January i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



569 



natives, especially those of the interior, where coco- 

 nut palms do not flourish as on the sea-shoro, ob- 

 tain a sugar, the cakes of which very much resem- 

 ble the maple sugar of North America, from the 

 kittul palm, caryota urevfi, the representative here 

 of the areuga palm of Java. We should like to 

 know if botanists have recognized tliose two palms 

 as distinct? They seem to us to be mere varieties. 

 While the adult arengas in Java put on foliage ex- 

 ceedingly dissimilar to the very curious scollo|)ed 

 leaves of our kittul, more like that of the date palm, 

 in truth, we certainly saw young arengas iu Java 

 with the scolloped leaves. While no true palm is 

 now found growing wild in Ceylon, there are forests 

 of arengas in Java. The arenga and the kittul 

 have one most extraordinary characteristic In com- 

 mon : they send out their first flower spathe at the 

 top of the tree and then successive spathes down- 

 wards until flowering and fruiting come to an end ! 

 We shall send Mr. Jayawardene's coconut sugar 

 crystals to the Museum. 



♦ 



CINCHONA CULTIVATION. 



A correspondeut writes; — "The enclosed cutting 

 from Land and Waler, re chinchoua cultivation, you 

 may think worth iuserting in your paper": — 



The simplest thing in the world. You get a piece 

 of land, plant it up with chinchona then go hunting, 

 shootius,', and genendly amusing yourself, and in pro- 

 per time you will be overwhelmed with money rolling 

 ia on you. Sucli, at least, was the purport of ii letter 

 which appeared in some English paper about a year 

 ago. I know a good many cinchona (as we call it 

 in Ceylon) growers, but their experiences, if in ac- 

 cordance with the letter referred to, they are most 

 careful to veil, for to the outer world the actual 

 state of the case is somewhat dififerent. lu the first 

 place, getting land is not now the easy tiling it 

 formerly v/m. You have to take what others have 

 rejected, either in consequence of the soil being 

 inferior or position inconvenient. Needless to talk of 

 the former. In the latter case only those who have 

 experience can realize whit the drawback really is. 

 Opening for quinine requires much more labour than 

 for coffee — five or six men per acre ; of course it 

 can be done with less, and generally is. Though in 

 theory oue man's labour for ten days is suijposed 

 to get through as much work as ten men's in one 

 daj, in practice it is much dearer. If you have say 

 two hundred labourers, how many will be capable 

 of first-class work? A great many are women and 

 children. Although there is work for them thev do 

 not much assist planting beyond carrying the plants 

 to the place. But I have overrun the trail, so hark 

 back to tlie land purchased, which is probably on the 

 further slope of some high hill, ten miles from any 

 cart road ; bridle track to within say three or four. 

 There is probably not even a foot-path lo it. It is 

 usual to give the felling of the forest to native 

 contractors. These men have studied lying as an art, 

 and their contract, if on proper form, not worth 

 the printed form, far less the stamp. The first pro- 

 cess is to get an advance. "If you only will give 

 a good one," the number of fellers they c>in put on 

 IS only limited by that of the tools you supply. To 

 Qscape giving an advance is impossible, so a cheque 

 Ts given, au order for tools, and subsistence iu the 

 shape of rice. This last is at once turned into money, 

 and, together with the proceeds of the cheque, is taken 

 by the contractor to his village. With a portion he 

 pays off a mortgage on his garden, a portion goes in 

 merry-making, the remainder is buried. After a rest, 

 he get", p( rhaps, a relative or two, and opens a path 

 to the block of land ; when back he comes, reports a 

 large gang at work, requiring lurtheradvances. Though 

 highly inconvenient, it you are wise yoH go to gee be- 



fore making any. You probably find nothing don^ 

 beyond the path, and you may consider youiS-'lt for- 

 tunate if any of the tools are forthcoming. You work 

 yourself into a pa.ssion, and the contractor is all sub- 

 mission and excuses. The whole way through it is a 

 fight. In process of time a hut is put up, and some fel- 

 lers are procured Tlien, if you are wise, you make a 

 nursery. Sounds simple, but what are you to sow in it ? 

 C. succirubr<s seed is plentiful and cheap, so despised. 

 We had some seed guaranteed of such maonificent 

 quality that it sold for .sixty-two rupees for two 

 grammes ! I do not believe auyoue inquired the value 

 of the guarantee, and the quality was accepted as 

 stated. Kar be it from me to hint that it was not 

 worth much more, but there is no proof. You must 

 to a certain extent grope in the dark and plant, 

 trusting in Providence. All this time your land is 

 beii g slowly felled. <'n ;uiy remonstrance the con- 

 tractor assures you he has lots of men, but most 

 have gone for provisions on the day you were in- 

 quisitive. Everything comes to au end", and so Joes 

 your felling. There is, however, " lopping," and if 

 that has not been properly done your lard will be 

 in a fearful mess. The fire will only singe the leaves 

 and your lind will be for mouths unworkable. All 

 being cleared, you have lines to build for your labourers. 

 On a new jilace thatch is the only difficulty, but not 

 of much. You have then to proeure labour some- 

 times very difficult, at present very eas3'. A European 

 superintendent is then put on, though costing six 

 times what a native knowing the work can be got 

 for. The former's work is not only cheap because 

 better, l)ut absolutely costs less. Cotfee is supposed 

 to require seventeen hundred pits per acre ; cinchona 

 is planted much closer; according to the size of the 

 pits is the cost. I have known those who tried 

 to do the work well get only twenty-five a day 

 from their men. Others say the size is of no con- 

 siqueuce, and get fifty and seventy-five from each man 

 as a day's task. The ground is generally very stony 

 and each stone is enclosed in a net-work of roots' 

 so digging is heavy work. Whihtthis picking (holing') 

 is gomg on, roads have to be made. As the land 

 is always steep, much greater length is required than 

 would be on the flat. Dr.aius have to be cut alone 

 the sides of the roads, and at easy gradients at very 

 short distances along the face of each hill, to prevent 

 water getting velocity sufficient to waste soil orcarrv 

 off trees. All this being done the holes have to 

 be filled, and this requires clo^e supervision if 

 not the coolie will rill up with stones 'and 

 sprinkle a little dust on top, but in such plants don't 

 thrive. They should be filled up by scrapin" off the 

 nearest surface soil. The superintendent walking 

 about the "field" can easily see by the look of the 

 neigbbourliood if his orders have been complied with 

 and by thrusting in .his walking-stick as he passes' 

 but no matter how close the supervision, a good per- 

 centage of scamping escapes detection. Next ojjeration 

 is planting. Cinchona is a hardy plant, and stands 

 rough usage well ; plantmg out, however, is the hard- 

 est work of all. Argus would be puzzled. Every 

 coolie requires to be watched, nud when you considei 

 ramasauii (as we generally call coolies) comes from the 

 hot plants of India, not over burdened either with con- 

 science or clothes, he finds the rain and wind of the 

 planting season at high elevations unpleasant, and takes 

 advanta^'e of the accompanying fog to shelter him from 

 the biting weather and his master's eye. Ramasami 

 though thoroughly untrustworthy if left to himself if 

 looked after is the most docile aud patient of work- 

 men. This comprises about a twelvemonth's hard 

 work. Some day, if worth your having, I will enter 

 into another year's labours, namely, ihe second, for work 

 there ia to the end of the chapter. 



B. B. B. (Kandy, September, 1882.) 



