210 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September 2, 1889. 
a patch of land to plant a few of these trees at least 
in a compound. I have seen these trees thriving well 
in several compounds, and two or three trees which I 
saw growing in some villages near about have an abun- 
dance of fruit. The annual produce of a tree could be 
estimated at something over two thousand fruits. But 
it cannot be said whether it will produce the same 
quantity if planted in a large area. A tree at the rate 
mentioned would yield the owner at least ten rupees a 
year, which is no trifle for a poor cultivator. But in 
spite of what they see in their neighbours, the goyias 
do not care to grow these at all. The question why they 
do not grow it comes before us. It canuot be their 
laziness, as a nutmeg tree does not require much labour ; 
then is it their apathy which prevents their doing this ? 
Though the goyias are often accused of apathy I don't 
think they deserve it to such an extent. It is only 
ignorance and carelessness produced by want of a proper 
market at hand. If they could be made to see that it 
will bring money to them they are sure to grow it. For 
instance in the case of a villager it is very seldom 
we require any inducing to make them grow coconuts. 
He knows fully well that if he plants it he will either 
get the value or be able to use it himself. 
Therefore to induce a villager to grow any new product 
one should be ready to show them a market, and this 
coupled with the example of their neighbours and a 
little rousing up as it were by force from the proper 
authorities is I think the whole key to native in- 
dustries ; without either of these it is next to impossi- 
ble to make them move a single step. Though the 
above remarks are made under nutmeg it would be 
well to consider whether the industries which have 
ceased and which are existing have been and are 
governed by the same causes. For instance it is said 
that cotton was grown in Oeylon for industrial pur- 
poses, and it ceased beoause the maohine was not fed up 
with a ready market, In those days there was a market 
opened to the cultivators for supplying the article for 
native looms. With the introduction of Manchester 
goods the working of the looms stopped and the cotton 
industry too succumbed with it. This and other instances 
in regard to different industries points out clearly that a 
demand at hand is one of the great requisites for pro- 
moting native industries. The Directors of the Spinning 
Company have hit upon this principle and have estab- 
lished agencies in different places in the island for 
buying up the produce, and this would no doubt go a 
great deal in promoting this industry. 
There is much talk at the present moment whether 
the cultivation of paddy is paying. Carefully compiled 
figures and statistics, taking an average crop into 
account (and not a bad one) have shown that it is a 
paying investment. There is no doubt that there are 
some fields which would not pay the ordinary cultivator. 
But such cases are very rare. Your extract in the June 
Tropical Agriculturist on the cultivation of rice in 
Guiana is a very interesting one, and there is much in it 
for us in Oeylon to think of. The African cooly and 
the Indian immigrant all adopt the transplanting system, 
and broadcast sowing is not known amongst them. 
But our goyias in Ceylon stiok to the wasteful system 
of sowing broadcast, wasteful on two accounts : first, 
in the amount of seed paddy, and secondly, in the crop 
obtained. In some villages the cultivators pay 100 per 
cent interest on the seed paddy they borrow, and in 
some seasons they leave off whole tracts of land uncul- 
tivated for want of seed paddy. 
Another great advantage which is of no little con- 
sequence to be derived from a system of transplanting 
is the prevention to a great extent of damages by 
floods. Generally plants when very young suffer much 
from high water, but the damage on those which are 
planted out would be very little. "W. A. D. S. 
TOBACCO PLANTING IN BORNEO. 
The Borneo S. S. Oo.'s steamer " Paknam " now in 
port, has brought 92 bales of tobacco from the See 
ganuan Estate of the Tobacco Company of British- 
North Borneo, of which Mr. George Stephens is Mana- 
ger. This first crop has been grown by a mere handful 
of coolies amidst the usual difficulties of opening up 
% new estate, and the result promises very well for 
the future of this plantation, where tobacco is now 
being grown on a large scale. " Paknam " during 
the two previous voyages brought up about 600 bales 
from the Ranow estate of the Count de Geloes, one 
of the most successful of North Borneo planters, and 
to whom the country owes a great deal. The '' Ben- 
more," of the same line, also brought up 50 bales from 
another estate, and further shipments have been made 
by "blue funnel" boats. The prospects of nearly all 
the estates are most encouraging, and the initial diffi- 
culties having been fairly well overcome by this time, 
it may be reasonably expected that the different plan- 
tations will now make rapid progress.— Straits Times, 
7th August. 
■ ♦ 
NOTES ABOUT TEA AND THE 
TEA FUND. 
(From an Upcountry Correspondent.) 
Our Melbourne Agent, Mr. Hugh Mackenzie, has 
carried out his arrangements in a businesslike and 
creditable manner. 
Dr. Duke's scheme is coming to the front again now 
that the American Tea Company has been floated. 
It ought to be supported by the Tea Fund and more 
especially the American Company, as it will much 
benefit the latter. It must be worked in a very 
complete and large-handed manner, through the 
length and breadth of America — at one time. If it 
leads to a lot of controversy in the papers on the 
part of our China and Japan friends, all the better. 
The more we are before the public the better. We 
have a really good article for sale, so publioity 
and controversy will be exaotly what we want. 
The question of analysis of our made teas came 
up at the Nuwara Eliya meeting, but no doubt 
there was not the time available to ventilate 
all that had to be Baid on the matter, i. e. 
whether the analyses should be made in London 
or Ceylon. This will no doubt be settled at the 
next Committee meeting which I trust will be better 
attended. I understand the Directors' meeting of the 
Ceylon Planters' American Tea Company had some 
important business before it. Outsiders wonder if 
Philip in Kandy as Secretary with a first-class firm 
in Colombo as the agents of the Company would not 
have done the job as economically as the present 
team who run the ooncern. Time will show. No 
doubt, Mr. Grinlinton and Darley, Butler & Co. have 
the confidence and rightly so of business men, but 
it does seem hard that Mr. Philip who endured the 
burden and most of the initiating proceedings 
should have lost the business when the plum was 
ripe. Such is life in a tropical olimate. Pineo 
and his manservant and maidservant starting to 
run the tea campaign in the Continent of America 
has its amusing aspect— but the II. Napoleon first 
stormed Boulogne with his tame eagles ; Disraeli was. 
the subjeot of ridicule when he made his speech in 
the House of Commons ; and Pineo and his pair of 
colored doves are doubtless the brave Pioneers of 
the great battle of Ceylon Tea vs. China and Japan 
that will soon be fought in that vast Continent. 
So Mote It Be. 
[Is it not clear that the Amerioan Tea Company 
would not have floated without the aid of Colombo 
men who made it a condition that the business 
should all be conducted down here : no reflection 
on worthy Mr. Philip in that — it was simply a ques- 
tion of location and we suppose the meeting decided 
in favour of Colombo. — Ed.] 
COMPARATIVE COST OF BRITISH AND 
FOREIGN PATENTS. 
The London Chamber of Commerce Journal furnishes 
the following table showing the costs incidental to 
procuring and maintaining patents for the full term 
permissible in the prinoipal countries in Europe, Asia, 
Africa, North and South America. The term of the 
