January i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



567 



estate in Jamaica is about 200 acres in extent, and the 

 finest about 160 acres, but covering a very much larger 

 area from end to end ; the latter possesses some of 

 the largest fields in the district and is a very fine 

 paying property ; it has yielded at times 100 tierces, 

 which with a moderate expenditure, and prices netting 

 about 100s, must leave a good profit. 



Three or four weedings a year have I believe, been 

 the rule in Jamaica of later years ; nor does it fellow 

 that the trees are pruned and handled every year; 

 no doubt bad times, scarcity and dearne^s of labor 

 have contributed to this mode of culture, and as 

 I have before said, the toil and climate are so 

 flue that the trees do not suffer, as they would 

 in Ceylon — the one advantage of the system is that 

 the land being weedy often saves wash on these very 

 steep hillsides. I am determined to keep my new 

 fields decently clean, and weed them at least once 

 in six weeks, and have already introduced the use 

 of iion scrapers, and small weeding hoes. 



Most planters seem to prefer job work when it can be 

 given, for the Creoles then work with a will ; at day labor 

 they are harder to drive than coolies, and being so 

 independent, living on their; own grounds, and being 

 pretty well off, one has to be very careful in the 

 treatment of "Mr. and Mrs. Quashie." On this pro- 

 perty we are fortunate in being near to large settle- 

 ments, so are better off for labour than many others 

 less favourably situated. The prices of labor range 

 9rom Is to Is 3d for men and lads, and from 7Jd, 

 fd, 10|d to Is for small boys, girls and women. In 

 crop time no doubt, women can earn more picking br 

 the "Tub"' " which is a vessel, beating our Ceylon 

 " boxes" hollow, as it holds two Imperial bushels oy 

 64 quarts leosely cut. On most of the estates the 

 cultivation is now generally at the top, as the lower 

 lands are either worn out or are too eteep for culti- 

 vation, for instance this house is 2,9U0 feet above the 

 sea, and my principal fields between 4,000 and 5,000 

 feet, so I have a good climb to my work, and always 

 ride up, as it is such a long distance to come down, 

 have my breakfast sent up to the field. We only get 

 four davs work from the people, on Fridays they woik 

 in their own grounds, and Saturday is general market 

 day ; none of these people live on the estates, but 

 various distances off, some two or three miles away, 

 and they do not muster till 7 o'clock, and have the 

 aforesaid climb at a slow pace, and moreover have an 

 hour allowed for breakfast, each gang having a cook 

 to prepare it (relic of slave times), the Jamaica coffee 

 plainer does not get much more than 7J to 8 hours' 

 actual work out of his people, t'onlies who have served 

 their time are well eff, a» they are housed, and if 

 able-bodied get Is 3d i day.— W. S. 



REVIEW OF PLANTING OPERATIONS IN 

 CEYLON IN 18S4. 



TEA — COFFEE — CACAO — RTJBBEB — ARECA — BREAD- 

 FRUIT — COCONUTS— RICE — CIN N A MO S , 



Tea is fast usurping the position of ' king " among 

 our planting staples. Very great is the aiea planted 

 with the new product duii g the pat year, and not 

 the least over old coffee land ; but we refrain from 

 an estimate of the extent, s& iug that before long, in 

 connection with our Handbook, we hope to have in- 

 formation as nearly correct as it is pos-ible to obtain. 

 The utmost activity aud very great hopefu'ness at 

 present prevail and not the least feature is the 

 firm bel ef of natives— Kandyans especially— in tbe 

 permanent character of the new plant (tea). A strik- 

 ing illustration cf this fact wes stated to us the other 

 day by a Visiting Agent who had occasion to travel 

 across country from Gmigathena through Yacdessa — 



once "the classic" land of Caledonian and 8axon 

 coffee planters — where after some miles of walk- 

 ing he came on an usused grass-grown estate cart 

 road. Meeting a Kandyan he asked him, who bad con- 

 structed this read aud was tolrl it was made for the 

 coffee watties on tbe hillsides above (now grown up 

 in chena) by Harper Mahatmeya— (curiously Mr. 

 Forrest Harper returned to Cejlon again a few weeks 

 after this occurrence)— but that'the coffee had ceased to 

 yield aud bad become choked by weeds and scrub jungle 

 ' Well then, may not the tea, the new plant, go out in tho 

 same wav? ' wastherejoinder. 'Oh no'wasthe reply, 'this 

 is a jungle plant itself— it grows as quickly and as strong 

 as any of the weeds or jungle stuff ' ! It is certainly I 

 fact that pitches of tea which were neglected or aban- 

 doned in the crisis a few years ago, have held their 

 own against all intruders and grown apace, in a way 

 tint never could be said of eoffte. As to coffee the 

 past year opened very favourably and it closes With 

 good prospects on the whole ; but the drought told 

 on the tilling out of the bean, especially in Uva 8 o 

 that "light parchment" became the rule and' the 

 deficiency in crop was very lamentable in consequence 

 Our estimate trained early in October for the exports 

 of season 1884-5 was 385,000 cwt. (against 360,000 cwt 

 given two months later by our daily contemporary) • 

 but from all we learn now, we doubt if more than 

 320,000 cwt. will be made up. On the other hand it 

 is very certain that of cinchona bark we have still 

 such reserves that if the price continues encouraging 

 we can ship during tbe present season a good deal 

 more than we ventured to estimate. There are indeed 

 some of our mercantile authorities who say they ex- 

 pect the outturn to be as large as in the previous 

 season and certainly an export of 10 million lb is not 

 unlikely in the face of nearly 2milli..nlb. already shinned 

 to 31st ult. against 1,650,0001b. in the same period of 

 18S. ,: S-4. The scare which arose over " Cacao'" in con- 

 nection with the effects of drought, want of shade 

 and of Helopeltis during the early and middle part 

 of 1884, has nearly died out and the plantations well 

 established in the Kandy and Matalo districts are 

 recognized as permanent investments of value Among 

 new and minor products croton oil seeds 'and coca 

 leaves are beginning to attract attention ; while the col- 

 lection, preparation and shipment of silk cotton (kapok) 

 for mattress stuffing and other similar purposes have 

 given employment to a considerable number cf natives and 

 formed au acceptable addition to our shipping trade in 

 a time of depression. The absurdity of "expecting 

 immediate returns from rubber trees is now recognized 

 but those who are persevering with the enterprize expect 

 to have properties nearly as valuable and permanent 

 as those under the coconut palm. The way in which 

 the cultivation of tbe latter and of other fruit trees 

 has extended among the Sinhalese in the South and 

 West and far into tho interior along the Valley of the 

 Mahaoya shows how readily the people and especially 

 the capitalists, discover the enterprjze which best 

 rewards their labour and investments. There are signs 

 that native attention is now being given to tea and we 

 quite expect to seethe Ceylonese— Sinhalese and Tanrls 

 -become owners of tea gardens all over the divisions 

 of the island with a suitable climate. The cultivation 

 of arecanuts 1 mg a profitable industry with natives 

 has attracted the attention of Europeans and with 

 satisfactory results ; anew and better kind of nut has 

 b n introduced. This remiuds us of tin- need for intro- 

 ducing a. better kind of breadfruit than at present is 



vV"'tt »-" V y °" : , that careful horticulturist Mr. 

 V\ . H. Wright has long been urging the Government to 

 obtain the best species from Australasia or the 

 bouth Sea islands and we trust this may be accom- 

 plished m Sir Arthur Gordon's time. The following 

 communication from an old planting resident gives 

 a retrospective glance over the year that is |one 



