November i, 1884. J rHE TROPTCAL AGRICULTURIST. 



349 



for the sake of its fruit, which is about the size of a 

 small apple ; it is said to bo delicious, and is made into a 

 preserve. It has been introduced into Egypt, where it is 

 called Lotus Tree. It has fruited at Kew. 



A gentleman who spent several years in Japan spoke to 

 rue highly of the different kinds of Persimmon fruits as 

 the very best produced in Japan, and the fruit seems to 

 grow equally well and to be prized highly in some of the 

 Australian colonies.* This is the well-known American 

 date plum, the Diospyros Virginiana, and the following 

 notice of it is from Mr. John Smith's Dictionary : — 



Date Plum, American, also called Persimmon (Diospyros 

 ' mri/iniana),R tree belonging to the Ebony family (Ebenacese) 

 native of the United States. It attains a height of 50 or 

 60 feet, and has a rough, hard bark, and unisexual or 

 bisexual flowers. The fruit is nearly round, about an inch in 

 diameter, and of a yellowish orange colour ; it is very austere, 

 but after beiug frosted is edible. These fruits are pounded 

 and made into cakes, from which a kind of beer is pre- 

 pared, and a spirit is obtained by fermentation and distill- 

 ation. The tree is rare in this country. One, 40 feet high 

 and 100 years old, may be seen at Kew, which in some 

 seasons produces fruit. 



If you extract what Smith says about the European date 

 plum, the subject of the best fruits of this genus will be 

 about exhausted,; and I am of the same opinion about 

 them all as I am about the unripe grapes sent from the 

 northern portion of the island either for sale or as 

 presents, viz., that they are insipid blobs of water! 



Date Plum, European {Biospyros Lotus), a low-growing 

 tree, native of the south of Europe. It produces a small 

 fruit, which is supposed by some writers to be one of the 

 fruits eaten by the people called Lotophagi. 



Surely Ceylon ought to have some of the finest fruits in 

 the world, and it does produce pineapples, such as the 

 "West Indian and Mauritius varieties, mangoes, rambutaua, 

 plantains, oranges, mangosteens, Has., but, nevertheless, I 

 believe, I am still correct in my belief that in ten acres 

 of well-cultivated ground even in the north of Scotland 

 a greater abundance of wholesome delicious fruits can 

 be grown than in all Ceylon. — Yours, \y_ p. 



We dissent. In the shape of plantains a vast amount 

 of excellent and nutritious fruit food is produced, and our 

 oranges, when allowed to ripen, are very good. There is 

 much room for improvement, however. We append the 

 letter referred to : — 



Panadure, 16th Sept. 1884. 



My dear sir,— I send you herewith the twig and a tender 

 fruit of a tree growing on my uncle's land at Kalutara, 

 and, as myself and some of my friends wish to kuow its 

 name, &c., I beg you to inform us of the same through the 

 medium of your journal. 



The tree has a straight stem, about 40 ft. in height, with 

 branches spreading round from about 10 ft. above the 

 ground and tapering towards the top. 



I have known it for the last 30 years, but it blossomed 

 only this time. This is the only one of the kind I have 

 seen. We call it velvet-tree (villuda-gaha) in Sinhalese. 



With my best regards, yours truly, 



E. Flamer Caldera. 



CEYLON PLANTING NEWS: GKNKRAL REPORT. 



COFFEE CROP AM) PROSPECTS — LTBERIAJJ COFFEE— TEA 

 FACTORY AND CULTURE— CACAO. 



22nd Sept. 18S4. 



The new crop of coffee is now ripening up, and 

 the rain which has been pretty general will help very 

 considerably in those districts where the deficiency 

 of moisture has for some months back been very 

 maiked. The rain was all from the south-west, with 

 strong winds, aDd the north-east monsoon, which 

 when 1 last wrote had put iu a very decided ap- 

 pearance, is now here just at present, its more 

 boisterous brother being again in the ascendant. 



How much needed this rain was, especially in some 

 parts of the lowcountry, is evident when oue learns 

 that tanks in the Kurunegala district , which usually 

 coutain 15 inches, do not now show more than 2 

 inches. 1 here are serious complaints of the quantities 



« We saw the fruit in Melbourne, growiug freely on small- 

 sized trees or bushes. — Ed. 



of light coffee which are being brought in ; but this 

 state of things will doubtless mend. As to e&timates, 

 we .shall see what we shall see ; but it is a sad 

 statu of things to hear of an estate which seven years 

 ago had a crop of 14,000 bushels being now estimated 

 to yield only 1,500 bushels. Is it to be wondered 

 at that the pulpers which in (he good old past were 

 the planters' pride, working on without a hitch, and 

 hardly any damage to the coffee, are now to be seen 

 tossed aside, unworthy even of house-room , if in any 

 way they interfere with the new favour-" e tea. 



Still most planters have, I think, a sneaking re- 

 gard for the product which made the name of Ceylon, 

 and whose power of lifting a man out of a hole 

 into affluent circumstances was manifested over and 

 over again with better weather. I should like to see 

 better prices for coffee, but tho retrograde movement 

 in the London market is not au eucouragmg sign. 

 Albeit, 1 have heard it whispered by those " that 

 know, you know," that there is a fair prospect before 

 us. The exact words of this murmured communic- 

 ation were : — "Lookout for a big rise in coffee." My 

 fervent hopes are that this may be so, and I 

 would try to be sanguine if I could ! but, alas ! 

 I can't. And, yet, how. gladly would I find 

 myself m the wrong, and swing from the de- 

 pri sion which settles down when one regards the 

 dark mysterious ways of providence in reference to 

 our old King, to the other extreme of exulting in 

 the smiling face of returning prosperity. 



Some people yet believe in coffee, although the faith 

 is fast oying out now. A gentleman who has just 

 returned from a lengthened stay in Java reports ex- 

 tensive new estates being brought into cultivation. 

 No wonder: with such a soil, you can stick a bamboo 

 into it for several feet. All fine black loam, and 15 

 cwt. an acre is not an out-of-the-way crop. Even 

 the planters there are in keeping with their environ- 

 ment. I question if, at any time in the history of 

 Ceylon, there was ever to be seen a planter visiting 

 his pulping-house with white kid gloves on and a 

 gold-beaded stick in his hand yet the visitor from 

 Java assures me that he saw that. We had cur days 

 of " pomps and vanities." Claw-hammer coats, dress- 

 ings for dinner, and a mushroom caste ; but we never 

 attained unto the white kid gloves aud gold-headed 

 cane. Perhaps it was all owing to our never reach- 

 ing the 15 cwt. an acre— clearly we have been merci- 

 fully preserved. 



Libei-ian coffee, I hear, is doing well about Polgaha- 

 wela, aud an estate in Kurunegala is said to bo 

 getting big crops, and paying. This is cheermg. Would 

 it were more common. 



The large tea factory in Ambagamuwa is making 

 rapid progress towards completion. It has a large 

 turbine for driving the machinery and is going to 

 use the Universal roller. The tea will be tired m a 

 "Sirocco." [And in a Kiumond's drier, Ed.] 



Mariawatte is said to be going in for a new set of 

 works next year, which it can well afford. 



The very marked results ot forking the ground 

 around tea is leading to a considerable demand for 

 digging forks, the three pronged 15° fork being most 

 in request, although in some case the 18" are used. 

 In wet weather the 18" fork is rather heavy : although 

 a tine tool, yet, if a man gets into the way of it, and 

 has the choice of that or the shorter one, I do not 

 liud that ihey elect to change. 



Cacao is looking very well indeed, aud in a rather 

 famous Kuruuegala estate it is doing admirably and 

 without doubt yielding a haudsome income to the owner. 



The arrangements for drying there are very complete^ 

 and the speed with which the cacao is cured is 

 somewhat striking. Into the clerihew a charge 

 of 15 cwt. of caoao is put at night, say at 6 p.m., and 

 next day by noon the cacao has been packed' and 



