670 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April r, 1886. 



result that men were bo inflamed that they could 

 not confine themselves to good manners, but at- 

 tacked Ceylon, saying, that they were indebted to 

 Ceylon tor expensive cultivation and extravagant 

 waste and thoy wanted to know what Ceylon could 

 teach them with regard to an abominable pest that 

 had scourged Coorg. 



Thus you see, I can look down with calm benign 

 equanimity and hush gently odious comparisons and 

 proud boastings ; and I have tlie pull of the argu- 

 ment as I know the weakness on both sides and 

 can touch these weaknesses at will. It may be, 

 and in, a benefit to see ourselves as others see us ; 

 but, on the other hand, those " otliers " know no- 

 thing ot the inward conflicts and the liardships not 

 visible to them, observe they never so closely. 

 Therefore it is that though the scrutiny and criticism 

 of others is wliolesome, yet it is not altogether 

 true and just. 



We have had a very unusual experience in this 

 country during crop, in the shape of heavy and 

 prolonged rains. Tlie awful effect of tliis must 

 be explained to be understood. In the calm cloud- 

 less weather which is the normal state of crop- 

 picking everything moves smoothly on. Crop ripens 

 but slowly, and thus laboin, .n.ichinery, iVc., are all 

 arrange.^ accordingly. A!.;o tlie bine vault of etlier 

 i'. "io wa,terti^dit that nothing is rerpiired, but 

 covering from the silent forming dew. There are 

 no palatial stores. Eeally tliose prize essays read 

 very ludicrous after one has been in a country where 

 money is not easily obtained and proverbially 

 easily spent. A planter goes as far as his purse 

 (his own purse, his pure and simple resources) 

 allows him. Therefore as no rain is expected 

 what's the good of buildings? A shed over the 

 cherry and that is all the roofage. Everytliing 

 else al fresrn. A Ceylon man would l)e ashamed of 

 lliis. The V. A. would indi'^nantly demand the 

 meaning of such shabbiness ! Well, just think of 

 the effect of heavy and prolonged rain. I sliall 

 leave it to your imagin.ation stimulated by experience 

 in days of old. 



Crops are good, but it is tlie Coorg plant that 

 is pulling men througli, except on the Babu Boodan 

 Hills where " Cannon's Mysore " is raised or on 

 Wantawarry; the old iMysore coffee, brought by Babu 

 Boodan the ancient pilgrim, has been sapped by 

 leaf-disease. Why ? You see hern'ex mottled and 

 discoloured, unsweetened and blighted by the 

 fungus. Mr. Marshal Ward said the spores en- 

 tered the ".wide open door " of the stomata and 

 fed on the food-cells and thus caused damage. But 

 where are the stomata or the cherry?* Mr. Ward went 

 a good deal farther than Morris, but he only scratched 

 I he surface of a niystery, the importance otw'hichDr. 

 Thwaites felt if he did not clearly see. Had it not 

 been for cinchona and now tea, his proplreoy of 

 the coming "howling wilderness " came very near 

 fulfilment. In Ceylon leaf-disease came just in time 

 to spoil the blossom with a grand show of spores, 

 not to speak of a chronic, prolific, sporiflc state of 

 liisease which your moist climate never checked. 

 When cultivation in the open prevented the osmotic 

 action painfully dwelt upon by that victim of a 

 restless brain. Monsieur Montclar. His exosmose and 

 endosmose sickened the reader, and Die struggles 

 with a foreign tongue finished him. Osmotic action 

 is a great fact here, but yon, in Ceylon, do not 

 depend on it, as Nature is liberally supplied with 

 nioistue. Here during the comparatively rainless 

 period between November and May, osmotic action 

 {i. e. nocturnal and diurnal absorption of moisture 



alternately) equalizes matters, and this is the great 

 secret and reason in shade. If you want to realize 

 that, step from a dusty road in Bumbara under an 

 umbrageous ./(i/i-. I wonder how the Dnmbara men 

 are liking their riihljer shade. They will have to 

 leave cacoa for rubber and that will give fine scope 

 to a man who likes new buildings, machinery, and 

 novelty of all kinds.* 



Strange to say you hardly see the fungus on Coorg 

 coffee berries, and almost none of that discoloration. 

 On an estate composed partly ot Mysore coffee 

 (like the old coftee near Oodoowelle store, Hantane, 

 which I saw lately being rooted out), umbrella-like 

 and irregular ; and Coorg coftee, sappy, regular and 

 vigorous like a Badulla' new clearing in days gone 

 bye ; on an estate composed of these the picking 

 is ticklish owing to the quickness of ripening pecuhar 

 to the Mysore variety. The two kinds are very 

 different but the old and weak kind produces plum's 

 that have made "Cannon's Mysore" famous. 

 They advertize "Cannon's" in London. Some of 

 you must have seen jdacards in London referring 

 to that famous brand. AVell, with cheap labour 

 and (air crops average prices for all sorts of that 

 brand are remunerative and something more nt 100 

 shillings. It struck me as strange hearing planters 

 young and old heie talking about cn/oKc. cou-piirlug 

 pricps, as if their trrattiii'iii of the coAee liad much 

 to do with it. I remember when a Ceylon paid 

 manager was particular about his parelniiint ; and 

 after the carts moved stoutly off, he lost sight and 

 sound of it unless he happened to see in the papers 

 tire familiar name of the estate and so many 

 ticn-es of coffee. There was a delicious mystery 

 about a " tierce." My idea was that local brokers 

 and buyers knew what brands gave good coffee and 

 wliat brands did not; but il is new to me to be 

 told that parchment may be clean and yet the ndour 

 aft'eeted. One man tones his coiTee and hope he 

 likes the tune. Then they never send a sample 

 sealed bag down ; nor do they think of sending 

 samples by post, and yet they think they can ad- 

 just the tone and fix the colour on the estate. 

 Then the rates by the cnrers are awful. There is 

 room for that competitive energy so lately displayed 

 in your advertisement columns by your enterpriz- 

 ing coffee curers. 



Aberdonexsis. 



• \V"e a!«ked Dr. Trimen, and he said " The whole sur- 

 face ef the cherry is covered with Ktomata." — Ko. 



CEYLON UPCOUNTBY PLANTIN(t EEPOBT. 



1st March 1886. 

 Prospects of cacao — troubles never come sinoly — 

 shadh for cacao — need of new makeets for cey- 

 lon teas — rubbish sold in london as ceylon tea 

 an opening in russia wanted — a planter with 



THE 'rllADlNO TALENT. 



Our skittish product cacao, which last year, owing 

 to the drought, rendered many all but hopeless a. 

 to its ultimate success, has improved in behaviour 

 and is promising still better. It is all owing to 

 the rains, say the wise ones, and, given a normas 

 season with a fairly distrilnited rainfall, there 

 is, they maintain, a considerable quantity of 

 "lie " for those who have the courage to per- 

 severe with its cultivation, and who have the suit- 

 able soil and surroundings for its growth. 

 As far as I can learn, there is a fair crop being 

 gathered now-, and the promise for the next half- 

 year is unusually good. The trees are vigorous ; 

 the pods are healthy; and as to the insect plagnes 

 which fret and worry the cacao, they arc fewer in 

 number and less destructive in their attacks. 

 Those who know say, that tlie years when the 



* We do not pretend to know what is ment, but we do 

 not lilce tlie tone of the remark. — Ed. 



