530 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



in the London markets. In respect of coffee prices in 

 the home market, I have heard much comment at 

 various bungalows about the great discrepancy of prices 

 realized in London for various estates coffee from 

 this district, particularly about the fine figures. Kel- 

 burne Estate coffee realized above that of the neighbours 

 (see price list in November number of Tropical Agri- 

 culturist) and I heard said, that the " Laird of Kelburne" 

 attributes these fine prices mainly to the superior curing 

 and preparation for shipment of bis Agents in Colombo, 

 Messrs. Baker and Hall, who, he declares cure his coffee 

 fifty cents p* r cwt. cheaper than any other firm in Colombo 

 and, that ever since he changed his Colombo Agents his 

 coffee has been realizing from 7*50 to 10 rupees more per 

 cwt. than he used to get for it when he cured else- 

 where ; if this is the case, some firms must be curing crops 

 very negligently, hurrying shipments and not be giving 

 sufficient attention to good curing and preparation in 

 Colombo. Certain it is that the discrepancy of 20 to 30 

 shillings exists in the prices realized for coffee from estates 

 equally as good, well cultivated, with equally good soil, 

 the same elevation and aspect as Kelburne, and yet the 

 prices realized are remarkably different which any person can 

 see by looking over the price list in your T. A. 



Mr. Westland's new Sieve Plates are highly spoken of as 

 reduciug the tail coffee to a minimum percentage and 

 are being very generally adopted in place of the old sieve 

 plates. "While estates are looking in prime order I am 

 sorry to say white and black bug have been very preval- 

 ent recently, especially on estates at higher elevations ; 

 leaf disease is much less prevalent but the pest is still 

 among us, though in much less quantity than formerly. 

 Native coffee is not quite extinguished, but wherever 

 it has not been ''rubbed out" and the gardens are kept in 

 order, crops are good and the bushes bearing very well in 

 many places, particularly in the rich valleys about Uda- 

 kiude, Hapulaleand the Mahapalata generally. Government, 

 I am sorry to say is not, as far as I can learn, doing 

 auytbiug to encourage the natives to adopt " new pro- 

 ducts," but he has been most industrious in collecting 

 revenue poll-tax and paddy-tithes. Some irrigation works 

 or dams for retaining water were attempted near Welle- 

 niada, but all have been washed away by the floods and 

 a great deal of money and labour lost. Except Mr. Sharpe, 

 I never heard of any other Assistant Agent in Uva ever 

 attempting to encourage the natives in cultivating new 

 products, new paddy cultivation or anything else. The 

 Forester's berth in U va is a sinecure, and now that minor 

 roads are almost a thing of the past, this officer has 

 little to do, and he might well be employed distributing 

 tea, cocoa, cardamoms and other new products amongst 

 the natives, as well as encouraging them to plant indigenous 

 and foreigu forest and fruit trees. Dr. [Crimen proposed 

 having a branch Botanic Gardens at Badulla, and, I think 

 procured a grant, but I have heard nothing more about it. 

 As I mentioned before in my previous notes, tea is getting 

 a fair trial on many estates up here ; on some places 

 wind blown-and shuck coffee is being taken out to make 

 room for tea and on some estates tea is being planted 

 amougst coffee and cinchona, which I do not think fair to 

 the new, product tea. If it is to succeed give it a fair 

 trial on good soil, but do not handicap it by planting on 

 land that has other products growing on it or on worn out 

 old coffee fields. J. A. 



Vegetable Curiosity. — A bringal (egg-plant) has been 

 sent to us, which has four smaller fruits growing out of 

 the portion next the stalk, " five-in-one " as the Tamil 

 conductor of an upeountry estate calls it. 



Concentrated Solution of Cinchona. — We learn that 

 the Surgeon General with the Government of Madras 

 recently brought to the notice of Government that the 

 use of crude Cinchona bark in hospitals, suggested by the 

 Director of Government Cinchona Plantations, is very 

 wasteful and expensive, owing to the fact that infusions 

 and dococtions soon spoil in this country. He suggested 

 therefore that a concentrated solution of the various 

 active principles in Cinchona bark could be prepared in 

 this country, so as to keep good for any length of time 

 in hot climates. A further report on the subject by the 

 Director is awaited by Government. — Madras Mail. 



PLANTING IN SOUTH INDIA. 



South Wynaad : Vythery, Nov. 21st.— The improve- 

 ment in the price of coffee, although nothing very great, 

 and the fact that we are picking what promises generally 

 to be a fairly good crop, have somewhat raised our spirits. 

 Another hopeful sign has been a visit from the represent- 

 ative of one of the Coast firms, with apparently a large 

 commission to buy coffee. This gentleman is at present 

 offering R29 per cwt., and has not, I believe, so far, found 

 anybody willing to sell at that price, which, except with a 

 crop like your correspondent " A. G. S." boasts of would 

 h»rdly pay expenses. The fall in prices comes painfully 

 home to one, when it is recollected that the same firm 

 was offering R37'8 this time last year, with " no takers," 

 and that in the beginning of January we could have got 

 K42-8. There is a general disposition to send the coffee to 

 the London market this year, as two seasons ago, when 

 things looked nearly as bad, planters who sold on the Coast 

 lost heavily in comparison with English prices. However, 

 any of your readers who may be inclined to speculate in 

 this article could buy a good deal at 35, which, from 

 what I can hear, is our '" irreducible minimum " f. o. b. 

 just now. An unusual feat was performed by a planter 

 near Maypady a few days ago, who shot two elephants, 

 right and left, in thick jungle ; one was killed, and the 

 other badly hit, tried to get up, but was settled by a third 

 bullet. A Ceylon man did the same thing some years ago, 

 but in the open where he had suddenly come upon a herd, 

 two of which charged him. With the numerous abandon- 

 ments that have recently taken place near the Ghauts, it 

 is probable that elephants will become commoner in AVy- 

 naad than they have been. A good deal of timber cutting 

 is going on, especially of blackwood, which always com- 

 mands a fair price in Calicut. It costs a good deal, though, 

 before it can be got down there, for elephants to drag it 

 out of the jungle, and for cart hire. With a railway, or 

 even a steam tramway through the district, a very large 

 timber trade would soon spring up, especially with My- 

 sore, where wood is very scarce. But as times are hard we 

 cannot wait for the railway, and have to manage with ex- 

 isting agencies. 7he extension of the Madras line to Cali- 

 cut is being at last pushed forward. This will be a great 

 convenience, to trade on this coast, and will probably lead 

 to the extinction of Beypore, which only exists as the pre- 

 sent terminus. I see there is still a good deal of corre- 

 spondence in the Mail about advances to maistries, but I 

 think "Justice" hits the nail on the head when he ad- 

 vises the limiting fresh advances to a ceitainsum. This 

 plan has been tried with success on some estates in 

 "Wynaad. Mr. Teare's suggestion that Superintendents 

 should be made liable for advances is a sufficiently absurd 

 one. I fancy a Superintendent could no more be held re- 

 sponsible by a proprietor for money given out to procure 

 labour, then he could be held responsible for the cost 

 of the manure he has applied to the trees if it did not 

 produce ten hundredweight an acre. A Superintendent 

 is usually given a certain estimate to work to, and is 

 presumed to do the best he cau for his employer. No 

 Government would pass a law to punish him for any- 

 thing but positive fraud ; short of that a proprietor must be 

 expected to protect himself ; he can easily dismiss his Sup- 

 perintendents if they do not act as he wishes, but he cannot 

 expect them to share in the risks without sharing in the pro- 

 fits of ownership. The only plan for owners, if they wish 

 to avoid further loss, is to do as the much abused " Planter" 

 is going to : let them have the courage of their opinions, 

 and order no more money to be given out to maistries. We 

 gave up hoping against leaf disease years ago, after we had 

 tried all the nostrums of scientists without muchseffect ; we 

 are still trying to combat it with better cultivation, and 

 with shade, which we are happily not now beginning to 

 plant, as your correspondent supposes. He will find, when 

 lie faies a walk abroad, that shade has been largely est- 

 ablished all over Wynaad, and with excellent results. It 

 is aggravating to find a planter of such standing bragging 

 of the way he illtreated his coffee in " the good old times." 

 No doubt he did get big crops, but so did others who 

 cultivated properly ; the difference is visible now, when half 

 the Ghaut estates have gone out under such management 

 as he fondly "records, while others that were taken in time 

 are still to the fore, lherauorah Company's estates have 

 changed hands, having been bought by a gentleman in 



