4° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July i, 1889. 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
(From a Correspondent.) 
The lands of the German Syndicate at Wata- 
paluwa (Davis's Ferry) are being rapidly cleared. 
The Company have already secured about 120 acres, 
and CO acres have been planted. They are nego- 
tiating for more land around and at Katugastota 
towards the railway station. Tobacco in the Kos- 
potuoya Valley in the North-Western Province has 
been harvested and the leaves are undergoing the 
process of curing. Mr. Sehappe, who had experience 
in Sumatra and the chief manager here, had a 
bad time of it with fever. Mariawatte is taking 
up tobacco too — 50 acres are to be brought under 
cultivation, and the venture, it is hoped, will be 
equally successful as in the case of tea. I saw a 
plot cf land in tobacco at Bandarapola about 
March. The plants looked well enough under such 
a fierce sun as was blazing then, but the ground 
was like brass. I wonder if the shrubs pulled 
through the drought. Mr. Alexander Boss has taken 
up a tract of land in North Matale in Damana- 
hena for tobacco, and operations are going forward 
most energetically. The land is said to be excep- 
tionally good. Mr. Vollar has now, it is said, a 
shipment of between 30,000 and 40,000 lb. afloat, 
and you will recollect that it was his tobacco 
which being sold in Holland attracted the atten- 
tion of Mr. Fritz Meyer, the head of the German 
Syndicate to Ceylon. So far the success of tobacco 
has been assured. The selection of the land is 
the principal thing to be seen to. Tobacco 
likes good soil, and worn-out land where tea can 
fight its way is unsuited to the fragrant weed. 
♦ 
HOBSES :— A WB1NKLE. 
When travelling long ago, as I often did, by 
dak garee, between Lahore and Rawal Pindi, I 
remarked and wondered at the fact that frequently 
the choivkee, or place of changing, was two or three 
miles distant from the stable ; an arrangement 
which I used to regard as an unwarrantable in- 
fliction of extra labour on ponies which appeared 
to have quite enough work to do in their own 
legitimate line. I am now, however, strongly in- 
clined to think that whoever devised this means of 
obliging the syces (or balgeers, as they are called 
on that road) to lead their ponies for two or three 
miles, after doing their turn of fast work, had the 
health and welfare of these little animals at 
heart. I believe any horse, racer, or hack, when 
he comes in after his task, should have his gear 
loosened, and he should be walked about till he 
is dry. A minute's halt for a scrape and whisp 
down might be allowed ; but no elaborate drying, 
as is the custom in the rubbing-down sheds on 
Indian racecourses. These sheds for rubbiug down 
purposes after a gallop are relics of a custom that 
has died out of England more years than I can 
remember. Again I say, have the gear loosened, 
and the animal walked about until he is quite dry ; 
no matter how far or how fast he may haze gone, 
and then, and not till then, put him in his stable. 
I give this advice more with reference to the 
animal's legs and feet than to his general health. In 
my book on " Training and Horse Management 
in India " I have drawn attention to the good 
effects of giving a horse a moderate drink of 
water immediately after fast work. The hotter he 
is, the sooner should he got his water. I see that 
many trainers in India are of a different opinion ; 
probably this small detail entails too much trouble 
to be carried out by them.— Hayes' Sporting News. J 
TOBACCO PLANTING IN DELI. 
The Deli Courant states that the Planters' Associ- 
ation there have rejected a motion binding the members 
not to engage coolie old stagers unless through the 
Immigration Office. 
A Government interpreter for the Chinese language 
was lately to be despatched to the Celestial Empire 
for the purpose of furthering free emigration of coolies 
fom there to the East Coast of Sumatra. The in 
tended mission has for the present fallen through. 
On Mr. Kohler's tobacco estate, a fermenting shed 
was set fire to the other night by evil disposed persons, 
after the piles of tobacco inside had previously had 
petroleum poured over them. With the utmost 
exertions the manager and his assistants succeeded in 
so far frustrating the design of the incendiaries that 
two-thirds of the shed were rescued from the flame. 
The damage done is, notwithstanding, very great, owing 
to the tobacco drenched by the petroleum being of 
course unserviceable. 
The shipment of the tobacco crop raised last year 
is being actively proceeded with, so that most of the 
produce of the estates is already on the way to Europe. 
The weatber in the planting districts during April 
characterised itself by great heat. Drought has bten 
the prevalent feature of the month. The consequence 
is that on most estat3s planting operations have been 
considerably delayed. — Straits Times, May 15th. 
« 
DATES, MAHOGANY, BAMBOOS, RUBBER 
<fec. IN SOUTHERN INDIA, 
From the Madras Forest Administration Report 
for 1887-8 we quote as follows :— 
Exotics. — The results of the experiments with exotics 
have been given in seperate appendices. Germination 
from the seed of date fruits purchased in the bazaar 
was good and the plants appear to stand transplant- 
ing well ; in both these respects, they are fully equal 
to the specially-imported seed and offsets ; of the 
latter, 417 are alive of the 517 received in the Southern 
Circle in 1886-87, and are said to be looking healthy : 
the difference in the percentage of casualties even in 
plantations in the same district, as in Tanjore, seems 
to show that some of the loss was avoidable : the 
dates are reported to do better on the sandy soil of 
the East, than in the wet climate of the West 
Coast. Nothing is said about fruiting, and the forma- 
tion of plantations on an extended scale was post- 
poned to the present year. Wherever they have had 
a good soil and moist climate, mahoganies have done 
well: in Nilambur, a tree, 14 years old, is 71 feet high 
and 46 inches in girth, at breast high ; in the Kullar 
range, trees planted in 1885-86 have attained a height 
of from 10 to 14 feet ; in WyDaid, plants planted out 
in the year, average 3J feet in height, and in Trichno- 
poly, plants obtained in 1886, range from 8 to 11 J feet 
high ; iu poor and dry soil, the growth is not good, 
and in Sriharikot the plantation is said to be a failure; 
as with the dates, much of the loss appears to be due 
to want of either care or experience in transplanting 
and tending, and is probably avoidable ; the plants 
suffer badly from borers and beetles; in private gardens 
in Madras, e.g., Mr. H. O. King's, they grow luxu- 
riantly. 
The giant bamboos in Wynaad made vigorous growth: 
the various rubber plants and the Ipecacuanha there, 
also did well ; the latter was tested by the Govern-- 
ment Botanist and found to yield excellently. The 
commencement of what promises to be a successful 
experiment was made with Sappan wood in Wynaad, 
2000 seeds being planted out and germinating without 
a failure : a few eucalypti have grown at heights down 
to 2,500 feet and are said to be doing well ; they seeded 
at Pahuan6r ; 78 olive trees, a foot high, raised from 
seeds sent in 1880 87, are also in the Wynaad nur- 
series; iu the same place, Lancewood seems to have 
been a failure. 
