November i, 1888.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
347 
also carelessly and. irregularly dono here as com- 
pared with Assam, but that no doubt is owing to 
their having to plant in the midst of coffee 
and also to their haste to recover from their former 
losses. The subsoil here, ho would say, is 
bett%l than in Assam. In Assam it is a clay sub- 
soil, so that it requires more draining than the 
soil does here. Thero are a lot of Assam planters 
who believo that tea won't last long in Ceylon, 
because here they pluck all the year round, but 
Mr. Greig is not one of those who think so. The 
Assam men naturally think that because their 
tea gets live months' rest every year it will 
last longer than the Ceylon tea, which gets no rest, 
iiut Mr, Greig thinks that the sub-soil here is so 
good that it will last quite as long as in Assam. 
When he was here twenty years ago he could see 
from the road cuttings the roots of the coffee plants 
down in the soil to a depth of 10 feet, and he has 
seen the tea roots going down far enough to pierce 
tho subsoil. He has noticed that it is the custom 
litre to cut the taproot, but his experience in Assam 
has been that if any part of the taproot is broken 
tho plant dies. He always took care in Assam not 
to allow tho taproots to grow too long in the nur- 
sery. Generally, if possible, they should bo taken 
out whenever the taproot appears from the shell, 
and planted as soon as possible. This will prevent 
them from being broken. The Ceylon men have 
got tho custom of cutting the taproots from tho 
old coll'ee days. Such a practice is all very well 
for producing seed, but is not so commendable 
whero it is required to produce leaf. The theory 
is — for seed, prune your roots, for by this injury 
nature will try to recover itself ; and for leaf— feed 
the plant as much as you possibly can, and keep 
all the roots intact. Mr. Greig says ho has seen 
a great deal of blossom on tho bushes through- 
out tho estates in Coylon. That, he says, is very 
bad. Ho finds the blossom is on pure China 
bushes and low class hybrid, and when bushes 
blossom, they are not worth keeping for their leaf. 
It would be better to pull Hie plants up by the 
roots and put in another good jat. 
Passing on ho said ho thought the tvtma 
ditrais and evon tho />crii/a durais weio 
v. ry much underpaid for their work ; compared 
with Assam their pay was very much lower. But 
tho health of the climate, Mr. Greig thinks, makes 
up for tho deliciency in this respect. He would 
ruthor bo in Ceylon with R100 less a month than 
in Assam. Ho does not think it is much cheaper 
living here, but there is this to be said,— that in 
Assam the proprietors of estates are more liberal 
than in Ceylon. One or two horses aro always 
provided by the cstato, and tho manager is pro- 
vided with two native gardenors and tho assistant 
manager with ono to attend to their vegetable 
gardens. All assistants, as well as managers, are 
possossod of at least one horse, and often a 
trap, at tho oxpenso of tho proprietors. Then 
a European is never seen weighing green leaf in 
Aasam as thoy have to do in Oeylon. An undev 
alack does it. There is no such thing as selling 
green leaf to factories in Assam. If there is a 
garden at all tho planter makes his own teas. 
Central factories for tho manufacture of tea were 
tried, but were found to be a failure owing to the 
heating of the leaf bofore it got to the factory. 
Such wero tho principal opinions gleaned from 
this experienced planter. Mr. Groig in a day or 
two will bo going upoountry to Mr. Dickson's of 
Lebanon, where ho is orecting a lurge " X. L. Al! 
Combined Withering and Drying Machine," and 
lOpehntendinA tho lighting of the wholo factory 
with olootrio light. Ho has luoro working ono of his 
bulk tea cutting machines aud also hid newest in- 
vention made at the request of Mr. Armstrong, a 
simultaneous roll breaker and sifter on the rapid 
centrifugal principle which ha haspatentod. 
. + 
POULTRY FARMING IN CEYLON. 
It is to be doubted if there be not a tendency, 
greatly to be deprecated, with our governing Powers, 
whilst they give special and constant atte-ntion to the 
subject of Irrigation, to entirely overlook many of 
those minor industries, a little aid to which would do 
a great deal to promote tho well-being of many thou- 
sands residing in isolated settlements. The subject 
of one of these,— that of Poultry Farming, — has long 
been taken up at home, and although the promotion 
of this industry is there more due to private 
encouragement rind initiation than to any direct 
action by the ruling powers, a great deal has been 
accomplished towards rendering more efficient and 
consequently more remunerative, the rearing of 
poultry by small households. The cases of Eng- 
land and Ceylon, however, as regards the duty of 
Government respecting such matters differ wielely. 
At home, the population has long been out of 
leading strings, and the day for motherly interference 
has long passed by. In Ceylon, the autocratic Govern- 
ment has duties towards the many races and classes 
inhabiting it which do not attach to those of countries 
having a more advanced civilization. Every form 
of industry needs encouragement and development 
and instruction in better methods. It is useless 
to depute these altogether to local Societies such 
as our Agricultural Society. This body — if we 
may still reter to it — anel kindred Associations 
are not possessed of the funds whereby 
useful aid and instruction may be conveyed to 
the great mass of natives who live isolated from 
European influence. But a very small outlay 
allowed to the Agents of the Government who 
reside in tho centres of such eommunites, would 
we believe, do much towards inducing an improved 
character being given to tho supplies which reach 
our central markets. 
Now, taking as an instanco tho subject which 
wo have chosen for this article, we would ask 
whether wo should rest content with tho very in- 
ferior quality of native-reared poultry with which 
our bazaars are supplied. What that quality is, is 
well-known to every European resident. Who ig 
there among that class who does not occasionally, 
— nay very often — exhibit temper at the wretched 
koli whieh as a rulo furnishes the pibce-ih- 
rdsistunce both of our breakfast and dining tables 1 
Can anything be conceived more miserable than the 
attenuated birds with which our appus too frequently 
furnish us ? Arthur Gride's traditional " beautiful 
bird" must have been a perfect specimen of plumpness 
compared to most of the fowls which wo in 
Ceylon are compelled to devour. And yot improve- 
ment at least in that matter of plumpness is one 
that could readily bo attained were our native 
suppliers better instruoted in the right method of 
feeding, or encouraged to stock their farmyards 
with a bettor breed of birds. Round about our 
planters' bung ilows, and in tho vicinity of Nuwara 
Eliya and other hill stations wherein Europeans have 
amused thomselves with poultry breeding, tho effect 
of the introduction of new classes of birds is 
strongly manifested. But the main sources of supply, 
wherefrom our lowcountry bazaars are stocked, show 
noFueh improvement, and it is among these that, wo 
hold, the leaven should bo introduced and allowed 
to work. Wo know from personal experience that 
ordinary bazaar fowls oonfined to a narrow run 
and fed upon soaked refuso grain fatten rapidly, 
and to kuch an extent that it became necessary 
10 greatly curtail tho amouut of food given: tho 
