44° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1884. 



of Haputale droughts on tea will soon be settled. What 

 a dry season in Haputale is like the past month or two 

 has shown, and if coffee has suffered so much, what is 

 likely to happen to tea-flushing ? Not only is the rainfall 

 in the district light, hut it is not well distributed, and of 

 late there has not been enough water for curing purposes 

 on estates generally well off, and more than one estate 

 has had to unship one of its cylinders to get the pulper 

 to work at all, so scarce is water. 



After tea has been generally introduced, it will be worth 

 noticing how the older coffee planters take to tea-making. 

 Not very kindly, I fancy. The introduction of cinchona 

 led to some jealously and heart-burning, and it certainly 

 was hard that old planters should have to learn how to 

 grow the new product from young men who had been but 

 a few years in the island. And a similar feeling will prob- 

 ably be engendered in many cases in the matter of tea 

 cultivation But necessity does wonders, and Ceylon plant- 

 ers have never shown themselves slow at adapting them- 

 selves to circumstances. Already tea is commonly the sub- 

 ject of conversation in Uva bungalows, and planters are 

 always willing to give or acquire information as to its cult- 

 ivation. One planter I heard ask rather anxiously if it 

 was true that you had to get up in the middle of the 

 night to attend to curing operations, and on being reassured 

 on the point he smoothed his brow and muttered some- 

 thing about being a sound sleeper. It is seldom that coftee 

 or cinchona is talked about now, except when a further 

 drop in the market gives rise to temporary excitement. 

 Nor is the coming "bumper crop" alluded to as a rule, 

 though one can't help remembering the time when it 

 gleamed ahead of everyone like a will o the wisp. 



It is not now considered certain that « Haputale will 

 never grow tea," as was at one time the case, the only 

 suspicion on this point being reserved for some of the 

 drier portions of the district. I also saw preparations for 

 tea being made on Ampitiakande on the Koslande side of 

 the Gap in by no means promising laud. In this connec- 

 tion it is worth noticing that in this district, as in many 

 others, the first plunge into tea is being made on tho most 

 unpromising plots of the estates, bare ridges and patches 

 of died-out coffee, and, in one case, on a patana clearing 

 planted with cinchona. On the latter the plants were 

 about twelve months old, but not very big for their age. 

 The suitability of the district for tea can hardly be gauged 

 with any degree of impartiality by the result of these ex- 

 periments That such spots as the Kandapolla Valley and 

 the Hal.lummulle side have a fairly good tea climate I am 

 convinced, but any deficiency in this respect is more. than 

 made up for by the gloriously rich soil of most of the. estates 

 in tho district. Old coffee land seems to be very much 

 despised as a tea-producer by your worthy correspondents 

 "Fez" "Spcro Meliora," and others, but if they saw the 

 soil on some estates up here, which have given crops of 

 coffee for 30 years and more, those gentlemen wo"ald not 

 so readily decry old coffee laud for tea. Take such places 

 as Blackwood and AViharagalla, the upper part of Golconda 

 and Kelburne, old Haputale, Eoehampton and most ot the 

 Meeriabedde and Poonagalla Valley places ; where will one 

 find better son for tea, or anything else, than is to be 

 met with on those properties V Compared to it, some places 

 that I wot of, giving their 400 1b., aye and their 600 1b. 

 made-tea per acre, cannot hold a candle. I have often 

 heard my old P. D. assert that no soil in the island comes 

 up' to somo to be met with on the old Hunasgiriya places, 

 and subsequent inspection has satisfied me that he was not 

 far out Estates in that old district, where, in the past, 

 so many tons of coffee have been produced, are now being 

 planted up with tea, and, like estates m Haputale, when 

 they are put under the coming product, should flourish 

 exceedingly. 



The cinchona craze has died out here as extensively as 

 it has in most other localities. It was a disease from which 

 we have all more or less suffered, and our disappointment 

 is no less keen because it is borne silently. Looking up 

 from Haldummulle one can see, high up ou the ridge of 

 hills above, the spot which was once considered to be so 

 rich with its wealth of cinchonas— the Kalupahani Valley. 

 A good glass would show field after field abandoned, with 

 the roads and drains in prominent relief. I i 

 walking down through the valley in May, 1822, with one 

 whose 'stake in it then was, perhaps, larger than thut ol 



any one else, and, though the inevitable "patches" were 

 here and there discernible, the prospects for what was 

 standing were considered good in the extreme. The soil 

 was good, the lay of the land excellent for cinchona, being 

 steep with fine drainage, and the land was opened care- 

 fully after the most approved methods. Lookiug back at 

 the higher estates from those beneath, I thought what a 

 splendid sight these estates would present in another 

 couple of years. How the light shade of the succirubra 

 and the deeper tinge of officinalis in magnificent sheets 

 would set off the dark fringe of the forest above, topped 

 with its everlasting white and fleecy crown of clpuds ! 

 But how different the reality is! I believe Lentrau and 

 one or two other estates are being put into tea, and that 

 hopes are entertained that it will be a great success ; 

 and I certainly don't see why it should not, for the rain- 

 fall is abundant and well distributed, whilst the soil is, as 

 I have said before, exceedingly good. I forgot to remark 

 upon the cinchona clearings of Eoehampton, Kahagalla and 

 Gonamatavn, all of which contained far fewer vacancies 

 and patches than I was prepared for. The trees have 

 made a fair growth, and form in places a splendid cover. 

 That portion of the " as-yet-untouched-patanas " on which 

 these clearings stand appear to suit cinchona exeelleutly. 

 — Local "Times." 



Dried Apkicots. — California fruit-growers have dis- 

 covered that apricots bleached with sulphur fumes and then 

 dried in the sun are superior to those that are dried in 

 any other manner, or that are canned. They regard this 

 fact of very great importance to the whole State. It enables 

 every fruit culturist, however limited his means, and how- 

 ever small the product of his orchards, to dry his own 

 fruit for market, and makes him independent of the canning 

 factories. It is also stated that fruit can be prepared in 

 the same manner more cheaply than in any other, that 

 its weight is better preserved, and that it is of superior 

 flavour. — Journal of Horticulture. 



Wasps and Red Spidee. — Having had my attention 

 recently attracted by the continual visit6 of wasps to a 

 second early peach house, I have wondered what they 

 were in pursuit of, as the fruits have beeu cleared for 

 some time past. I have now come to the conclusion that 

 they are in search of red spider. The trees in question 

 have not been syringed since the fruit ripened, and yet 

 they are as healthy as possible, which is not often the 

 case under these conditions, as when left to themselves 

 red spider is sure, to appear. Although these trees have 

 been so far neglected lor several weeks, red spider is very! 

 scarce, and this I attribute to the visits of wasps. They 

 crawl about on the upper and under sides of the leaves, 

 apparently in search of these insects, or why should they 

 continue to visit this house in such numbers when there 

 are other houses adjoining with ripe fruit yet ungathered? 

 I would like to kuow the opinion of some of your readers; 

 on this subject. No doubt there will be some that will 

 pooh-pooh such an idea ; but why should not wasps have 

 a liking for the red spider as well as for flies, for they 

 will demolish these ravenously when within their reach 

 and other food is short. — S. — Ibid. 



Ciiou-tnou Pickle.— The recipe which I have proved 

 to be most trustworthy, is as follows : — " Take 2 lb. of 

 green tomatoes, bruise them, then add two or three medium- 

 sized onions, sliced according to size, and six chillies ; scatter 

 salt over it, letting it stand fifteen hours, then strain away 

 the moisture, and cover the remainder with good vinegar. 

 Bake this in an oven for one hour, and thin press the 

 pulp into jars. Now take a dessertspoon each of mustard, 

 pepper, mixed spice, half teaspoon each of sugar and cloves, 

 a little cinnamon, and four chillies, adding sufficient vinegar 

 to make this quite thin. Boil it and pour over contents 

 of jars while boiling hot." Another good recipe under 

 the heading "Tomatoes for Pies" may also be acceptable 

 to some of my readers who may have a quantity of green 

 fruit too backward to ripen. "Pick the tomatoes green; 

 scald them and take off the skins. Put them into a pre- 

 serving pan, and let them boil for half an hour. Out 

 them up, and put in 1 lb. of sugar to 3 lb. of tomatoes, 

 and let them cook for half an hour longer. Season them 

 with the. juice and peel of lemon, and put them away in jars. 

 These make very good pies in the winter, and resemble 

 Gooseberries."— \V. Iggulden.— Ibid. 



