388 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1881. 
which I intend planting in the belt before alluded to. 
Cardamoms I have no hesitation in pronouncing a 
decided failure planted in the open in the lowcouutry. 
I was deceived by the prospectus of the Ginidominie 
Company. It pointed to Udugama as a place 
where cardamoms have been grown successfully in tin- 
open. In your book, All About Cardamoms, page 
33, I read : — "Irrigation under shade, where possible, 
would, I believe, be of great advantage to the plant, 
for it luxuriates near the running water, but no amount 
of water can make up for the absence of shade." 
What would make this book doubly valuable is one 
or more articles on the cultivation of cardamoms in 
the island, Bay one from ihe hill-and the other from 
the lowcountry. I trust an early number of the 
Tropical Agriculturist will contain these. 
Tobacco, according to an article from the Asian, ap- 
pearing in the flrBt, issue of the Tropical Agriculturist, 
is very easily aud profitably cultivated. The ground 
is prepared with not too much of manure ; 
the plants put down watered for a couple of days 
only ; then weeded occasionally till the crop is up 
for harvesting. Tobacco is, I believe, cultivated ve>-y 
differently in this island. The ground is very heavily 
manured by means of movable pens ; the plants are 
watered one or twice daily till they are fit for cut- 
ting. Besides this, the ground is dug often as the 
plants are growing up, each digging being followed by 
a manuring with dry cowdung. I have tried tobacco 
on a small scale ; and it 's just as well, as I find that 
up to datf, with plants varying in age from two 
months to two weeks, I have spent a great deal 
more than what the plants are likely to fetch. I 
shudder to think that more expenditure must be 
faced, which, when totalled up in the end, will be 
more than double of what the plants will realize. I 
had no experience to gui<!e me, and all I knew about 
tobacco was what I gathered from the pages of your 
Handbook for 1876-78. My first mistake was to fol- 
low the instructions in the Directory : — " Sow the seed 
three weeks before the monsoon rains." Seed sown in 
April was not fit for planting till July ; and when 
the plants were fit for planting my ground was not. 
As the ground I had dug up or prepared in April 
was in July kneedeep with grass and weeds, I went 
over the, ground again, that is weeded or dug it up. 
I did not manure it, for I had not the cattle. After 
digging, I sprinkled, rather thickly, wood ashes over 
the whole ground, ani smoothed and lined it for 
planting. At each peg I sprinkled a handful of fresh 
wood ashes and mixed it thoroughly with the soil. 
The plants were then put out, shaded and watered 
ev.3ry day it did not rain. When the plants were 
about 6 inches high and looked as if they had 
fairly establi-hed themselves, the ground was dug up - 
and the eha'le removed. After they had put out a 
few more leaves, saucer-thawed, shallow " rain gauges," 
a la Montclar, were made round each plant with 
soil, into each of winch a coconut shell ot poudret e 
was put and thoroughly mixed with soil. After the 
plants had attained a height of 18 inches or so, the 
ground was again dug up and each plant manured 
with a little dried cowdung Those plants that 
Holered had their tops pinched off. Now, I don't 
believe it is at all necessary to dig the ground up, or 
manure the plant so often, nor do I think it necessary 
to water the plants, unless when the ground is dry. 
I think the tobacco plant had enough, and more than 
enough, of manure in the ashes and poudrette I applied, 
to give it a vigorous growth for its short term of life. 
But 1 have now schooled myself to bowto experience. An 
experienced Sinhalese tobacco cultivator, whom I 
employ^!, thought that frequent turning up of the soil 
and manuring essential to a proper growth of leaf, and 
he exultiDgly pointed to a few trees here aud there 
which had gone wrong as a proof that his style of treat- 
ment was necessary, and that my delaying it had 
spoilt the plants. I tru-t that either Mr. Macartney 
or Mr. Bisset will give us their experience in the culti- 
vation of the Sumatra variety in the Trincomalee dis- 
trict, as this variety is said not to require irrigation. 
If a few hints are given as to the kind of soil most 
suitable, preparation of ground, what manure used, 
if any, and the style of cultivation adopted, I am sure 
they will be conferring a great boon on many who. like 
myself, are cultivating new products in 
The Lowcountb.y. 
A Legal-planting Question. — A planter writes :— 
" Can a man be run in lor abandoning his laud to 
the injury of his neighbour? I remember there was 
a case on this subject some years ago, but forget 
the result, though I think it was in favour of the 
injured party, aud the Supmme Court laid down 
the law pretty clearly for the future." 
Cocoa. — Of 4,650 bags offered, a large portion was 
Grenada, which sold at Is to 2s advance, at 63s to 67s 
for common to fair, 67s 61 to 73s 6d for good to fine. 
Of 1,306 bags Guayaquil, 300 bags sold at 68s to 76s 
for common to middling grey. Trinidad 89s to 105s 
for good to very fine red. A parcel of 196 bags Ceylon 
attracted attention ou account of its very good quality, 
and was sold by auction, chiefly at 92a 6d for fair, 
and 99s to 104s 6d for fine ; a few lots superior 109s to 
llls6d.— S. Ruck®- # Co.'s Weekly Circular, 26th Aug. 
It appears from the Statistical Abstract of the 
Colonies, laid before Parliament, that up to the end 
of 1879 about 79 million acres had been reclaimed 
out of the Crown estates in Australia, Tasmania, 
and New Zealand. There remained unalienated nearly 
two billion of acres, or fully 14 times the total 
quantity taken up by emigrants and colonists from the 
beginning. The Crown has other splendid estates else- 
where; some 9£ millions in Ceylon, about 4 millions 
in Natal, 52 millions in Cape Colony, and something 
over one million in Jamaica and Trinidad.— Madras 
Mail. 
Tea CuLTrvATrou in Johore.— In order to test the 
capabilities of his country for the production of tea, 
the Maharajah of Johore has had a small garden 
formed, which at the end of last year was visited and 
reported upon by a gentleman experienced in such 
matter- 1 . The little garden is described as being in 
charge of a Chinaman who does not treat the plants 
as is done in India, but apparently more Sinico, and 
his mode of manufacture varies similarly. The soil 
of the estate is of a reddish yellow colour, soft, 
without clay or stone, and of a friable nature, so 
that the frequ nt showers of rain easily percolate 
through it. When their age is taken into consider- 
ation, the growth of the plants is most rapid aud 
luxuriant. The seed was sent from Assam by Dr. 
Barry, and is, no doubt, what is known as Assam 
hybrid. The leaf of the plant is soft and bright, 
and most healthy in appearance, being almost en- 
tirely free from blight of any description. The cli- 
mate of the district is apparently all that could be 
desired for tea. Provided prices are only tolerably 
favourable, it is thought that tea cultivation in 
Johore will prove remunerative. A gre it element in 
its favour is that the labour-supply, both Chinese 
and Malay, is good, fairly abundant, and to be relied 
on. By a late mail from Singapore we learned that 
the Maharajah of Johore was making a tour in Java 
for the purpose of making himself acquainted with 
the methods adopted there in the cultivation of tea, 
coffee, &c, with a view to the improvement and 
development of his own state. He is staled to have 
been received with much distil ction by the Governor- 
General of Netherlands India. — Colonies and India. 
