to 

 get every tract of land which carries good forest re- 

 served, and the high officers of Government will have 

 to perform the duty of holding the balance true, so that 

 while a sufficiency of forest is reserved, enterprize is 

 not discouraged or repressed. 



In this connection a Dimbula planter who was a 

 fellow-iiassenger held that Government should deal 

 more liberally in the case of resei'ves alongside streams. 

 Let the planter clear and then plant good trees, said 

 he, but let him have property in the timber, on con- 

 dition that for every tree he cuts down he shall plant 

 at least one. A large number of planters would thus 

 become tunber producers, to the benefit of the colony 

 and Government. The more tunber giown, the cheaper 

 would be the cost in the market. This gentleman 

 believes that growmg trees for tunber purposes mil 

 pay, and I feel mclined to agree with him. 



The Liberian coffee and cocoa planter stated that 

 while the short squalls of the monsoon of 1881 had 

 " scorched " the cocoa trees, the much higher winds 

 of the present monsoon had done no damage. I 

 questioned the scorchuig property of any Ceylon wind 

 (although the action of wind laden with sea-moisture 

 on young coconut pabns looks exactly like that of 

 fire), and an experienced V. A. who was present 

 hi-ewdly suggested that the cocoa plants were this 

 year better gi'own and so better able to resist the wind. 



Cmchonas like cocoa plants will be all the bettei 

 of the shade and shelter of coffee or tea when young, 

 and a gentleman, who has had considerable experience 

 in Ambagamuwa, Dikoya, Maskeliya and Dimbula ex- 

 pressed strongly his opinion of the advantage of plant- 

 ing cinchonas amongst tea. Certamly in my own case 

 cinchona officinalis planted amongst tea looks wonder- 

 fully fresh and flourishing. There seems little doubt 

 that tlie far reaching taproot of the tea plant drains 

 the soil of superfluous moisture, while the rootlets 

 open up the soil. The test will be the critical period 

 when the. cinchonas are about three years old. 



Cbffee seen en route looked fresh and green — alas ! 

 too much so, but I have seldom seen tea and cin- 

 chona lookuig better. I was told that leaves of the 

 areka pahn were being tried as covering for shaved 

 cinchona trees. Contracts had been made to deliver 

 the leaves at any railway station at Rl per hundred, 

 or a cent each, and the calculation was that three 

 leaves would cover an orilinary tree. The danger, I 

 apprehend, would be from tlie thickness and impervious- 

 ness of the leaves, so that fermentation might be set 

 up. Mana grass has many merits : amongst the rest 

 that no string is required to tie it on the trees. 

 " Wild ginger " or cardamom leaves answer well, and 

 I have seen the leaves of gladioli thus utilized. Up 

 at this elevation, besides coarse grasses in open spaces 

 in the forest, there is abundance of the dwarf bamboo, 

 ■which probably would answer as a covering. 



The appearance of tea at between 5.000 and 6,000 

 feet altitude, here, is all that could be desired, and 

 "the use of machinei'y is increasing. I wonder if a 

 fellow-passenger was correct in his assumption that the 

 soil of Ceylon, unless manured, would never produce 

 tea with the strength of the Assam product. Delicacy 

 of flavour, however, is the desiderated quality in tea 

 to be.U'sed alone, and that Ceylon tea possesses. 



The carpenter on this estate who has taken a con- 

 tract for makhig tea chests is doing a little in tea 

 dealing. After purchasing several parcels of coarse, 

 broken leaf at Gd per , lb. he has just got 1 cwt. at 

 5d. The tea, although it " liquors " excellently, would 

 scarcely soil in the Loudon mai-ket, so that the trans- 

 action pays us, as we do not supply lead, &c., and it 

 is of very great importance that the consumption of 

 tea by the natives ■ should be encouraged. I trust, 

 therefore; the buyer ivill obtain such profit as will 

 lead him to more extended transactions. The popul- 



