October i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



33' 



way of the two monsoons, with an ample and well-distrib- 

 uted rainfall, in a most forcing climate, Oeylon is a per- 

 fect paradise for loaf crops. Fruit is more uncertain, and 

 even in the best days of coffee great uncertainty olten 

 prevailed during the six weeks or two months of a blos- 

 soming season, when too much or two little rain often 

 destroyed the chauce of a due return for a whole year's 

 labour. Coffee, too, could only be cultivated within certain 

 limited positions, from 2,500 up to 5,000 feet above sea- 

 level ; whereas tea flourishes from sea-level to 6,000 feet 

 and over. The tea shrub, in fact, is one of the hardiest 

 of plants growing in the open-air at Washington, United 

 States, in New Zealand, &c. But the great advantage 

 possessed by Ceylon and India for tea is in cheap, suitable 

 labour for the work of cultivation, leaf plucking, and pre- 

 paring. The little island of Ceylon, as now opened up by 

 railways and splendid roads, offers great advantages over 

 most Indian districts for tea production. From both 

 countries the tea supplied is of a pure, high quality. China 

 teas have, in many cases, det -riorated of recent years, while 

 the Japanese " greens," chiefly sent to America, are nearly 

 all adulterated. I may, in passing, say that should the 

 war now begun between France and China interrupt the 

 tea trade or production in the Far East there is no place 

 where a return can be so expeditiously got for the invest- 

 ment of capital in tea as in Oeylon. There is a wide extent 

 of land available for tea, at an upset price of 10 rupees 

 (16s.) per acre freehold, and a good crop of leaf can be had 

 within three years of the planting. Assam planters who 

 visit Ceylon are loud in their praise of what they see in the 

 growth of our tea, our fine climate, unequalled roads, good 

 supply of labour, &c. The progress already made in the tea 

 industry may be seen from the figures appended. 



The cacao, or chocolate-yielding fruit tree, is another new 

 article of cultivation which has been successfully established 

 in several districts, the Ceylon product from this plant being 

 pronounced already in Mincing-lane to be equal to the very 

 finest received from Trinidad or South America. 



Indiarubber yielding trees of various descriptions have, 

 during the past few years, been extensively planted in Oey- 

 lon, but the industry is still purely experimental, although 

 good samples have been seen in the Loudon market. 



In fibres therejought by and bye to be a great development 

 of industry and trade in Ceylon, and, indeed, " capital " is 

 the only element wanted to secure rapid progress in all the 

 branches referred to. The fall of the Oriental Bank has re- 

 acted disastrously, rendering money very scarce for the poor 

 but industrious planter, while, again, the credit of the colony 

 has been damaged in many places through the non-success 

 for many years and the fiual collapse of the Ceylon (but 

 more properly Mauritius Company (Limited). It is at this 

 time, and iu view of the absolute scarcity of capital and de- 

 pression of credit, that many planters in Ceylon think their 

 industries in "new products " should receive some official 

 support ; but they have no idea of interfering with tin gre«t 

 principles of free trade or of making a grievance out ot the 

 advantage possessed by the slave-owning planters of Brazil. 

 It is a matter for congratulation that from the very 

 beginning (he Oeylon planting enterprise has been based 

 on a system of free labour, aud that the produces are 

 so universally appreciated and beneficial as coffee, tea, 

 quinine, chocolate, cinnamon, palm oil. i c. There is 

 every reason to feel assured of a profitable return for 

 money judiciously invested iu these " new products " 

 in Ceylon, aud the much-tried sugar- planters of the West 

 Indies cannot do better than make experiments in Ihe 

 same direction, although, I am free to admit, the com- 

 parative scarcity and dearness of their labour places them 

 ata heavy disadvantage. — I am, Sir, Ste., 



J. Ferguson, of the Ceylon Observer and 



Tropical Agriculturist- 

 Royal Colonial Institute, 15, Strand, Aug. 23rd. 



The following are statistics of some of the planting 

 industries in Oeylon : — 



Coffee.— 1837—2,500 acres cultivated; exported about 

 lo.oo i cut. 1817 — 15,000 acres cultivated; exported about 

 8p0,000cwt. 18. r .7-8.>,nii0 acres cultivated j exported about 

 450,000 cwt, 1867— 168,000 acres cultivated; expoited 

 about 868,000 cwt. 1877—272,000 acres cultivated • ex- 

 ported about 976,4)00 cwt. 1883—174,000 acres cultivated ■ 



exported about 265,000 cwt. 1884 is expected to show 

 an export of over 350,000 cwt. of coffee— a welcome revival. 

 Tea.— The export began with 182 lb. in season 1875-6, 

 the export rose to 81,595 lb. in season 1878-9, the export 

 rose to 1,522,882 1b. in season 1S82-3. 



The current season will probably show an export in 

 excess of two million pounds, aud when the 35,000 acres 

 of tea now planted are in full bearing, in 1887-8, the 

 season's shipments ought to be equal to 10 million pounds. 

 Eventually it is estimated Oeylon should have 160,000 acres 

 under tea, and an annual export of 60 million pounds and 

 upwards. It depends on home capitalists very much how 

 soon this result may be realized. 



Cocoa.— The export of cocoa (as it is called in the market ) 

 began with lOcwt. in 1878, and last year it was 4,000 cwt. 

 while for the current year it is likely to reach 10,0011 cwt. 

 Cinchona bark began with an export of 28 ounces iii 

 1869, rose to 507,000 lb. iu 1879, and was last season equal 

 to seven million pounds, while for 1881 the return is 

 likely to exceed 10 millions. 



Palm trees and Cinnamon.— Of the products of its 

 palm trees and cinnamon bushes, cultivated chiefly by 

 native owners, Ceylon now sends an annual value of from 

 £8110,000 to a million sterling into the markets of tin: 

 world, against less then one-fifth of this value 30 vears 

 ago. 



TEA COOLIES IN ASSAM. 

 Putting the matter on the lowest ground, the coolie 

 is a valuable chattel, which costs the planter a con- 

 siderable amount of money. The object of tea-plant- 

 ing is to make money ; and the best, the only way 

 to success, is to keep the indispensable coolie in good 

 health, aud in good humour, so as to get him to 

 work cheerfully and well. Accordingly, any visitor 

 to a tea garden, who has the curiosity to go among 

 the coolies' lines to see and judge for himself, will 

 rind that they are comfortably lodged— much better 

 than the average coolie would be in his own gaon. 

 Then, they have skilled medical attendance provided 

 for them, and hospital accommodation aud comforts 

 such as they could get only in a large town in the 

 plains. Nevertheless, the plantation death-rate is cert- 

 ainly high. The reason is to be found in the nature 

 of the climate, and the uusuit ilnlity of many of the 

 coolies imported to stand it. The great majority of 

 those who die on the gardens succumb under the 

 process of acclimatising. The best cnol.es for the Assam 

 tea gardens are those taken from the low-lying jungle- 

 growing tracts of Bengal, where somewhat similar 

 climatic conditions prevail to those found in A sun 

 during the rains,— at once the unhealthiest and the 

 busiest season, when the coolies are liable to contract 

 ailments which render them disinclined to work and 

 when work is most required. These Bengalees are 

 not equal in physique to many of the coolies imported 

 from the North-West and from tie highlands of t'hnta 

 Nagpore; but they are of far more use on the gardens. 

 The "North-Westers," besides not being constitution^ 

 ally suited to the climate, have to change the r diet 

 and do not thrive so well on rice as on the more 

 subst intial grain foods to which they have been ac- 

 customed. Further, they are penurious folk, and will 

 deny themselves proper quantni.s of such food as 

 they. can obtain for the pleasu e of saving a few 

 auuas a month extra. Con-equently they lose their 

 strength, and speedily fall victims to the climate, to 

 battle successfully against which requires all their 

 stannua. Then, in spite of all precautions— in the 

 face of the Inland Emigration Act with its elaborate 

 provisions for registering, medical examination, etc.— 

 a very large number of ciolies are sent into Assam 

 aud Cachar, who are utterly unfit for work there or 

 anywhere else, and who simply go to swell the lull of 

 mortality. Planters cannot In Ip themselves. They are 

 necessarily to a great extent in the bands of' the 

 contractors and agents acting at a distance— Italian 

 Daily Neioe. 



