fHt TR6t>ICAt- AGRICULTURIST. [May i, i&g$. 
LOWCOUNTRY NATIVE PRODUCTS 
IN CEYLON. 
WEATHER — THE CHARACTER OF THE GOYIYA AS 
REGARDS IMPROVEMENTS — COTTON AND INDIAN CORN. 
January 1889. — This year we are not likely to ex- 
perience any bad weather as was the cage during this 
season of 1888. In most places slight showers have 
fallen and the sky is laden with clouds. 
In regard to the cultivation of the two main pro- 
ducts of the lowcountry natives, viz., rice and coco- 
nuts, various methods prevail in different districts, 
some of which are far behind and primitive for the 
present day. In several parts of the Colombo and 
Negombo districts, where intelligent planters have set 
to work coconut estates, we see a great deal of im- 
provement among the villagers in its cultivation. We 
find most of the gardens there planted in lines, re- 
gularly weeded and manuring carried on to some 
extent. We find a vast difference when we compare 
the coconut gardens of other districts with them. In 
some districts, notedly in the southern parts, there 
is no regular cultivation at all, the trees stand so 
close that we may compare them to nurseries. There 
is hardly any care bestowed on the plants when they 
are past the damages of cattle. On account of this 
want of a systemetic cultivation the produce is com- 
paratively low when the favourable conditions of soils 
and climate are taken into consideration. 
When we come to reason why some of our goyiyas 
in one district do better than the others, we see that 
they have followed the example of some of their 
intelligent neighbours. We cannot possibly accuse our 
poor goyiyas of indolence for not adopting improved 
systems at once ; they are in most cases ignorant and 
hence follow their time-honoured customs. Not only 
ignorance but there is another thing which stands on 
their way; that is the want of capital. On acconut 
of this want, they try to do their work with as little 
capital as possible sacrificing the efficiency of the work 
done. We can hardly expect our goyiyas under such 
circumstances to go in for new ventures and far from 
experiments; because of their meagre means, they 
wouldn't like to lay it out without beiug perfectly 
sure that they are to get their profits in return. But 
when they see that improved forms of cultivation aod 
new products are paying, they would watch the bene- 
fits patiently and would go in for those after beiug 
perfectly sure of their being successful. Such is the 
case in the districts mentioned before; they have 
observed with care the results of the various im- 
proved systems and when perfectly assured of their 
success, have begun to follow it. 
Though there is some want of spirit in not going 
in for new things owing to their ignorance, we should 
in one sense praise their patience and discretion in 
not risking their small capitals without being sure of 
success. Instances are common enough where the 
sanguine expectations from various new products have 
proved futile. And if the poor goyiya devoted his 
lands and mean6 in those and made a rush at them 
he would have been a ruined man. It is not the 
case with his well-to-do brothers who when they fail 
in one will still have means to carry on other works. 
Such are the main aspects of our goyiya's character 
so far as I have observed, and the means that should 
be employed to improve them in their cultivations 
should be according to the requirements of their 
character. Example would be the best and most suit- 
able for such an end ; whether be it in the cultiva- 
tion of rice, coconuts or other new products. A 
knowledge of the simple facts and principles of agri- 
culture spread among the growing set of goyiyas to 
whom when young it can easily be imparted, will 
also in the end go towards the improvement of agri- 
culture. The establishment of model gardens as you 
have ably advocated in different districts and the 
successful cultivation of various products in such will 
have a healthful effect on the goyiyas, but to ensure 
a proper success these model gardens should be con- 
tinued for some length of time till all the doubts in 
the sceptical neighbours have been put down. 
It is encouraging to see that the cotton grown in 
most of the lowcountry districts as an experiment 
have thrived well, and many individuals goiDg in for 
the same in their village gardens. Out of the several 
varieties experimented upon the Egyptian has by this 
time carried off the palm as best suited to the .-oil 
and climate; whilst the Tinnevelly which is grown 
extensively in Southern India has stood back for want 
of a suitable soil. Tinnevelly cotton requires a black 
deep soil and such soils are very rare iu the low- 
country of Ceylon. Indian-corn, one of the easily 
cultivated cereals, could be grown very easily together 
with cotton. And if the cultivation of this product 
is extended not only will the cultivator get a crop 
of cotton and corn but he will get a large supply of 
fodder in the form of Indian-corn stalks and leaves, 
which at the same time will prove to be a great 
boon for his stock. W. A. D. S. 
COCA AND COCAINE. 
The 'Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information' peri- 
odically issued by the authorities of the Royal Gar- 
dens, Kew, is a publication that has probably a very 
limited circulation as compared with the value of 
its contents, though it frequently contains matter 
that is not only in the highest degree interesting, 
but also very useful. The. number for January, for 
instance, contains an excellent article upon the coca 
plant, which has lately become of importance as 
the souree of material from which cocaine is manu- 
factured, and as it gives some useful chemical infor- 
mation bearing upon the cultivation of the coca 
plant we have extracted that portion which will be 
found at page 569 of the present number. In the 
article referred to the early history of the coca 
plant is briefly given, and it is curious to note that 
it has been known to and described by European 
botanists and travellers for more than three hundred 
years. The original home of the coca plant in South 
America has not, according to de Gandolle, been 
very clearly defined; he states that most of the authors 
who examined it had only seen cultivated specimens, 
and there is some doubt about those suppo.-ed to 
be wild by Pceppig and Andre, while Triana does 
not admit the species is wild in New Granada. At 
present coca is cultivated to a very large extent in 
the Andes of the Argentine Republic of Bolivia, 
Peru, Ecuador and New Granada. It is also cultivated 
in the mountainous part of Brazil. The largest 
plantations, called locally cocals, are said to be in 
the province of La Paz in Bolivia. In a good harvest 
the yield of coca leaves is estimated by Weddell 
to be about 900 pounds per acre. The total pro- 
duction is stated to amount to something like 
40,000,000 pounds. There are many points of difference 
between the coca plants grown in different parts of 
South America, resulting no doubt from seminal 
variation and the influeuces of soil and climate. 
Similar differences appear to obtain in regard to the 
amount of cocaine in the leaves as will be seen 
from the chemical report on coca in the present 
number. Thus, for instance, it is there sug-gested 
that the plant yielding small-pointed pale green 
leaves is the best to cultivate at high elevations and 
if the object be to obtain a large yield of crystalliz- 
able cocaine. On the contrary, the variety yielding 
leaves rounded at the apex thrives at the sea level 
in the tropics, but a large proportion of the alkaloid 
they contain is uncrystallizable. 
In the Andes the coca plant succeeds best in the 
mild but very moist climate of the lower mountains, 
at an elevation of from 2000 to 5000 feet. Like 
coffee, it thrives best on slopes where the soil is 
rich in humus and the drainage good. Shade is said 
to be unfavourable to the development of alkaloid 
in the leaves. In Peru the plants yield the first crop 
of leaves three years after planting, but in poor 
soils they are often left until the fifth year. The 
full-grown shrub yields a harvest every 13 or 14 
mouths, but in many plantations the collection of ! 
leaves goes on throughout the year, since the ripe- |i 
uess of the leaf depends much upon the soil and 
