5 68 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



from a special point of view : — 



" In looking back on the results of planting operations of 

 the past 3'ear, I think there can be little doubt that the 

 lowest depth of depression was reached in 1883, and that 

 the improvement anticipated by you and many others has 

 been fully realized. 



•' Coffee : 1 hough the greatest and most fatal of all the cal- 

 amities that ever visited the island, is still undiminished, 

 and prices have been almost as low as they ever were, crops 

 have on many places been better, and estates that have been 

 well cultivated have given good results, and by their vigor- 

 ous condition show that it is possible for coffee to be en- 

 abled to resist the ravages of the disease, and be kept in 

 heart for that good time that after all may not be far 

 distant for the old staple. 



" Cinchona has certainly done no worse than inJ1883, and 

 the recent rise in the price of bark is encouraging to those 

 who are fortunate enough to have thousands of trees still 

 growing. 



" Cocoa. — The disease that at one time appeared so alarm- 

 ing has turned out to be not so serious as it threatened, 

 and is probably, in a great measure, the result of ex- 

 ceptional dry weather. There does not appear to have been 

 much extension of this cultivation during the year: in fact, 

 the extent of laud suitable for it must necessarily limit the 

 acreage. 



" Cardamoms have been quietly planted np in many districts, 

 and generally with satisfactory results. The principal draw- 

 back to their cultivation seems to be, the depredations 

 of thieves; the produce occupies so little space, that it is 

 very tempting to the villagers. 



" Tea. — The most sanguine expectations with regard to 

 this product, have been fully realized, both as to yield, 

 and the rapid growth of new clearings, and it is now 

 beyond all doubt, that Ceylon is destined to be a great, 

 if not the greatest tea country. A very large acreage has 

 been planted up in 1884. I cannot venture to estimate 

 the figures, but there is scarcely a district that has not 

 contributed an addition to the great expanse of tea that is 

 now steadily spreading over the whole Central Province, 

 not in email experimental clearings, as at first, but with 

 the confidence of certain success, in fields of 100 acres 

 and more, in both new and old lands ; aud in the latter 

 coffee that did not pay for cultivation has been re- 

 morselessly pulled up, to make room for its more prosper- 

 ous rival. 



" Vast as is the tract of laud suitable for tea, in Ceylon, 

 there is a growing demand for land in districts found 

 to be favourable, a considerable rise in the value of pro- 

 perty has been the result. Old estates have exchanged 

 bands at prices that would have been deemed incredible 

 a few years ago, in fact somes of them would have been 

 put down as almost valueless. Of course it is a mistake 

 to think that it will pay to grow tea on any soil, but 

 there can be no doubt that it will grow well and give 

 paying crops, on laud where coffee has failed, and where 

 nothing else we have hitherto been acquainted with, would 

 pay. Improvement in tea machinery may also be put 

 down amongst the gains of the closing year, and the 

 readiness with which they haye been adopted and the 

 skill and care Ceylon planters have brought to bear on the 

 new cultivation is a guarantee that Ceylon will take a first 

 plaee in the preparation of tea as she did in that of coffee. 



"With the success of tea cultivation so well established 

 the planting prospects for 1885 in Ceylon are decidedly 

 brighter, and promise to many a happy New Year." 



From our bi-weekly c mtempo aiy of the " Ex- 

 aminer " we t. ke the follo«i"g reference to low- 

 country native products fur the past year: — 



" The paddy crops throughout the island have sutfered 

 more or less from the prolonged droughts which marked 

 the beginning and middle of the year; and large tracts 

 failed to yield much more than the seed which was sown. 

 As a result there has been considerable distress among the 

 poorer classes, aggravated, we regret to think, by sickness, 

 and by the relentless recovery of taxes. It is to be 

 Imped that the large sums which have been voted for Irrig- 

 ation »H1 bi profitably spent, and will render the cultiv- 

 ator less dependent on rainfall than he is in too many 

 parts of the island. Coconuts, on the other band, a product 

 which also is chiefly in native hands, have fully realized 

 during the year the expectations formed of them aud have 



generally yielded satisfactory returnsto proprietors. Flower- 

 ing as the tree does every mouth, aud taking a full year to 

 mature its fruits, prolonged droughts cause the dropping of 

 the immature nuts ; but the losses caused by two 

 or three scanty pickiugs have been fully compensated for 

 by satisfactory prices. Although the price of coconut 

 oil has disappointed those whose experience justified the 

 expectation of an increased demand during the winter 

 mouths, copperah has been extensively purchased for 

 export, and has made the growers to a great extent 

 independent of the local manufacturers of oil. This 

 is a comparatively new demand, and has led to con- 

 siderable activity in trade, and, if continued, pro- 

 mises to benefit the natives very largely. Cinna- 

 mon, however, has shown no signs of recovery, aud can 

 have yielded adequate returns only to those who combined 

 systematic cultivation of the shrub with most careful pre- 

 paration of the bark— by no means the least important 

 of a superintendent's duties. Monthly sales have failed to 

 arrest the downward tendency of prices; but those who 

 have persuaded themselves that frequent auctions are the 

 cause of the present prices forget that low prices com- 

 menced with quarterly sales, that they were then referred 

 to over-production, that production has since increased, 

 and that other products, iu the sale of which there has 

 been no change, have also suffered from a falling market. 

 We should not object to a reversion to quarterly sales 

 by way of an experiment ; but we continue to believe that 

 the intervals between the sales have far less influence on 

 prices than production. If the market continues to be 

 stocked with cheap and coarse bark aud with chips, prices 

 must continue low; and if intelligent men refuse to set a 

 good example to their ignorant neighbours, they must suffer 

 in their pockets. A fair compromise would be for the ad- 

 vocates of monthly sales to withdraw their objections to 

 quarterly sales, if _ the believers in the latter consent to 

 abandon the scraping of chips." 



The first part of lbS4 was remarkable as being 

 one of the driest seasons throughout the island on 

 record : the south-west monsoon was an almost entire 

 failure iu several districts and notably in Matale East, 

 where the "oldest inhabitant" declared that not in 

 the present century could so dry a year be re- 

 called. Most promising fields of cardamoms were 

 irretrievably damaged so far as the current year's 

 crop is concerned, and other crops greatly affected. 

 The effect on tea-plucking was also observable ; 

 but this need create no aHrin for the future 

 since the season was so markedly exceptional. 



Queensland Acclimatisation Society. — The following 

 arc some of the plants, seeds, &c, which were received 

 during the past two months (July aud August), namely: — 

 From F. J. Ivory, Brisbane, seed of native bottle-tree; 

 from J. P. Williams & Bros., Ceylon, seed of Cinchona 

 ledgeriana, C. Calisaya, C. officinalis, C. hybrid, 0. Bobusta, 

 Cardamom robusta, Malabar cardamom, divi divi, croton oil, 

 snppandy wood, Ceara rubber (printed directions as to the 

 cultivation of cinchona and divi divi can be seen at the 

 society's office); from L. A. Bernays, F.L.S., Brisbane, seed 

 of Dinde, said to be the. best timber tree of Columbia, of 

 three varieties ornamental grasses, and of varieties of 

 nasturtium ; from Botanic Gardens, Mauritius, case of various 

 plants; from Or. Bancroft, plants of asafcetida, rare native 

 orchids, variegated lantana, cuttings of a variegated maclara, 

 seed of seedling grapes; from R. S. Hews, Brisbane, seed 

 of Jacaranda mimosifolia: from J. W. Stewart, Daintree 

 Kiver, seed of Davidsonia plum and of native banana, plants 

 of rare native ferns, orchids, bamboo, &c, from R. Harper, 

 Ipswich, seed of Jacaranda mimosifolia; from Botanic 

 Gardens, Toowoomha, various Vonifera, &c. During the 

 last three months 4,(!;;0 plants have been distributed either 

 to members of the society, public institutions, or as exchanges. 

 Seeds have been gathered of teak (first time of ripening), 

 Spondias diitces, &c. — Queenslander. 



"ROUGH ON RATS." 

 Clears out rats, mice, roaches, flies, ants, bed-bugs, beet- 

 les, insects, skunks, chipmunks, gophers. Druggists. 

 W. K. Smith & Co., Madias, Sole Agents. 



