6?8 



THE TROPICAL AG-BICULTURTST. [March 2, 1885. 



snull profit over working expenses, though of course I 

 cannot get even a fair interest for the capital invested. 

 Crops, too, have steadily gone down and now seem to 

 have found a level at about two to three hundred, 

 weight per acre which at present prices leaves little 

 margin of profit. That this average of crop could be 

 raised by judicious cultivation I do not doubt, having 

 very good authority for the assumption ; but there are 

 historical reasons for the cultivation being denied to 

 the suffering plant, and therefore things remain 

 in statu quo. I do not Buppose that you would 

 find a single person eo bold as to eay that they 

 would still depend on coffee planting to make 

 them a living. Perhaps they may be right if 

 they are thinking of the old districts known 

 as the Kandy side ; but in Uva or the eastern portion 

 of the Central Province beyond Nuwara Eliya and 

 looking towards Batticaloa and Hambantota the case is 

 different. Here soil and climate have rendered the 

 struggle of the coffee against adverse seasons and 

 disease and neglect prolonged, and should succour 

 come now in the shape of Government recognition 

 of the requisitions ot the coffee planter, I believe 

 that these di»tricts might still flourish and be 

 profitable in this product alone to their proprietors. 

 Having had experience in agriculture I know 

 that it is not every one that can farm successfully, 

 and pitchforking money into the land does not con- 

 stitute good farming. There was a time (in the early 

 days) doubtless when a man could hardly fad to 

 succeed in coffee planting because the demand for 

 plantations was not great and there was plenty of land 

 to select from. The best land got taken up and then 

 when a rush came, people went in for the second be9t 

 and so on until there ceased to be any good, better, or 

 best left, and land was opened, which the old pioneers 

 would have shunned like the plague. Besides this a 

 vast area was opened and a late Governor remarked 

 that in no country in which he had been, had he 

 ever seen such general devastation of forest as in 

 some of the new coffee districts of Ceylon. Is it 

 a matter of surprize then that a number of 

 years of great fertility should be succeeded 

 comparatively by a few years of sterility ? The 

 farmer in North America has a large quantity of land 

 to select from, and he sows his seed in virgin soil ; 

 when he has got a crop from one piece of land he 

 goes on to another, the soil is there and no exhaus- 

 tion has yet taken place. In like manner in Ceylon. 

 From what I have heard even this deep virgin soil 

 in America will not crop year after year without 

 cultivation or rotation of crop ; and in Ceylon the 

 one crop was perpetual and no change was made. 

 And the same land was always cropped, coffee being 

 never replanted as in some countries, Java for instance. 



A blight came on the coffee in 1869, followed by 

 the unprecedented prices in 1870-80. Whilst these 

 high prices continued manure was put into the land 

 without stint and without method. Everything was 

 done to force the crop. When the coffee plant became 

 keenly susceptible of stimulants, they suddenly ceasid 

 on account of ft fall in prices and a withdrawal of 

 the confidence of the capual/at*. 



The coffee seems to be leas to blame than its 

 treatment. 



A farmer never knows his business, and the seasons 

 he admits beat him. The coffee planter expects to 

 learn his business in a few short years, and rarely 

 studies the seasons. The cultivation went on in the 

 Old jog-trot style, aud it was only with a rise of prices 

 that innovations came, and with these entirely in- 

 experienced men. 



Coffee then is under a cloud, and it will be almo t 

 useless to waste more time in describing the laud 

 suitable for it, because there is none left. It will 

 be useless to describe the manner or cob* of planting, 



because no one would have faith enough to plant it 

 if he had suitable land it will be useless to de- 

 scribe or estimate the profits, because the crops do 



not come. But and there is always a "but" in every 



case— — I should advise any possessor of good coffee 

 to stick to it and do all his purse will allow to 

 preserve it against a possible return of favourable 

 seasons and the departure of leaf-disease. In con- 

 clusion, I am told that there are many worse places 

 than Ceylon, by one who has been round the globe, 

 and 1 can quite believe it. I have a great friend, 

 with whom I lived in Ceylon ; he is now in the Far 

 West. He described to me that his prospects were 

 to become a fairly good agiicultural labourer. He had, 

 after some months' residence, a few acres of grain, 

 potatoes and onions. He and his brother were then 

 quite alone, and after bis experience of an abundance 

 of native servants and cooly labourers this must 

 have been very trying. Yes, I should be inclined to 

 say that for a gentleman who has from £'2,C00 to 

 £5,000 capital to invest he might do worse than come to 

 Ceylon. " Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsi," 

 will be a good rule however, and if the inspection is 

 unsatisfactory do not go further. If it be very satis- 

 factory do not fail to make it long enough to verify 

 first impressions. There are few hardships in the 

 country. Provided that you have plenty of Tamil or 

 Sinhalese labourers for transport and a little money, 

 there is scarcely any necessary you need be long in 

 want of. Colombo is one of the finest towns in the East. 

 Kandy, besides being well supplied in every way with 

 comforts for Europeaus, is one of the prettiest. Badulla 

 is a very good specimen of an outstation ; and be- 

 sides these there are Matale, Gampola and Nawala- 

 pitiya that may rank as quite civilized places. Nuwara 

 Eliya, the hill sanatorium, and on the Badulla side 

 Haldummulla, Passara and Lunugala, all with post 

 offices and regular daily mails. Telegraph offices at 

 all the principal towns, good English and native shops, 

 mails every week from England, steamers going and 

 coming almost daily to and from east and west, — all 

 this makes life worth living. 



There- is plenty of good food to be had ;- it is the 

 fashion to run down the beef sometimes, but you 

 cannot expect "Welsh-runts*" in Taprobane,— and 

 very cheap it is ! A single man can live very com- 

 fortably on £200 per annum and need not owe a 

 single bill. Horses are fairly cheap and horsekeep is 

 not more than £3 per month. Of courteall imported 

 articles are dear and just about 100 per cent over 

 cost price in England, i.e., what costs Is in England 

 costs El here; but allowing for exchange this would 

 not be cent per cent. Nevertheless, the calculation ie 

 near enough without splitting straws. 



As for health, in the hills the matter lies almost 

 entirely within the power of the resident; and. in 

 these days of moderate drinking and almost complete 

 absence of beer one may enjoy as good health as in 

 one's native village in England. Plenty nf exercise, 

 plenty of flannel ("white things" I abhor!), care 

 about the sun and sobriety are the main points. 



To all w ho read these remarks I would say : " Come 

 and sie the place, and if you do not like it there 

 will be no harm done, only a few pounds gone in 

 a pleasant voyage ! I for one will give you a welcome 

 and any information that lies in my power." 



Dec. 31st, 1884. A. C. I. 



Indian tea companies. 



The following notices have been issued ; — 

 Bohelli Tea Company, Limited.— The 6easou has closed 

 with a crop of 377,034 lb., being a decrease of 18,966 tb, 

 from last year — due to the exceptionally dry weather ex- 



* (Some of the finest beef estant. 



