and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Sep., 1910. 



281 



THE CEYLON PLANTING ENTERPRISE: 



SUMMARY OF DIRECTORY RETURNS 

 FOR 1910. 



398,000 Aches of Tea and 188,000 Aches of 

 Rcbbek. 



The edition of the "Ceylon Handbook and 

 Directory " for 1910-1 1 is just out of the printer's 

 hand, publication having been delayed by nearly 

 a month owing toseveral unforeseen circumstan- 

 ces (including a colleague's departure home on 

 sick leave in June, the great increase in limited 

 companies to be entered up, and unusual delay 

 by those concerned in returning pages submitted 

 for final revision.) But this delay has been more 

 than compensated for by the enlargement of the 

 book by over one hundred pages of more in- 

 formation than last year ; while, it will be 

 seen from the number of special slips in 

 serted, that endeavour has been made to bring 

 the information up to date as far as possible, and 

 to present it in a reliable form, though absolute 

 accuracy (with changes so constantly occurring) 

 is unattainable. Once more have we to tender 

 our cordial thanks to Heads of Government De- 

 partments and other officials as well as to all 

 planters, merchants, traders and others who 

 have very courteously afforded us corrections 

 and the latest information available. We have 

 no doubt that in our "Ceylon Handbook and 

 Directory " the part that most attracts the 

 attention of those who take an interest in 

 the material progress and prosperity of our 

 island is that which leads off the book with 

 a Review of the Planting Enterprise. Our 

 chief purpose today is to present our readers 

 with the main points of the latest review. 

 According to the returns sent to us from all 

 the Planting Districts, checked by the infor- 

 mation of Colombo Mercantile Agents and of 

 responsible Inspectors of Estates, we are glad 

 to be able to say once again that our Planting 

 Enterprise— especially in tea and rubber — 

 shows expansion and is in a3 sound a con- 

 dition as ever. It may be summed up for 

 August this year as follows, and the comparison 

 with the middle of last year — when our last re- 

 view was undertaken— stands thus : — ■ 

 Products. 



Tea 



Cacao 



Rubber 



Coffee 



Cardamoms 



Cinchona 



Camphor 



Other products 

 on plantations, 

 incldg. grass 

 and timber 

 trees 



Total area 



Cultivated area 



No. of planta- 

 tions (culti- 

 vated) 



No, of Huperin 

 tendenta and 

 Assistants 



1910. 



1909. 



Increase or 



Acres. 



Acres. 



Decrease. 



.398,000 



395,000 



3,000 inc. 



. 33,000 



36,000 



3,000 doc. 



.188,000 



174,000 



14,000 inc. 



875 



950 



75 dec. 



. 7,426 



7,738 



312 dec. 



73 



190 



123 dec. 



. 1,200 



1,200 





40,500 

 975,425 

 642,330 



1,755 

 1,703 



39,500 

 957,749 

 025.629 



1,731 

 1,001 



1,000 inc. 

 17,676 inc. 

 16,701 inc. 



24 inc. 



42 inc. 



The above includes 6,000 acres of native tea 

 gardens, as many acres of native cacao gardens 

 and 5,000 acres of native rubber gardens. As 

 regards rubber acreage, we find we have been 

 crediting to rubber last year, as well as in 1908, 

 fully half the acreage of tea-and-rubber inter- 

 planted, in place one-third the acreage, which 

 is a fairer proportion, and our estimate of acre- 

 age under rubber for both 1908 and 1909 had 

 therefore to be reduced (the tea acreage remai- 

 ning right) by 10,000 respectively, resulting 

 in a total of 170,000 acres for 1908 and 

 174,000 acres for 1909 against 188,000 acres for 

 1910. This means an increase of 14,000 acres 

 of rubber within the year ; we believe' we are 

 correct in our estimate, because our returns 

 show a total area of rubber planted alone of 

 142,685 acres this year against 131,800 acres in 

 1909, while the extent of tea interplanted with 

 rubber has increased from 67,056 to 75,351 acres, 

 there being also 20,160 acres of cacao inter- 

 planted with rubber, beside 617 acres planted 

 with rubber and coconuts. In the case of 

 rubber-and-cacao interplanted we have credited 

 half the area to rubber and half to cacao, but 

 fear lest the decrease of 3,000 acres shown in 

 the cacao acreage has anything to do with that 

 calculation, for we rind no diminution at all 

 in cacao exports this year, the quantity shipped 

 up to 29th August being 53,139 cwt. against 

 48,033 cwt. in the corresponding period of 1909, 

 accordiiig to the Chamber of Commerce re- 

 turns. The decrease of 312 in the cardamom 

 acreage may, we suppose, be due to defective 

 returns, because, as in the case of cocoa, export 

 of cardamoms this year is far ahead of 1909 — 

 the actual quantity exported up to 29th August 

 being 466,162 lb. against 452,360 lb. in the cor- 

 responding period last year. We think we 

 need hardly notice coffee and cinchona, but 

 how sad it is to contemplate their dwindling 

 down — in the case of coffee from 185,000 

 acres in 1870 to 875 in 1910 and in the case 

 of cinchona from 64,000 ac es in 1883 to 73 at 

 the present time. The progress in the camphor 

 industry seems to be not up to expectations, 

 there being only 646 acres against 623 last 

 year, according to estate returns ; though there 

 should really be 1,100 to 1,200 acres, allowing for 

 plantings on estate boundaries and roadsides. 

 Nevertheless, it is strange that the export of 

 camphor has fallen from 15 cwt. in 1908 to 9 cwt. 

 in 1909, while only 2 cwt. had been sent 

 away during the first half of this year. 

 Any reference to our Planting Enterprise would 

 be incomplete without a word about the oldest 

 regularly cultivated tea field in Ceylon, that 

 of 19 acres (Assam- Hybrid) on Loolecondera, 

 planted by Mr. James Taylor (for Messrs. 

 Harrison and Leake of Keir Dundas & Co.) in 

 1868-9. Mr G F Deane, who has been Manager 

 since 1892, and has kindly reported to us at 

 intervals as to its condition, wrote on July 9th, 

 1909, as follows:— "It gave 395 lb. made tea 

 per acre last season. It is to be pruned again 

 shortly and I expect to give a better result in 

 1910-11 as there is nothing much wrong with it 

 It is still without manuring in any form." In 

 1906, Mr. Deane reported "a yield of 536 1b. 

 an acre and an average of 400 lb. for 6 years. 

 This field is now 40 years old and is very wind- 



