86 The Supplement to th Tropical Agriculturist 



the average originally. As regards the dark 

 colour of rubber alluded to by the Scientific 

 Officer, I have had practical proof that the 

 drought affects the rubber by turning it darker. 

 From February on this year my rubber became 

 darker. There was no tapping during March. 

 On restarting tapping in April, before the 

 drought had broken up, my rubber started dark 

 in colour and gradually by the end of April 

 returned to its proper golden colour, without 

 any alteration in its preparation. — Yours, etc., 



(Sd.) H. B. Kirk. 

 — Planters' Chronicle, June 4. 



CAMPHOR CULTIVATBON IN CEYLON. 



There is no doubt that planted in favourable 

 conditions the camphor tree grows quickly and 

 well in Ceylon. It is not the growth of the 

 trees, but the extraction of the camphor, that 

 has formed the obstacle to the progress of the 

 industry here. There are several not incon- 

 siderable areas in various parts of Ceylon 

 growing vigorously and ready to yield camphor 

 as soon as the planter knows how to extract it. 

 We were shown in a merchant s office in 

 Colombo not long ago some results of attempts 

 to distil camphor from leaves and twigs made 

 on an estate upcountry. They were very poor ; 

 in fact, the experiments might be proclaimed a 

 distinct failure. The best camphor we have 

 seen produced in Ceylon was shown as some 

 four years ago by the late Mr. Frank Hunter. 

 It was very fair for an initial attempt but was 

 valued, we believe, considerably below the 

 market price. If cultivation increases, Ceylon 

 will soon have to consider the question of 

 getting expert advice to instruct planters in 

 the manufacture of camphor ; but this, we 

 understand, is very difficult to obtain. In the 

 past year Ceylon exported 9 cwt. of camphor 

 valued at Kl,995— so that apparently a small 

 quantity is being successfully made. 



HONEY ANC WAX. 



" This industry is already a valuable one 

 to the Colony," says the Journal oj the Jamaica 

 Agricultural Society, (April)" but if it is deve- 

 loped along careful lines it can be very nearly 

 the most valuable to the Colony. It is pre- 

 dicted that there will be no low prices for honey 

 and wax for a good many years to come. Both 

 of these products have come into their own, that 

 is, there are purposes that can be served by these 

 that cannot be served so well by any other pro- 

 duct. The natural sugar in honey makes it of 

 such uso in medicine as cannot be served by 

 cane or beet or any other form of manufactured 

 sugar. Houey is being used in the higher class 

 of cakes, sweet biscuits, and sweetmeats more 

 largely every year. Beeswax has also been found 

 to be increasingly indispensable in many direc- 

 tions. Every bee-keeper should grow some sugar 

 cane, and when the hard time comes along about 

 October, he will be able to feed his bees on the 

 sugar liquor (if necessary boiled down) without 

 much expense. " The above successful progress 

 ought to encourage those who are endeavouring 

 to establiah the industry elsewhere in the tropics. 



COCONUTS IN BATTICALOA. 



Kurunegala District, June 26th. 

 Dear Sir, — Can you or any of your readers 

 supply me with an estimate of the cost per acre 

 of planting coconuts in the Eastern Province 

 and of bringing them into bearing and of the 

 probable receipts or crop from the 8th year to 

 the 15th year ? The figures given in pages 72 to 

 73 of your valuable "Coconut Planters' Manual," 

 refer, I presume, to estates in the Western dis- 

 tricts of the island. There figures show a profit 

 of R58 per acre in the 15th year with coconuts 

 at R27 per thousand. I imagine that in the 

 less fortunate district to which my query refers 

 such profits are not obtained in the 15th year 

 even with coconuts at double the price. We are 

 told (vide Observer of 23rd instant) that in the 

 F. M.S. average crops of 50 nuts per tree are 

 secured in the sixth year ; if this be so it is mere 

 waste of time and money for Europeans to plant 

 coconuts in the East of Ceylon.— I am, Sir, yours 

 faithfully, 



AN INVESTOR. 



A REPLY. 



Batticaloa, June 30th. 



Sir, — In reply to "An Investor," writing from 

 Kurunegala, in your issue of the 27th inst. 

 I willingly give you the following for what it 

 is worth : — 



To begin with, it is quite impossible to lay 

 down hard and fast rules as regards the cost 

 of bringing an acre of coconuts into bearing, 

 expenditure of clearing, firiDg, fencing, holing, 

 planting, nursery, etc., etc. So very much de- 

 pends on situation of the property, labour, 

 quality of soil, sound plants, good fencing and 

 honest management; and last, but not least, on 

 the extent of the property. For instance, it is 

 easy enough to make coconut trees bear here 

 within six years from planting, in a small 

 garden, where the plants can be daily watered, 

 shaded and manured; but on a large property 

 this cannot be done. Most of the old coco- 

 nut estates here stand on rather poor soil ; 

 all clustered along the sea shore. But 

 there is magnificent land to be had near 

 Maha Oya where almost anything can be 

 made to grow luxuriously, as Mr Fielder 

 proved. Fine virgin forest can be had under 

 Irrigation tanks. The curse of Batticaloa has 

 been the indiscriminate granting of chenas. 

 There is not an estate here of which part has 

 not been exhausted by chena cultivation before 

 being sold by Government. Another mistake 

 planters have made here was to Impoverish 

 their soil by catch crops when plantiug first. 

 The soil here will not stand this. But Batti- 

 caloa proprietors do very well indeed. I can 

 prove an average interest on capital and interest 

 of 25 per cent. Of course, we, like most people, 

 have our good and our bad years. Investors 

 are not chary of placing money here. The other 

 day I wanted a small mortgage for a client and 

 had the money offered 18 times over. Although 

 it costs R24 to place a ton of copra on the 

 Colombo market, our copra always obtains the 

 top market price. We get cash on the spot 



