August i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN MANILA. 
a an article on 
province of Isla 
ncultivated until 
' planters 
The Oceania of the 25th May, 
the progress of the now llourishin 
de Negros, which remained almost 
Government liberality induced many S 
to settle there with labourers from tl 
1851, thus notices how a British merchant powerfully 
contributed to develop planting enterprise in that 
quarter :— 
"With failing resources and a year of low prices, 
the planters in Negros had a bad time of it until 
[855 uiul 1856, when effective aid reached them. 
This was from a Bri'ish merchant, also consul for 
his nation at Iloilo— Mr. Nicholas Loney. This re- 
markable man, whose memory is so cherished in the 
Visa van provinces, had a thorough and scholmlike 
ge, our classic literature 
I not only this qualification, 
partial to our customs, 
nt in 
knowledge of our lai 
being familiar to him. He 
but also appeared to 
During the years he had 
to Iloilo, he had studied t 
port being then recently 
determined to encourage 
Manila befor 
■y and the lav 
some, 
which 
prise ii 
so man 
the PI, 
difficul 
Bhippii 
ir worn, aim even m imparting us: iul id' to 
also sett'ng a good example I y buying land 
i cultivated on his account. Planting enter- 
fegros under the leadership of Spaniards for 
ears, is now the most progressive thr ughout 
jpinee. notwithstanding that amongst other 
i, ic had to struggle against want of ports for 
2nd .7. 
: dra«s attention to that 
ice of Manila hempsimi 
fact that former rises in the p 
lar to the rates then ml in (' 
had always been followed by s 
many cultivators, becoming 
hemp grow ing, the prepuratio 
some a process for low pric 
During the last 40 years 
vigorous efforts to extend he 
the result being that thf 
flourish only on volcanic soil in the Eastern provinces 
exposed to breezes from" the Pacific. The Comercio 
urges extenson of hemp cuhi' ation. 
le Colonies has decided that 
ued at Manila, the levy of 1 
is into that city for defraying 
the Gov 
up cult ivi 
plant 
The Minister for 
there shall be conf 
per cent on the imp 
the expenses of the 
dues shall he levied 
exports in other pari 
Several inhabitants 
■tautial houses here, 
the United States to 
Rant buddings so mi 
Rico. —Straits Time*. 
, but that no 
imports and 
THE PLANTING INDUSTRY OF CEYLON. 
[Beiug one of a series of reviews in the Madron Mail 
bad Ferguson's Ceylon Handbook and Direclory 
for 1 881. J J 
An enquiry into the causes that have produced the 
present depression in tho coffee enterprise in Oeyl >n 
would not be of much value, if it omitted in take 
•Mount ot leaf disease. At tho same tune there is 
room lor difference of opinion as to the degree in w hich 
the blight has contributed to the downward tendency 
Lear disease, « 0 m.y be quite sine, is chaiged with 
much that should with moro justice be attributed to 
DM management. There cannot, however, be a doubt 
:>l» 
that, had this pest not made its appearance, fewer 
estates would have fallen into liquidation. The dis 
ease first showed itself in 1809 in Madulsima, in the 
extreme eastern division of the coffee districts. Next 
year it had spread to the western or Kandy side, but 
did not become very general till the following year. 
; ° worthy of remark as bearing upon the con- 
nexion between short crops and leaf "disease, that 1870 
was the year in which there was the largest export 
of planta'ion coffee and the greatest average out turn 
per acre ; the export being nearly 900,000 cwt., and 
the average per acre 5 53 cwt. Owing to the larger 
area brought under cultivation, the export in several 
succeeding years, to wit, in 1871, 1873, 1S75, 1877, rose 
above SOD.OOO cwts., but the average per acre has never 
again reached 5 cwt. while in four years it has fallen 
below three. During the seven years previous to 1870 
the out-turn rouged from 4i0cwts. per acre, in 1S64, 
to 5"22 in 1SC9 These figures point to the injurious 
effect of leaf disease on productiveness : a couclusion 
which will appear all the more certain when it is 
remembered that this diminution in out-turn since 
the appearance of leaf diease has taken place in spite 
of liberal manuring and a higher style of cultiv tion 
ti.au was carried on previously. The planter has there- 
fore good reason to conclude that his diminished re- 
turns are to a considerable extent due to the ravages 
of disease. Meanwhile, as Dr. Thwaites, late of the 
Botanic .1 gardens, Porader.iya, say* in his report for 
1874, it seems to be conclusively established "that 
judicious cultivation enables the coffee tree to produce 
a succession of profitable crops, notwithstanding it 
may suffer from periodical attacks of leaf disease." 
This is well exemplified by the obvious fact that no. 
w'ne-e has the disease committed such havoc as in na- 
tive plantations, where cultivation is almost entirely 
'"70 planters were divided 
he party that advoca'ed 
lected. Previously 
into two opposite cu 
mnuuriug, and the pai 
might have been in 
a satisfactory solutioi 
it is not easy to say 
have led to the matt. 
■posed it. How long it 
state of things before 
have been arrived at, 
roads of leaf disease 
jee lily and practically 
1 low prices might have 
^en less exclusively de- 
all in one basket, a mishap to it could not fail to 
be followed by serious consequences. Coffee must for 
many years to come prove the staple product, but 
bad they been as fully alive ten years ago as they 
are now to the importance of cultivating other pro- 
ducts, their losses „ n coffee would have been more 
made up But hero again tl.ey had to pa<s through 
the school of adversity before tbey could be taught 
the potential wealth of recourses that surrounded them, 
f irst to be mentioned among these new products, 
though Dot the most important, is Liberian c >rlee, which 
ible to the Arabian species, 
ere, according to Ferguson's 
following figures are mainly 
m ted with Libera u coffee, 
thculty in determining the 
o end of 1SS0, the estimates 
000 or even 10.000 acres, 
iplete immunity from the 
growth and productiveness 
of the trees have not, so fur. been affected by it, If. 
remains t<> lie sr n whether tuis coil, ,, will command a 
ready sale in the home market Loudon dealers ire 
■aid not to appreciate it very highlv, but it has been 
favourably received in America. 
Tho cultivation of tea, though still in its infnncy is 
likely to oeeoni" oiu .o most import.i t industries 
in the lalan L Began nboul the year 1S07, at which 
tmiu about 10 acres were planted' ii made small pro- 
gress till 1675 when the acreage was estimated at 1,080. 
A the end of 1877, 
Handbook (from wh 
derived), about 500 a 
There seems to be s 
area under cultivate 
van iug from 4,001 
Thou h not enjoyii 
attacks of leal' disea 
