July i, 1SS5.] 



THE TI^OPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



23 



is needed, the averages per lb. for the three years being, 

 for 



1S82 ... annaa 87 



1883 ... ,, 9 11 



18S4 ... , 8-6 

 An average of a little over S annas., or considerably 

 noder one shilling per pound is certainly the 

 reverse of remunerative. It depends, of course, 

 on the cost at whioh tea can be produced. We in 

 Ceylon have many advantages, over the remoter dis- 

 tricts in Indi.i, but we suspect very little of our tea 

 is sent to market at a cost of less than 30 cents or a 

 little under Sd per lb. There is talk of 25 cents, but 

 few and far between arc the cases where that sum 

 has sufficed. There is a good margin, however, 

 between 8d and Is per lb. 



If Ceylon planters do not make the very best poss- 

 ible tea, it will not be for want of good advice. But 

 can any reader tell us what Messrs. Moran & Co. 

 really advise as to the process popularly known as 

 "fermenting"? First they say "a full fermentation 

 should be given ;" but they add "it is safer to under 

 than overferracnt." " Brisk but thorough firing is 

 recommended," and yet Ceylon planters are charged 

 with burning their teas. The cases, however, in which 

 the brokers report " leaf burnt " are very rare. 



SUGAR PLANTING IN MAURITIUS. 

 (From the Mercantile Record and Commercial Oazette, 

 May 11th.) 



The Weather and the Crop. — Since our last, the 

 weather has continued favourable in certain parts of 

 the island, to the young plantations. But there is 

 every reason to suppose, as we already stated, that the 

 out turn of the crop 1885 to 1SS6, will not be equival- 

 ent in quantities to the one of last year. The de- 

 pression on our sugar rates is always causing great 

 anxiety, if the market does not improve, the cost price 

 of our staple will no doubt leave a serious loss. It 

 is high time that Government should take in hand 

 the interests of our planters, nothing has yet been 

 done in that respect, if our authorities are really de- 

 Birous of helping the planters to get out of the present 

 crisis, they must, at once, improte the labour law in 

 order to put a stop to vagrancy and more particularly 

 to absenteism on sugar estates. 



♦ 



THE GOLDEN FRUIT. 

 [Ilcisand Rayyet.) 



In a pleasant article, to which an appropriate adapt- 

 ation from (if we mistake cot) Herrick gives a de- 

 licacy of literary thvour, Ihe " Ceylon Patriot" exposes 

 the myth of the CofTee Eh/orado in the Island, and 

 anticipates the same collapse for the tea mania. The 

 account of Great Expectations and their discredit — of 

 the facdities for extravagance from blessed Paper Credit 

 and the consequent demoralization — have more than a 

 pasi'ing local interest. The following is the way of all 

 moDty making maniap, with the necessary variations 

 from the nature nf each industry : — 



'• When llio Central Province became known as 

 adapted for coffee, and when a few, as planters and 

 snperiutendfnta, lived as if money was of no consider- 

 ation, dra«in'4 their income from their agents, King 

 Coffee was thought lobe a fairy Sovereign who was 

 willing to use his wand, at the beck and command of 

 every man, wlio called himself his subject. So gorgeous 

 was the picture of future wealth, that even the natives 

 thought, tlat to be conductor on an estate was to be 

 on the high road to v, calth. The kangani also when he 

 went to his country told his friends, bow they could 

 gather rupeet under the coffee bushes, and as a tangible 

 proof of his asFCrtion he freely distributed a few 

 rupees out of the heavy advances he received from 



this master. Now while conductors have earned a 

 competency, and kanganies and coolies could boast of 

 lands and fields in their own country, wJiile carpenters 

 from Moratuwa have been able, by working on estates 

 to become well-to-do, and while Chetties have grown 

 fat on rupees, it is a fact, which cannot be denied, 

 that take it all in all, on an average, very few of 

 the planters have been aide to feather their nests, 

 and retire from business with something substantial. 

 The reason is not far to seek. Paper money and 

 the facility of obtaining things on credit have been 

 the bane of the coffee planters. A tlmndu lo the 

 Chetty, an order on the shop, and a promissory note at 

 the bank, made him think that money was cheap 

 as pebbles, and luxuries as the sine ijiia nan of 

 every day life. This was not found fault with, 

 because there was the prospect of future bumper 

 crops ; and for the time being King Coffee yielded 

 quite enough to keep a man out of the bank- 

 ruptcy court, and enable him to make a flash in the 

 pan, which maintained his credit abroad. If ho re- 

 turned to England he lived for the six or seven 

 months he was out on an holiday, as he was an 

 Eastern Prince. So glowing was the picture he drew 

 of fortunes to be realized by investment in coffee, 

 that there was no ditiiciilty in persuading those who 

 were looking for good investment to launch out in 

 lending money on mortgage of coffee property. He 

 then returned to Ceylon, with another feather iuhia 

 cap, with greater facility of raising money, and what 

 he counted upon as resources was paper credit : and 

 that did not trouble his mind : for he had nothing to pay 

 with ; nothing to lose : but if king coffee was generous 

 as good dame Fortune he had every thing to win. 

 Then followed the gradual decrease of crop. We say 

 gradual, advisedly. This induced the use of various 

 kinds of manure, whioh made the trees precocious, 

 and brought about for the time being a large produce 

 to stave off heavy losses and insolvency. Till at 

 present coffee is well nigh dethroned, and his great- 

 ness is the memory of the past and a matter of history. " 



The above ought to act as a general warning to 

 planters and speculators on both the Continent and 

 the Island. The same cause is at work in many of 

 our Indigo concerns, specially since the protection 

 to the peasantry has dried up the former illicit sources 

 of profit of planters. The same acting doubtless with 

 other circumstances, has been the ruin of the tea 

 industry in Bengal and Assam. It would appear 

 that the same path is being pursued in Ceylon 

 with respect to tea, which has there taken the 

 place of coffee. The result may be easily predicted, 



Our contemporary seeks to create a diversion. It 

 deprecates the prevailing devotion to the ambitious 

 culture of coffee and tea, and offers a sober yet far 

 from unpromising alternative. It recommends a fall- 

 ing back on a cultivation to which the soil is adaped 

 and for which the island has been famous from of old 

 namely, coconut. Our insular brethren should seriously 

 consider the suggestion. Coconut is a tedious cultiv- 

 ation, but it is easier and lets costly than tea or coffee 

 and its ulimato success is not so problematical. The 

 soil suitable to it is, of coursi', different from coffee 

 or tea s)il,but probably mmv estates li.ive both kind* 

 and in that case it might be worth the uhileof the 

 owner, to grow both sorts of product-, so th.-itthe uncert- 

 ainties of coffee or tea might be balanced by the toler- 

 able certainty and moderato protitsbleott-s of the cocoa 

 palm. Whatever the viciasitudis (if tl c iinre amb- 

 itious culture, an estate with a goodly plantation of 

 young coconut trees would always coimnand agood price. 



We would make the same suggestion for India. In 

 fact we notice this extra-Indian subject to )>rominently 

 at this length, in order to direct our readers' attin- 

 tion to the advisableue-ss of promoting this substanti- 

 al culture, Coconut is out of the question for the 



