4^4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[NoVEJrBER I, 1882. 



THE NORTH-CENTRAL AND WANOT 



DISTRICTS OF CEYLON: 

 Fibres Worth £40 a ton available for 

 Preparation, 

 {Oommuyiicated .) 

 A number of indigenous fibre-pi'oducing plants are 

 to be found in the jungles of the Wanni, and among 

 them is one specially prized by the natives for the 

 strength and durability of its fibre. It is called 

 " eruknllai " (eirgsfiSsu) in Tamil, and W;lra 

 (©3(5) in Sinhalese, and grows prolifioally in open 

 grounds such as abandoned chenas and paddy fields. 

 A sample sent to England recently was valued in 

 London by a manufacturing firm at £40 per ton. In 

 the last number of the Tropical AgricuUtirist (Oct. 

 2nd) page 332, a description is given of a fibre 

 machine patented by Messrs. Dennis and Angell of 

 America, which would just suit this plant. It would 

 pay anyone to buy one of these portable machines 

 and travel about the country fixing himself in a 

 locality where the plant grew in abundance, and 

 moving on to new ground when the stock became 

 exhausted. The life would be a pleasant one, for he 

 would in this way travel all over the country with 

 constant change of scenery and climate, and, if of a 

 botanical turn, would discover other plants of com- 

 mercial value. The cost would be very little, as he 

 would not hiive to invest in land nor keep up cultiv- 

 ation. The experiment is worth trying with any one 

 wlio has a little money and time to spare. 



What are our men of capital doing that thej should 

 allow 500 sturdy Sinhalese to leave their country with- 

 out finding any means of employment for them here, and 

 will they allow the wily Queenslander to take the wind 

 out of their sails in this manner ? Are there not rich 

 lands in the North and North-Central Provinces to be 

 bought where the Sinhalese could be employed among 

 his own people and at a work which he thoroughly 

 understands, viz , paddy cultivation. He would be 

 ruled by a Government thoroughly acquainted with bis 

 laws and customs and ready to grant him such con- 

 cessions as lies in its power, should he wish to pur- 

 chase land. This sul'ject is worthy the attention of 

 all local agricultural Associations. 



The immigrant road from Mannar to its junction 

 with the central road at Madawachchi, would be a 

 good base to work from and to commence the march 

 of civilization over a country abounding with the re- 

 mains of " ancient tanks, by the aid of which a dense 

 population was enabled to live on plains now covered 

 with forest and jungle where men go to hunt." A 

 number of old tanks are to be found near the road, 

 the first 20 miles from Madawachclii. There are tele- 

 graph stations at Mannar and Anuradhapura, and the 

 tappal from Vavunia-Vilankulum to Miiunar runs along 

 a good portion of it. If local labour is not available, 

 coast coolies passing and repassing can be engaged 

 in any number. 



COFPEB AND WEEDS. 

 From the dii'ection which public opinion is taking, 

 we are quite prepared to hear some of these days 

 that weeds — against which Mr. D. Morris and other 

 ex])erts so earnestly warned us as affording a nidus 

 to the spoi'es of Hejnileia ranlatrix — had they been 

 allowed to gi-ow at their own sweet \v\\\, would have 

 saved us from the plague ! We take fi-om the Mculms 

 Mail two letters, one by the scientific agriculturist 

 Mr. Harman, the other by a Wynaad planter of 



seventeen years' experience. Mr. Hannan shews how 

 clean weeding dein-ives the soil not only of its nitrogen 

 but of its moisture-absorbing power. The Wynaad 

 planter is equally emphatic in decrying %vceding as 

 helping wash to carry away the soil, and he proceeds to 

 curse drainage as art and part in the destructive pro- 

 cess. Now we suppose no one will deny that, if weeds 

 were not harmful otherwise, they would really be 

 useful in binding the soil so as to resist wash. But 

 they, especially gi-asses, would also bind or occupy 

 the soil, so as to prevent, considerably, the spread of the 

 feeding rootlets of the plant, which are near the sur- 

 face. "If weeds do not enrich the soil," exclaims 

 the planter, "what is the good of a fallow?" But a 

 fallow between annual or temporary crops, the fallow 

 being followed by careful ploughing and han-owing 

 before another crop is put into the 'ground, is surely 

 a very diflerent thing to allowing weeds occupy a 

 soil in which stands a perennial crop-yielder, like 

 coffee ? With all the rich volcanic soil of Java, clean 

 weeding is now resorted to on government as well 

 as private estates, where the labour supply renders 

 such weeding possible, and, if weeds are allowed to grow 

 amongst tea m India they are regularly hoed into 

 the soil and among.st them is rarely to be found the 

 ageratum which takes out of the soil exactly the 

 same elements as the coffee tree requires. Both in 

 India and Java, where terracing is resorted to the 

 weeds, if not deeply Imried in the earth, are re. 

 legated to the outside edges of the terraces which 

 they help to bind. But in both countries the soil 

 IS better capable of supporting a cultivated plant 

 plus weeds, than is ours in Ceylon. "If they are 

 not permitted to seed," wiites Mr. Harman, and w^e 

 agree with him that could the white weed and others 

 be regularly turned over into the soil in theii- green 

 state and before seeds had formed, the whole ques- 

 tion would assume a different aspect. It would, certainly 

 be better tliat the weeds should rot in silii than that 

 they should be carried to compost heaps and back 

 again. But, unfortunately, white weed, or goat 

 weed, or ageratum, or, as the Sinhalese call it 

 the weed of the wind, is, often, scarcely above gi'ound 

 when it begins to seed profusely; and while the scient- 

 ists tell us to burn the fallen leaves, or to bury them 

 with lune, if we want to get rid of the funt^us 

 and we are compelled to reply that we cannot 

 afford the cost ; there is not much use in tellini; 

 us that we must, some half-dozen times in the year 

 hoe the weeds into our soil in.stead of removing them' 

 If we let tliem alone for even six mouths, the'sinials 

 of distress thrown out by the coffee bushes soon tell 

 us of the mischief done. Whatever may be the 

 case, in Java and India, most of our Ceylon soils 

 we repeat, are too p.oor to support weeds, plus 

 coffee. But while the question of weeds may be 

 a debateable one, we scarcely thouglit that of 

 drainage was. The old Wynaad planter, however 

 regards dramage as only second to clean weeding in 

 the suicidal category. Unfortunately a large portion 

 of our plantations are situated on the sides of hills 

 so steep, that the frequent hoeing down system could 

 not be attempted even if we could afford tlie labour 

 and the money. We are ready to receive licrht how- 

 ever, and we should be glad to learn the results of 

 any experiments which have been tried in Ceylon 

 in the direction of hoeing weeds into the soil period- 

 ically, instead of removing them and of either ab. 

 staining from drainage or allowing drains to choke 

 up. During these liard times the experiment of 

 allowing weeds to grow and drains to fill up must 

 be in many cases iux'olnntary. Our impression, how- 



