February i, 1890.] TKP TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
549 
CEYLON UPCOUNTBY PLANTING EEPORT. 
THE INGENUITY OP THE THIEVING NATIVE AND CACAO 
STEALING— LIBERIAN COl'MB PROSPECTS —PEPPER AND 
NUTMEGS — SHEEP-REARING IN DVA — WEATHER AND 
CROPS. 
Jan. 20th. 
The ingenuity of the thieving native is astonish- 
ing. If direoted in proper channels, what a career 
there would be for some of those fellows whose 
lives seem to consist of preying on the public, 
either inside or outside of the jails, and whose wits are 
sharpened to such an extent as almost to demand ad- 
miration. The latest of their dodges which I have 
heard of is connected with that fruitful and re- 
munerative branch of their service, cacao stealing. 
We have heard of them using the young cacao 
pods for curry ; but as the market for this must 
be limited to the demands of their own stomachs, 
or the appetite of their most intimate friends, it is 
pretty clear that in this department of their art 
there is very little scope, and a glut soon takes 
place. It is the ripe nib that has charms aid 
potentialities which enlarge with the advance of 
prioe ; and when cacao touohes E60 a cwt. in the 
local market the wits of the Sinhalese raiders 
are then at their best. Whatever has heen 
carried off must, if at all possible, be utilized. 
With the ripe pods there is no difficulty, if they 
alone can be gathered ; but for trade reasons it is 
not always possible to adhere to suoh everyday 
distinctions, nor be so very particular. Of course 
there is more safety in selecting naught but ripe 
fruit, for if oaught and brought up before the 
magistrate, this act only involves imprisonment ; 
whereas to be in possession of unripe pods might 
be rewarded with stripes over and above. Neverthe- 
less, when helping themselves to the fruits of 
another man's labour, without hia knowledge or leave, 
they are not too particular; and so it oomes about that 
when the results of a raid into a oaoao garden 
are examined a number of half and three-quarter 
ripe fruits have to be disposed of. It is in working 
up this to meet the local market and the local 
demand that the ingenuity of the raider comes out. 
As it is difficult to get unripe cacao to separate 
nib from nib, this is managed by boiling the pod '. 
and as this process is not conducive to the fine 
red oolour which buyers desire, the necessary tint 
is got up by the use of annatto 1 This hand-made 
article when mixed with the real thing in not too 
large proportions will pass muster, and be even 
unsuspected. 
Liberian Coffee is having its "ups" at present. 
The high prioe of ooffee is causing more attention 
to be paid to the various varieties of the fragrant 
berry, and the despised Liberian is evidently not 
to be negleoted. One man who has a small acreage 
of this tree was telling me that he was more than 
satisfied with the crop just gathered, as he had 
had a return equal to Rl a tree. In the old days 
of Arabian coffee half of this was deemed a fair 
average prioe when land was taken, and if Liberian 
is to do anything like what my informant has netted, 
this despised product has clearly a future before it. 
Those who have gone in for Pepper speak hope- 
fully of .1 as an adjunct to other products. The 
local price of Rl 1 a bushel is not to be despised; 
and when it is known that to colleot a bushel of 
this spice involves the labour of only seven coolies, 
it is evident enough that there is a good margin 
for the normal fluctuations of the market, and a 
fair profit to the grower. 
Nutmog culture is being proseouted in a quiet 
way, and the demand for seed is steady enough. 
In the lowoountry I hear of several places 
where the growth is very encouraging, and 
the prospects good. An experiment of growing 
nutmegs in the shade, and by themselves alone, 
is being tried ; the undergrowth of the jungle 
having been removed, and the big trees left stand- 
ing. It will be interesting to learn by.and by 
how this works out ; the general idea being to 
regard the nutmeg as one of those things which 
Will in time take the place of what already occupies 
the ground, and pays the way. For the nutmeg 
to rest solely on its own resources may be an in- 
teresting experiment, but it will be some years before 
it is a paying one. The happy owner will however 
have prolonged that blessed season of hope, which all 
oultivators who start from the beginning enjoy 
— his only assured return — and in that may find 
his reward. Nutmegs sell easily in the local 
market at hotter rates than ever was got before, 
and mace fetches from Rl*25 to Rl-50 a lb. 
An experiment in Sheep-rearing on an extensive 
scale is likely soon to be tried on the patanas of 
Uva : an Australian squatter being the man to be 
first in the field. If this is a success there should 
be good mutton to be got, and goats' flesh which 
goes by that name will be a thing of the past. 
To part with it should not cost any of us a sigh. 
The showery Weather which we have been en- 
joying for a week now has done a world of good. 
Coffee blossom is in spike— strong and healthy — 
when the trees are at all in good health ! Tea is 
also wakening up, and prospect of flushes fine. 
Rioe unfortunately like Exchange keeps high ; and, 
if one were to believe the chetty, Southern India 
is on the eve of a season of dire destitution, 
there being neither rain nor crops in the land. 
Newspaper reports to the contrary he regards as 
lying tales, as leanness in the land helps him to a 
fat price for rioe. Peppercorn. 
IMPORTANT MACHINERY CASE IN THE 
KANDY COURT. 
Brown, Rae & Co. v. E. H. Serine. 
Kandy, Jan. 21st. 
A case of some importance comes on for trial before 
Judge Lawrie in the Kandy Court tomorrow (22nd 
iust.) involving questions of engineering skill, and for 
which many engineers from Colombo and upcountry 
are expected to attend. The plaintiffs in the case, 
Messrs. Brown, Rae & Co. of Hatton, have summoned 
Mr- E. H. Skrine of Osborne estate, Dikoya, for the 
recovery of R1.94916 value of goods, articles and mer- 
chandize supplied to him, and for the Osborne estate, 
and for erecting on the said estate a water motor and 
supplying all the requisite materials. The defendant, 
admitting that the plaintiffs, between June 1886 and 
April 1887, supplied goods, states that certain items 
are incorrect, and denies that they did erect, as alleged, 
on Osborne estate a water motor, or supply all the 
materials and labour requisite for the erection of 
the same. The defendant sets out, in detail, 
the agreement with plaintiffs, and states that the 
defendant and his servants executed all works which 
they had undertaken to oarry out under the super- 
vision and to the satisfaction of the plaintiffs and their 
engineers and assistants, and the plaintiffs accepting 
the said work proceeded in Nov. 1886 to attempt to 
erect the motor, which work they should have com- 
pleted within at most a fortnight thereafter, and 
continued their said nttempt- u:>til April 1887, with the 
re ults that in bre o'l of the r said agreement they 
nevei- did properly completely erect the said motor 
and bring the same into proper working order, but so 
mal -erected and injured the motor as to render it 
inemciont, useless and valueless to the defendant 
for the purpose he had purchased it ; and the 
defendant avers that the failure to erect the motor 
and the mal -erection thereof and injury there- 
to were due to the want of constant aud 
d ue supervision by qualified European engineers 
