January i, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



455 



MORE ABOUT LOCAL PRODUCTS. 

 Sir, — Your correspondent " X. Y. Z.," seems to ] 

 think my assertions about being able to live on local 

 products iis rather a joke than otherwise — " made mure 

 in jest than in earnest — a grim sort of humor." I fancy 

 by the time he has to live on K40 or 1\5I) a month, knock 

 otf his milk and Latter and all his foreign products, 

 and go on half allowance of potatoes and liquor, and 

 after all find himself some K2il to the bad at end 

 of the month, he will find it a very grim sort of 

 humor indeed, so much so that it will be all grim- 

 uess and uo humor. However, let that pass. He 

 goes on t« say luy narrative is "entirely a myth;" 

 not possible at all : •' two-thirds of the planter's in- 

 come are spent on articles that are imported" (in- 

 cluding rice and flour), ".lud quite unavoidably so, • 

 unless he wishes to live as a native, wear a comboy 

 and drink arrack." -'X. Y. Z." is very positive in 

 his assertions, but in the first place he has forgotten — [ 

 or choo.ses t > !i;nore— my putting Ceylon, India, and i 

 the .Straits all under the same heailiug of locality j 

 as the si.ver currency rules iu tlie.se countries alike, 

 so that lice ainl Hour (forbieadi, which he says will I 

 always he importe.l, must (coming as it does from 1 

 Bombay) be put under h':«ding of local products, 

 and of" course ditto rice, cotton goods, and a variety 

 of articles which we get from India. He first takes 

 exception to locally-made boots, and uses some 

 rather strong language about them, leading to a 

 belief that he had beeu indulging iu words still 

 stronger when wearing the boots. For (R?) rupees 

 sevco he can get from I>. Ca.ssim, outfitter, (Jampola, 

 a pair of good, strong, well-fitting and good-looking 

 planter's boots, which will last him a long time, and 

 save him from breaking one or more of the ten 

 commandments. .\ud further, I see Colombo men, 

 visiting agent*, and others wearing country-made boots 

 very comfortably. This reminds me that years ago 

 we used to get bools for K3-5(l at Welikada jail, 

 made by the native prisoners under an European 

 foreman, who took your measure as courteously as 

 if he was iu Regent Street insteail of a prisoner 

 iu Colombo. If I remember right, the clerk of the 

 works put on 5U cents or a rupee on his own 

 account, and by and bye got into durance vile himself 

 for beiut; guilty of emijczzlenieiit. I don't know if 

 the lambs of W'elikada and the other jails still 

 make boots; if they don't, there's a tip to lioveru- 

 uieut iu the way of employment. Suppose they supplied 

 the troops, say, or the police force, as well as the 

 general pubUc. If "X. Y. Z." real'y supposes I 

 meant to imply, he could at once, and for all, give 

 up imported articles, say, from to-morrow mtrning, 

 and live only ou local products. I ipiite go with him 

 iu thinking lie would have a very hard time of it. 

 It will reqidre time, energy and capital to get 

 everything started ; and there will lie many failures 

 before success is attiiued. ^^ait, of all things, he 

 says, must always be imparted — really now you know. 

 I venture to sny that iu 181i(), nine planters out of 

 ten hal bazaar-.salt cleaned and whitened by their 

 servants. We sent to Saibu for a lb. of .salt and 

 a couple of eggs, and somehow or another we got 

 fine dean salt on the table. I have now . serving 

 me the same oKI boy who .served me then; and 

 no duubt he will be happy to instruct '*X. Y. Z." 

 in the art, siy, for a small consideration. Rut that 

 is not what 1 want. My proposition is that salt 

 should be bought and refined by the ton under 

 proper regulations, ami the inipert of " table" reduced 

 to a minimum. There will be always some products 

 .;lu:.'iM-r to i-port than to proiiiu^e — and very prob- 

 ably tatile-salt would be one. 



I do not advise "X. Y. /.." to drink arrack. I 

 .sav we vvaiit a distillery to niiike a drinkable, whole- 

 sdijif. and cheap spirit. In ^Mauritius 1 have seen 

 the inland revenue peon chfcking the mauufacttire 

 of rum on sugar estates — and this rum i.s very 

 palatable. In mauy places you get rum with a pod 

 of vanilla steeping in it. 'NN'hy can't we make rum 

 and put in a pod of Tanilla'i' Why can't we make 



a spirit from paddy and from toddy — a spirit we 

 can drink and can atford'? ''X. Y. Z." says it's an 

 impossibility. Why':" We have in Ceylon the de.scand- 

 ants of a Mauritius gentleman, and some of his 

 coitfi-ivts too, who made spirit out of colfee pulp 

 long years ago. The Govtrnment of the tlay came 

 ilow u ou him," seizt^d his still, aud fined him, I 

 believe, for illicit manuf.^cture of spirit. If I had 

 said a few yeurs ago "drink your own brewed beer" 

 it would have been an impossibility, but the ease 

 is different now; and iu the same way locally-proiluced 

 spirit is quite a possibility, and I think not a little 

 singular such an industry has not claimed attention 

 before. 



It is rather a curious coincidence that, whilst my 

 letter was iu the press, there appeared an account 

 in one of the paiicrs of the commencement of pro- 

 duction of dyed cotton goods in India — Rombay, I 

 think — an<l here is an extract you have quoted from 

 the Pioneer, a good deal to the point :—" Oll,l)0tl 

 Rritish troops and l(iO,000 native troops are clothed 

 and equippeil almost entirely with materials made 

 by the natives of India, and some 3U()(i(l police are 

 .similarly clothed. Harness aud accoutrements are 

 turned out at Cawnpore, clothing from Oudh, tents, 

 ropes, and blankets by the ton from native work- 

 shops ; beer brewed at Murree. ; cotton goods for 

 the million are spun in the country ; woollen goods, 

 even for the ordinary clothing of Europeans, come 

 from the looms of Oudh." This latter assertion is 

 new to me, and comes as an addenda to my first 

 letter. Imlia seems already to have awakened to 

 the fact that local productions must .satisfy local 

 wants. "When will Ceylon follow suit':* Then "X. 

 Y. Z." will have it jam and sauces must always be 

 imported, whilst your correspondent ■' Economy" 

 aays ; — " U. E. speaks of preserves. Surely these can 

 be locally produced; the ouly objection would be 

 that sugnr would have to be imported, for Radde- 

 gama could only supply a small portion of our 

 wants. Marmalade, I know, can be made better in 

 Ceylon than procurable from home." I thauk you, 

 sir, and you might have gone a good deal further, 

 and mentioned how citrons grow almost wild, orang- 

 ges of all kinds, aud fruits of every description, 

 not to mention wild ones, and then peaches. In 

 T^dapussellawa they grow splendidly, and might 

 just as well be put into syrup as allowed to drop 

 and rot. It is a fact within my own observation 

 that bushels anil busliels of peaches were given to 

 the pigs at the big bungalow on Delta estate. In 

 my own garden I have had Seville oranges literally 

 rotting on the ground by huudreds; and, from what 

 I have .seen of the old liewaheta and Jlaturata 

 estates, I should say there is enough fruit grown 

 on them alouo to supply the wants of half the 

 European community ot the island, not to mention 

 the villages of Kaduganiiawa and Kotniale. Eaticy 

 a factory of the kind in Kandy, employing a lot 

 ot the needy Rurgher women that have now to 

 apply to the Frieml-in-need Society ; ye.s, and many 

 others who have no such need ; aud I go further 

 still in this matter. I think that Ceylon fruit 

 preserves might be put into large packages, say, 

 kerosine 4 gallon tins, and exported iu bulk for 

 iMoir & Sons or Crosse & Rl.ackwcll to put into 

 attractive tins ahd jars. The very names, and labelled 

 " Ceylon," would be sure to procure a rapid .sale. AVIiat 

 need is there to mention loquots, mulberries, Chinese 

 guavas, Ice, and even the despised pumalow ; they 

 are all available, and no one need purchase an im- 

 porti'd till of jam when once a local factory was 

 starteil. 



"Economy" gives us .a hint about smoked fish 

 which may be very useful, but there are other 

 native-cured fish which, good as tb. y are at ]ires,nt, 

 mav easilv be made better. .Sardiiu-s (Ceylon sanl- 

 ines) pickled with "goiaka" fruit, I believe, iind 

 tamarind are very nice, and anyone living in native 

 houses at lieruwaia will find casks of sni.ill fish .salted 

 down for use. Then there is (or was) a dried fish 

 known to Tamils as "sinna karrawaddy," a thick, 



