and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 



may cost the camphor Monopoly some thousands 

 of pounds to accomplish this task ; but, when 

 it is accomplished, they will lie in the enviable 

 position of being able to recoup themselves by 

 the simple process of enhancing the price of 

 natural camphor. Both the natural and synthe- 

 tic articles enter so largely into the celluloid, 

 explosive, medicinal, disinfectant and a host of 

 other industries, that the commercial fight to 

 a finish now being waged between the mono- 

 polists in the Far East and the scientists of the 

 West will be watched with more than ordinary 

 interest.— Indian Trade Journal, Aug. 6. 



SAMOAN COPRA AND COCOA, 



Comparison with Ceylon. 

 By far the most valuable export of the Samoan 

 group of islands in the Southern Pacific is copra, 

 or the dried pulp of the coconut, and next in 

 value and importance come cocoa and kawa, 

 the latter being a root of medicinal value. We 

 learn from the Consular report on this district 

 just issued, that during the year 1907 the ex- 

 port of copra greatly diminished, and that its 

 price at Apia, the capital of Upolu, the princi- 

 pal island, fell from £17 per ton to £12 and even 

 lower. The oxport, in fact, amounting to 5,400 

 tons, was only about half the quantity shipped 

 in 1906, partly owing to the lower prices now 

 being paid, and partly to a stringent, though 

 necessary, law made by the Government, for- 

 bidding the working-up of unripe ruts with 

 o-ood copra, and making the sale of such inferior 

 qualities punishable, both buyer and seller 

 being liable. At the same time, we read that 

 owners of suitable land are now paying much 

 more attention to this industry than was for- 

 merly the case. The Government have for somo 

 years past required the heads of each Samoan 

 family to plant 50 coconuts yearly on their land. 

 Moreover, the coconut tree on these islands has 

 the advantage of being free from any noticeable 

 disease, such as is common to specimens in the 

 Fiji, the Philippine, the Caroline, and other 

 groups of islands in the Southern Seas. But 

 while the copra export showed signs last year 

 of diminution, the export of cocoa is rapidly 

 increasing, and may some day amount to 700 or 

 800 tons. Dr. Preuss, a well-known authority, 

 writes : — 



The planters can therefore expect that Samoan cocoa 

 will maintain its good price, especially as in nearly all 

 the large producing countries, Ecuador, Brazil, Trinidad 

 and West Africa, varieties are cultivated which are of 

 inferior quality to the Samoan cocoa, whilst in British 

 and Dutch India, where good varieties are also culti- 

 vated, the culture of cacao is not extending owing to 

 numerous pests. 



The cocoa export for 1907, amounting to 115 

 tons, is nearly double that of the previous year, 

 and at the end of that year as high a price as 

 £110 per ton was paid in the London market. 

 The cacao, or seed of the cocoa, cultivated in 

 Upolu is of two species, Criollo and Forastero, 

 and the good reputation of Samoan cacao is due 

 to Criollo, this species having been introduced 

 partly from Ceylon in 1883 and partly from 

 Java in 1884. The same authority writes : — 



This cacao represents one of the first varieties in the 

 world, especially when not mixed with Forastero. In taste 

 it excels Ceylon and Java Criollo and most of the varieties 

 of Central America, with white nibs, which in many cases, 

 though fetching high prices on account of their light colour, 

 have a somewhat grassy and expressionless taste, which 



cannot be .said of Samoan Criollo. The I asl e of well-pre- 

 pared Samoan cacao Is mild, but at the same lime vigorous. 

 The aroma is tine, although not. very strong. 



The other important export, kawa, is at pi e- 

 sent only cultivated by the natives, and at the 

 present price paid, Is per lb, gives th» grower 

 a good return. — Economist, June 27. 



RICE-GROWING A NEW AND IMPORT- 

 ANT INDUSTRY IN BRITISH GUIANA. 



AN EXAMPLE TO CEYLON. 



A very notable illustration of how a Crown 

 tropical Colony for a long time entirely depend- 

 ent on imported rice can begin and extend a 

 successful local industry in rice-growing, is 

 afforded by Brtish Guiana of late years. For 

 many years this Colony imported all the rice — 

 from Bengal or Burma— to feed its labouring 

 population, chiefly East Indian coolies. Many 

 of these, after their indentures expire, elect to 

 remain in the Colony in place of being shipped 

 back. In this way out of a total population of 

 about 315,000, of whom immigrants make up 

 138,000, and of these not more than 65,000 are on 

 the sugar or other estates. To feed these 

 labourers up to eight years ago as much as 

 25 millions lb. weight of rice was imported ; but 

 this fell in 1907 to 6 millions of lb. — not because 

 there was less rice required, but on account of 

 local production. We do not have statistics 

 earlier than for 1898-9, and in that year there 

 were 6,477 acres cultivated which yielded 6,374 

 tons of paddy equal to 4,653 tons of rice. (This 

 bears out our contention that in weight, 2 bushels 

 of paddy are equal to fully 1| bushel of rice.) 

 By 1902-03 the acreage had increased to 16,628 

 yielding (nearly a ton an acre) or 16,522 tons of 

 paddy equal to 12, 138 tons of rice) while in 

 1906-07 there were no fewer than 26,567 acres 

 under paddy cultivation giving 30, 152 tons of 

 rice. As a consequence, importation is practi- 

 cally ceasing altogether; indeed last year over 4 

 million lb. of rice was exported from the Colony 

 to the other Guianae and part of the West Indies. 

 The Board of Agriculture had interested itself 

 in a series of yield experiments to discover the 

 yields of different varieties of rice, and strange 

 to say, the opinion was expressed that the 

 varieties Nos. 4 and 6 (" Ceylon Upland Rice' ) 

 "were very suitable for local trade" and "No. (> 

 gave the highest mean yield of the varieties 

 tested." Manurial plots were also tried and 

 carefully reported on, and. experiments in differ- 

 ent modes of planting showed the superiority 

 of single plants in holes by themselves. Now, 

 here is a new and important industry fully 

 established in a tropical Colony within a few 

 years, and not only so but Jamaica, Trinidad 

 and St. Lucia seem best to copy the example of 

 British Guiana. There is surely encouragement 

 here to do much more in Ceylon than has ever yet 

 been attempted. A change of seed is of great 

 importance, and if seed supplies are made avail- 

 able without the intervention of usury, and if 

 all the officers of Government from the Agent 

 downwards, in each province or district, manifest 

 a direct interest in the improvement and exten- 

 sion of the great native rice-growing industry, 

 we feel that a great change for the better might 

 be effected in Ceylon within the next five years 



