September i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



247 



Take the happy medium leaving to the last, and have 

 shade if you want fruit. 



Every coffee planter with the droughts in view must in 

 Mysore al tend to shade. Iu Dumbara, shade has been 

 found benelicial for a long time; and it was onlycomparat- 

 ively lately, tbat a man thrilled his neighbours by using 

 the razor (I meau the axe) all over the place because 

 his cacaos where hanging fire, then blaming the shade 

 when he should have blamed the soil. Now I am 

 curious to know if THIS is the estate afflicted by dis- 

 ease. That 's it ! Outrage nature in tea as you have 

 done in coffee, cinchona, and cacao, and then howl out 

 about occult and mysterious diseases. H. V. is not 

 felt here, and apparently where shade and shelter 

 were attended to and the soil was good this nocturnal 

 fly did not do appreciable damage to cacao in Ceylon. 



Coffee is an aged steed and a cripple. Cinchona 

 makes the running for a short time, but pulls up 

 foundered. Cacao is a good horse, but far too 

 small. Rubber is an out and out sell. Tea 

 was a dark horse, but will stay and win in the 

 end. Don't burst her ! Keep.the pace within herself, 

 and she '11 come in at the end at a canter, hands 

 down. Here coffee is past and present and future. 

 Coffee to the cofTee planters, nothing else Bave in a 

 small scale for an amasement. Also cardamoms but 

 few have the chance to do much tbere. 



Now that you have got your railway or so much 

 of it, it does n't seem to please you. The more you get 

 may be the less pleased you'll be ! If you can make 

 your railway pay by tea you will do a lot and it 's 

 all before you. Go ahead and "pruv" it. Don't go 

 on inventing new diseases with scientific jaw-breaking 

 nomenclature, but work quietly, sensibly and naturally. 

 These schemes of Messrs. Smith, Elphinstone and Sin- 

 clair are not wholesome symptoms. They try to force 

 tho inexorable course of certain laws. I see nothing 

 that Government could be expected even to listen to 

 in these schemes. A free passage to and slight assist- 

 ance on lauding at a foreign shore where valuable 

 tropical experience is needed might be more feasible, 

 but young men are generally preferred as they are more 

 easily got rid of if unsuitable. 



In Ceylon where your climate is always moist, the 

 question of silos, or the principle of ensilage, can have 

 but little interest to you. Iu India, however, where the 

 existence of cattle is a struggle in the dry weather, 

 rough, cheap, effective silos are a most useful 

 means of increasing and keeping up the supply of 

 manure instead of letting tho three-quarter-famished 

 herds scour the surrounding maidans without a 

 bellyful by evening. Sir Herbert Macpherson de- 

 serves tho thanks of all Indian agriculturists for 

 his efforts, and successful efforts, in instituting cheap 

 silos among the natives. A rpugh hole, any size you 

 like, is made; a fire is burnt inside; the sides are 

 smeared with cow-dung and clay which form a suit- 

 able cement ; the sides of the hole slope towards 

 each other ; rough wet grass is cut and thrown iu 

 and trampled down ; stones and earth are heaped on 

 the top ; and then a smooth roof is made over the 

 whole, the circumference of which extends beyond 

 that of the hole, and the ground sloped off on all 

 sides beyond. A planter thus would have plenty of 

 good food for his manure-makers during the long 

 drrught. 



I often tl ink how useful the " gorraga " would be 

 to you. When the monsoon is in full force in C ylon 

 pipes and pyjamas are the thing in the bungalow, 

 nakedness and rice in the lines. Work is at a stand- 

 still, and it really looks inhuman to him to turn 

 out coolies iu weather not fit for a dog. But 

 here the natives have a light coutrivance not unlike 

 the corracle of the ancient Briton when it is repre- 

 sented in pictures as being carried on the head. 

 This " gorraga " is made of two frameworks of bamboo 



or "watte" with large leaves of a kind of reed 

 placed between after being first boiled to bring out 

 a gummy juice that renders the leaves adhesive. The 

 frameworks are then tied all round with cane and 

 you have a very effective covering. Though I know 

 you can't reproduce it I annex a sketch. * * * 



This allows of work being carried on in all weathers 

 and the European is protected by waterproofs more 

 than is the case in Ceylon. I remember the coolies 

 considered a durai was a V. A. or " Colombo durai" 

 if he went about in a waterproof. The P. D. ap- 

 peared occasionally in his raincoat while the S. D. 

 scorned even au umbrella. The climate of Ceylon 

 must be good because I had ten monsoons of it aud 

 I did not fancy waterproofs or umbrellas. 



The Sinhalese have a makeshift of a talipot-leaf 

 but they have to hold it with one hand while the 

 " gorragas " rest on the head and back. The legs 

 are apt to get wet, but the dusky ladies are not 

 troubled with excessive modesty and the men have 

 less clothes than a Highlander below the waist. 



Now I have sent you a long rambling letter. I 

 still have a warm corner in my heart for Ceylon, 

 aud the Observer is welcomed and prized before 

 " home" papers. In fact, it is the chief "home" paper 

 to me. 



The Coorg men are trying to cut down rates of 

 wages to labourers. One man thinks it a good idea 

 because the people are well off. Is it because it 

 wouldn't be so hard on the poor coolies, or is it 

 an erroneous idea that it is easier to cut down pay 

 when there is more attraction at home for the work- 

 man? As prosperity waxes or wanes in the ryot's 

 village so the supply of labour to Europeans follows 

 suit and therefore it is a time of famine and hard- 

 ship in the villages ; that is the planters' opportunity. 

 The question lies in a nut-shell. Is the demand 

 less than the supply ? If so, down goes the pay and 

 the people have to "lump it." 



ABERDONENSIS. 

 P.S. — Here 's my cure for " fly" in cacao: — 



In Dumbara on poor ridges, the axe ; hew it down, &c. 



In Dumbara on southern aspects, shelter and shade. 



In Dumbara on northern aspects, shade only. 



This applies to Matale also. 



Iu Kurunegala in good land, shade and shelter. 



Everywhere else in the Central Province and Kalutara 

 I would recommend the fire stick. 



COFFEE IN BRAZIL. 



Dear Sir, — In the Tropical Agriculturist for 1881-S2 

 (page 844) there is an article on " Coffee Dying 

 Out from Disease in Brazil," in which I read as 

 follows : — " The disease is of so fatal a nature that 

 in 14 years once productive coffee orchards had 

 become a thing of the past in a district whence the 

 infection was rapidly spreading." From this cause, as 

 well as from a certain policy of the Brazilian Govern- 

 ment, aud low prices, it is inferred that " over-pro- 

 duction will be cheeked." But against this (and in 

 the same article) I read :— " Year after year the 

 area of coffee has steadily grown. * * * The country 

 lacks no single element which can contribute to the 

 success of a great industry," (coffee) with tho excep- 

 tion of those named above. Further on I read that 

 the " consuming markets of the world are actu illy 

 glutted, and yet the aiea of production is being 

 steadily increased." 



All this was, and is, very interesting to Ceylon coffee- 

 planters. It goes without saying tint this note of 

 warning, sounded nearly three years ago, pointed to 

 the tiue cause of the present depression in the coffee 

 market. Add to this the increasing production of the 

 minor coffee-producing countries of Central America. 

 A friend in London sends me the following letter : — 

 " The following is the extract from my brother's lette 



