4^3 
« 
To the Editor. 
TOPPING COTTON PLANTS. 
Sib, — Will you or some of your readers kindly 
inform me if Sea Island cotton ought to be topped. 
I hear it has been done in Matale; but my kanga- 
nies, who come from a cotton-growing country, 
say that " topping " cotton prevents it from blossom- 
ing properly. Any information will oblige your 
obedient servant, IGNORAMUS. 
TOPPING OF TEA ISLAND COTTON. 
Sir, — In reply to your correspondent who asks 
if Sea Island Cotton ought to be topped, I would 
recommend him to top them down to about two 
feet in height, if they have grown up and borne 
crop, and tbey will soon shoot up again and blossom. 
Of course if the plants are young and have not 
attained tbeir full height, they should not be touched. 
The experience of the kangany he refers to has 
probably been confined to Tinnevelly kinds.— Yours 
faithfully, W. W. MITCHELL. 
LIBERI AN COFFEE PLANTS FROM 
SUCKERS ? 
Nangoeng, November 12th. 
Dear Sib, — Will you kindly give space to the 
following quastion in your periodical the Tropical 
Agriculturist : " Can Liberian coffee be grown from 
suckers ?" 
I tried it many years ago without the least success, 
and am now told that the thing is well possible. 
I should feel very much obliged to anybody who 
may be so kind to communicate his experience about 
the matter. — Yours truly, E. K. 
THE MORNING POST ON " PLANTER EN- 
ERGY " AND COFFEE AND TEA IN 
CEYLON. 
Waddesdon House, Bletchley, Nov. 22nd. 
Dear Sir, — By this mail you will no doubt re- 
ceive a copy of the Morning Post of the 20th 
inst. As soon as 1 had seen and read the article 
I called in Wellington Street, with the hope that 
I might obtain the ear of one of the editorial 
staff and so continue the important subject, but 
the hour (noon) was not propitious. 
We planters are of course somewhat sore that 
bug should have been left out of the question,* for 
I believe that I am right in saying that leaf 
disease per se never killed King Coffee ? I 
went all round my estate with Mr. Marshall 
Ward, and if he sees these lines he will remember 
the doubtful hospitality which I inflicted upon him, 
and he assured me that with nitrogenous manures 
I could get a lot of crop out of the estate and I 
do not think that he ever said leaf disease would 
kill directly. + 
I have written to the Morning Post to give the 
aotual figures of exports and your estimate for tbe 
current season, It was suggested to me that there 
was confusion between the calendar year and the 
export season, but the crop 1874-75 given, 988,328 
owt,, agrees with tho figures in your Directory for 
ooffee secured from plantations only. From the 
same source the writer of the article might have 
learnt that the million was thrice topped in the 
" sixties." 
* But our correspondent himself forgets the formi- 
dable white grub. — Ed. 
t No amount of nitrogenous manure was able to 
preserve coffee in a steadily bearing condition exoept 
in a very few exceptional cases — Ed. 
59 
I have also tried to point out that we — the 
Ceylon planters — cannot be accused of over-produc- 
tion, for 1,000,000 cwt.= 112,000,000 lb., and should 
our most sanguine expectations be realized and the 
tea export reach 100,000,000 lb. we are still short 
by 12,000,000 lb. of food commodity of the crop 
1874-75 referred to. 
Regard also the consumption of tea and coffee from 
a British point of view — the consumption of tea 
is largely in success of coffee. The taste of the 
public then must be in favour of tea from its 
simple preparation and comforting qualities. Give 
them good Ceylon tea and they will not return to 
old acquaintances, as the writer of " Planter Energy 
in Ceylon" remarks. It is certainly a strong point 
in favour of our enterprise that work has again 
been given to the Tamils, for there is a strong bond 
of union between the inhabitants of Southern India 
and Ceylon, and planters will all agree that we miss 
our coolies when we are away from them in the 
west. Not long since the Standard (Oct. 1st) 
had a leading article on servants, and they paid a 
handsome tribute to the Asiatic. The danger of going 
" fantee" occasionally is fully compensated by the 
great attention and simple wants of a good Mad- 
rassee, Tamil, or Sinhalese. Whether we are quite 
exempt from "fantee" proclivities in the west is 
an open question. I have heard of " alcoholic dis- 
abilities" amongst the ladies and gentlemen who 
are so kind as to prepare our dinners and serve 
them ! 
But to return to tropical agrioulture : — From 
what it says in this article under discussion, 
" Today the demand is in excess of the 
supply, and joy has returned to the bosom 
of the Ceylon planter," one may venture to predict 
a boom in Ceylon tea as there has been in coffee, 
and the question will be how to Bpread the sail 
to the leading wind. We cannot be too cautious. 
The slightest sign of too general cultivation should 
be regarded with suspicion. How came the coffee 
to be diseased? And if it is to bo planted again 
I trust it may be done on steady lines — a hole big 
enough for a cooly to sit in is better than a hole only 
fit for the reception of a fence stake or sheep hurdle. 
Again there is some limit as to the number 
of plants of any product that an acre will bear. 
Cabbages can be planted 4,840 to the acre, but 
they are part of a rotation of crops, and generally 
have in this country at least 15 or 20 cartloads 
of good rich manure to assist them, and they are 
sometimes eaten by stock on the ground. "Tea 
has stepped in where coffee feared to tread : " the 
adaptation is suggestive. Whoever wrote the article 
has done Ceylon a signal service, and I trust that 
the Colony will in future receive the attention it 
so justly deserves in all things. Whatever may 
be the poetry in connection with it, the prose 
advantages political and topical are worthy of more 
than ordinary attention. — I remain, yours fai hfully, 
ARTHUR O. I SHAM. 
P. S. — In France I am credibly informed good tea 
costs from 7 to 10 francs — say 6s 8fd — which is 
more than double what you calculate for England, 
viz. 2s 9d. In other words tea in England costs a 
farthing a cup, in France one halfpenny. Give 
| the thrifty French working man cheap tea, and then 
how about over-production? 
Constitutional Year-book 1889. 
Consumption of Imported Food : Table 69. 
1870-74. 1875-79. 1880. 
Coffee 0 98 0 98 0 92 lb. 
Tea 4 02 4-56 4-59 lb. 
In 1887 Coffee 0 79, Tea 4-95 lb : retained for con 
sumption annually per head of the population. 
