208 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September 2j 1889. 
cau be said of the Estates of which I had but a pass- 
ing glance is that they have not the disease in as 
aggravated a form ns the Estates further inland have, 
but to say that they enjoy perfect immunity is 
" unmitigated bosh." 
"What a field for intelligent study there is in the 
thickly planted grove6 of coconut trees in the town 
of Negombo. For crooked stems commend me to 
them. The struggle for "more light" has been very 
great, and the stems present wonderful contortions. 
AH accepted ideas of coconut cultivation and of the 
general principles of Agriculture are set at naught by 
the splendid trees in this prosperous town. A clear 
space of from between 25 to 30 feet is said by all 
authorities on coconut cultivation to ba essential to 
the proper cultivation of coconuts. I saw trees planted 
so close as ten feet apart, not simply growing, but 
growing luxuriantly and bearing heavily. In his Report 
to Government on Coconut leaf disease, Mr. Drieberg 
advises deep draining for Ooconut Estates. This 
is in accordance with the fundamental teachings of 
Agricultural Chemistry, which by the way he will 
learn, as he gains more local experience, are not 
of universal application. Many parts of the town 
of Negombo are very low-lying, and a walk along 
its numerous minor roads will reveal to the obser- 
vant visitor Ooconut trees flourishing in gar lens 
where the level of the water is within a couple of 
feet of the surface. A puddle here and a shallow 
trench there made for soaking coconut leaves before 
plaiting shows how very near the surface the water 
lies. In what seems a dead level there is peroeptibly 
no fall for the water to drain away, and to all 
appearances it is stagnant, and yet the coconut trees 
growing on these lands have as dark-coloured foliage and 
as good crops as those growing on more favourable 
localities. The Cinnamon Gardens at Colombo present, 
in many parts, an almost exact counterpart of the 
conditions under which coconut trees flourish at 
Negombo. Deep-draining is said to be synonymous 
with deep cultivation, and deep cultivation is necessary 
to allow the roots to go down deep into the soil and 
be away from the regions affected by droughts, and 
also to favour a thorough aeration of ttie soil with 
all its concomitant benefits. I can show anyoue a 
Coconut Estate of over 50 years composed mostly 
of a hard, and to all appearance, impervious soil, that 
has never been manured, nor the surface disturbed 
in auy way, that has no drains on it, and yet is 
bearing crops that will put to shame younger 
Estates and in more favourable localities. And this 
too in a district which, accordiug to a sapient corres- 
pondent of the Observer, has slab rock below the 
surface, and according to another as sapient authority 
has a dry climate and a hard soil peculiarly affected 
by droughts. I hope in what I have written not to 
be misunderstood, and to be thought to underrate 
the value and the benefits of draining, tilling and 
manuring. I have simply mentioned the different 
conditions tinder which Ooconut trees are fouud to 
flourish, and which apparently seem to upset the 
teachings of Agricultural Chemistry founded on care- 
ful and long continued experiments carried on by 
some of the highest authorities of the present day. 
They present problems which laymen cannot solve, 
and which ought to engage the attention of pro- 
fesHionals. — Local " Examiner.'' 
Ceylon Tea on the Continent. — Mr. JohnFraser, 
while in Carlsbad, took the opportunity of seeking 
to spread a knowledge of our new staple. The 
Karlsbader Badeblatt of 16th June contains an 
advertisement, of which the following is a transla- 
tion : — 
Ceylon Tea. 
Mr. Fraser, tea planter from Ceylon, who is at 
pre Bent staying here for the cure, would be very 
willimr to give information on the character of the 
famous Ceylon tea, and at the same time enter into 
negotiations with those who may wish to import 
gi i nine Ceylon tea into this neighbourhood. Park- 
straBSe, " l'rluz Eugen," Karlsbad. 
Cotton in the Matale District. — We are 
glad to learn that some 300 to 400 lb. cotton seed 
have been distributed among the natives of this 
district, and Mr. Burrows will probably give out as 
much more before the end of the year. When the 
people find out that they can sell their crop — whether 
it be one of few or many lb. — to the Company's repre- 
sentative for cash on the spot, they are certain to be 
encouraged to continue and extend the new enterprise. 
At present many of them do not understand what 
the ' Agent Mahatmaya ' is after, in giving them 
seed : is this to be a new means of taxation, or of 
reintroducing rajakariya? Mr. Burrows will no 
doubt make their admission to the annual grand 
district tamasha, conditional on at least some 
cotton crop being forthcoming ! 
Tea Cultivation and Manufactube in the 
Shan States. — The Manchester Guardian has been 
publishing extracts from private letters sent home 
by Mr. W. Sheriff of Bangoon, who has been making 
a journey through the North Shan States on behalf 
of the Bangoon Chamber of Commerce. In one 
of these letters Mr. Sheriff says : — 
The Paloungs are peculiarly different from the 
dominant race of sihans in every way. As previously 
stated, their livelihood is chiefly by growing tea, 
the mountain slopes being covered by tea plantations. 
Their way of curing and preparing the tea is very 
primitive, the sun doing the work principally. The 
tea, however, has a high value with the Burmese 
on account of its bitter taste, and tbe industry is a 
flourishing one. A large quantity is sold as " wet 
tea " or pickled — a sloppy sort of paste much admired 
as a delicacy in Burma, which appears to attain its 
highest flavour by being kept decomposing in a hole 
in the ground for six months or longer. 
If this is the kind of tea that the Burmese appre- 
ciate, we fear that Ceylon tea would be scarcely 
'flavory' enough for their palates. Commenting on 
these letters the Rangoon Gazette says :-r- 
One thing seems certain, that China is likely to 
find in Upper Burmah and tributary States a new 
competitor in the tea trade. 
Poor China 1 This would be the last straw. She 
had better begin to set her house in order. 
Slave Emancipation in Beazil was thus 
referred to in the Emperor's speech opening the Ses- 
sion of the Legislature : — 
By virtue of the civil emancipationw hich you de- 
creed in the last session, the substitution of labor is 
proceeding fairly, without those profound shocks which 
have everywhere followed crises of this character. 
The agricultural class has understood that property 
would become useless and valueless, when no longer 
productive of income, and resolutely inaugurated the 
new regime, from which is to arise the regeneration 
and augmentation of industries. The Government has 
assisted, in so far as you had granted it means, this 
movement of economical and social transformation. 
It has, therefore, used all endeavour to extend the 
railway system, whether by authorizing the extension 
of lines belonging to the slate, or by granting interest 
guarantees to such as, under advantageous conditions, 
can be built by private enterprise. The high powers 
of the state have not been less solicitous in aiding 
agriculture and other industries, assisting the current 
of immigration, already voluminous, and in great part 
spontaneous, as exemplified by the prosperity of the 
foreigners that seek our country. The arrivals in the 
past year reached 131,000 immigrants ; and recent 
months show an increase. To strengthen immigration 
and improve agricultural labor it is necessary that, as 
your wisdom shall decide, the project to regulate terri- 
torial property and facilitate the acquisition of aban- 
doned lands, should become law. Upon such occasion 
you can decide as to the property of granting to the 
Government the right to condemn for public use and 
land bounding on the railways, which is not cultivated 
by the owners and may be available for colonial nuclei. — 
Rio News, 
