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and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society 291 



REMINISCENCES OF AN EX-CEYLON 

 PLANTER. 



Planting in Guiana. 



British Consulate, Paramari, June 23rd. 

 The "Ceylon Handbook & Directory" for 

 1907—8, is most interesting, and mii6t be of very 

 great service to all who have anything to do 

 with Ceylon, whether in the way of administra- 

 tion, business, or in ordinary daily life, it seems 

 to include everything ; and I have studied it, 

 and continue to do so with very great interest. 



Yes, things have changed since I left the 

 island. Of my old Matale North and West 

 friends, I find only Keith Rollo, Wm. Milne, J 

 R Martin, A L French, and F H Davidson, to all 

 •f whom I send my most kind regards. So far 

 as I remember the only Ceylon men I have met, 

 since I left are: Alexander Ashmore, Wrightson 

 of the P W D, and Henry Brown (of Rusiya- 

 gama) who called on me in Mombasa years ago, 

 on his way to Nyassaland. 



I should much like to visit Ceylon again : I 

 always look back with pleasure to my planting 

 days there. 



Planting here is very different ; to begin 

 with, the land is almost a dead level, the 

 water having to be kept off by ilams and 

 sluices. All the transport-, is done by river, the 

 rivers are many and great. (It is possible to go 

 from British to French Guiana by boat, without 

 landing, or going on to the sea.) 



You ask about the cacao industry in this 

 Colony. Well, there is nothing very encourag- 

 ing to relate. Cacao has for many years been 

 the staple product of the Colony. I have before 

 me the record of the exports from 1816 to the 

 present date. The maximum was reached in 

 1895 with 4,556 tons, the minimum in 1904, 

 with 854 tons. This year (1904) should be kept 

 out of sight when considering the general state 

 of the industry, as there were special circum- 

 stances ; estates which were at that time in no 

 way affected by the disease, which has crippled 

 the industry, that year gave very short crops. 

 The exports for the three following years, 1905-7, 

 were 1,681, 1,480 and 1,625, respectively. 



As I think,' I told you in a former letter, 

 the falling-off of the crop is mainly due to 

 a disease which appeared some years ago in 

 the Saramacca District, becoming serious about 

 the year 1898. From there it spread to 

 the other districts. The disease locally 

 goes by the name of "Krulloto," (or Witch 

 Broom.) Various causes are given, but ray own 

 opinion is, that it is due to under-cultivation, 

 insufficient drainage and insufficient light ; but 

 this theory is, I know, not generally accepted 

 by the Planters, and others. But whatever may 

 be the cause, the disease exists, the trees die, 

 and there is no sign that the disease will even- 

 tually die out of itself. The "Krulloto" does 

 not necessarily itself kill the trees, but 

 weakens them and renders them liable to the 

 attacks of other diseases. 



The Chaetodiplodia attacks trees which have 

 beep weakened and rendered more or less leaf- 

 less by the Krulloto. The fungus attacks the 



lips of the leafless twigs, and grows with 

 great rapidity towards the stem, ami 

 eventually kills the tree. With the Chaetodip- 

 lodia appears, more especially in the dry wea- 

 ther, Thrips, which, if their attacks continue, 

 render the trees leafless, and still more suscep- 

 tible to the Chaetodiplodia. 



Experiments are being made by the Agricul- 

 tural Department on a few plantations, with a 

 view to stamp out the disease, and, so far as one 

 can see at present, appear to be satisfactory. The 

 treatment consists of lopping the trees, leaving 

 only the trunks and stumps of the primary 

 branches. The cuts are immediately tarred, 

 all the debris collected, and destroyed by 

 fire, and the lopped trees thoroughly syringed 

 with a solution of sulphate of copper. The re- 

 sult has been that, in almost every case, where 

 the treatment has been properly carried out, 

 the trees have thrown out u quantity of new 

 healthy wood, which in due course produces 

 large numbers of healthy pods. 



The hardening (" Versteening ") of the pods, 

 which on the untreated fields amounts to some 

 50%, appears, on the treated fields, to be less 

 than 1% ; while in the latter case, the total 

 number of pods is much greater. 



It is estimated, and the estimate does not 

 appear to be over-sanguine, that the increased 

 production will within two years more than 

 cover the cost of the treatment, and the crop 

 lost by lopping. It is impossible at present 

 to say whether the improvement will be per- 

 manent ; but if the treatment is properly carried 

 out on all the plantation.?, and followed up 

 with proper cultivation, there is every reason to 

 believe that it will be so. 



The hopes of the Colony now hang on Bananas. 

 In 1906 an Agreement was entered into between 

 the Colonial Government, and the United Fruit 

 Company, of Boston, U.S.A. — the former under- 

 taking that within 3 years from the date of the 

 Agreement, 3,000 Hectares should be planted 

 up with '* Gros' Michael" Bananas, with the 

 aid and under the supervision of the Govern- 

 ment ; the latter undertaking to buy all the 

 fruit produced on that area, of a certain stan- 

 dard, at fixed rates. 



Four steamers have been specially built by the 

 Royal Dutch West India Mail Company for the 

 service, and commenced running weekly in March 

 last. So far, owing partly to the planters being 

 unwilling to carry on the cultivation in accor- 

 dance with the instructions of the experts, the 

 yield has been very short, and the steamers have 

 taken less than one fifth of the expected mini- 

 mum number, but the quality of the fruit has 

 been very favourably reported on in New York. 

 Now, however, that the planters are beginning 

 to realize that their own methods are not per- 

 fect, and as more fields are coming into bearing, 

 it may be hoped that before this time next year 

 the exports may exceed 20,000 bunches a week. 

 The steamers calling alternately at Trinidad anil 

 Barbados, make the trip in 9i days. 



Some Rubber, Hevea brasiliensis, has been 

 put in, and is doing well, but at present the area 

 under cultivation is not important, 



