552 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



He has brought over here a Swedish plough and tries 

 it tor owita ploughing, with success so far, since Satur- 

 day last. 



There was a great gathering, some of them came even 

 from a distance of 10 to 12 miles to witness the first start. 



Many of them condemned the plough, at the first sight 

 of it, as they always do, but Mr. Aruarasekare explained 

 to them with great patience the numerous advantages 

 that is to be derived by the use of it. He is of opinion 

 that when his plough-men and cattle are well-practised, 

 one new plough will beat the work of ten native 

 ploughs. Perhaps you are not aware of that before the 

 seed paddy is sown in an " owita " land, the poor gowiya 

 has to give it ten ploughings the least, r.till not a single 

 furrow deeper than half-an-inch. But the new plough 

 will clear away any " owita " land; however, it may be 

 of use in two ploughings of two to three inches deep. 

 Thus you will understand Sir, how, advantageous is the 

 new plough to native cultivators if they will only try. 

 Our heartfelt thanks are due to Mr. Amarasekare, for the 

 trouble he takes to introduce the new plough. In 

 wishing him all success we trust that othbrs who can 

 afford will follow his example.— I am sir, your obedient 

 ervant. GOWIYA. 



The Cacao in Dumbara has not recovered sufficiently 

 from the last drought to place it in a position to stand 

 another. In fact, some of the trees will be severely 

 enough tried if the weather in January, February and 

 March is, as it ought to be, fine and dry. Helopeltis 

 on some places ; none on others. 



The America* Evaporator for Cacao.— Messrs. 

 W. H. Davies & Co. write:— "You will be glad to 

 learn that a No. 2 machine, at MessrB. Geo. Steuart & 

 Co.'s mills, was on Saturday tested with cocoa, by a 

 well-known Matale cacao planter. About seven bushels 

 of cocoa were dried in l£ hour, from time of 

 firing to finish, and the machine is described as an 

 'undoubted success' and the 'best drier in the 

 country for cocoa.' Two men can easily work it, and 

 there seems little doubt about its capabilities for drying 

 tea, especially the larger size, No. 3. Wood was 

 used, and very little was required to obtain the 

 desired heat. Indeed, the experimenter is so thoroughly 

 pleased with the performance of this small machine 

 that he has decided to go in for one of the largest 

 size capable of turning out 12 times the quantity of 

 • the No. 2." . 



The Aberdeen Tea Plantation, in Lower Dikoya or 

 TJppfr Ambegamuwa, is shown by the Superintendent 

 to have yielded as follows since it came into 



1-vpjjvi j) (J • 



"The'cleariug was planted at the latter end of 1879; plants 

 distance apart 3 M 2J. 



Yield 1SS2 450 lb. made tea 



1883 735 „ „ „ 



„ 1S84 over 1,000 „ „ 



"In August, September, October, and November, 1883, this 

 tea was made along with tea from bushes of same age and 

 realized an average price in London during the 4 months of 

 Is 5|d. Since then it has been made along with the other 

 Iths of the estate, two years and under, and only plucked 

 once a fortnight and over, according to circumstances. 

 I may mention that about §rd of the field in question is of 

 very poor soil, and on this portion a large percentage of 

 the plants died in 1882 from white-ants or othercauses." 



But financial success, or at any rate profit, dois 

 not depend on large production only »nd many argue 

 after the fashion of a very sag aious planter whose 

 practical hints elsewh re deserve careful consideration, 

 that a medium yield with careful preparation, (tie 

 rejection of bud* "rolls" even). and a const quently 

 hi^a average price « ill prove more profitable in the 

 long-run. The one bugbear before us at present is 

 a pos-ible scarcity of labour for all the requirements of 

 tea planters ; but this cannot last long whtn the 

 Tamils in Southern India fully learn that rupees in 

 prompt payments are to be earned for honest work in 

 Ceylon. 



Cinchona Bark Up ! — A good authority writing by 

 the English mail of Nov. 2Sth states: — "It is rumoured 

 that the cinchona market, to be held on December 2nd, 

 is to be the best sale since the stoppage of the Milan 

 firm " On the top of this comes the telegraphic news 

 that quiniue is up ljd the unit in London. 



Sugar Cultivation in Ceylon. — The editor of the 

 Australian Tropical Planter writes us : — " Sugar is 

 very ' dicky ' here ; but 1 think the price of sugar is at 

 lowest ebb as the European Bounty, system cannot 

 last, as it is just bolstering up an unprofitable in- 

 dustry. I hope your coffee crops are not com- 

 plete failures. I do not agree with the correspondence 

 in T. A. that sugar will not pay in Ceylon. Since 

 it was tried new machinery, chemical process and 

 tramways, should make cane sugar pay well — you 

 have got such cheap labour and great chances to 

 rrigate. " 



Arecanuts : the Shehriwadun Variety. — As our 

 readers will have seen from the advertisement, Mr. 

 Creasy gives a high character to this new variety of 

 areca. He says: — 



The excellence of the nut consists in the large pro- 

 portion of the white fleshy part of the inside, and this 

 cures white. At the same time it is close-grained standing 

 curing and export well which the Hamban, Rata and other 

 pooaks do not. These nuts in India fetch a much higher 

 price than any others, being of a far finer flavor to con- 

 noisseurs. The variety is only known in one neighbourhood 

 of a native State in India. 



The planting of arecas in likely to attract special 

 attraction from Europeans in Ceylon erelong and we 

 are promised a paper on the subject from a gentle- 

 man who has had experience of this product. 



Quinine made p.y Mr. Auffray. — It is only a few 

 days ago that ou seeing that Rl 10, 000 was paid yearly 

 for the quiniDe imported into the Colony, we said 

 that if we could make our own quinine, it would be 

 so much saved to the Colony. It appears that the 

 problem has been solved by Mr. Auttray, a person 

 employed on an estate at Grand Port. Mr. AufTray 

 from the bark of quinquina, has produced sulfate de 

 I quinine. This deserves more than an honorable men- 

 tion, it deserves a good reward. And he has suc- 

 ceeded in doing it with the utensils the most primitive 

 possible. We'have to thank Dr. Chauvin for letting 

 us know the fact. In spit- c f the "nothing bat sugar 

 doctrine" of some papers — we perceive that many are 

 'aiming their minds to new culture &c, — we have 

 Bagasse paper and quinine just come to light ; the 

 impulse is given, the idea will progress. 



"The Yatiyantota Tea Company, Limited," is 

 the heading of a long Memorandum and associated 

 Articles in last Friday's Gazette. Such announcements, 

 some years ago, in the days of our prosperity, ap- 

 peared almost too frequently ; but it is a considerable 

 time now since we have had to chronicle the . establish- 

 ment of a new Plantation Limited Company in Ceylon, 

 and this may be said almost to mark a new departure, 

 and let us hope to indicate the early approach of 

 a time i f greater confidence and activity. As already 

 announced, the Yatiyantota Company take over 

 some 556 acres of land belonging to the late Mr. 

 .T. H. Young, and they take power to clear, 

 cultivate and develope the same, also to purchase or 

 lease adjoinii g lands, and to purchase tea leaf or 

 other raw pre duets for the manufacture, manipulation 

 and sale. The Don ual cap. tat is KUIOUOO divided 

 into 100 shares of K!,000 each and the subscribers 

 include the following well-known names of local 

 gentlemen : — W. 11. G. Duncan ami Cb i s Young, 

 each 10 shares; A, Thomson, Ja-. Anderson and 

 Jas. K. MorrisoD, each 5 shares ; D. Edwards 3 

 shares ; G. W. Carlyon 1 share. We wish the new 

 Company all the success its directors ami shareholders 

 can desire. 



