April i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



771 



strated the capabilities of the machine rathe ']ute growing 

 districts is now making his way home by way ot boutn 

 India and perhaps Ceylon, calling especially at tue Wen 

 Book Company's estate in order to put the machines 

 Mr. Minchin has set up there into proper working order. 

 It is now estimated that a single machine ought to clean 

 30 cwt. of rhea stems, 5 tons of aloo leaves or plantain 

 stems in a day and with even a three or four per cent out- 

 turn this would do very well. Ify the way. I hear that 

 the Johore Rhea Company in which Mr. Edwin Watson 

 is largely interested as vendor of the land and local 

 manager, is ready to bo brought out very shortly, consider- 

 able support having been promised by Lancashire 

 manufacturers since Mr. Watson's experiments proved the 

 suitability of Johore soil and climate for the plant 

 This Company will work the Favier steaming process ot 

 decortication and the " ribands" will be dried by arti- 

 licial heat immediately after being stripped off the stems.— 



A London Cor. 



-*■ 



VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE COLOMBO CHAMBER 

 OF COMMERCE ON PLANTING PROSPERITY 

 IN CEYLON. 

 (March 12th.) 

 Some of our heads ot export I am sorry to say show 

 some decrease on laet year, but others again a very large 

 increase. Coffee, which has hitherto been our main 

 staple— I am taking the figures up to the 5th of 

 this month, which will perhaps give us a better idea— 

 cofi'ee is 10,000 owts. behind ; we have only ship- 

 ped 143.000 cwts. against 153,000 to this date 

 than if I confined myself to the last half year- 

 last year. Cinchona, on the other hand, I am glad 

 to say, shows an increase of H million pounds on 

 the shipments of last year. We have now shipped 

 4 million pounds against only 2\ million lb. at this 

 date last year. Tea also has practically doubled 

 itself. We have shipped 828,0001b. against only 

 470,000 last yea-, showing an increase <f 350,000 1b. 

 Cardamomi also show a large increuse, practically 

 double last year. We have s! ipped to this date- 

 that is the 5th March— 67,000 lb. against only 

 37,0001b. last year, showing an increase of 30,000 1b. 

 Cocoa, on the other hand, shows I am sorry to say, 

 a very large decease. We have shipped only 1,800 

 cwts. against 4,300 at the same date last year, a decrease 

 of 2,500 cwts. The railway returns show that we 

 are much about the same on the nhole; the items which 

 we notice in the Chamber circular amount to 30,000 

 tons and it was practically the tame amount last 

 year. Our prices are scarcely so good just now as 

 they were twelve months ago. I think that is not difficult 

 to account for when we take into consideration the 

 political disturbances there have lately been. Besides 

 this, the interruption to the telegraph line is a great 

 hindrance, uncertainty has almost been worse than 

 knowing the worst, but still I think we have not 

 much to complain of in the matter of prices. Tea 

 in the home market is continually gaining ground 

 and showing that it is well appreciated. It is only 

 a question of time when its consumption will be- 

 come very largely extended. I wish I could speak 

 more favourably as regards our prospects for the 

 coming year. The weather so far has been very 

 favourable, but on the other hand as regards coffee 

 it is generally reported that the wood is not in a 

 very good condition for blossoming and there has 

 rather been an absence of blossoms of any kind and 

 it is now getting late in the season. Still, we may 

 have something better to report later on. Many 

 people at home are under the impression that cin- 

 chona will collapse all at once in Ceylon. I think 

 «••. are experiencing the reverse of this, as the re- 

 turns I have quoted will show. 1 think, moreover, 

 tho^e who travel upcountry will rind there are a 

 good many roots still there and they will very soon 

 sln.w up again above the ground. There has been a 



good deal of coppicing going on lately, still our ex- 

 ports I think under that head will continue for eomo 

 time to come. The death-rate does not seem to bo 

 nearly so large now as it was Borne time ago. Cocoa 

 has evidently felt the continuanoe of drought, and I 

 think the expectations for next year are rather dis- 

 appointing on this ground. Cardamoms are still coming 

 in in large quantities and will continue. A large acre- 

 age has been planteel up and the exports under that 

 head will show I think, at all events, no decrease 

 for some time to oome. Our great promise in the 

 future however lies in our new product tea. I 

 think it is to this to which we must took to restore 

 prosperity to the country, if it is to be done 

 at all. Experience has shown that it will practic- 

 ally grow everywhere where coffee used to grow, 

 aud it will also grow where coffee would not grow. 

 We have therefore a very large acreage which we can 

 go upon. 1 think, too, that we shall be able to 

 compete with any other country and if tea pays 

 anywhere it will pay in Ceylon. Our climate is very 

 suitable, we do not have long droughts, we have a 

 plentiful labour supply close at hand and everything 

 seems to he in our favour. It may be that blight will 

 come as it did with coffee, but we do not fear that to 

 the same extent as we did with coffee. Coffee was 

 confined to one crop a year and if that was lost all 

 was lost for the season. With tea we have several 

 flushes ; if blight comes we can cut it down and we 

 have several chances throughout the year. I will give 

 you a few figures to show my ground for thinking that 

 tea will restore prosperity to us. I find in Ferguson's 

 Directory that 250,000 to 300,000 acres was calculated 

 to be the area under coffee in late years. Well, I find 

 that our Chairman, in replying to the Governor on the 

 subject of the Northern Arm, estimates 150,000 acres 

 as the probable area in tea a few years hence. This 

 seems to me very much under the mark, but of course 

 it is possible that for various reasons the whole avail- 

 able acreage may not get planted up so e|uickly as we 

 would like. Well, taking only 150,000 acies, and 

 calculating 350 lb. of tea per acre — I think that will 

 be allowed to be a very moderate estimate, manv put 

 it higher, but for the subject of this calculation I 

 think that will be sufficient. That give? us a total 

 yield of 52,500,000 lb. of tea for the whole island for 

 one year. If we value this at Is. per lb.— which I 

 think is also as low as we can put it — that will give 

 us a total value of;£2,625,000. Well, if we compare this 

 with our former staple, coffee, in our best years 

 800,000 cwts. was about all we could produce for a 

 series of years. If we value this at £3 a cwt. we 

 get a total value of only £2,400,000, as against, as I 

 said, for tea £2,625,000. The acreage I have taken 

 for tea can of course be very largely extended if 

 we find means and appliances for the purpose. 



MR. 



GIBBS AND THE NEW TYPE GIBBS & 

 BARRY TEA-DRIER 

 are very pleasantly discussed in the report of a " Com- 

 missioner" to the Home and Colonial Mail. Mr. 

 Gibbs of Chilwell Park is described by this writer as an 

 encyclopedic genius, at once a poet of very high merit ; 

 an inventor who 1ms done more for the agriculture of his 

 country, in the way of saving harvests in bad seasons, 

 than any other man; a philanthropist in the motives 

 prompting his labours ; and a hospitable genial English 

 squire of the old school withal. Of his many and ex- 

 cellent poems, it is not here the place to speak, save ii 

 passing, and as calling attention to that rare combination 

 of what are usually deemed incompatible gifts, thosi of 

 true poetic inspiration, practical research, and persever- 

 ingly sustained effort— for a quarter of a century in this 

 case on a problem which required mechanical skill ami 

 constructive' talents in its solution. 



