February 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



535 



"CEYLON AS A FIELD FOR THE INVESTMENT 

 OF CAPITAL AND ENERGY." 



We now give a secoud instalment of the papers 

 on this subject. Our correspondent today— a planter 

 of prolonged and varied experience— has chosen to 

 throw his relation of experience and advice for men 

 meditating investment in Ceylon, into the form of 

 a couple of letters. These are supposed to lie ad- 

 dressed to a young friend iu the old country who 

 has applied for information respecting the Ceylon 

 planting eutorprize and the prospects before investors. 

 How well these suppocd questions have been an- 

 swered, we leave our readers to judge : — 



My dear ,— I shall be happy, as desired, to tell 



you something of my Ceylon experience, giving you 

 some hints therefrom and my opinion as to the ad- 

 visability of your coming cut to and investing in this 

 country. My local experience as you are aware ex- 

 tends considerably over a score of years, during which 

 I have seen many ups and downs, felt many hopes 

 and disappointments, sometimes with the wise man 

 learning at the expense of others, at other times 

 with the fool at my own. 



I early turned attention to what are now styled New 

 Products, working up all the formation I could gather 

 both from men and books. Without capital, however 

 my speculations were but theoretical, all the plant- 

 ing of many an interesting and hopeful product being 

 dune in the gardens of castles in the air, and hope 

 deferred soon made the young heart sick. Nevertheless, 

 so novel were such thoughts in those jog-trot days 

 of the one great staple — coffee, that friends re- 

 garded me as a visionary, more theoretical than 

 practicd, and one Colombo agent, a fine true-hearted 

 kindly gentleman, now alas ! no more, shakiug his 

 head, s; oke of mo as a good planter, but very specul- 

 ative. The cry then was : stick to coffee, keep to 

 the beaten track ; — now it is : plant up new products, 

 don't have all yoiir cygs in one basket. 



With time at length camo savings, credit and 

 what are called chances ; but I had to forego my 

 aspirations for the new, and start with coffee. 

 Then came the earth hunger, investment after in- 

 vestment, buying and selling more or less to ad- 

 vantage, credit making credit, aud with fair crops 

 and handsome realizations, all finding fuel for 

 future combustion. Gradually at first, unexpectedly 

 rapid at last, thiugs changed for the worse. Leaf- 

 disease appeared, and yearly spread and intensified. In 

 spite of much intelligent thought, hard work and 

 high expenditure, crops fell off, prices followed, 

 credit became restricted, cultivation was lowered, and 

 at last our very coffee trees are disappearing before 

 the advancing attack of black bug. Probably there 

 is not one estate proprietor in Ceylon who trusts alone 

 to coffee now, while the future is very dark indeed 

 for him who has not largely planted up the old pro- 

 duct with the newer cults. When the seriousness 

 of leaf-disease grew evident, my thoughts were 

 turned to the loves of my youth. In small ways I 

 tried a whole host of minor cultivations. But too 

 often, even when the requisite knowledge was acquired, 

 the answer to the question, Will it pay ? was unfavor- 

 able. In some instances the natural difficulties arising 

 from climate and soil were unsurinountable ; in others, 

 thieves, vermin aud strange pesta took more than 

 the lion's share, while of most, one quickly found 

 how very soon supply might overleap demand. As 

 regards the major and now no longer new pro- 

 duets— cinchona, cacao, cardamoms, tea, Lil 

 coffee, &c, I did of course, r.nd have continued to 

 do what I could, but with credit clipped and capital 

 "74 



exhausted, means and time have failed to thus 

 adequately fill up the void created by the rapid 

 decadence of coffee. 



If however, the continued struggle has become 

 almost hopeless for many an old proprietor, it is not 

 so for the country itself. The ownership of large areas 

 of no longer profitable coffee and of fields that were 

 of cinchona, together with an ever-growing accumul- 

 ation of old advances, debts and liabilities, with in- 

 terest, compound interest and annual charges piled 

 high over all, — such a load, clinging more tightly than 

 Sinbad's man of the mountain, weighing more heavily 

 than Christian's burden, — may indeed swamp many a 

 w.ather-beaten craft, but freed from indebtedness 

 revivified by fresh capital, the estates themselves will 

 again get a lair chance and do well. This di 

 out of old stock and replacing it with new blood 001 , 

 be a very painful saddening thing for some; and they, 

 nobly struggling to meet liabilities, are to be pitied ; 

 but the sooner it comes the better will it be for all. 

 Ceylon, with its unrivalled climate, equally so as a 

 tropical country for animal and vegetable life, with 

 its abundant cheap supply of labor, its admirable 

 system of communcations, with its energetic pro ^ress, 

 its hard-won experience and its daily press, will ngain 

 attract a new set of investors, who, buying far 

 below intrinsic values and profiting generally at the 

 expense of their predecessors, must while enriching 

 themselves, restore prosperity to the Island itself. 



There are still certain New Products that have not yet, 

 but will in time make a name for themselves. Iu the low- 

 country particularly a good time and on enduring time 

 will undoubtedly come someday when land there becomes 

 cheaper anil more accessible. But for the immediate 

 future it !s to tea we must look as the means that will 

 largely bring back rich, warm blood to the heart 

 and mainspring of the community — European enter- 

 prize. Cinchona will continue to ba profitable iu 

 strangely favored patches; cacao will yield long, steady, 

 easily-made returns iu suitable localities ; cardamoms 

 for a time will give little fortunes ; and other 

 things in their order will hi lp ; but for general, great 

 and speedy regeneration tea must and will take the 

 place of onr old and favorite staple. 



Thinking I have now done more than justice, any 

 way as to space, to the historical part of your re- 

 quest I now more briefly proceed to give yon the 

 advice you seek. If you really desire to lead the life 

 of a planter aud to profitably invest capital in the 

 East, then, if willing to work hard and thoroughly 

 learn your business, to live as you should in all things 

 and not to invest till after you have acquired the 

 requisite knowledge and experience, then by all means 

 come to Ceylon and go in for tea. There are worse 

 places than Ceylon to live iu, and its chaim grows 

 with residence. Ceylon possesses exceptional advant- 

 ages for the production of tea, good in quality and 

 at low cost. There are few, if any, of the larger 

 tropical products more likely to briug in quick, steady, 

 certain and continued returns than tea when judiciously 

 planted and cultivated in Ceylon, and iu the coming 

 struggle with rival producers it will more than hold 

 its own. 



Should you feel inclined, as I expect, to act on my 

 advice, I shall be pleased then to give you for guid- 

 ance a few hints and lessons from dearly-bought ex- 

 perience and observation. — YourB truly, 



GEMS AND GEM-DIGGING IN CKYLON. 

 ( Communicated. ) 



It is now over thirty-seven years since the late 

 Dr. Gygnx wrote the results of his geological and 

 mineralogical researches for Sir J. Emerson Teunent. 

 In describing his ex '.miration of the southern slopes 



