S7B 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



cotton-growing industry. When a Manchester 

 house, through its Colombo branch, contemplate 

 the erection of a Cotton-ginning Factory in 

 Colombo (including a 24 horse-power engine and 

 G gins to begin with), it is evident that there 

 must be a full expectation of an appreciable local 

 crop of cotton to cope with. Reliable reports, 

 indeed, indicate that the planting of cotton is 

 extending, no doubt, in native gardens ; for, 

 after all, in Ceylon as throughout the cotton dis- 

 tricts of India, the cultivation is one specially 

 suited to the natives, both the owners of, and 

 labourers onj the fields. In past centuries, Ceylon 

 — in the East and North especially— grew a 

 notable quantity of cotton to supply the local 

 spinners, and weavers, and " Batticaloa cotton 

 goods towellings and such like — were known 

 'and appreciated even by householders in 

 Colombo up to quite a recent date. Well, 

 even now, there are quite a number of " looms " 

 for cotton worked in both the Eastern and 

 Northern Provinces — perhaps, 600 looms in the 

 former and 400 in the latter— and there are 

 a few in the Southern and North- Western Pro- 

 vinces. To keep these working, there must, of 

 course, be a certain quantity of the raw product 

 harvested ; but it is, probably, of an inferior 

 quality, except so far as good seed may have 

 been distributed and been utilised. Cotton 

 cultivation is peculiarly adapted in Ceylon to 

 the Tamil districts, and it would be strange if 

 the Tamil people hero could not succeed, when 

 once they turn their attention to it, with an in- 

 dustry which prevails so largely in the Tamil dis- 

 tricts of Southern India. Cotton has been grown 

 on the black soil of Tinnevelly for more than a 

 thousand years uninterruptedly. No doubt, the 

 cotton-growing experiment in the North-Central 

 Province under the direction of Dr. Willis, and 

 to which Mr. Mee was attached (until he was 

 transferred to the , Gangaruwa Experimental 

 Station) must have proved an excellent object- 

 lesson and encouraged cotton-growing among 

 the people of the district, if not of the province. 



But we are not today to enter further on 

 the consideration of the present state of the 

 industry ; but rather to draw attention to some 

 curious information on the subject which has 

 come into our hands and which is probably 

 quite unknown to the present generation. 

 Among early writers was the well-known 

 Ceylonese naturalist, Dr. Kelaart, who pub- 

 lished " Notes on the Cultivation of Cotton in 

 Ceylon " so far back as 1854. This was fol- 

 Jowed in 1856 by some very practical " Notes ' ; 



prepared by Mr. J. A. Caley, a thoughtful mem . 

 ber of the Public Works Department, stationed 

 at Peradeniya. He gathered his information 

 from a Tinnevelly authority of prolonged experi- 

 ence and without entering into details, we may 

 mention that the yields of clean cotton per 

 acre he gave varied from 100 to 150 lb., but 

 there was 75 per cent, of seed to 25 of cotton. 

 Later on, in 1859, Mr. Caley amplified his in- 

 formation into a 11 Report" which he had pub- 

 lished in Manchester with some thirteen pages 

 of letter-press and two elaborate appendices — 

 one, a sketch map of "the cotton-producing dis- 

 tricts of Ceylon'' which simply showed "Coffee" 

 as appertaining to the South-West quarter of 

 the island; while "Cotton" (in large letters) 

 is printed from Jaffna to Arugam Bay and has 

 indeed allotted to jt more than three-fourths 

 of the area of the island ! Mr. Caley drew a 

 number of dotted lines from the interior con- 

 verging on a series of sea-ports to show how 

 the cotton produce of these respective dis- 

 tricts cculd be conveyed to the coast for ship- 

 ment. In this way Trincomalee, Batticaloa, 

 Arugam Bay, and Hambantota were in the East 

 and South to represent considerable cotton- 

 growing areas ; while on the West and North, 

 Chilaw, Puttalam, Mannar and two ports on 

 the Jaffna Peninsula were similarly favoured. 

 In addition to this sketch-map, Mr. Oaley pro- 

 vided a very elaborate table, in map form, 

 "showing the cotton-growing districts in the 

 island of Ceylon "; -and here the Western and 

 Central Provinces are tabulated as well as the 

 Northern, Eastern, Southern and North- 

 western Provinces, W*e must reserve an an- 

 alysis of the table for another issue, merely 

 remarking how that one column "showed 

 principal places (in each native division) where 

 cotton is grown ,T and another " the principal 

 places where spun and woven " ; while no fewer 

 than eight additional headings are devoted to 

 " quantity grown," and questions connected 

 with the cultivation, soil, value of crop, &c. 

 It may be inferred from this that fifty years 

 ago "Cotton'' was taken very seriously bv 

 some Ceylon authorities as a native industry 

 which ought to grow more and more into 

 importance. 



THE WATTLE INDUSTRY IN NATAL: 



WHY NOT IN CEYLON? 

 A wattle-growing and tanning- bark industry 

 for Ceylon is an old subject of discussion in our 

 columns. We have published a prise essay 



