45 6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1881, 
it too high, and that it flourishes better from 3,200 
to 4,500 feet than above this height. They begin 
to plant it largely now in Java at 3,200 feet, with 
great success. 
Our Ledgeriana grafts go on to grow better than 
anything else, and I will take a first crop from them 
by cutting the lower branches in November next, when 
they will be two years old, since planting. Till now 
there are no signs whatever of the gloomy predictions 
of Mr. Cross going to be realized. Some people will 
condemn things they never saw or tried : I am a great 
friend of the principle of trying. So Cross with the 
stripping : what does it matter, whether the trees 
are placed on crutches for the rest of their life after 
the first stripping, if they produce more and better 
bark lamed and on crutches, than healthy on their 
own feet. It may appear cruel to ill-treat a tree in 
this manner, but we do not keep them for our pleas- 
ure, but to get as much and good bark from them 
as possible. Mr. Cross has very great merits indeed 
for cinchona cultivation, more than anybody else, by 
his successful gathering of different valuable species ; 
but he is not at all an authority on the cultivation of 
cinchona, and has taken great pains to show this in 
his report. 
I think the publishing of your Tropical Agri- 
culturist a happy idea; and most people in Java, 
who do not, of course, take so much interest in the 
local affairs of Ceylon, will like to have the plant- 
ing information in a concise form. 
Some days ago, I got a letter from Australia tell- 
ing that old Mr. Ferguson will pay us a visit, and 
can be expected at Batavia on the 30th of this month 
about. I hope he will soon come to the hills, and 
I shall be glad to go with him over the plantations 
and to introduce him to planters of coffee, tea, 
or other products which will be of interest to him. 
—Yours very truly, J. C. Moens. 
FIBRES. 
A Dikoya planter Bends us a sample of fibre ac- 
companied by the remark :— 
" Knowing you take great interest in new products, 
I send you a specimen of fibre I have grown here. 
Could you ascrtaiu name of same as the plant grows 
very freely in the present soil. " The fibre is not un- 
like that of the tree-mallow sent us lately by Mr. 
Hay from Dolosbage, being soft and white and prob- 
ably more fitted for papermaking than cordage. 
Mr. Schrottky, who saw the sample today, con- 
demned it as too weak, putting its value at £15 
a ton (against £400 for rheea grass which is 
the fibre to be experimented with here) and his opinion 
is fairly borne out by a merchant with Calcutta ex- 
perience, to whom we submitted the specimen. He 
writes : — 
"The sample of fibre, which appears to be jute or 
one of its congeners, is of fair staple, fairly cleaned, 
but short, containing no No. 1 of the ordinary Calcutta 
classification, but little No. 2 and to be composed of 
No. 3, 4, 5, with pieces, worth on the average, about 
£15 to £16 in London, or about £10 per ton here. You 
should tell your friends that it is well to avoid 
cutting off pieces of quality like those in the sample, 
the cutting diminishing the value of the staple 
which should be as long as nature produces it. It is 
only rough ends, coarser in texture than the run 
of the filament that are cut off, and the pieces I 
sea in the sample do not appear to partake of such 
roughness. A longer staple would command about £18 
to £20 per ton in London, and its equivalent here, 
and this will help to guide your friends re the 
remunera' iveness of the cultivation. 
GENERAL PLANTING REPORT FOR CEYLON. 
Weather.— North of Kandy, the planting season 
cannot be said, so far as it has gone, to have been 
a good one, and there are still a number of cinchona 
and other clearings to plant. In Dirnbula, Dikoya, 
Maskeliya and Ambegamuwa, the rainfall has been 
up to the average, but it has been very irregular, 
coming down generally in heavy pours succeeded by 
a week or so of drought, .which is not desirable 
planting weather. There is every prospect of a wet 
north-east monsoon, which is likely, on the whole, 
to do good to coffee and other products, although 
it may interfere with curing operations. 
Blo.-som— Crop Prospects and Crop Gatherings. 
— Crop prospects are not as good ag they were in the 
early part of the season. A great deal of the blossom 
did not set, and some of what came on is dropping off 
half ripe, ordrying up at the points of the branches. 
Leaf disease is blamed for the whole of this, and no 
doubt correctly. The lower districts, and favoured 
estates in the higher districts are doing well, and it is 
nothing unusual to see fields, or portions of fields, with 
from five to ten cwt. an acre. It is quite true that a 
smaller proportion will ripen than did formerly, but 
it is encouraging to see coffee trees in these days 
with such good crops on them. If some districts and 
estates are doing well, this cannot be said of others, 
such as many at high elevations, and w th a westerly 
aspect. Many such estates are not giving a cwt. an 
acre. And Uva, which has been the means of keep- 
ing up the total crop for several years, is likely to 
be short. It is to be feared that next year's crop will 
not exceed 600,000 cwt., if it reaches that figure. 
Leaf Disease.— Lately we have herd less about 
leaf disease becoming modified, or passing away. 
There are few, but hope that it will pass away of 
its own accord, although thus far there is no appear- 
ance of it. People have almost lost hope in a remedy 
of a practical nature being found to eradicate or 
even modify it to any considerable extent. Manure 
seems to be the best remedy for it, but with short 
crops few can afford to apply it. Meanwhile coffee, 
the greater part of the year, looks as well as 
could be desired, and no doubt it would again 
bear as formerly, were leaf disease removed. 
New Clearings— There is hardly such a thing 
out of Uva as a new clearing for Arabi: n coffee. 
Cinchona clearings are being planted and supplied, 
the latter being a work that never seems to have 
an end, so many are the failures from sun, wash, 
canker, insects, &c. In the low-country the areas of 
tea, Liberian coffee, cacao and cardamoms are increas- 
ing, but not so rapidly as they would if money were 
more plentiful. Those engaged in planting new pro- 
ducts have not the slightest fear of failure where 
soil and climate are suitable. Liberian coffee in parti- 
cular gives great promise, and before long will as- 
tonish those who, knowing very little about it, have 
taken it upon them to warn others from planting it. 
There is now Liberian coffee in partial bearing on 
many estates, and the yield where planted with the 
proper number of trees per acre is almost incredible. 
With regard to pulping it, this can be done without 
any very great difficulty. A Liberian pulper has not 
yet been perfected, but no doubt one of our engineer- 
ing firms will soon turn out a satisfactory machine. 
Labour Prospects. — At the end of last crop there 
was a good d. al of labour in the country, but the strictest 
economy being the order of the day, all surplus coolies 
were paid off. Many got work from sub-contractors on 
the railway, but after a short time a nuuiber of con- 
tracts were stopped and the coolies thrown out of 
employment, without being paid in some cases. It is 
said, after this many left the Island and went to 
