THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1888 . 
With these preliminary remarks I shall proceed 
to the subject I have chosen for discussion today. 
We need not wait to inquire where cacao vail 
grow in Oeylon, and where it will not. 
Everyone knows that it will not grow in Nuwara 
Bliya ; and that it does grow in Uva on the one 
side ; and on the other side from Dolosbage down 
to Beet-level, embracing Peradeniya, Dumbara, Matale, 
Kadugannawa, Rambukkana, Polgahawela, Kegalla, 
Veyangoda and so on down to Colombo, and even Ne- 
gombo. I obtained some pods from that district, 
not long ago, sent to'me by Mr. F. Drieberg, which 
were remarkably fine of their kind. But it may 
not be generally known that about thirty or thirty- 
five years ago there were cacao trees flourishing 
in Colombo. I remember, among my earlier recol- 
lections, seeing two trees growing in Small Pass, 
Colombo, bearing freely and flourishing for a long 
time. This w»b in a property owned by Mr. John 
Van Dort of the Surveyor General's Office, father 
of the Artist and of the Doctor, both so well 
known in Oeylon. I also remember a tres in Kalutura, 
standing not far from the Post Office. This tree has 
stood there for many years, yielding heavy crops.* 
And all these, aB far as my recollection serves me, 
were of the original type that was long after shipped to 
London from Rajawelle and Pallekelly. Indeed, if it 
were otherwise, it would have been noticed earlier. 
A question that very naturally presents itself to 
the cocoa planter, at the very threshold, is one re- 
garding the selection of seed for planting Jhis estate 
with ; as the commercial value of the future crop 
and the profits accruing to the enterprising planter 
will be determined by the variety selected by him. 
We have of late all taken up the cry of "Forestero " 
neglecting the much-prized so-called Caracas, which 
gave Oeylon cacao such a reputation, as soon as it 
went to the London market. How far we shall 
suffer hereafter when all Oeylon estates take to 
shipping the coarser variety in large quantities oan 
be only a matter of conjecture just now ; but this much 
is clear, that we seem to be actuated by the idea 
that cocoa being such a paying concern, we can 
afford to be content with even less for our crops, so 
long as we can grow some sort of cacao with a little 
more success, and with a little less risk than heretofore. 
Indeed, we could be quite content with the old red 
Eod that was universally planted in Ceylon at first, 
ut for its extremely delicate habit, and the diffi- 
culties attending its successful cultivation. 
We have, after years of experience, thought it 
desirable to neglect this variety for the Foresteros, 
just as the West Indian planters, in their day, 
went from the one to the other for the same reasons. 
With what material advantage to individuals and 
to the Colony we are adopting this sweeping change 
time alone can show^ with heavier shipments of the 
Forestero from our quay ; though I suspect there 
are many here who would still prefer the neglected 
old red pod, if they only had the choice of land. 
But much of our best land is in the hands of the 
Sinhalese villagers as gardens, or has been ruined 
by chena cultivation. Talking of chena cultivation 
and the ruin to land, let me pause here to remark 
en passant that I fear this will be the fate in 
reserve for the lands taken up extensively for tobacco 
cultivation : if it is cultivated here as in Sumatra ; 
and if timely measures are not adopted by the 
Foresters and the Legislative Council to conserve our 
forests for more permanent cultivation. The native 
tobacco planter in Jaffna,f Negombo, and other places, 
with the aid of heavy manuring, keeps his 
land always cultivated. But the planter who 
asks Government for a 1000 acres is likely to take 
the cream of the land from, say, a 50-acre block at 
a time, and pass on to the next block of 50 aores or 
more, and so on, abandoning the previous clearing ; 
and well he may, after paying Government a 
nominal RIO per acre, and netting the splendid profits 
that tobacco is said to return. 
* I have been told that it is still there now, and 
it it laid to be over 50 years old. 
f Iu Jaffna sheep are penned aud fed on land culti- 
vated with tobacoo.— Ld. 
But while we congratulate the individual who 
makes the most of his bargain in the shortest space 
of time, no one can regard such a system of cultiv- 
ation as an unmixed blessing to the Colony ; which 
has not after all an unlimited extent of land suitable 
for cultivation. 
A system such as this, while it blesses the re- 
ceiver, who flourishes on the accumulated wealth of 
the forest, hoarded up for him for centuries past, 
can hardly be slid to bless the giver — the Colony, 
should acre after acre, tract after tract, and district 
after district be opened up, harvested and abandoned, 
as the chena cultivators did before. The absence 
of that permanence in the cultivation of each and 
every acre of land in the Island that is opened out, 
which ia a condition essential to its continued well-being, 
cannot fail to tell on its prosperity ultimately. 
Every such clearing will be a blow at the root and 
foundation of its agricultural permanence. 
To return to the subject in hand, with good culti- 
vation and abundanoe of shade, the so-called Caracas, or 
red pod variety, continues to flourish in many places 
that I know of, and in one little place that I own 
myself, paying very fair returns and bringing high 
prices for their crops. 
One argument advanced in favor of the new varieties 
is that the attacks of helopeltis can be better resisted 
by the Forestero, with its thick pericarp or husk 
to protect it. But I have seen this fastidious bug, 
which evinces such partiality for the food of gods, 
quite indiscriminating in its attentions, when it 
narrows down to a question of variety only. 
You will all remember how this bugbear created 
a panic among planters a few years back ; and the 
report by Mr. J. R. Martin of Yatewatte, to the 
Planters' Association in 1885, where he stated his con- 
viction that " the scare which was raised by the discov- 
ery of its devastations was altogether unjustifiable." 
About that time I visited an estate at Kadugannawa, 
fully planted with Foresteros, belonging to Mr. 
Ferdinaudua of the Royal Butanical Gardens, Pera- 
deniya, a Sinhalese gentleman of much botanical 
experience, from his long connection with the 
gardens, and withal a practical planter. 
When I went there, his coolies and conductor 
were employed iu burying his entire season's crop 
for manure, under the very trees that bore it: so 
virulent was the attack. But it has all blown over 
now, and no one speaks of the mosquito bug seriously. 
Now, the question is : if it is essential to our safety 
that we should grow Forestero and not Caracas (I 
will call this variety Caracas for distinction), is there 
any particular variety, or more than one, out of the 
many we have, that can take the place of this so- 
called Oeylon Caracas, of such unquestioned excellence ? 
Now the Foresteros are admittedly a coarse variety ; 
and their beans cure darker than the Caracas. 
They cannot be said to have the same com- 
mercial value. 
I know, for a fact, that of the many West Indian 
samples that were sent to me from " Mincing Lane," 
by my agents some years ago, of cocoas that had 
just then passed the hammer, tho Caracas stood 
away from the rest in price. And this was a 
bright small bean like ours. 
Further proof of the superiority of our red pod 
appeared in a report from Messrs. Rucker & Ben- 
oraft as far back as 1881, when shipments from 
Ceylon were beginning to attract attention in the 
Lane. The Ohscrevr noticed it specially, and gave it 
prominence at the time. 
"One little parcel of Ceylon marks Amba and Palli 
fetohed the fancy prices of 100s to 100s 6d. This 
cocoa is much liked ; it has the true rose color, and 
the husks are light and fragile." 
So that if the common red of Oeylon is not the 
true Caracas botanically, it still ranks in commerce 
as its equivalent from Ceylon. 
If we can now only obtain such a variety of cacao 
as will combine the excellence of the Caracas with 
the hardy habit of the Forestero, this will be the 
variety to be fixed upon for general cultivation. 
It is well known that we owe our best flowers and 
vegetables to the skill aud care of seedsmen, who 
