May I, 1886,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



743 



area under each crop is given a3 follows in 

 acres : — 



Coffee (Arabiea) ... ... ... 124,707 



Coffee (Liberical... ... ... 2,387 



Tea... ... ... ... 101,695 



Ciuchona ... ... ... 48.246 



Cacao ... ... ... 12,3J5 



Oanlamoms ... ... ... 4,082 



JiubbiT ... ... ... 629 



It will be a surprise to most o( our readers to 

 find that in extent of area the tea in Ceylon 

 already almost rivals the coffee. There are 50,000 

 fewer acres of cotiee under cultivation than 

 in li583, while tea has;increased by 70,000 acres. 

 The mixed estates of co&'ee and tea will soon be 

 all tea, and by the end of the year it is expected 

 that coffee which in 1K77 occupied 270,000 acres 

 will be reduced to 100,000 acres or less. This is 

 one of the most extraordinary changes that has 

 ever been effected in an English colony. Tea 

 planting in the high districts was only really 

 commenced in 1883, and not much was done until 

 1884-8,5. Already as we have shown more than 

 100,000 acres are covered with the tea shrub. The 

 progress of tea cultivation in Ceylon is shown in 

 tlie following figures : — 



Years. Acres. Tears. Acres. 



1879 6,.500 1833 .32,000 



1880 0,274 1884 G7,0C0 



1S81 13,.500 1885 102,000 



1S82 22,000 



Here we have something like the proverbial leaps 

 and bounds. But the returns of the exports 

 of tea for the last six years will show more 

 eloquently than we can the extraordinary develop- 

 ment of this new industry : — 



Year. lb. ' Value : H. 



1»79... 9.'-.,969 ... S.5,229 



I8nn... 162,57.')' ... i.lU.lMl 



1.^81... 348,lf)7 ... 322,993 



1882... 697.268 ... ,';9I,80r> 



1883... 1,66.').768 ... 916,172 



1884... 2,392,973 ... 1,435,784 



The ri'tunis for 18848') are given by tin- Cham- 

 ber of Ci>mnierce at 3.79(!,.'i84 lb. With the pre- 

 sent rate of increase more than 20,000 acres per 

 annum will probably be put under tea for some 

 years to come until some 200,000 acres are planted 

 with this staple. but the area now cov "ed is 

 sufiicient to guarantee an exjiort of tea in the sea- 

 sun I.S8M-S9 of very nearly 30,000.000 lb. Messrs. 

 Ferguson give the following talile as the approxi- 

 mate outturn of the intermediate seasons : — 



1885-6 6,7.';O.OflO !b. 



18SG 7 12.0110.000 lb. 



1887-8 20,00(),«aj Ih. 



1888-9 .30,n(,o.n0O lb. 



They, however, go further than that. They say 

 that ten or twelve years hence Ceylon will export 

 (iO.OOO.OOO lb. of tea. Tea is produced more cheaply 

 in Ci-ylon than in Northern India. The London 

 brokers have for some time past been loud in 

 praise of its fine ijualitics, and it conmiands a 

 ready sale at home. Ceylon seems to have wea- 

 thered the storm ; and Inaf disease, which at one 

 time very nearly ruined the planters, has, by forc- 

 ing their attention to tea instead of cotrce, proved 

 a blessing rather than a curse.^riincv of India. 



*■ 



TiiK Milan QuiNixn Works :— It is reported 

 that the " Fabbrica Lombarda di Prodotti Chfraici," 

 in Milan, the failure of which created a consider- 

 able sensation at the time, will again resume 

 manufacture, backed up by a syndicate of hankers. 

 The creditors who appealed against the arrange- 

 ment accepted by the majority have lost their case 

 and liad to pay the costs of the action. There is, 

 however, still some talk of a further appeal. — 

 Chemint (C VruggUt. 



PLANTING BEPOET PEOM P.-VNWILA DIS- 

 TEICT. 



COFFEE — CACAO — CKOTON — TKA, ETC. 

 Frauklauds, Wata^ania, 24th Jfarch 1886. 



OoFi'EE. — It is a pleasure to read of oiu- oUl friend 

 Kii'g Coffee still piomising good crops on some es- 

 tates, which are no doubt favoured witb a good 

 climate, soil, and shelter, have been properly cidtiv.ited 

 aad not planted thickly with cinchona, iu spite of leaf- 

 disease. On the Kaudy and Matale Bide we liad a 

 worse enemy than leaf-disease to contend witb, namely, 

 black-bug which fiui.shed off u-ost of our trees in no' 

 time, though there are still patches of good coffee here 

 and there doing well, and there is some fine young 

 coft'ee iu Dumbara said to promise well this year. 

 There can be uo doubt that planters with good' 

 coffee in the high districts will do well to cultivate 

 the .same thoroughly, as Brazil cannot give as 

 liue qu'ility of coffee as some of our high estates do. 

 and good high grown coffee will keep a price of its 

 own and bo in great demand. Leaf-disease is gradually 

 disappearmg. 



Cacao.— Everyone will remember the great scare 

 about our cacao iu 1884-1885. I remember at the 

 Planters' Meeting in Kandy on the 28tb June 1884 

 there were some planters who thought all cacao was 

 djiiig out, uotably our present Chairman, who had been 

 ti the low-co lutry cacao estates, would not allow any 

 excuse to be made on account of want of shade, poor 

 soil or exposed laud, for had he not .seen a nursery 

 oij cacao plants in good soil even dying out? Some 

 planters urged shelter to protect the cacao from tb 3 

 wind was all that was reipiired; some thought shade the 

 best. 1 strongly recommended shade and the crotou 

 oil tree as a quick grower aud a profitable tree. In my 

 letter " Advice to Young Cacao planters," published 

 in 0/iserver on 8th October 1884, 1 urged shace as 

 necessary tor cacao mentioning many varieties of trees 

 as suitable, &c. 'Ihere beiug still some croakers going 

 about the country, 1 wrote my next letter published 

 in Uh.irfVei- on ]3lh November 1884 ending as fol- 

 lows : — " The scare about helopelti.s, fly and borer I 

 treat with contempt as they can be well ebecked." 



Times bave changed at last ; we have again good 

 accounts of caca-j prumi^ing good crops aud looking 

 well with very little beiupeltis, fly or borer about. The 

 requirements nf cacao are now better known ; e.jicao 

 planted iu sandy soil and on poor e.vposed ridges bave 

 heeu abandoned, shailc is being planted as quickly as 

 possible, in oitl soil mauure is given, and in dry climates 

 water trenches are made. It is a mistake to tbink 

 that becau.se cacao plants taken up witb a small qnuntity 

 of good nursery soil (even some nurseries are made in 

 poor soil) planted out on an old estate or in poor 

 though deep soil without sh.ade does not come on 

 quickly, that it cannot be grown profitably — it is here 

 where the Owner must bave coufiilence and allow 

 some extra expenditure the first two years, to dig up 

 soil aroiiuil plants, give .some manure, get np shade 

 aud cut trenches. Once the plants are well estab- 

 lished there is no fear and expenditure then will be 

 as low as on any estate though lieginning with better 

 soil, fispecially is this the case when you can get old 

 coffee land, good chena or even patana witb a good 

 climate near a high road or railway station; lauds id' 

 this descripii<iii 1 value more tlian even forest laud 

 the value of which wo have still to find out as re- 

 gards .soil, wind and climate, say nothing of distance 

 from a highroad, &c. I have proved this with c.ill'ee, 

 tea. cinchona and cacao aud can safely rccoinincMd a 

 trial by anyone wlio has land so situated. If, however 

 till' owner of such lauds thinks all he needs to do is 

 to have his place planted upas cheaply as be can and 

 not to give the necessary assislaiice to his plants in 

 tl.c inopi-r way, and when neeile 1, I would advise him 

 not to plant any but first class jungle land and g wait 

 until he cau get such in CJeyion. which however he 

 will find a great dilliculty at present, a-id scdl his own 

 liiid to otbeis who will perhaps prove to lum in a 

 few years what a chance be lost. 



Ckoto.n'. — I am gl.id to bear from several planters 



