September i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



245 



in the villages for about 50 cents per hundred. The 

 reason he estimates tbo value of the Hour for (35cts.) 

 is that there will be a great demand at such a low 

 price, but he has sold a great deal to the medical 

 department at Si per lb. 



[In Ceylon, arrowroot is liable to the attacks of 

 rats, and we doubt if the quality of the starch could 

 compete with that of West Indian. We suspect that 

 but little profit is made by cultivators of arrowroot 

 or tapioca on a large scale. Sago culture is not so 

 costly and the flour is used in England as food for 

 calves.— Ed] 



REVENUE FROM THE SEA. 



Dear Sir, — Trepang or becke-de-mtr as a source of 

 revenue may bo defended from circumstances other 

 than its being an article only of luxury. Apart from 

 its being an object of industry to a few indigent 

 people, it may bo argued that it is obtained by only 

 one set of people who employ the poor people to pick 

 them up. The process can scarcely be said to be 

 fishing : no effort is required, as in shallow water 

 they have only to put down their hauds and pick 

 them up, or in deep water they are harpooned or dived 

 for. The slugs lying in a dormant state offer no 

 resistance, and the facility for taking them up is 

 consequently very great. Being so easily taken up, a 

 few of the Moors cure and export them to China, 

 where it is said that only the wealthy people can 

 aflord to purchase and enjoy them ; the article must 

 therefore be sold at a very high price there. Reckon- 

 ing the estimated value set here as RIO a cwt. it is a 

 great question at how many hundred per cent a cwt. 

 they are sold in China as when arrived there the 

 Chinese merchants buy them wholesale, assort and 

 clean them, then they are rolled up in paper one by one 

 and exhibited in their shops for sale at a very high 

 price ; hence it is that only the rich people can enjoy 

 it. The estimated, or rather the nominal value of beche- 

 de-mer is said to be RIO aud is exported free of duty 

 (although it appears that only a few cwts. are fished 

 and exported, yet careful enquiry will, no doubt, elicit 

 the fact that it is some tons and not cwts.) The 

 proceeds of these sales are secured by a few Moormen 

 which are all converted into silver, and it is a known 

 fact that by far the largest amount nf silver they 

 recover in the island is carried away to India, whereby 

 much of the silver coinage instead of being circulated 

 in the colony is removed. 



Were the right for fishing the slug sold, 'or a share at 

 least of the local value secured, Government will secure 

 a part of the money which is otherwise taken away. 

 Without a trial, it is impossible to know what is the 

 actual value of the slug, I he quantity fished, or what 

 enormous profit the shippers to China realize. 



The pearl-fishery in some places yields a large and 

 in other places a small revenue, but this is a more 

 precarious speculation, seeing that there is more danger 

 and trouble in fishing aud the uncertain quantity and 

 value of the pearl that may be procured, which cannot 

 be said of beche-de-mer. 



As an industry at present the coolies earn but a 

 precarious pittance as the fishery is not regular and 

 it is a question whether the coolies themselves are 

 reasonably and regularly paid ; whereas, if the rent is 

 soil, it will be for the interest of the renter to employ 

 people regularly during the season (that is, before the 

 setti"g-in of the south-west monsoon) when the slugs 

 are more easily fished. 



Hitherto the only marine productions which yield 

 a revenue have been suit and pearls : it need not be 

 considered difficult or mean to add the other resources 

 of the sea to the revenue of the colony (fish being 

 an article of necessity for food should always be 

 exempted). It is well-known that chanks and shells 

 afford a lucrative trade; then there ia sponge which 



when recovered and properly prepared will also form 

 an article of trade. 



Some time ago there was a great demand for Rocella 

 {Rocella tinctoria) which yields a beautiful purple 

 dye; a sea weed* which is constantly procurable on 

 the rooks and sea-beach in the Southern Province. 

 Then there is the Jaffna moss so useful for invalids. — 

 Yours truly TREPANG 



[We tike it for granted that the Customs officer 

 in fixing KIO per cwt. as the local value of the sea- 

 slug have taken note of the actual selling value in 

 China, and therefore even Rl per cwt. on 450 cwt. 

 would not be north the trouble of collecting. 

 The idea that any quantity is smuggled away is absurd. 

 —Ed. 



PAPAW JUICE. 



Dear Sir, — If your correspondent will refer to Mr. 

 Thos. Christy, No. 119, Fenchurch Steet, London, he 

 will obtain reliable information on the subject. I 

 corresponded with Mi". Christy on this same subject 

 about two or three years ago and his reply was dis- 

 couraging at the time. There was no great demand then, 

 although papaw juice was used for the manufacture of 

 pepsine at the 'time. I believe it is imported largely 

 from the West Iudies, as is the case with pine apples. 



The juice of the fruit alone should be collected 

 an'l then dried between two strips of glass. At least, 

 that is my present recollection of Mr. Christy's in- 

 structions. I cannot lay my hand on his letter 

 readily, or I would send you copy of instructions 

 for collecting the juice. — Yours faithfully, 



JAS. H. BARBER. 



PLANTING NOTES FROM MYSORE : THE 

 CLIMATES OF CEYLON AND MY- 

 SORE COMPARED. 



Dear Sir, — I was much interested in the account 

 of the discussion at the big Planters' Association 

 meeting atKandy on this new disease called "fly" 

 that has attacked or is said to have attacked cacao. 

 It bears on a point to which I had for a long time 

 given my attention before I left Ceylon, and more 

 earnestly since I came to Mysore and had an opport- 

 unity of seeing cultivation maintained on a different 

 basis than in Ceylon. 



As far as I can make out in India and Ceylon, but 

 especially in the latter, wherever there is cons'antly 

 a etate of a moisture-laden atmosphere, there shade 

 becomes an unimportant factor. But where this con- 

 tinuous moistness does not exist, notably on the plateau 

 of Mysore, shade is the chief and most important 

 means of preserving an estate from the wear and tear 

 of climate. In short, in wet climates, one must not 

 permit any light, air and sun or evaporations to be lost 

 which would help to remove excessive wet, nor neglect 

 a careful system of drainage. On the other hand, in a 

 climate that has long periods of dry weather, one must 

 not dare to risk the terrible ordeal of fiery cloudless 

 heat that annually recurs without an umbrella of 

 foliage. 



Now let us look at the conditions which bring about 

 these different results. In Mysore we have the sea 

 to the west then a comparatively narrow strip of flatcouu- 

 try, and then the imposing Ghauts rearing their mighty 

 heads abruptly over the plain and their limbs lying 

 1 sly down towards another plain but at a far 

 different elevation. This plain is the wonderful table- 

 land of Mysore which stretches for some hundreds 

 of miles of open maidan. On my arrival here fresh 



* A sea-weed ? It grows plentifully on coconut palms. 

 —Ed. 



