TEC IE 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF THE 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XXVI. COLOMBO, MARCH 15th, 190G. No. 2. 



New Products in Ceylon. 



A century ago, the few products cultivated in Ceylon -mainly rice, 

 cinnamon and coconuts— were not " new products " but tilings native to the island. 

 At the present day, the numerous crops mostly are or have been new products, i.e., 

 plants introduced into Ceylon at one time or another. Such for example are tea. 

 cardamoms, cinchona, rubber, cacao, coffee, vanilla, camphor, coca, &c. 



The rise of new products dates from 1821, Avhen the estate of Gangaruwa. now 

 the Government Experiment Station at Peradeniya, and still known to the Tamils as 

 ' Raja ' Thottam, was opened by Governor Sir Edward Barnes. He, like most who first 

 came to Ceylon, took for granted that Indian crops must also succeed here, and tried 

 indigo, sugar, &c, with failure as the result. Later it was discovered that coffee 

 would succeed here, and with that began the coffee boom, which lasted till 

 about 1875, when the rapid spread of the leaf disease began to kill the industry. 



Until 1875 or 1880 no one wanted, and no one would even look at, any 

 new product, but Government had not been idle in introducing them through 

 the Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, Henaratgoda and Hakgala. Dr. Thwaites 

 had already introduced cinchona, Liberian coffee, rubbers, and other plants. 

 With the downfall of coffee people began to try these. 



The first to rise into prominence was of course cinchona, introduced at 

 Hakgala in 1861. Had the people upon whom this cultivation was then pressed 

 been willing to plant little patches of it through their coffee, they would have 

 made large profits and also checked the spread of the coffee disease. But this 

 unfortunately is not Ceylon's way of doing things. No one touched cinchona 

 till about 1875, and then rather gingerly. The first pioneers made large profits, 

 and then followed a rush which rapidly covered the upcountry districts with 

 this tree, lowered the price of quinine from 12 shillings to 1 shilling an ounce, 

 and destroyed the profitableness of the industry. No attempt was made to 

 improve the yield of the barks, or any such thing, and Java, which went 

 doggedly and scientifically to work to do so, has taken away from Ceylon the 

 whole of her cinchona trade, and is never likely to be ousted from her position 

 of supremacy. 



Next came cacao, which in truth is a very old introduction to Ceylon 

 probably having been introduced by Moon to the old Kalutara Botanic Gardens' 

 This, thanks to the work done by the Royal Botanic Gardens Department in 

 the last few years in attacking the canker which threatened it, is still with us. 



