August i, 1SS5,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



Ss 



pockets and looks as if he wished to hear no more on the 

 subject. Very well. Now tlio Mysore man says : t'We 

 like weeds : they save wash in the monsoon, they 

 continually furnish a ready substance to dig into our 

 soil, they do not get much beyond control because 

 we have shade, and they sweeten and nitrify the 

 soil." I needn't enlarge on the Ceylon system, which 

 U known to your readers. I may merely state that a 

 weedy est.ite is a blot on a man's escutcheon in 

 Ceylon, a stain on his fame as a planter. How do 

 they then combat with weeds in iVIysore save at a 

 ruinous cost? Well, I would like first to ask would 

 a V. A. or Colombo agent allow you to charge the 

 eradication of weeds as dif/iiinci if digging were the 

 process ? or what would you call renovation — pitting 

 and top-dressing the soil with the earth out of the 

 hole? You would n't charge it to loeedingl All right." 

 Tlien Mysore weeding beats you as regards cost. A 

 dry-digging at the comme ncemeut of four months 

 drought is pretty rough on weeds for some time, yon '11 

 admit; and, besides the renovation-pits, the sickle is 

 used to mow down all weedy growth in the rains, 

 the stubble of which forms a splendid protection 

 against wash. Add to this the effect of digging in 

 every year a great deal of green vegetable matter, 

 and you will see the system is not altogether "happy- 

 go-lucky," or " ruleot-thumh." But before we can be 

 on even ground on the suVijecb of weeds we must 

 look at shade. It is no use to roll scientific jaw- 

 breakers on our tongue and say that Ilcmidria vaslatrix 

 ruined cofl'ee thi>refore coffee should be given up ; 

 that HelopcUin Antonii has played havoc with cacao 

 therefore away with cacao. I once very foolishly tried 

 to break a lance with "W." and I see my folly, I 

 think, now. I now agree with him that leaf-disease 

 is a result rather than a ciuse, and I include 

 helopeltis and borer in the same category. If 

 you outrage nature a punishment is sure to come. 

 Is there a punishment in store for the forlorn hope 

 tea? Now shade has been proved in India to 

 be a specific against borer. Twenty-five years have 

 clearly proved this : I find cicao planters acknowledge 

 this to be true with regard to helopeltis. Too 

 thick shade may be modified, but once removed 

 it is hard to re-establish it. This question applies 

 perfectly to the districts where cacao has flourished. 

 But higher up men of experience say they want all 

 the sun they can get. It is truly to be hoped that 

 the Ceylon men have found a door nf hope now in 

 tfta. Assam men ask : " How long will it last? 

 You can't have flushes all the year round. No 

 plant will stand it. You have no droughts to check 

 vegetation and afford a rest to your tea estates. 

 Financial considerations are forcing you on." The 

 Ceylon man answers : " The oldest tea is the island is 

 just as good as ever, even better. There is no sign 

 that any harm is accruing ; and at the present rates 

 v/e will be out of the wood long before the tea will 

 absolutely require to be maintained by manure." 

 Then he soars away into arithmetical flights — so much 

 2>rr aerc so iiinch per jioiind, and the bitter past and the 

 trying present are for the nonce forgotten. My 

 sympathies are with thee, oh sorely tried planter of 

 Ceylon ! Surely success will come before the old 

 veterans are all laid beneath the sod. It is coming, 

 they say. Let it come speedily. I wiil have more to 

 say after I have ssen more. I often think that Ceylon 

 being at the apex of the triangle gets the full evil of 

 blights th,at .are cirried on the wings of the wind. This 

 helopeltis has declared itself in Ceylon in cacao, in 

 Assam in tea, in Java in cinchona. It may creep into 

 your grand tea expanses. look the thing in the face, 

 for, behold it is within your borders. Gently does it. 

 Draw the line in dipping too deeply in the usurer's and 

 money-lender's purse. Ouard asjainst the spider's ne\ 

 I liive seen Coorg coffee in Ceylon today sappy and 



On this our Straits contemporary remarks : — ! 



Now, the fact that the people of Kembau have allowed 

 minerals to be worked in their territory, against which 

 they are said to have entertained a superstitious dread, 

 shows the advantage that will be derived from closer and 

 easier communication with the more prosperous coast 

 states. The workmg of tin is the direct result of the [ 

 opening up of the country by roads, which must also give • 

 an imjietus to agriculture and by alfording ready outlets 

 for the products. As to Malacca itself, Mr. Hervey con- 

 cludes by hinting at the possible production of tea, coffee, 

 and sugarcane, and remarks that if all the available padi 

 laud in the Settlement were taken up, and cultivated as 

 the Chinese know how to do it, Malacca might be the 

 gi-anary of the Straits. He says nothing, however, about 

 the difficulty of export, owing to the shoal sfcite of Jla- 

 lacca harbour and the want of facilities for shipping grain, 

 and it is to be feared that unless these are improve<l the 

 produce of Malacca and of the inlying states will find 

 readier outlets by the Muar river or by way of Sungei 

 Ujong, aud that the neglect that has been shown by Gov- 

 ernment of the interests of the ancient and interesting 

 Settlement will unless speedily remedied eventually hasten 

 its decadence. 



PLANTING IN CEYLON AND SOUTHERN 

 INDIA. 



[X'oles bi/ " Aberdonfjisis.") 



CEYI.ON AXD SOLTHERN INDIA CO.MPARED— CHANGES IN 

 CEYLON — TEA 's TUE WORD— CEYI.ON A FEUIf-BEARINA 

 AS WELL AS LEAF-BEARING COUNTRY — THE CEYLON GM 

 AND THE MVSOUE MAN ON AVEEDS — COST OF WEEDINGN N 

 MYSORE— SHADE — LEAF-DISEASE A IlESULT RATIIEK THANAI 

 CAUSE — ASSAM PROPHETS OF EVIL OX TEA IN CEYLON — 

 HELOPELTIS — A WABSING— COFFEE IN CEYLON AND SOUTH- 

 ERN INDIi — PROFITS FROM CARDAMOMS IN CEXLON — CABD- 

 AM05I3 IN MYSORE. 



A most interesting time is before me. A few 

 months' holiday has afforded me the opportunity of 

 confirming comparisons already noted and considered 

 between Ceylon and Southern ludii. Before saying 

 anything further, I wish to emphatically assert that 

 as there are intelligent Britons in both countries all 

 striving after the main chance, spending their lives 

 in closely studying the characteristics of the climate 

 and requirements of the plant from which they hope 

 to make a competency, — 1 say it follows that it 

 would be dogmatic and unfair to institute close com- 

 parisons which are proverbially odions. At the same 

 time it is interesting to compare the two countries 

 in a harmless waj', and so I make use of some spare 

 leisure in wilting down my humble ideas. 



In three years there have been great changes in 

 Ceylon. The talk everywhere is tea. In bungalows, 

 in hotels, in railway carriages — everywhere the talk 

 is about tea. I can't siy I am interested. I 

 have seen great talk about many things, but lasting re- 

 sults have not been so apparent. When I go 

 farther upcouotry tea may impress me, but 1 am 

 sceptical, and I resist " gush " as far as I can. 



Ceylon may be, and is, a leaf-growing country, but 

 it is eminonUy a fruit-beaiirg conntry too. Fruit, 

 being the result of reproductive efforts of the plant 

 of course differs iu its effects on that plants 

 from leaves which support its life. " Magnesia and 

 silicic acid are the principal conditions for the form- 

 ation of roots and leaves " (Liebig) and are 

 favourable for the cultivation of tea and weeds. 

 Weeds rob the soil of potash, but prom )te nitri- 

 fication and so on. These facts arc applicable to 

 cereals more than to fruit-trees. Now for a local 

 application. The Ceylon man's first dogma u : 

 " Ceylon soil being too poor to grow both weeds 

 and a particular product, the weeds must be kept 

 down as cheaply as possible. We have arrived at the 

 nearest point of perfectiuu iu working out this prin- 

 ciple." And thu Ceylon man shoves his hands into his 



