Aug. 31, 1876] 



NATURE 



377 



discover — unless it saves the plant to a great degree from 

 the chills of early morning. 



As to climate the variety in this respect is most marked. 

 On one side of a small range the coffee exposed to the 

 south-west monsoon is mostly ripe about November. On 

 the opposite side, four miles away, where it is subject to 

 the influence of the north-east rains, it is generally picked 

 three if not four months later, whilst in the most favoured 

 districts in the southern part of the mountain zone where 

 the rainfall is considerably influenced by mountains that 

 lie in the track of the monsoon the crop time lasts through 

 nine months, i.e., from September to May — buds, flowers, 

 green and ripe fruit, being on the tree all at the same 

 time. 



Young plants are generally put into the ground soon 

 after the rainy season has commenced, stumps being used 

 in the southern part of the province and where the 

 weather is uncertain. Under the influence of a plentiful 

 supply of moisture and an average temperature of 70° to 

 75° F., the roots soon strike and the tree grows so rapidly, 

 that at the end of two years a small quantity of fruit may 

 sometimes be gathered. In its fourth year the tree bears 

 a good crop, and two years later it may be considered to 

 be in its prime. About 1,200 to 1,600 are generally planted 

 on an acre, and each tree, when it attains a height of four 

 or five feet, is cut down to 3 ft. 6 ins , and even lower in 

 exposed places and on poor soil, according to the taste of 

 the planter. The lateral branches are kept most care- 

 fully pruned, and the tree thus cared for forms a cylin- 

 drical mass of foliage into the centre of which the sun's 

 heat can penetrate and ripen the fruit. The trees are 

 planted six feet by five feet or six feet apart, and when 

 fully grown in good soil, present a mass of intervening 

 branches through which it is somewhat difficult to make 

 one's way. When an estate has attained an age of twenty 

 years it is considered to be well past its prime, and only 

 to be kept profitable by means of a plentiful supply of 

 manure, and indeed the main question with planters now 

 is not so much how to treat the tree itself, but how to 

 obtain good fertilising material and apply it in the best 

 manner possible. The tree responds to kindly treatment 

 with the utmost readiness, and will bear almost any ill- 

 usage and yet recover and yield good crops. Ten cwts. 

 to the acre, or nearly one pound per tree of prepared 

 coffee, used formerly to be considered a good crop, but 

 now, owing to the ravages of the " leaf disease," it is 

 regarded as extraordinary, and half the amount only is 

 more frequently obtained. At present prices this represents 

 about 25/. per acre with which to pay all the working ex- 

 penses of the estate. Amongst these is the cost of Tamil 

 coolies from the south of India, who have to be main- 

 tained during the greater part of the year at the rate of 

 one labourer to every acre of coffee in full bearing, their 

 pay averaging ()d. per day of ten hours, viz., from 6 A.M. 

 to 4 P.M. Besides this main charge there are artificial ma- 

 nures, tools, bullock-waggons, bullocks specially kept for 

 making manure, road-making, &c., to be paid for, together 

 with assessments for grant-in-aid roads, and other public 

 purposes, so that to manage an estate well is a very ex- 

 pensive affair, and can only be done where there is a 

 large incoming of gross profits. 



No mention has yet been made as to how the land is 

 acquired by the planter and under what title it is held. 

 When the English took possession of the Kandyan pro- 

 vince in 1 81 5, they agreed, by a convention, to respect 

 both the religion and the private property of the natives. 

 This latter consisted chiefly of rice-fields, whilst the 

 jungle- covered mountains having never been considered 

 of any value were not claimed, and consequently passed 

 into the hands of the British Government. As soon, 

 then, as their value began to be appreciated for coffee 

 cultivation, they were put up for public sale at an upset 

 price of ^s. per acre, and many estates were purchased at 

 that rate. At the present time the upset price is i/., and 



the land not unfrequently realises as much as 15/. or 20/. 

 per acre, so prosperous has been the enterprise of late 

 years and so great the influx of English capital. The 

 blocks of land when put up for sale are mostly of convenient 

 sizes — 200 or 300 acres — and the competition is frequently 

 very keen for the more suitable pieces. As none but 

 jungle land, except in very rare instances, is planted with 

 coffee, the forest and undergrowth have to be cleared 

 away and the ground thoroughly opened before the plants 

 can be put in. This is done in November or December 

 by Kandyan woodmen, who are very skilful with the axe, 

 and the remains of the forest having been dried by an 

 eight or ten week's exposure to the sun during the hot 

 season are burnt off about February. As soon as the 

 rainy season comes, holes 18 inches square and deep 'are 

 dug, and the plants, having had their rootlets carefully 

 trimmed, are deposited in them. At this period of its 

 formation the estate is generally quite free from weeds on 

 account of the recent fire, and very great care is used to 

 prevent any, especially ageratum or couch grass, getting 

 a hold on the soil. 



As to the general statistics of the enterprise I find by 

 Mr. Ferguson's very valuable directory that there are at" 

 the present moment 257,000 acres of cultivated coffee, 

 divided into slightly more than 1,200 estates, and giving 

 employment to 1,050 managers and superintendents, nearly 

 all of whom are Europeans. Some 50,000 acres of these 

 estates are not in proper bearing, through being either 

 too young or too old, and therefore 210,000 acres may be 

 taken as the extent of the plantations of the island, which 

 are accountable for the present year's crop (ending in 

 September}, estimated at 630,000 cwts. Last year the yield, 

 with SjOoo acres less in cultivation, was 873,000 cwts. 



The value of the whole plantation interest is roughly 

 estimated at nine millions sterling of English money. 



The extent of native coffee, i.e., of the gardens of the 

 Singhalese, which are generally situated in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of their villages, where the trees are allowed 

 to grow as they will, is probably between 40,000 and 

 50,000 acres, and the average annual production may be 

 estimated at from 140,000 to 150,000 cwts. The value of 

 this native property is set down roughly at three-quarters 

 of a million sterling. 



In 1849 the value of the former variety of coffee when 

 prepared was 33^., and of the latter i8s. per cwt. At the 

 present moment so great has been the rise in the prices 

 of both kinds that plantation fetches as much as 100^. and 

 native 85^. per cwt. 



A comparison of the statistics of the coffee enterprise 

 for the year 1852 (the earliest for which I have any reliable 

 information) and the present year furnishes several points 

 of interest both to the planter and the European con- 

 sumer. The former was a fairly good year, better than 

 1853, but not to compare with any of the immediately 

 succeeding years. The latter year is distinctly a bad 

 year, but whether exceptionally so or not is the chief 

 point of interest and anxiety. In 1852 about 40,000 acres 

 were under plantation cultivation, and 255,000 cwts. were 

 produced, nearly 6| cwts. per acre. In the present year 

 about 257,000 acres are cultivated — one-fifth perhaps not 

 being in full bearing, as was probably the case in 1852 — 

 and 630,000 cwts. are expected to be obtained, an average 

 of less than 2^ cwts. per acre. The native coffee pro- 

 duced in the same two years will most probably be about 

 the same in quantity, viz., 150,000 cwts. A fairer mode of 

 comparison, no doubt, is that of taking the last five years, 

 say from 1872 to 1876 inclusive, and comparing the 

 average annual production per cultivated acre during 

 that period with that of the five precedkig years from 

 1867 to 1871, for it was in 1872 that the falling-off due to 

 the " leaf disease " began to be seriously felt. During the 

 earlier five years the rate of production per acre was 

 4"6 cwts. During the later period only 2*9 cwts., a 

 decrease of somewhat more than one-third. It may 



