and Magazine oj the Ceylon Agricultural Society, 



Then, of course, you do not believe in burning ? 



1 would only burn fungoid growth, thread 

 blight and that sort of thing. The fungus 

 grows on underneath the soil when it is covered. 

 With regard to other prunings I ehould be very 

 strong on burying them. 



Tea Bricks. 



How do you view the proposed campaigu to 

 promote tea drinking among the natives of 

 India by the sale of tea bricks ? 



It is a way, of course, of gotting rid of the 

 poorer qualities of tea; but what we want to do 

 is to get at the agricultural people, so that Ifiei, 

 will buy it. Not only the people in the towns 

 but the people in the agricultural districts. 



How do you recommend doing that ? 



Messrs. Andrew Yule & Co. carried out a 

 scheme some years, ago of selling pice packets 

 to tho natives, but it seems to have come to 

 nothing. The only way to do it is to have 



AGENTS TO PUSH IT 



and get the housewives in agricultural districts 

 to get a liking for it. It would be a difficult 

 thing to get it introduced all over, it would 

 take time. The brick3 are made of a poor 

 quality of tea because the poorer class would 

 not pay the price for a good tea. Tho better 

 class natives can always buy tho ordinary tea. 



Altogether, Isuppose, it is not a great success? 



Well, it has not been a success so far. 



Do you think it will be P 

 " There is an idea of compressed tea now which 

 may have a better result. The bricks will probably 

 be about five pounds in weight, in fact they are 

 already madb so for Afghanistan. It takes a 



LONG TIME 



to get rid of them, however, and the system has 

 not made much headway. 



If they don't make much headway in Afghan- 

 istan, I suppose they won't make much headway 

 anywhere else ? 



I am afraid not — no. Of course there are so 

 many people down in the agricultural districts of 

 Bengal and round there that if it were once intro- 

 duced there would be a big demand for it, once 

 they take a liking for tea. 



Do you think they are likely to get a liking 

 for it ? 



Oh, I think they will. It is just a matter of time. 



It may be successful then and it may not ? 



I think if they have the funds to keep it long 

 enough before the public it may ; but, as I said 

 before, it is not reaching the town people so 

 much, as the people in the country, the ryots, 

 that should be aimed at. 



There is then a prospect of a demand boir.g 

 created if you can keep long enough at it ? 



I think so, yes. 



How are tho bricks made? 



They are simply pressed by being hammered 

 into a mould, by hand, with an iron mallet. 



It is a simple operation, then ? 



Oh, yes, it's simple enough. Of course if it were 

 to turn out a success, machinery would have to 

 be introduced to do it on a bigger scale, bec iuse 

 it takes a long time by hand. 



Could they be improved ? 



They could be improved by machinery. 



In what way ? 



They would look neater and it could also be 

 done mote expeditiously. 



RUBBER IN COCHIN. 



Lease or Forest Lands. 

 With reference to the advertisement in this 

 issue from tho Divvan of Cochin, the following 

 is an extract from the Order of the Cochin 

 Government regarding the lease of forest lands 

 for the extension of rubber cultivation. The 

 Order opens with a review of the previous action 

 taken by the Durbar with regard to, leasing 

 forest lands for planting of rubber and coffee, 

 and then goes on to say : — 



It will be observed from the above review of 

 the previous correspondence on the subject, 

 that leases of forest lands for coffee or rubber 

 cultivation have hitherto been granted more or 

 less as an experimental measure and that no 

 definite policy has been laid down to regulate 

 the grant of such leases. Whereas in some cases 

 applications have been refused, in others they 

 were granted, and no consistent policy has 

 hitherto been followed in disposing of the several 

 applications that wore received from time to 

 time. Before formulating a definite policy on 

 the subject, it was necessary however to watch 

 the progress of rubber cultivation started by the 

 planters in the Palapiily, Puthucad and Vellani- 

 kara Estates and also to ascertain whether the 

 forest lands of the State are well adapted for 

 the successful cultivation of rubber. Mr. Cecil 

 Hall, one of the most experienced planters of 

 the State, was deputed to inspect forest lands 

 in the Sholayar valley, and he made a report as 

 to the 



EXCELLENT FACILITIES FOR RUBBER CULTIVATION 



in these parts. The Forest Working Plan Officer, 

 Mr Oovinda Menon, also reported that timber 

 extraction would be prohibitive in this locality. 

 In regard to the experiments already made, 

 careful enquiries have now been made and it is 

 reported that the results achieved so far have 

 been eminently satisfactory and rubber is grow- 

 ing remarkably well in all the throe estates. In 

 a pamphlet issued by the planters of Southern 

 India on rubber cultivation in Travancore and 

 Cochin, reference has been made to Cochin 

 rubber in the following terms : — 



" Rubber was first planted on any scale in 1905, when Mr 

 K 15 Nicoll obtained a grant of forest land at Palapiily, 

 behind the Government Taak Plantation. This was a well 

 situated block, at the foot of the hills, with the Chemoni 

 river running through the centre. Some forty acres were 

 opened in 190s, and later on, in the same year, Mr E G 

 Windle, on behalf of a Syndicate, took up an ad,,oinin._: 

 block of forest now called Puthucad. In 190G there were 



ome sou acres opened on each place, and in 1907 the 

 balance of the land was opened, "Puthucad being in all 

 some 059 acres and Palapiily nearly 500, the two places 

 making a fine sheet of over 1,100 acres of rubber. The 

 comlit.-ro.-j here a:'e vciy favourable, the elevation t-ein.g 

 :• ImosL sea level, rainfa 11 about 150 inches, and surrounding 

 hills sheltering the basin from wind. As a result growth 

 has been remarkably tine and, according to those who 

 have seen both, it may challenge comparison with tino 

 iitraita growth. The plantations are some eight miles by 

 ■ art road from the Puthucad station on the Cochin Railway 

 anil about 20 miles from the Coast. lu 1906 also a grant of 

 Government forest, six miles from Trichur Railway sta- 

 tion and lying on the main road from Trichur to Patghnut 

 was obtained by Messrs. li G Windle and R K Campbell 

 Gpmpertz, who opened too acres and subsequently 

 disposed of the block to the Cochin Rubber Company. 

 Ltd., of Colombo, in whose name the Government 

 title was issued. This consists of 1 1.000 acres in all, of 

 which 100 acres were opened in 190H, 200 in 1907, i.n<l Aio in 

 l'jtw, 200 being tolas'., hly-ation and runtall are much the 



■ame a:i at Puthucad and Palapiily, and growth has been 

 excellent. There are, therefore, at present some 1,900 acres 



^3 



