CEYLON COCOA ESTATE 109 



gale, that reminds one of the Equinoctials at 

 home. The wind has all the freshness of its 

 landless home in the southern ocean, and blows 

 straight across Ceylon, carrying all the miasma 

 and stagnant air away to the Bay of Bengal. 

 We have all revived under its influence ; the 

 animals are quite frisky, and the cocoa and 

 coffee have lost the drooping appearance which 

 the great heat produced. Superintendents now 

 work with redoubled energy, and very requisite 

 this is, for during monsoon time all the planting 

 of the year has to be done, and the contents of 

 the cocoa nurseries, which have been reared 

 with such care during the hot season, have now 

 to be placed in the holes already prepared for 

 their reception. The importance of supply will 

 be understood, when it is taken into consider- 

 ation that cocoanuts usually take seven years, 

 and cocoa four to six years to come into bearing ; 

 so if trees die, and are not replaced, a time must 

 come when the owner will find himself without 

 any crop. 



June is a particularly busy month, for not 

 only is there the work of supply, but there is 

 the spring crop of cocoa to be picked and cured, 

 as well as rubber to be collected and cotton to 

 be picked. All the work comes with a rush. 

 At Raneetotem, we are now mustering at five 

 a.m. to get more time, as it frequently rains in 

 the late afternoon, and wet weather suits 



