470 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTUEB AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ November 2G, 1874. 



by side, and in conjnnction with approved old kinds ; during 

 the first year under glass, and out of doors in the second year. 



[With reference to this point, the Society has reason to think 

 that opportunities for carrying out these tests will he afforded 

 by the Royal Horticultural Society at its garden at Chiswick.] 



4th, By the formation of a register in which approved sorts 

 shall be entered, and from which inferior varieties shall be 

 eliminated. 



[In conjunction with this register, it is hoped that an accurate 

 report of the means adopted, and of the results obtained, in the 

 process of hybridisation, may be kept, for the purpose of com- 

 parison and scientific study.] 



5th, By facilitating intercourse and interchange of opinion 

 between raisers and cultivators. 



It may here be remarked that the Society has already taken 

 steps towards securing the due recognition of the labours of 

 those to whose skill and patience we are indebted for improved 

 varieties, by stipulating in its schedule that the name of the 

 raiser be affixed to every plant exhibited — an act of simple 

 justice, worthy of adoption in all similar eases. The Royal 

 Horticultural Society also suggests the adoption of this recogni- 

 tion in clause vii. of rules attached to its recent schedules, but 

 in lieu of a suggestion it should be made " a condition " In 

 offering the prizes. 



SOME OF THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OF 

 CETLON.-No. 2. 



Cotton. — A considerable quantity of native Cotton was 

 grown in Ceylon some years ago, and manufactured in the 

 island, but not, to the best of my knowledge, exported. Small 

 quantities are still produced in the western, north-western, and 

 eastern provinces, and manufactured into native cloth. The 

 importation of Manchester goods of late years from England 

 has led to a considerable diminution in the Cotton produce of 

 the island. 



An admirable brochure on the condition of Cotton culti- 

 vation in Ceylon, with suggestions for its extension and en- 

 couragement, by Mr. James Augustus Caley, F.G.S. (a retired 

 member of the scientific branch of the Ceylon Civil Service), 

 with an excellent map of the Cotton-producing districts of Cey- 

 lon annexed, and with tabulated and statistical returns from 

 all parts of the island, was published in Manchester in 1859. 



Mr. Caley states, it has been said that Ceylon does not con- 

 tain soil suitable for the growth of good Cotton, that the 

 peculiar soil called " regur," in which it is so extensively 

 grown in continental India, and which is generally called black 

 Cotton soil, does not exist in Ceylon. Jlr. Caley is of opinion 

 that such impression is erroneous, and that from personal 

 knowledge, not only is black Cotton soU found in Ceylon, but 

 that it extends over a considerable area, accompanied with 

 beds of kunkur, a calcareous formation found under the same 

 circumstances in Southern India. Mr. Caley most wisely lays 

 down, as an important element of success, to confine opera- 

 tions in the first instnpce to those districts of the island which 

 are advantageously situated with reference to shipping ports. 

 He instances the gradual adoption of Coffee cultivation, and 

 that of an improved character, by the natives, supply following 

 demand, as analogous in its action to what would follow in 

 regard to the cultivation of Cotton by the natives if a steady 

 demand existed for all they could bring into the market. 



In the published dispatch dated November 'iYth, 1857, from 

 the able and energetic then Governor of Ceylon, Sir Henry 

 G. Ward, addressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 

 he states that there can be no doubt, from the concurrent 

 testimony of those best acquainted with Ceylon, that a large 

 portion of it, and more especially that which is subject to the 

 influence of the north-east monsoon, is well adapted to the 

 growth of Cotton ; that the plant thrives there naturally in its 

 wild state ; and that with a very small amount of care Cotton 

 of a very fine quality may be produced ; that large tracts of 

 land might be found susceptible of irrigation from their 

 vicinity to some of the ancient tanks, the water in which might 

 be rendered available at a comparatively small expense. Sir 

 Henry concludes his dispatch by urging that what are required 

 to insure the success of a Cotton plantation in Ceylon are one 

 or two practical men acquainted with the best modes of raising 

 Cotton, bringing out the best seed, and selecting for them- 

 selves, with the advice of the officers of Government in Ceylon, 

 the most favourable sites as regards climate, population, soil, 

 and access to the coast ; that all these requisites might be 

 found within a reasonable distance from Trincomalee. Labour 

 might be procured from Jaffna at a very reasonable rate, wages 



in that province not exceeding fivepence a day.* If periodical 

 irrigation be required there is an inexhaustible supply of water 

 in the tank of Kandelly, which might be rendered available at 

 any point between it and the sea, and in this manner in two 

 years, with a capital of £10,000, under proper arrangement, 

 results might be obtained which would probably lead to invest- 

 ments upon a much larger scale, and end by rendering the 

 Cotton of Ceylon as well known in the manufacturing districts 

 as its Coffee is now. 



My friend Dr. Thwaites, the accomplished Director of the 

 Eoyal Botanic Gardens in Ceylon, considers that some good 

 results would foUow (he held that opinion some time ago), if 

 the indigenous Cotton of India were improved by hybridising 

 or crossing the native kinds with the Bourbon, Sea Island, and 

 New Orleans varieties, the same plan being adopted and the 

 same precautions observed that are taken in crossing valuable 

 flowers and fruits with such signal success in Europe ; and that 

 if the experiment should not end in so favourable a manner as 

 could be desired, a problem of very great interest would have 

 been solved as to the affinity which the several varieties of 

 Cotton bear to one another. If by these experiments it should 

 be found that real progress had been made towards improve- 

 ment of the native Cotton, the system of crossing might be 

 still further carried out, using the plants of the already im- 

 proved stock instead of those of the original native kind for 

 crossing upon, and this operation might be carried on for 

 several generations of plants, until the maximum improvement 

 should be considered to have been realised. I have always 

 held the opiniont that, in iteu- articles of export the inter- 

 ference of the Local Government up to a certain point — namely, 

 until the cultivation and export of such new articles had been 

 proved to be a financial success, was legitimate and highly ad- 

 vantageous to the colony. 



When representative of the Crown in the central province I 

 drew up a report for the Kandy Agri-Horticnltnral Society, of 

 which I was President, which was submitted to the Ceylon 

 Government, in which the Society expressed their hope that 

 the Government would be pleased to request the active co- 

 operation of its agents in regard to the general subject of 

 Cotton, and that it might, perhaps, be thought advisable to 

 encourage so valuable a product by permitting and encouraging 

 the inhabitants of districts favourable to its growth (and there 

 are thousands of acres well adapted for its cultivation) to pay 

 for a certain period a portion of the taxation due by them to 

 Government in Cotton ; the rate at which it was to be receiveil 

 to be fairly adjusted, and the Cotton so received to be sold in 

 the colony, which might be done without difficulty, to any of 

 the mercantile island firms. This procedure was some years 

 ago adopted in the case of plumbago, and if sanctioned in the 

 case of Cotton might be strictly limited to a period which 

 would admit of the experiment as to the character and value, 

 and if any impetus were given thereby to the further culti- 

 vation of this valuable article being fairly tested. 



The adoption of this recommendation as to Cotton by enlist 

 ing the native population in its cultivation — and patches of 

 suitable land in the immediate vicinity of their villages might 

 be most advantageously and economically cultivated with 

 Cotton by the labour of their own families — would, I am san- 

 guine in believing, lead to the appearance of Cotton as an item 

 of some amount in the exports of Ceylon. With the intro- 

 duction of additional labour from the continent of India and 

 of Chinese (for I have been ever the advocate for the intro- 

 duction into Ce.ylon of the latter industrious class, not to be 

 taken from the rabble of Canton and other large towns, but 

 from " that great nation of labourers behind the coast," as 

 described by Mr. Fortune, than whom there exists no more 

 trustworthy and practical authority), Cotton estates might be 

 also opened, in localities suitable in reference to soil and ch- 

 mate, with great advantage by European colonists. — E. Eawdon 

 PowEK, Ceylon Civil Service {Retired), Tenby, South Wales. 



VEITCH'S SELF-PROTECTING BROCCOLL 



We have had brought to our notice one of the most perfect 

 self-protecting Broccolis it has ever been our fortune to meet 

 with. So thoroughly self-protecting is it, that the beautiful 



* This is Dot the case, I apprehend, in Jaffna (northern province of Ceylon), 

 at the present time, as there exists a greatly increased demand for labourers, 

 and their rate of pay has been thereby augmented. 



1 In my article on the Cucoa-niit, in the number of the " Food Journal " of 

 February, 1873, 1 alluded to the successful action of the Local Government in 

 reference to the production and export of Cocoa-nut oil from Ceylon 



