n 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



and cacao, and also allowance for small portions 

 planted, but not reported in the plantation re- 

 turns. The total shows an increase of over 11,000 

 acres in less than a year-and-a-half. The de- 

 tailed returns from all the districts indicate no 

 less than 77,093 acres of " tea and rubber " and 

 19,493 acres of "cacao and rubber," intermixed. 

 In both cases, we have divided equally for the 

 two products ; but, last year, in the case of "tea 

 and rubber,''" only one-third was (in the Direct- 

 ory review) credited to rubber and two-thirds 

 to tea. This was afterwards corrected; but 

 it may be a question with some authorities, 

 and in certain districts, whether this proportion 

 can be always maintained ; for, although the 

 present high prices encourage full attention 

 to every tea bush, it is pIso true that rubber, 

 at current prices, must be st 11 the more valu- 

 able product of the two. In any case, the 

 detailed figures compiled for each district will 

 enable those most interested to enter into an 

 independeutanalysisand arrive at their own con- 

 clusions, after the volume reaches their hands. 

 Meantime, we consider that 215,000 acres of 

 Rubber may be accepted as a fair approxima- 

 tion for Ceylon at the present time. In his 

 Speech to the Legislative Council in 1905, the 

 Governor of the Colony quoted our figures for 

 that year, as showing the wonderful advance 

 of the new industry which had, at that time, 

 expanded to 40,000 acres. But twelvemonths 

 later, so keen had been the eagerness and ac- 

 tivity to plant rubber, that our compilation 

 in 1906, gave no less than 104,000 acres for 

 all the districts ; and now, five years later, 

 more than double this area has to be faced, 

 and it seems as if we must bo getting close 

 to the possible maximum of Rubber Cultiva- 

 tion in Ceylon — at any rate with the Para 

 (Hevea) variety I And yet, who can tell, look- 

 ing at past experience ? In 1872, for instance, 

 when "coffoe" was the staple (and the plan- 

 ters only product) 206, ( 00 acres were supposed 

 to be a full show for Ceylon p'antatious, and 

 indeed the very maximum of cc ffje was reached 

 with 275,000 acres in 1878. Who would have 

 dreamed then, 33 years ago, that the new 

 century and almost in its first decade, would 

 show a grand total of 670,000 cultivated 

 acres (in tea, rubber, cacao, cardamoms, 

 &c), spread over 1,806 plantations aggrega- 

 ting 1,005,034 acres in their full extent, re- 

 quiring 1,946 Managers or Superintendents 

 and Assistants and giving employment to about 

 550,000 Tamil coolies, besides 150,000 or more 

 Sinhalese, Moormen, Malays, &c, if all domes- 

 tics, factorymen, watchers and carters resident in 

 the planting districts, are counted. An increase 

 in the number of properties and of opened plant- 

 ations as well as in total extent is a feature of 

 the progress recorded in 1910-11 ; but the most 

 remarkable result is found in the number of 

 planters, which shows an increase of 243 be- 

 tween August, 1910, and December, 1911. This 

 shows how prosperity in tea and rubber — and 

 generally in the island — has led to an unusual 

 influx of planting assistants and students, 

 during the past eighteen months especially. 



If we hark back to the comparatively subsid- 

 iary products we find that 15,863 acres are plant- 

 ed with Cacao alone ; but there are 19,493 acres 



covered with rubber and cacao, making 25,610 

 acres altogether for cacao on plantations which, 

 with the usual allowance for native gardens and 

 wayside plantings, will raise the aggregate un- 

 der the " chocolate " plant in the island to 

 32,000 acres. Then we have Cahdamoms, planted 

 to the extent of 7,300 acres (a decroase of 126 

 acres) and 495 of Camphok or 150 acres less than 

 were returned in the middle of 1913 showing that 

 Camphor clearings have been abandoned or 

 replanted with more favourite products, tea 

 probably. Poor old Coffee is steadily vanish- 

 ing from our sight, the 650 acres ot the " Ara- 

 bian " (or more speaking the "Abyssinian") 

 variety in August, 1910, have now become 375; 

 but, curious enough, the " Liberian" has ex- 

 panded from 84 to 179 acres, 100 of which are in 

 Kurunegala, 56 in Durabara and 23 in Calagedera; 

 while Hantane has 71 acres of the older Coffee 

 bush, Badulla 67, Haputale 52 and Hewaheta 



50, Yakdessa 40 and Pussellawa 22 acres. The 

 Cinchona returns are now a farce— aggregating 

 9 acres — 3 in Dikoya, 4 in Nilambe and 2 in 

 MataleEast ! No doubt there must be patches 

 elsewhere; but it is regarded by planters 

 not worth while to record an unproductive 

 product, and, this year, we notice, that 

 "Cinchona bark'' is excluded from the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce export statement. What a 

 contrast to the two seasons ( 1885-6 and 1886-7) 

 during which Ceylon shipped very close on 30 

 million lb. of cinchona bark and helped to bring 

 the price of quinine from 16s. to Is. 6d. an 

 ounce ! [1879-80, Howard's quinine was quoted 

 wholesale 12s. per oz., and in 1888-9, it was Is. 

 6d. — after Ceylon in 6 years had exported no less 

 than 76 million lb. of bark! In 1898, Howard's 

 quinine was priced Is. 2d. — A special boon this 

 reduction to India, Southern China, Africa and 

 large parts of America where malaria and 

 mosquitoes abound !] But now, to Cinchona in 

 C ylon, we may well say farewell, a long fare- 

 well, to all its greatness 1 



For the rest, we may add some particulars 

 to indicate the arrangement and information 

 in the contents of our Statistical State- 

 ment put in tabular form. It contains a 

 summary of the planted and total extent of 

 land in private hands in each of the planting 

 districts of Ceylon, giving the number of sepa- 

 rate properties, estates opened and worked, of 

 superintendents employed and of the extent 

 cultivated with the different products. This is 

 annually prepared by our statistical department 

 for the Directory, and gives the estate figures 

 up to mid- November, 1911. Our last summary 

 was corrected up to mid-August, 1910, so that 

 the present figures cover a period of fifteen 

 months. The number of divisions remains at 



51, but the total of properties has increased 

 from 2,109 to 2,144. A comparison between the 

 larger districts may be of some interest. The 

 Kelani Valley with 158 properties, of which 152 

 are in working ordor, 162 Managers and Superin- 

 tendents and 72,232 acres under cultivation, is 

 the largest planting district in the island. Next 

 comes Kalutara with 146 properties, 160 Mana- 

 gers and Superintendents and 60,961 acres in 

 cultivation. Dimbula has been outstripped this 



