April r, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



"S3 



NATIVE AGRICULTURE IN CEYLON : 

 " YOUNG JAFFNA." 

 When I say that young Jaffna must take to the plough, 

 let me dot be misunderstood, I do not mean that they 

 should be manual labourers: but what I counsel is, that 

 an educated man should guide and control the peasant, in 

 his crude ways of obtaining a produce. There is not 

 the slightest doubt, that with the exception of copperah, 

 all other articles of produce have deteriorated and lost 

 their high price in the market. At one time the Rajah 

 of Travancore and other Indian agents commissioned 

 English merchants in Colombo to purchase Tobacco in 

 Jaffna. And (lie competition was so hot, that large pro- 

 fits were realised by tin; agriculturists. Rut now there 

 is no such demand, and the tobacco goes about bugging 

 in the market, while the general complaint is that the 

 tobacco is inferior in quality, and that the curing is 

 not properly attended to. Perhaps the seed, for want of 

 attention, has deteriorated, and manure being at present 

 costly, the agriculturists are penny wise and pound foolish. 

 Here then is an opportunity for Young Jaffna with his 

 intelligence to step in and improve the cultivation. Again, 

 there is a failure of a handsome return of paddy, because 

 there is no attention paid to the husbanding of water, and 

 the ploughing of the soil to a greater depth, than the two 

 or three inches which from time immemorial have been 

 thought to be sufficient to feed the grain. Anil yet the 

 fault, in the decrease of produce, is attributed to bad luck, 

 and the influence of fate, but the fault dear Jaffna, is 

 not in our stars, but in ourselves. There is a tide, in 

 the affairs of agriculture, which taken at the flood, leads 

 on to fortune, omitted, all the profit of the cultivation is 

 blight and loss. The transplanting of plants, the importation 

 of fresh seed-corn, the regulation of sowing and reaping, 

 observing the changes of rainfall are matters which should will 

 engage the attention of Young Jaffna. The farming of sheep 

 for the purpose of exporting them to Colombo and other 

 stations, is unquestionably a profitable employment. The 

 soil of Jaffna, so full of saline matter with its low shrub- 

 like grass, seems to be peculiarly adapted to fatten sheep, 

 and yet we are told that sheep farming is not at all pro- 

 fitable because sometimes a large number of them die 

 without rhyme or reason. I have taken the trouble of 

 visiting the Islands to see the manner in which tb^sheep 

 are attended to. There is no care whatever bestowed to 

 procure them clean, and clear water in case of drought, 

 and the sheep fold is simply a square, enclosed by a few 

 brambles, and a few Palmyra leaves as an apology for a 

 roof, while dung and other filth are permitted to accu- 

 mulate, when an occasional shower makes the floor a 

 mass of liquid filth. To me it is a wonder that sheep 

 should withstand and survive such treatment. A man 

 who takes to sheep farming in one of our Islands, com- 

 bining with it the cultivation of tobacco and dry graiu, 

 with a small plantation of coconut, on the better soil, if 

 he cannot make a fortune, will yet procure a competency 

 of living and prepare the way for others to obtaiu a pro- 

 fitable livelihood. — Cor. "Ceylon Patriot.'' 



PREPARATION OF TEA: FINAL FIRING. 



Every year the value of a mark is becoming better known, 

 and in a few years a large portion of Indian Tea will 

 be sold without sampling. That it will take a long time 

 to establish perfect confidence we are aware ; but, once 

 established, we do not thiuk that any doubt can exist iu 

 any one's mind that the advantage will be great on both 

 sides. Commensurate advantages will, however, necessitate 

 commensurate care in bulking and general manipulation 

 of the crop; and great would be the fall in values to 

 any mark which showed deterioration iu quality. Within 

 the last few years great changes have taken place, aud 

 year by year the advertising columns of all tea papers 

 show that an entirely new aud apparently remunerative 

 trade has sprung up in manufacturing tea machinery. 

 Several firms now make it a speciality, and when we say 

 this is done, it means that a better article is being 

 turned out at a lesser price than formerly. It would be 

 inviduous on our part were we to refer to any particulars 

 on this subject, and planters are no doubt quite as capable 

 as we are to speak practically on the subject of which 

 particular machine is the best for its own individual branch. 

 95 



The fact, however, of a firm of. the standing of Messrs 

 Marshal] & Sons thinking it worth their while to take 

 up the manufacture of tea machinery is a guarantee that 

 whatever tin- merits of the particular machine produced, 

 the workmanship will be good. AV'hat we wish to point 

 out particularly just now is the great risk which attends 

 the introduction of any new machine for drying purposes; 

 Of all the operations which conduces to give a good name 

 to a mark, we consider that the proper final curing or 

 "pucca iatly " is perhaps the most important, and unless 

 this is properly attended to, although all the rest may 

 have been done quite correctly so as to insure a good tea, 

 if the "pucca batty" is not properly given, all the 

 planter's care and anxiety is Inst. We hold the opinion 

 that very few of tin- drying machines can affeel a pro- 

 per curing in the time they advertise, simply from the" 

 fact that sufficient time has not been allowed to drive 

 off the moisture Another thing we contend is, that, 

 instead of any hard-and-fast in!.', as is often sent with 

 instructions for Dryers, a great deal mils! depend upon 

 the state of humidity of the atmosphere on particular 

 days. After a long spell of drought, when the atmosphere 

 is perfectly dry, we consider a shorter time would suffice 

 for curing than on a wet day or after a continuous spell 

 of wet weather. It is almost needless for as to mention 

 that in old days "pucca batty" occupied in to 12 hours, 

 whereas now-a-days we are informed that 20 minutes 

 suffice. In the days of 10 anil 12 hour pucca batty, no 

 Complaints were heard of soft teas or teas "going otf," 

 and we are inclined to put it down, at any rate in some 

 measure, to the thorough final curing of the tea. It is 

 useless to except if there is the slightest moisture left 

 in the tea that it will go off in the chest, however 

 warm it may be put into the box, for there is not, or 

 rather ought not to be, the smallest opening for it to 

 escape, if the soldering has been properly done. To final 

 firing then all should look carefully, if ,hey wish good 

 results. Now that the quantity of Indian tea to be handled 

 in London is so large, greater attention is required than 

 formerly, as it no doubt necessitates greater exposure 

 in London, and this wilt continue until " bulking " is re- 

 cognised as a sufficient guarantee for a mark. We have 

 heard of tea lying about in the warehouse at home for 

 days, and no doubt deteriorating in value, and until re- 

 medied, we must on our part do all we can to assist in 

 preventing this doing as little harm as possible. — Planters' 

 Gazette. [We suspect that in most cases, it is not that 

 moisture is left in the tea, but that there is over-firing. 

 —Ed! 



THE POLICY OF FOREST RESERVES IN CEYLON 

 (AND THE STRAITS). 



Under this heading Mr. D. Mackay writes as follows 

 to the local " Times " : — 



When I left the island iu the beginning of October 

 last, the Government had just declared their decision to 

 suspend ml sales of land, until the reservation recom- 

 mended by Mr. Vincent could be settled, anil an ordinance 

 passed to carry out the new departure or policy (if such 

 a term can be applied to what is simply a strangling of 

 the only real life of the country), and ou my return I 

 find that not only has no ordinance been passed, but that 

 practically the whole of the available and suitable-for-tea- 

 planting waste lands have beeu closed against the enter- 

 prize of the planter, as if it were one of those evils to 

 be specially guarded against aud fenced off in the interests 

 of the country and the general community. 



To illustrate the evil that this insane and dog-in-the- 

 manger policy is doing, I need only mention the circum- 

 stance of a gentleman from Assam having called on me 

 (the day after I lauded) to ascertain where he could get 

 land in the lowcountry for tea planting, and my being 

 obliged to tell him (with, I must confess, a feeling of shame 

 for our Government) that no laud was at present obtain- 

 able, except what might be in private hands, and so far 

 as my knowledge extended I could not recommend him 

 the latter, if be wished to go in for the best land for 

 bis purpose. 



Enquiry at the Surveyor-General's office elicited the tact 

 that not more than a thousand acres are now ready to 

 be put up for sale, and though these- few acres are in a 

 promising district and probably suitable, yet I felt it my 



