December i, 1884.] TH1' TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



499 



you can't get a report in this way gratis, it must be 

 because the visitor has not brains enough to supply 

 it even for a fee. The wisdom that sits enthroned 

 on the faces of some fellows under the influence of 

 an afternoon brew, is almost enough to knock you 

 down with astonishment, when you know the extent 

 of their experience. 



I hear that a sale of an estate near Peradeniya has 

 been effected at over R100 an acre. Rumour says that 

 it has been bought by a company of Australian capital- 

 ists, for the cultivation and manufacture of tea, under 

 the advice of a well- known colonist who is looking out 

 for investments for this Company. It is said to be a 

 good sale for both buyers and sellers ; a fine lay of 

 land, part of it in tea, and several bungalows, and 

 other buildings on the estate. 



Land in private hands is so much more easily got, as 

 compared with buying from Government, that intend- 

 iug purchasers prefer as a rule to deal with the 

 former. The worry and time lost in finding suit- 

 able Crown land, and then the delavs in having 

 the block surveyed and put up for sale are so 

 proverbial, that it is hardly to be wondered 

 at, that applicants are so few, and are often wearied 

 out, and off, ere tho cumbrous wheels of Govern- 

 ment have done the work that is required of them. 

 If you ask the reaions of what seems such an un- 

 necessary waste of time, you are replied to by a 

 shrug. Certain forms, they insist, have to be gone 

 through : tho Survey Department is short-handed — 

 a chronic state it seems — and, if the official you are 

 interviewing be facetious, he imiles at your impatience 

 and mentions years as the average length of time 

 it takes from the date the application is sent in 

 until the block be brought to the hammer. If, in 

 spite of all this, you put a further query, and meekly 

 enquire if there be no way to hurry the matter, you 

 get as an answer : " Possibly, but it is not known in 

 this office." 1 am convinced, that, if there were fewer 

 delays, there would be more applications for land, and 

 the Government would gain in every way. 



I heard an estimate given the other day, for the 

 buildings and machinery for a tea estate of 100 

 acres, and was somewhat staggering. The sum was 

 R10.000. I have not experience enough to know how 

 near the mark this may be, but am satisfied thnt 

 many will have to get on with a good deal less, aud 

 perhaps all the better 



The example of the big factory at Carolina is goiog 

 to be followed at Mariawatte, and it is said that 

 the estimate for the new store, with machinery com- 

 plete, is R35,OU0. If this be so, it shows what a 

 confidence the owners of that wonderful property 

 have iu tea, and what grand profits are made from it. 



One seldom hears anything of cinchona now a-days, 

 except that there are enormous stocks of it in Co- 

 lombo as well as at home. What a fraud it has been; 

 but, then, what enterprize or class of men are not at 

 present suffering all over the world ? Things I sup- 

 pose will right themselves by and by, but we have 

 been long waiting for that revival of trade which was 

 to give all our products a start, and there is not much 

 sign of its coming. It is a comfort that our latest and 

 most promising product holds its position as it does, 

 and long may it continue to do so. The fear is 

 however sometimes expressed that ere very long we 

 will be up to the home demand, and a fall in 

 value be the result. This is possible, but still, when 

 the Ceylon teas get, better known, the consumers 

 should multiply : at any rate, if it be true, which I 

 am told it is, that some of the lots of teas which 

 were reported by your London Correspondents the mail 

 before last, netted Rl a pound all round, there is room 

 for a considerable fall, and handsome profi's besides. 



Touching the value of tea estates in full bear- 

 ing, I fancy that valuers are but feeling their 



way yet ; still I may mention that one who has been 

 earl y in the field, and who knows as much about 

 tea as auy in Ceylon, says that Rl.UOO an acre would 

 not be too much to pay for a really good one. Times 

 are "booming" clearly, and the advice of the know- 

 ing ones is to "hitch on." — Pepper Corn. 



PLANTING IN JAVA. 



The Java Bode of the 22nd October, thus depicts 



the state of the sugar growing interest at Batavia: 



Plantation enterprize here, particularly sugar cultiv- 

 ation, is in great peril. It is impossible to describe 

 how unsatisfactory was the state of things, how de- 

 pressed was the prevalent feeling, and how discouraging 

 was the outlook here during the last few weeks. 

 People who have resided here half a century almost, 

 and are greatly experienced in business matters, do not 

 remember ever having witnessed such times. This year 

 will have a black mark set against it in the history 

 of plantation enterprize in Java. Though a few days 

 ago the tidings went round here that the price of 

 sugar in Europe had risen 3 shillings per pioul, being 

 thus a ray of light in the darkness, such an improve- 

 ment in value will be of little avail. The cancelling 

 of cou s ignment contracts by the banks in tens or twenties 

 at a time is the order of the day. Rumours of ap- 

 proaching catastrophes among the planting and mercan- 

 tile community fill the air In business mattors the 

 silence of the grave prevails. We fervently hope that 

 the Government will be liberal and wise enough to aid 

 sugar growing, now almost at the last gasp by re- 

 lieving it of taxation and other measures. Every 

 sugar estate which falls betokens a corresponding fall- 

 ing off in prosperity among the people generally. A 

 large portion oi the productive wealth of Java and a 

 considerable branch of revenue depend upon sugar cul- 

 tivation there, and will decline with it. 



The Java Bode's correspondent, writing from Sura- 

 baya under date 11th October, states that owing to 

 falling prices, nine guilders per picul being the rate 

 ruling for sugar classed under No. 14, cane planting 

 has been relinquished on throe estates in East Java. 

 On the other hand, he reports that cinchona planters 

 there are realizing satisfactory prices for their produce, 

 and that tobacco cultivators are doing well with every 

 prospect of profitable business in the end unless com- 

 petition proves too keen . The coffee crops bear a thriv- 

 ing appearance and growers are hopeful from the riding 

 prices of that article leaving them a slight margin of 

 profit, especially should quotations improve in Europe, 

 of which there is every sign they will do shortly. 



ON FARMS AND FARMING.* 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION. 



" The land be werry honest," as an old labourer said to us 

 one day ; '• whatever you do put into it, you shall have back 

 again." ft was just then coming forcibly home to the poor 

 fellow that all investments bad not that merit, for the 

 collapse of the benefit club to which he belonged had 

 deprived him of the savings, of years at the very time when 

 he was beginning to need them, and was too old to get ad- 

 mitted into another club — a hard, but by no means ex- 

 ceptional case amongst men of his class, we regret to say. 

 The better you do by the land, the better it will do by you, 

 is repeated perpetually, and the would-be farmer is en- 

 couraged to think that he will be quite sure to have back 

 with interest whatever capital in the shape of labour, manure, 

 and seed he may invest in bis fields. Nevertheless, in this, 

 as in other investments, there is need of understanding ; and 

 if he goes to work ignorantly, he will be apt to make costly 

 mistakes, however zealous and industrious he may be. Per- 

 haps he will rush to the conclusion that as plants do well 

 with a small quantity of potash, therefore they will do better 



* On Farms and F* 'arming. By George Nevile. Longmans 

 Si. Go. 



