November i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



401 



THE TROPICAL AGRICVLTURIST. 



We may be pardoned for making some special 

 allusion to this publication, because it has now as- 

 sumed so thoroughly representative a character in 

 connection with this colony and its agricultural in- 

 dustries that we consider its status, gradual improve- 

 ment and extended circulation are matters of interest 

 to all who desire to make the position of Ceylon 

 and its new products generally known throughout 

 the world. Since politics or news in the ordinary ac- 

 ceptation of the term find no place in its columns, 

 our monthly periodical is open to be judged on 

 practical issues alone, and that its value is appreciated 

 is shown by the increasing favour bestowed on it, 

 not so much in the land of its birth as in other and 

 widely distant countries all round the globe. Per- 

 haps the highest testimony to its value comes from 

 such men as Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. Thiselton 

 Dyer of Kew, Dr. King of Calcutta, Dr. Bidie of 

 Madras, Mr. Morris of Jamaica, Baron von Mueller of Mel- 

 bourne, and the Directors of the Government Botanic 

 Gardens in nearly every colony of the British Em- 

 pire. They all feel that the Tropical Agriculturist 

 supplies a felt want, and the Government of India 

 has recently indicated its approval by ordering copies 

 to be kept on file in all the Libraries of the Public 

 Museums as well as of the Horticultural Gardens and 

 by the Directors of Agriculture in the different 

 presidencies and provinces. In Ceylon, it is some- 

 thing to find the Committee of the Planters' Associ- 

 ation recommending papers for publication in this 

 periodical, an example which we have no doubt will 

 gradually be followed by the District institutions and 

 by the Agents of Government who take an interest in 

 promotiug agricultural development. We shall be 

 only too glad to do all in our power to meet 

 such requests, feeling assured that the very 

 best advertisement of Ceylon, its planters and 

 industrlei is offered in what is familiarly known 

 as the T. A. Amorican and English merchants 

 and editors alike express surprise at the amount 

 of valuable information given in its columns, which 

 afford them a new idea of the enterprise and im- 

 portance of Ceylon. 



We are not at all blind, however, to the great 

 room for improvement which exists in this monthly 

 periodical. Indeed, if praise has been freely given, 

 blame has not been wanting. From the West Indies, 

 there has latterly come a cry: — "You give us too 

 much about tea in your recent issues : we want more 

 on the products suited to this division of the tropics ;" 

 from Southern India we have an indignant planter 

 writing about the absence of information respecting 

 "coffee," which he says seems to have fallen out of 

 notice altogether ; while one or two Ceylon planting 

 friends have been saying, there is too much "reprint" 

 from the columns of the "Observer," or rather that 

 they would prefer to see a good deal respecting pract- 

 ical planting subjects now given in the daily paper, 

 only in the T. A. Now the complaint in respect 

 of " reprint " is rather unreasonable, because we 

 think it will be found that of the 80 to 90 close 

 type pages given in each month's T. A. more than 

 oue-hilf is of matter which is found neither in the 

 "Observer " nor any other local journal, while it must be 

 lemembered in respect of "reprint" that one of 

 the special objects in starting the monthly was to 

 save daily readers the trouble of cutting out and 

 preserving useful planting and horticultural inform- 

 ation of permanent value, as so many of them had been 

 previously in the habit of doing. As time runs on 

 we have no doubt the tendency will be to relegate, 

 more and more, all planting essays and more or 

 51 



less technical papers and reports to the columns of 

 the monthly periodical, so relieving the pages of 

 daily papers to deal more fully and directly with the 

 news of the day and with topics of immediate practical 

 interest. At present the readers of the " T. A." 

 have the assurance that no contribution of special 

 interest to the tropical agriculturist appearing in any of 

 the Ceylon or Indian journals, or indeed in the 

 journals or periodicals of England, America, Aus- 

 tralia, etc., is likely to escape notice or quotation for 

 their beuefit. 



Any further suggestions for increasing the useful- 

 ness of the publication we shall be glad to receive 

 and consider. From America we hope to receive reg- 

 ularly valuable information bearing upon sub-tropical 

 cultivation in Mexico and Guatemala, as well as in the 

 border States and the West Indies. The field be- 

 fore us is a wide one ; there is no lack of workers 

 or of material : it only remains that all who are 

 interested in the development and improvement of 

 a truly representative Planting and Agricultural Peri- 

 odical should give us the benefit of their goodwill 

 and experience. 



■♦- 



TEA AND CACAO CULTURE FOR NATIVES 

 IN CEYLON AND INDIA. 



TEA THE PLANT FOR NATIVES — A PROPOSED TEA FACTORY IN 



KANDY — A CHANCE FOR GOVERNMENT ISTHE LARGE HiSTUBN 



PER ACRE IN CEYLON LIKELY TO LAST ? — FALLING-OFF OIX 

 OLD ESTATES — A MOVABLE LIVE FENCE. 



12th Oct. 1884. 



It is generally recognized as one of the great advant- 

 ages of growing tea that it will test the ability of 

 the dishonest native to steal it. Unlike almost every 

 other product we grow, here he is checkmated. He 

 may sharpen his wits as he may, have as consum- 

 ing a passion for his neighbour's leaf as he has for 

 his cardamoms or coffee, yet I fancy he will ever 

 find a stretch of tea a barren field for his absorbing 

 enterprize. 



This being so, I know of no better plant, the cultiv- 

 ation of which among the natives themselves 

 might not be encouraged by Government through a 

 free distribution of seeds and plants. Tea is so easy 

 of cultivation, grows so freely at such extremes of 

 elevation, nnd is so proof against ill-usage, that it 

 would in every respect suit the Sinhalese with his love 

 of ease and holidays. 



As to curing, once get the villagers to take the cultiv- 

 ation up, and all over the country there would 

 arise tea factories where the smallest quantities of 

 leaf would be freely bough; at a cash price, and 

 cured there under skilled supervision. This system 

 obtains in China, and why not here ? 



When cacao was seriously taken up and proved a 

 power, the Government Agents and other officials 

 used their best endeavours to induce the natives to 

 plant it, and with considerable success. But the cur- 

 ing of the cacao beau is a difficult matter wanting 

 care, as the quantities of mouldy, badly-fermented 

 nibs which come into the market from native gardens 

 too plainly show. In regard to tea, however, the 

 villagers would very soon learn what to pluck, and, 

 as the green leaf can be carried a considerable dis- 

 tance without harm, all anxiety about curing would 

 cease, and the ready cash system at the factory would 

 suit 'the buyer as well as the seller. He would have a 

 constant stream of regular customers, and through them 

 cause a free Mow of capital iuto the smallest villages. 



It was only the other day that I heard that an enquiry 

 was afloat as to the probable success of a tea factory iu 

 Kandy. Had there been encouragement enough, the 

 scheme would doubtless have gone on ; but, to insure a 

 payiug concern, it wanted a large constituency of small 

 native tea growers, which at present do not exist. 

 The native is very poor it is said, and it appears tome 



