4 3 4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1884. 



exhausted, and in another two years at the furthest I shall 

 have to buy. I am therefore replanting the shoals with 

 , otus and Acacia mdanoxylon, with the view of making 

 the estates again self-supporting in this respect as soon as 

 possible. 



Sued. — I received at the beginning of the year many com- 

 plaints from the purchasers that the seed which they had 

 bought during the previous year was bad and that a very 

 small portion of it germinated. The cause of the badness 

 of the seed was probably due to its being carelessly picked 

 off the trees and to its being dried at too high a temper- 

 ature in the drying shed. I have no doubt but that the 

 excessive severity of the monsoon during the harvesting 

 season in that year was a great difficulty and not properly 

 allowed for. To prevent a repetition of this evil, I have laid 

 down special rules for gathering and drying the seed, and 

 there will for the future be no difference in the quality of 

 the seed which is sold to the public and that which is used 

 for the purposes of the estates. 

 Filially : — 



Amsterdam Exhibition. — I have to record that the 

 authorities acting on behalf of the Amsterdam Exhibition 

 awarded the gold medal to the Madras Government for the 

 best collection of specimens of ciuchona, or rather that they 

 thought that the collection deserved a gold medal, but that, 

 if the Madras Government desired to have the medal, they 

 must pay for it the sum of £20. 



The medal was presented by Government to Mr. Gass, 

 whose past careful attention to everything connected with 

 the cinchona estates rendered him well worthy of the honor. 



Then follow the figured statements, and the Order of 

 Government, the tone of ihe latter showing approval. 

 "We notice that nearly 2 lb. of bark (green, of course) 

 per tree was obtained from C. officinalis stripped and 

 mossed on Dodabetta, and b' lb. from trees uprooted. 

 C. siicciritbra trees coppiced on Naduvatam seem to 

 have yielded "21 lb. per tree; officinalis about 6J lb. ; 

 Caliaya about 7 lb. Uprooted trees gave less, no 

 doubt because of their sickly state. The green 

 bark dried from a little over ^ down to J. 

 Tha Order of Government notices, that under Mr. 

 Lawson's new system, hybridizalion will be avoided, 

 as if that were a desirable result, which we doubt ; 

 for on good hybrids the future success of cinchonas 

 in South India and Ceylon seems largely to depend. 

 The Madras cinclioua enterprise has well paid directly 

 as well as indirectly, as witness the following para- 

 graph ii'om the Order of Government : — 



The statement of Capital and Revenue account appended 

 to this review shows the financial results of the cinchona 

 enterprise from its commencement to the close of 18S3-84' 

 The net result is a surplus of K6,31,4S9-12-7. In this 

 statement credit has been taken for the value of products 

 manufactured in England at market rates as ascertained 

 from the Examiner of Medical Accounts, less cost of 

 freight, manufacture, &c, as advised by the Secretary of 

 State. The reasons for the adoption of this course were 

 given in the order reviewing the report for 1882-83. No 

 credit has been taken in this statement for interest on 

 receipts, as was erroneously done in former years, while 

 on the charges simple interest only has been allowed for 

 in lieu of compound interest as hitherto. This mode 

 of calculation is in accordance with the practice of the 

 Public Works Department in regard to remunerative 

 public works, and is obviously sounder and more accurate 

 than the method hitherto in vogue. 



With nearly £60,000 to the good, the Madras cin- 

 chona plantations are thus a great success notwith- 

 standing present low piices. 



SALT FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES 

 IN CEYLON. 



Surely the time has come for relaxing the exceed- 

 ingly stringent regulations framed to protect the 

 Ceylon Government in their salt-tax monopoly, so as to 

 admit of the valuable fertilizing qualities of salt being 

 utilized by our farmers and planters '! We need not 



recur to the enquiry and correspondence of some years 

 ago when the Planters' Association were refused per- 

 mission to use salt for mixing with manure, on the 

 ground that, however mixed or debased, the saline 

 product could be separated so as to be availed of as a 

 condiment with food. Practically we cannot see how 

 such separation and purification could be undertaken 

 even by estate coolies, after a thorough mixing 

 with manure under official inspection provided, of 

 course, at the expense of the merchant or planter. 



Be that as it may, some provi-ion is urgently 

 required by which both native and European agri- 

 culturists may use a fertilizing material which nature 

 has provided so lavishly and cheaply. A very hard 

 case has just come under our notice which, we trust, 

 will be the means of inducing Sir Arthur Gordon's 

 Government to consider the whole question. The 

 well-known native Pettah firm of Messrs. N. S. 

 Fernando & Co. have been euterprizing enough to 

 import from Chemical Wovks in London some eight 

 casks with over two tons of "Rock Salt" intended 

 to be mixed with bone-dust for sale to paddy cultiv- 

 ators. Mr. Fernaneio assures us he had previously proved 

 the great value of this fertilizer, and that there is a ready 

 market among his intelligent countrymen for such a 

 mixture to be applied to their fields in favourite 

 rice-growing districts, as also to coconut plantations. 

 Though the name is pleasant enough to lead one 

 to expect a very pure article, "rock salt" in reality 

 is a manufactured compound with a very unprepossessing 

 odour very unlike food salt. To endeavour to place 

 himself right with the Customs, Mr. Fernando had his 

 "rock salt" examined, with the following result: — 



Temple House, Maradana, 19th October 1884. — I certify 

 that I examiueel a specimen of salt sent me by Mr. 

 N. S. Fernando and that I fouud it to be what is known 

 as " rock salt." There is so much impurity organic and 

 inorganic in it, that it is not fit for culinary purposes. 

 It is usually utilized as manure. — Thomas F. Garvin, m.b., 

 Puhlic Analyst, 



Rock salt costs laid down in Colombo about R30 

 per ton ; but at the monopoly rate of duty, imposed 

 to guard against foreign competition with the salt pre- 

 pared and sold by our Government, the Customs demand 

 for duty will be equal to R41 '30 per ton or over 130 

 per cent on the cost price ! This, of course, is simply 

 prohibitory, and Mr. Fernando is accordingly apply- 

 ing that "rock salt" under the above certificate 

 should either be admitted free as a manure or charged 

 not more than five per cent ad valorem. If this con- 

 cession is not made, of course the importation will 

 cease, and native cultivators especially will lose the 

 benefit of a very suitable fertilizer for their crops. 

 We trust, however, that not only will Mr. Fernando's 

 application be granted, but that the Government may 

 see their way to allow salt generally to be manu- 

 factured into a manure under proper inspection. By 

 that means a boon of no ordinary value would be 

 conlerreel on the agricultural interests of the country. 



CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 



COFFEE PICKING : QUALITY AND ESTIMATES — LEAF-DISEASE AND 

 BUG — CACAO: EFFECT OF MANURE — CACAO ON THE NIL- 

 UIRIS — VALUATIONS OF ESTATES — VISITING AGENTS — THE 



TURN OF THE TIDE— GROWTH OF TEA 1,200 LB. PEK ACRE 



EXPECTED FUOM MARIAWATTE — NATIVE GARDENS AND 

 CHETTIES. 



12th Nov. 1884. 

 On the lower estates picking for the last ten days or so 

 has been almost at a standstill. The results of the 

 first blossoms have been gathered, and there is now 

 a lull until the others ripen up, The qoality of the 

 coffee, I am sorry to say, does not improve much, 

 light and unformed beans being much too prominent, 

 the rain coming too late to remedy these evils. 



