October i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



wised injured himself with dynamite, while trjing to 

 kill fish in the Walawe river. Large gangs of coolies 

 from the estates, with nets and pariah dogs, are in the 

 habit of going about the jungles and patanas battue- 

 fauutiug indiscriminately, 'killing all the game they come 

 across in season and out of season, aud no notice is 

 taken of this wanton destruction of game and infringe- 

 ment of the game laws by the native headmen, the 

 Police Magistrate, or Assistant Government Agent. Mr. 

 Downall should again bring this matter of battue-hunting 

 before the Legislative Council and stir up these lazy 

 officials ; not unfrequently village cattle and buffaloes 

 add to the game-bag of these mighty hunters, for it 

 18 unreasonable to expect that one or two hundred coolies 

 would be satisfied with an elk or red deer, a few hares 

 and civet cats; so they make sport of the poor villagers, 

 cattle. 



THE CEYLON" PLAxVTING ENTERPRIZE : 



IN CACAO AND CARDAMOMS MORE 



ESPECIALLY ; 



"SEEING OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US." 



{Notes by " Aberdoninsis." — No. Ill .) 



THOROUGH INSPECTION OF DUMBARA, MATAIj; AND POL- 

 GAHAWELA — CHANGE IN DUMBAEA DDHING THE LAST 



THBEE YEABS A SEVERE ClilTICISM ON CETLON M.ANT- 



ESS — A TRAGIC-SATIRICAI. SKETCH OF ' HOW THEV 

 DO IT ' IN CEYLON — FIBSTLY TO TWELFTHLY WITH 



THE 'NEW PBODUCT ' ADDED — CACAO CULTIVATION 



SHADE — BIRDS — ECBBER— WAERIAPOLLA DBIEKS — CLE- 



BIH?;WS FOK CACAO AND CAKDAMO.MS : DIFFERENCES 

 OF WORKING IN CEYLON AND MYSOEE — THE RED 

 CACAO — THE PROPER METHOD OF CULTIVATIO.N — HOW 

 ' HELOPELTIS ' COMES AND THE REMEDY. 



I have had a very favourable opportunity for 

 observing various cultivations, and, though it 

 may appear presumption on my part to " lay 

 down the law," yet I may be pardoned for at- 

 tempting a review of the effect on my mind of 

 ■what I have seen. I have been thoroughly over 

 Dambara and visited Matale and Polgahawela. 

 My vifcit to Warriapola confirmed and strength- 

 ened me in the opinion I formed in noticing 

 the change in Dumbara in three years. Cacao, 

 like most other products, has gone through all 

 the well-known stages seen in coffee. First, there 

 is a great r<ading-up of books on the subject of 

 a new product. The agricultural literature of the 

 world is ransacked and calcvilations are caiefully 

 made and a liberal allowance is always added on 

 for " the well-known systematic and piactical 

 methods and untiring energy of the Ceylon 

 planter.' Secondly, friends at home are pressed 

 to come forward and share the spoil of a new 

 Eldorado, and the wherewithal is arranged. Third- 

 ly) large arfas are at once planted up according 

 to the diverse interpretations of facts collated from 

 the aforesaid literature. Fourthly, the rumour gets 

 about that Jones has discovered quite a new idea 

 which totally upsets all those idiotical statistics 

 given in the aforesaid literature. Fifthly, someone 

 goes over to the country where men have been 

 carefully studying the requirements of the plant, 

 and, after irritating the residents with snobbish 

 self-assertion and upholding the well-known eutrgy 

 and system aforesaid, and, consequently, losing 

 what he might have gained by courtesy, he brings 

 back a piece of paper full of calculations ; — " If 

 men in that country get so much per acre costing 

 BO mnch ptr acre or per cwt. of produce with their 

 slipshod way, surely in Ceylon with our ' energy ' 

 and 'systtm' we can, at least, double the yield, 

 and then our forcing climate will allow very liberal 

 additions.'" Now we have arrived at the dilemma. 

 There is a man who has out of his " inner con- 

 gciousncsa " diecovered an entirely n(w nay, up- 



setting calculations derived from "literature," and 

 also a man "who has been" over there "himself." 

 Now we must join these two, and, si.xthly, we have 

 the Ceylon style developed. Seventhly, crops and 

 prices are quite startling so ;is to warrant enorm- 

 ous outlay in stores aud machinery , ftc, &c. " Why 

 man, you can't g^t past these Hyures. We can put 

 so many cwt. at so many rupees in London, and 

 the broker's report speaks f.ir itself." Eighthly, 

 money comes out with a rush and all are hard 

 at work spending it. Gold mining is notliiug to 

 it. The thing is as sure as the bank (what bank?) 

 Then, ninthly, some fool who pokes about with a 

 microscope says he has noticed something queer on 

 the plant, a little Liter on he cills out a note of 

 warning, and the press, the planters, the im-rchants 

 all hound him into a quiet spot and there is qiuet- 

 ness .igain. Theu the crops eomeliow don't b'-ar 

 out expectations. It requires manure, and, tenthly, 

 we have the analysis of soils gone into by an ex- 

 pert. No, that does not effect what is wanted ; 

 and after one idea after another we have, eleventh, 

 an entiimoloj^'iit and a cryptogamist and lots of 

 other " 'isls " investigating the roots, the ttims, 

 the leaves, the fruit, the manure, the earth aud the 

 sky. Twelfth, we have " ipecijics," and all cultiv- 

 ation is stopped in tlie panic, for behold the calcuU 

 ations are not fulfilled. The specifics do not 

 come off and then the country is in a worse plight 

 owing to stoppage of cultivation. Then, thirteenth 

 and lastly, we have a New Product. Oh for the 

 weariness of it ! The s-yren songs of your beauti- 

 ful island are leading you on, on a veritable will- 

 o'-the-wisp hunt. The forcing nature of your 

 island climate with heat and moisture combined 

 in conjunction with the forcing niture of your 

 British p!u:k aud energy forms a power that will 

 not let you rest and be content, but beckons you 

 on and on with golden dreams and nothing more. 

 The Dead c!ea apple is only found out when it is 

 grasped. There is no more mortifying disappoint- 

 ment than that which comes exactly at the moment 

 before actual possession of what is desired. You re- 

 proach me for being a croaker and say that is an 

 easy role. Well I see your leaders, with humbled 

 heads, greyer beard.s, and empty pockets, fighting 

 fiercely and stubbornly as only a Britisher can. 1 

 see your young men soured aud bitter with daiknets 

 ahead and a loathing for the country. I have heard 

 of extreme distress. But on the other Land I 

 hear of money beginning to flow in safe quiet 

 channels and not in sudden violent streams. I hear 

 a rattling of dry bones in the valley. The dry 

 bones have begun to assume shape. The hopeful 

 thing is in the quietness of many. There are many 

 of the former style, taunting ludiau men with 

 their slipshod ways aud want of system, boaetiug 

 that they can beat the world, and forgetting that 

 if they do so they will be "btstinrj" themselvis. 

 If Samson managed to pay off his enemies he hadn't 

 much regard for himself when he loosened the 

 pillars with his biceps. I have heard that 1,G00 lb. 

 per acre of tea has been reached —fadlis descensus 

 Averni. 



I. Cacao. — "Literature" caused men to believe 

 in shade. The tffect of wind and exposure on the 

 cacao near the Mahaweligarga confiiinod that idea. 

 A lifetime spent by a patiiarch taught him the 

 precept, "Never plant a ridge and never cease 

 from digging." Moreover weeds along with shide 

 did not trouble the planter in deep fine soil as 

 they have in Dumbara, and they were eradicated 

 when they were in the way. Let me describe an 

 old-fashioned Dumbara or Matale estate. Thejak- 

 trees with their soft foliage and stems bristling 

 with fruit making work sater for both European 



