190 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Again the arrack manufactured in 1S9G-7, 

 excluding that exported, was over a million 

 gallons {vide Mr. Ellis' report on arrack 1897). 

 Taking the amount to be the same now and 

 valuing arrack not at R280, the current 

 market rate, but at R150 a leaguer, value 

 at distillery, we get a further Rl, 000,000 

 making a grand total of R44, 000, 000— the 

 real value of the total products of the coconut 

 palm, excluding toddy, jaggery, etc. 



For 1906 the value of the tea trade can be 

 reckoned at R6 1,000, 000. Nor can there be much 

 doubt that tea is the leading industry at present 

 as it has been in the past since coffee. But if 

 you put the coconut, plumbago and cinnamon 

 industries together, you find that the principal 

 native industries are likely in the near future to 

 run tea and rubber very close. 



Moreover the former are mainly owned and 

 worked by local propiietors and local labour, 

 whereas the latter are controlled by foreign 

 capital and foreign labour mainly, where pro- 

 fits naturally go out of the island — perhaps to 

 contribute to taxes elsewhere. 



No doubt, in days gone by, there was ample 

 justification for subsidy, but if justifiable now, 

 native industries Jike coconut, plumbago and 

 cinnamon ought to be subsidised proportion- 

 ately, for the permanent prosperity and credit 

 of this Island must depend as much on coconut, 

 plumbago and cinnamon as on tea, rubber, 

 and cocoa. 



It is fair to Government to state that the 

 paddy cultivator is subsidised as much as the 

 tea-rubber planter. 



Again, unlike the good old days of coffee, the 

 company — whoso interest is confined to the 

 dividend — is fast superseding the proprietary 

 upcountry planter, so that the genuine 

 colonist, outside the public service and church, 

 is fast disappearing. 



According to the usual method of calculating 

 commercial undertakings, the profit earned by 

 the railway for the last ten years is 6 per cent, 

 per annum. Therefore, no reduction in rail 

 freight is ever likely to be conceded by any 

 Secretary of State. This assumes that Sir 

 Henry McCallum would favoiir the reduction 

 (a rash assumption). What really ought to be 

 abolished are tolls, which are a restraint on 

 trade and will benefit the general community, 

 together with the Poll Tax, which is iniquitous 

 in its incidence, and in their place substituted, 

 what Mr. Bowie Evans with such transparent 



honesty proposes, an income tax. In Ceylon 

 the poor are taxed for the benefit of th6 rich, 

 both Europeans and native. In England it is 

 just the reverse. — Yours faithfully, 



F. J. De MEL. 



PADDY GROWING AND BONE-MANURE 



Sie, — I have been experimenting in paddy 

 culture for two or three years. Last year, as 

 I was having my field sown for the second crop, 

 one of the principal ryots of the place said to 

 me :— " Sir, I would advise you not to plant the 

 second crop. If you do, next year your yield 

 will be small." I planted and reaped my second 

 crop and this year planted again. My yield 

 this year was an average of 2,692 lb. per acre. 

 This includes two kinds of paddy, one a black 

 paddy and the other a golden. The rice of 

 one is red and of the other white. The white 

 was planted on 1 acre and 45 cents of land, of 

 which about 25 cents was wholly destroyed by 

 disease, which struck the crop after it had 

 come out in head. This acre and 25 cents gave 

 me 4,600 lb. of paddy, or an average of 3,066 lb. 

 per acre. The straw on this plot of ground 

 stood 5ft. 10 inches high in most parts. The 

 only fertiliser used was bone meal. I used 224 

 lb. per acre. I would advise my ryot friends 

 to try the above fertiliser. I am not interested 

 in the sale of this manure, but I am interested 

 in the agricultural advancement of the country. 



Allur. W. S. Davis. 



— M. Mail, Feb. 17. 



ORANGE-GROWING IN CEYLON. 



Sir, —It is about seven years ago since I got 

 several oranges, lemons, &c. from Mr. Pear- 

 son. Wherever they were given a fair chance, 

 they have done exceedingly well. Lemons, 

 especially, however, have a tendency to over- 

 crop themselves and judicious thinning is neces- 

 sary. Drought is also responsible for dimi- 

 nished size of fruit and toughness of skin. I 

 find the naval orange a shy flowerer, but get 

 enormous fruits. My own largest are 11 to 

 loij oz., but a neighbour has them up to 22 oz.. 

 Ignorance and neglect are mainly responsible for 

 failures in orange cultivation. Manure should 

 be applied in a circle round the outside spread 

 of the branches. To force a blossom bare the 

 roots for 3 days in hot sun in dry weather. 

 When the blossom is about to open but is 

 checked by drought, water by the bucketful 

 close to the stem, then cover up. Manure while 

 crop is ripening. Thin out fruit judiciously, 

 4 lb, artificial per tree twice per annum. After 

 crop prune all leafless twigs. Thin out excess 

 new wood. 



Diseases. — Aphis or black bug. — Use kerosene 

 oil and soap emulsion. 



Moss and Lichen. — Use lime wash. 



There is a nasty borer which attacks the 

 fruit. I know no remedy for this except to pull 

 off and burn all diseased fruit, Ne/er leave 

 windfalls to go mouldy on the ground. 



CITRUS. » 



