Dec, I, 1885,] 



THE TROPICAL AaHICULTURIST, 



37/ 



MraOB INDUSTEIES IN CEYLON AND INDIA. 



GAHDEN PLANT LABELS AND TALIPOT LEAVES— KAPOK 

 COTTON— PEESERVED BANANAS — PALM OLA FANS. 



The prosperity of any country cannot rest sole- 

 ly upon a few chief items of production. The 

 staple exports may, and of course do, constitute 

 the chief factor affecting the trade and revenue ; 

 but, socially speaking, a very great deal depends 

 upon the successful exercise of minor hadicrafts 

 available for the employment of those unfitted, 

 either by sex or owinj:; to physical defect, for active 

 or arduous labour. Hitherto in Ceylon our lead- 

 ■ng industry furnished wide employment suitable 

 .'or women and children, such as the picking and 

 sorting of the coffee ; btit in the present, and for 

 -it must be feared — some time to come at least, 

 Jthough the drying and packing of cinchona bark, 

 the picking of cardamoms, <tc., have afforded some 

 little relief,— there is the certainty that this branch 

 of employment, must be largely curtailed. We, 

 therefore, desire to see an extension of what we 

 characterize as minor industries and that these be 

 made available for the employment of those who 

 conio within the category abovenamed. We are 

 induced to turn to this subject by the perusal of 

 a letter from Dr. W. C. Ondaatje to the Gcirderierx' 

 Chronicle, which will be found below, on the 

 subject of the adaptation of the leaf of the 

 talipot palm for plant labels. We see in that 

 adaptation the creation of one of those subsidiary 

 industries which we greatly desire, in the interests 

 nf our native population, ito have widely extended. 

 It affords an instance of what may be produced 

 in this direction, and we would thankfully give 

 publicity to any hints which may tend towards 

 further extension. A proper substance for plant 

 labels to resist weather and tear and wear generally, 

 is a matter of great importance in thousands of public 

 and private gardens throughout the civilised world. 



It cannot be doubted, we think, but that there 

 are many further adajitations of our common island 

 produce wliich might find a market in Europe. 

 A'.r riihilti nihil Jit, and we would strongly recom- 

 mend that every attempt be made, by the furnish- 

 ing of hints such as we have expressed our desire 

 to receive, to start further emplojTnent for the 

 many thousands of Ceylonese women and children 

 in thei]' homes which may aid their chief bread- 

 winners. Our Agricultural and even our Friend- 

 in-Need Societies might, if suggestions were invited 

 and considered by them, exercise a markedly 

 beneficial iuHuence in this respect. How often 

 does the remark occur to us, based upon some 

 passing notice, tliat such and such articles of 

 native production would meet with ready sale in 

 England. It is in order that publicity should be 

 given to such impressions and that they shouldbe 

 followed up by practical experiment, that we now 

 write. As affording evidence of the value such 

 suggestive hints might possess, we may recall a 

 proposal referred to some time back in the letters 

 of our London correspondent that the delicious 

 preserved bananas, so common a sweetmeat among 

 us, should have a trial shipment made of them. 

 That proposal passed unheeded by, and now we 

 are informed that there is not a confectioner's shop 

 m England which does not offer for sale those 

 jireserves, a ready and increasing trade being done 

 in them. We are told that our enterprising 

 American cousins are the authors of this new- 

 industry, which promises to be a very remuner- 

 ative one for them. Had our correspondent's 

 suggestion been acted upon at the time it was 

 made, it is just possible, notwithstanding greater 

 distance from the market, that Ceylon might ha\e 

 forestalled America in the new effort, and .1 really 



paying einployment, one which might have brought 

 comfort into many of our island households, would 

 have been secured to us. To give an instance 

 again, of the successful initiation of a new minor 

 industry, we can refer to " Kapok " or tree cotton 

 as a rc' ular article of export, but which was not 

 heard of under that term or for shipment, before 

 notice was called to it by the Ceylon Commissioner 

 at the Melbournu iixhibition, and now the export 

 trade affords regular employment to a goodly 

 number of the Ceylonese employed in gathering, 

 carrying and preparing this article (used in stuffing 

 mattresses, &c.) for export. 



Such instances, it appears to us, should prevent 

 us from regarding as worthless even very .slight 

 or _ slender suggestions. Big things, we know, 

 spring from little things, and the more sources 

 of employment are multiplied among its mem- 

 bers the more prosperous must any community 

 become. In Dr. Ondaatje's little promising venture 

 we see what may possibly be one of those 

 aforesaid " little things." Cannot many of our 

 reader.s afford help in the way we have pointed 

 out, so that similar efforts may in the end furnish 

 resulting "big things"? The avidity with which 

 the trifles offered by the natives who board ships 

 calling at our ports are purchased by the jras- 

 sengers as mementos of their visit would seem to 

 show that such things only demand a wider 

 market to secure an extent of sale which would 

 lead to a -n-idening of the area of employment in 

 the Island. Such shops as "Liberty's" in Kegent 

 Street, London, would probably gladly add to their 

 stock of eastern curios and fabrics which have 

 so extensive a sale, the elephant-tooth paper- 

 weights and similar little matters which sell so 

 freely to our island visitors. All we can ourselves 

 do in directing attention to this subject is by way 

 of suggestion ; but those of our readers who have 

 the welfare of the Ceylonese at heart will do well 

 to endeavour to add to its scope. We are told 

 that the .Japanese now do a large trade in ola 

 fans, a trade with which our natives possess great 

 facilities for competing. A higher taste shown in 

 decorating these, such as we have occasionally 

 come across, would probably secure fur a Ceylonese 

 export a successful coniijetition. Our palm trees 

 offer almost boundless opportunity for the exercise 

 of ingenuity and taste in utilizing and decorating 

 their lesser products in a manner fitted to tempt 

 European purchasers. As we have said, instances 

 are of daily occurence which cannot fail to strike 

 the observer as affording capacity for development. 

 Even in respect of raw products, as lately shoM-u 

 in our series of articles on "Curiosities of the 

 Customs," there is much room for the extension 

 of trade in minor industries. It will be a pity if 

 our notice of tlieni, and tlie opportunity for utiliz- 

 ing them, be lost in the same measure as attended 

 the proposed export of our preserved bananas. 

 Everything must have a beginning, and it would 

 aft'ord evidence of public spirit, if, under the 

 auspices of the local Agricultural Association, some 

 of our exporting houses would undertake trial 

 ventures. These coukl, at the most, entail but a 

 loss trifling in amount ; whereas, if the taste of 

 our European friends was once seized, many 

 profitable openings for the extension of small luune 

 industries among our Ceylonese population miglit, 

 be created. The Government Agricultur.il School 

 might possibly afford an opportunity for cxi)eri- 

 ment in respect of some of our various minor 

 products in turning them to use for expert purposes, 

 Wc trust our remai'ks on this suliject may not lie 

 altogether witliout fruit, in new and pr< fitabir 

 directions, 



