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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



the people, before Manchester goods supplied 

 Kandy atid the many bazaars in the towns and 

 villages wMctl, with the era of roads, sprung up 

 throughout the Kandyan territory. A long list 

 of villages is given, in Upper Dumbara, in the 

 Hewahetas, Walapane, Alatale and Badulla, 

 where cotton was grown, spun and woven up to 

 the " fifties " and crops up to 150 to 200 lb. per 

 acre gathered ; but "climate too uncertain" 

 for cotton is Mr. Caley's remark opposite 

 certain divisions ; while, on the other hand, 

 he remarks of Lower Hewaheta, that it is 

 "very favourable to cotton cultivation in 

 the lower part of the district which is 

 olose to Kandy. ; ' Several of the Revenue 

 Officers of the day make returns and remarks : — 

 The Government Agent, Mr. E. Rawdon Power, 

 who reports that cotton seed is in much request 

 for the feeding of cattle imported in large 

 numbers from India ; Mr. F. Layard ; Mr. R. 

 Temple who reports Gonagamuwa (in the 

 Nuwara Eliya district) as the centre of exten- 

 sive cotton cultivation, spinning and weaving 

 " by the Badde people" before European cotton 

 goods came into the country ; and Mr. John 

 liailey has the same report to make from 

 Badulla. Mr. C. P, Layard reports the cotton 

 crop of the Western Province as probably under 

 30,000 lb., but reports both spinning and 

 weaving as universally neglected, except so far 

 as spinning for fishermen's nets and lines. Mr. 

 H. Mooyaart gives an interesting report for 

 the Kolonna Korale of Sabaragamuwa where 

 the cotton grown is sold to the Chalias of 

 Matara who come to the villages and barter ; 

 but " the time and trouble required to watch 

 the cotton chenas in a country beset with 

 elephants " and the want of a good market had 

 greatly discouraged cultivation. Mr. O'Grady 

 thinks 900 lb. clean cotton will cover the crop 

 of the Southern Province, chiefly from the 

 Magam and Giruvva Pattus. For the North- 

 western, there are reports from Mr. Staples 

 and Mr. O'Grady ; but the cultivation was 

 limited, about 900 lb. for Puttalam and Kal- 

 pitiya ; while Chilaw still had its manufacture 

 of table-clothes, towels, &c. In the Kurune- 

 gala district, a limited quantity was grown 

 and locally spun. Now we come to the two 

 chiof areas of cultivation — the Eastern and 

 Northern Provinces. For the former, we are 

 told " cotton is grown in all the Pattus," but 

 not in sufficient quantity to meet the local 

 demand for spinning and weaving ! The Moor- 

 men were among the cultivators and their 

 families did all the work of manufacture. 

 The headman estimated the crop at about 

 73,000 lb., sold at fd per lb. with seeds 

 in cotton or 3d per lb. for the clean cotton. 

 Finally, we have the Northern Province, in 

 nearly every district of which some cotton was 

 shown to be grown, but chiefly in the Jaffna, 

 Mannar and Islauds divisions. The crop for 

 1855 in the Jaffna districts was 23,272 lb. ; 

 Mannar 4,405 lb. ; and 888 weavers were re- 

 ported in the former and 140 in the latter 

 districts. Nearly £2,000 worth of strong cloth 

 was exported and still more sent inland. 

 Nevertheless, Mr. Dyke did not consider the 

 industry as important and he mentions that 

 many experiments made by the coconut planters 

 with imported seed, got through Government. 



were unattended with a success that would 

 warrant extended cultivation. This, however, 

 simply shows that cotton-growing is not for 

 Europeans, but for natives, and after the sys- 

 tem adopted in Tinnevelly, if possiblo in Ceylon. 



The late Mr. A. M. Ferguson took a special 

 interest in the question of reviving and ex- 

 tending a cotton growing industry in North 

 and North-Central Ceylon. He had lived in 

 the Jaffna Peninsula for several years when 

 in the service of Government and had travelled 

 thence by different routes to and from 

 Colombo. It is of special interest, therefore, 

 to refer to his pencilled annotations on Mr. 

 Caley's report. For instance, he suggests ex- 

 periments in growing cotton under tanks and 

 thinks a doubled crop might be the result, 

 giving 300 lb. per acre of clean cotton, with 

 seed in proportion, valuable as cattle food, oil 

 and manure ; and in this way irrigation should 

 prove profitable. He considered that in many 

 parts where tanks were restored, the growth 

 of grain and cotton could be combined. Culti- 

 vation with irrigation might not only double 

 the crop and improve the quality, but enable 

 the best season to be chosen for avoiding rain 

 and insect enemies. He considered " Bourbon 

 Cotton Seed : ' as the best to experiment with 

 generally in Ceylon, though Sea Island might 

 suit certain favoured localities. Mr. Caley was 

 sanguine enough to say that " more than 

 three-quarters of the whole island of Ceylon 

 are naturally adapted for the growth of 

 cotton." He meant specially as regards 

 the comparatively dry climate of the North 

 and East ; but he had to confess that the soil 

 in many parts was inferior, although he had 

 found between Nalanda and Dambulla and in 

 the country around Miuneriya and Polonna- 

 ruwa, and on towards Trincomalee, large 

 areas quite equal to the "black cotton 

 soil :; of India, and accompanied locally by 

 beds of kankur. On this Mr. A. M. Ferguson 

 remarks that " there is abundance of black 

 soil on the north- west coast about Puttalam "; 

 while much of the soil in the North-Central 

 Province is most excellent. The suggestion 

 was then made that Tinnevelly cotton culti- 

 vators might be tempted to come over to 

 Ceylon if laud wore placed at their disposal 

 on specially liberal terras. There is no evid- 

 ence that such an offer has ever been 

 made or even an enquiry sent to the 

 Madras Government on the subject. In 

 the year of the Great Madras Famine — 1877 

 — the Indian authorities would have most 

 gladly supported any scheme for settling some 

 of the surplus population in North-Central 

 Ceylon. When the Mannar railway is finished 

 and a Steam Ferry established, migration on 

 a large scale will be comparatively easy; but 

 experiments in cotton-growing at different 

 points should be made well in advance, so that 

 the results may guide the initiation of a Native 

 Industry on a considerable scale. 



Colombo, April 2nd. 

 Dear Sir, — Your editorial references to an 

 account of cotton-growing in Ceylon 50 years 

 ago, are particularly interesting just at this 

 time, when cotton id once more to the front. It 

 is curious how a subject periodically comes into 



