Miscellaneous. 



CEYLON AGRICULTURE : PAST AM) PRESENT. 



The latter days have, in many respects, been of much importance to 

 Ceylon, whose people have revelled in excitement in various directions. Amongst 

 other things, agricultural matters have been prominently to the fore. Seeing 

 that the Island is naturally an agricultural one, that is not surprising ; for matters 

 which directly or indirectly affect what must be considered as our predominating 

 interests, have a special claim to the consideration of the public, and so command 

 attention. The inauguration, through the instrumentality of the present Governor 

 — with whom, the idea is believed to have originated— of the " Ceylon Agricultural 

 Society" will stand out as a special feature in the annals of last year, and with 

 it His Excellency's name will be perpetually identified. Everyone will admit that 

 it was a move in the right direction. For reasons which it is needless to specify, 

 the Society has been successfully launched ; has branches in all parts of Ceylon, 

 with a large and increasing roll of members ; is extending its beneficent oper- 

 ations in all directions ; and may be expected to exert an influence as powerful 

 as welcome. It has already excited much enthusiasm, and may, in the near 

 future, be expected to have a renovating effect at all points of the compass. 

 Being primarily designed to reach and benefit the more impoverished sections 

 of our husbandmen in a practicable form, advantage will be readily taken of the 

 opportunity presented ; and steady general improvement can hardly fail to come 

 about. It would, of course, be the height of absurdity to expect too much in 

 the early days of its career. It is a novel enterprise, and must be allowed to 

 gradually "feel its way." Perfection is unattainable: but continued progress in 

 that direction is always possible. Faults and flaws, as they manifest themselves, 

 will be as far as possible removed, and the ultimate outcome gives promise of being 

 productive of an almost incalculable amount of good, especially to those culti" 

 vators who are known to have been for a long time in desperate straits. 



The planting community, mainly composed of Europeans, is chiefly inter- 

 ested in the growth of tea, coffee, &c. for exportation. Their theatre of 

 operations was, until recent times, confined to the hill country, which hap 

 been denuded of its primeval forests and parceled out into thriving coffee 

 estates. All other vegetation was tabooed, and— until the end of the 

 seventies— Coffee was King ! But the inevitable exhaustion of the soil 

 was apparent early in the eighties, and a conviction soon established itself 

 that coffee was doomed, and its days numbered. The doleful story need not be 

 related, for it must yet be fresh in the memories of many with sad experiences 

 of those trying times. Attention had to be diverted to possible vegetation such 

 as Avas calculated to supplant that which was slowly, but surely, approaching 

 extinction. The experimental introduction of such plants as Liberian coffee, cinchona, 

 cocoa, and tea, was assiduously resorted to ; and with success. Their propagation 

 was vigorously engaged in by the rnajoi'ity, while a few went in for coconuts, 

 &c. Liberian coffee failed to answer ; cinchona made " the mouth water " at the 

 outset, and its cultivation was rapidly extended ; but, alas ! soon a big " full 

 stop" loomed in the distance. The high prices which the bark at first realized 

 gradually dropped ; the price of an ounce bottle of sulphate of quinine fell from 

 20 rupees to something less than two ; the industry ceased to pay : and the 

 plantations were ruthlessly destroyed ! 



Cocoa was too sensitive— too particular about locality— and would only 

 thrive under very favourable conditions ; but where a suitable lodgement was 

 met with, a robust and remunerative estate came into being, with all the elements 

 of permanency ; and still flourishes. With tea, things were different. It will 

 grow almost anywhere- a fact demonstrated by the Sinhalese method of expressing 



