September i, i888/| THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
177 
CINNAMON IN CEYLON. 
(Extracted from the " Sandaresa, " a native bi^weekty 
paper.) 
It is said that the price of cinnamon is daily decreas- 
ing on account of over-production, but there is another 
cause for the decline of prices, that is, by lessening its 
demand in the market. Several persons manufacture 
and export cinnamon leaf oil in consideration of the 
small remuneration they get through it. In the 
Nogombo district the distillation is not dono by the 
proprietors but by outsiders, who pay a small sum in 
consideration of the leavos they get. If a distiller 
were to produce 100 bottles per month (which is the 
highest average he could attain) 1 and selling theso at 
the rate of one rupee per bottle, ho would get barely 
15 rupees as profit. On large estates leaves are 
obtainable during eight months of the year, and if the 
distiller be very active he will be able to earn R120 
per annum. The sum paid to tho estate owner for the 
leaves and fuel is only K5 per mouth. But it is apparent 
now that tho cinnamon estates suffer much on account 
of the loss of material carried away iu the form of leaves 
in consideration of isuch a small sum as five rupees. A 
great deal of matter which should otherwise fertilize the 
soil is removed from it. Ceylon exports about 10,1100 
bottles of cinnamon oil annually. On account of its low 
price it is used in the manufacture of sonp and perfu- 
mery. If there is no leaf oil, the manufacturers have 
to use oil made of bark, and thereby cause a good 
demand for bark of the lower quality. Instead of 10,000 
bottles leaf oil used at present, they should at least 
use 5,000 bottles of bark oil. To manufacture these 
5,000 bottles they require 2,500,0001b. of coarse bark 
at the rate of 500 lb. per bottle. 
By that means the export of so many pounds of coarse 
bark would be stopped, and for that the consumers 
would need at least a little less than 2,500,0001b. of 
bark of good quality, and it is tor the proprietors to 
consider how tho market would be effected when au 
additional demand of 25,000 bales of good cinnamon 
bark is caused in the market. Therefore, it is ad- 
visable to leave off tho small profits obtained through 
the distillation of leaves in consideration of the 
higher demand arising in tho nnrkot for the bark. — 
Cor. 
♦ 
LOWOOUNTRY NATIVE PRODUCTS. 
PADDY AND COCONUT — DIFFICULTIES MKT WITH IN 
THEItl CULTIVATION — THEORIES — USE OI' THEO- 
RETICAL KNOWLEDGE. 
Paddy and coconut aro the two principal products 
cultivated by the lo.vcountry yoyiyas. Paddy is usu- 
ally cultivated in small areas; and as the labour 
required is great and the results aro uncertain, it is 
usually cultivated by the owners themselvos without 
going to the expense's of having outside labour. In its 
cultivation the ijoyiya has first to depend upon rain 
for his supply of water, which is very essential. If 
he gets more of it, he falls iuto the danger of njt 
being able to cultivate for the season or to suffer a 
loss in his crop. lie bus other difficulties to face 
besides the supply of water. Theso are the damages 
caused by animals, large and small, together with 
several blights, through fungi, &C. As for larger 
animals, cattlu are always ready to damage the crop 
if it is not properly guarded throughout. Tho culti- 
vators are familiar with nine different blights or 
diseases preying on the paddy plant. Much of tho 
shove enumerated i vi's could be avi rtcd if a proper 
system of cultivation is adopted. With a little know- 
ledge of climatic variations and of principles of en- 
gineering, much of tho failures could bo averted, 
as tho cultivation could bo calculated accord- 
ing to the supply of water. Hv improved 
HstemS of cultivation, as through ploughing, tr.in- 
planting &o., the plants will get hardier and less 
liable to attacks of blight, bo. Thus, we see a system 
of implanting the principles of agriculture to village 
bins, should in tho end, load to a better system of 
cultivation, aud with their knowledge, they wuuld be 
aa 
able to copo with these evils better than at present, 
and it is natural enough they would do so. As for 
tho other product, the coconut, it is not so trying 
a cultivation, and it being a grati ful tn e, the culti- 
vator with very litt'o trouble could realiz; his eud, 
but even with that a systematic cultivation with 
better methods would make it more profitable. 
Europeans and other intelligent persons who have 
embarked in its cultivat ion do it systematically and get 
higher yields. Tho yoyiya.i are not without their 
theories of cultivation; they have deduced those 
theories by practice, but still they cannot give pro- 
per reasons for them. These rules, found out acci- 
dentally as it were, they follow blindly without 
considering the external circumstances. Thus, if a 
cultivator were questioned on the best method of 
improving the produce of a coconut garden, he would 
at once give as his opinion, to establish chekkus 
(native oil presses) in trie place. But iu most cases 
he is at a loss to assign reasons for that improvement. 
The improvement here is caused by the cattle employed 
in the work. They drop a deal of dung and urine about 
the place and thereby fertilize it. There is another cause 
why the dung and urine 6hould be valuable in this 
particular instance. f'nlike the cittle which they 
generally have on au estate, which always feed on the 
grass grown on the soil aud then impart as manure only 
a part of what they have actually taken; cattle employed 
in chekku work are well fed with straw, cakes, &c, and 
these droppings are comparatively valuable as manure. 
And again if we inquire why trees growing near dwelling- 
houses yield better, the invariable answer would be, that 
it is on account of the human voice affecting them, though 
it is caused by the clearing and the placing generally of 
various sorts of materials which form valuable fertilizers. 
The above are examples of the theories held at present 
among the cultivators who have no systematic idea 
of what they do, but if they can deduce reasons with 
at least a little knowledge of the principles of Agricul- 
ture things would look better and brighter. — W. A. D. S. 
+ 
POTATO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
We are not aware if the following letter has ever been 
made public. It is of interest, not meiely for its style 
and contents, but for the evidence it affords that the 
wife of the Governor of those dajs discharged semi- 
official functions on such domestic subjects as the cul- 
tivation of Potatoes. The letter is addressed to Mr. 
J. F. Lorousz, to whom we recently referred as the 
agricultural Magistrate of Morowa Koralo, and who 
was the first to cultivate potatoes successfully iu 
Ceylon : — 
Mount Lavinia, September 28th, 1812. 
Sir, — Knowing as I do the e'eep interest that General 
lirownrigg takes in the welfare of the inhabitants of 
this country, and how much he has suffered from the 
distress he has witness) d in consequence of a scarcity 
of food, Iciunot possibly wait for bis return to ex- 
press to you in my own person how highly gratified I 
feel at your endeavours to cultivate potatoes b ing 
at last crowned with success. Through the Chief 
Justice I yesterday received the basket you were so 
good to send to the Governor, and which from know- 
ing its contents I opened. 
It is with very sincere sa'isfnction I can say that, 
although I did not pick out the best, I ha 1 three 
boiled, and th y were more highly flavoured aud more 
farinaceous th in any that I have seen here oither from 
Bengal or B uubay. I immediately asked my Mala- 
bar servant if he would not like that vegetable as 
well as rice, to which he cordially assented. If shy 
praise of mine could add to the inward satisfucti.ui 
you must feel in having accomplished so groit a bless- 
ing to this country, you not only deserve but have 
them to the fullest extent. To those who have seen 
the effects of scarcity iu a country where so many 
I lejndire, ar- t> be combated, your success must 
imb ed give tin- truest pleasure. In hopes of others 
attempting the same laudable effort, I have directed a 
guntlouiau to in ike public mention of the result of your 
experiments, iu the Government 0<iutt:. 
