574 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1882. 
inhabit the British isles is no less than one thousand 
millions sterling : of which £370,000,000 are the result 
of capital, while £630,000,000 are derived from earnings. 
To shew the inportance of the agricultural interest, we 
must quote again : — 
Of the £1,000,000,000 total, about £158,000,000 is 
the income of the agricultural classes, made up as 
follows:— £6-2,000,000 income of landowners, £5.000,000 
income of tithe-owners, £33,000,000 income of farmers 
<( which is 9 pfr cent on their capital), and 
£58.000,000 earnings of labourers (which averages 
about 24s. per cultivated acre and 14s. per week for 
each worker.) 
From such important facts, the farmer draws correct 
deductions, thus ; — 
Now, the community can ill spare any portion of 
this great income derived from the cultivation and 
stocking of land. The trading, manufacturing, miniag, 
brewing, ship-owning, carrying, professional, and various 
other classes must be concerned not to lose from 
their books any of that great share of the £100,000,000 
annually which land and tithe-owners and farmers have 
expended in the purchase of home manufactures and 
commodities. And the urban population, including 
both the industrial and retired cla-ses, are also deeply 
interested in the question whether the £58,000,000 of 
agricultural labourers' wages shall be cut down by 
turning large areas of plough-land into grass and send- 
ing surplus hands more thickly than ever to the towns, 
or whether the wages fund shall be increased and 
rustic workmen kept at home by augmenting the bulk 
of that farm-produce which requires manipulation and 
by planting more families in occupation of the land. 
A time has arrived when the business of agriculture no 
longer yields the amount of income to landlords and 
tenants which has hitherto totalled up so largely ; and 
hence, the public have, not only a serious commercial 
interest at stake, bat for mere self-preservation, they 
are bound to aid. if they can, in restoring the agri- 
cultural classi s into a solvent and profit-making position. 
The bearing of all this on Ceylon is obvious. Our 
island resembles Ireland, not only in area but in the 
fact thaf, having neither mineral wealth nor manu- 
facturing industries of consequ"nce to fall back upon, 
the very life of the population as well as the susten- 
tation of all that constitutes Government is directly 
dependent on the land and the success of those who 
have devoted their lives, their energies, their skill and 
their capital to the cultivation of the soil. If in the 
•manufacturing and commercial mother country ike 
agricultural interest is important and deserving of all 
the possible relief and encouragement which a wise 
and just Government can afford, how much more is 
similar action demanded from the ruling authorities 
of a dependency of the empire, the very existence of 
which depends on the land and its products? 
With all the adverse influences which have oper- 
ated to depress the agricultural interest in the United 
Kingdom, the annual value of salable produce in 
the shape of crops, animals, wool, &c, is reckoned at 
£300,000,000, while the total value of the year's ex- 
port trade was only £223,000,000. But, after all, 
agriculture is only relatively important in the United 
Kingdom. In this Colony its importance, and especially 
of that branch of it conducted by Britons'with British 
skill and Brit'sh capital, is supreme and overshadowing. 
Blot out the enterprise referred to, and Ceylon sinks 
back into a mere historical name— a country interesting 
for its ruin*. If therefore, the revival of agriculture in 
Britain is urged as one of the highest duties of states- 
manship, is this a time in Ceylon for inci easing, instead 
of diminishing burdens on an enterprise which is al- 
ready suffering the extreme of depression from causes 
beyond human control and apparently beyond human 
cure? "Time the healer" will bring relief; but 
meantime those on whom the hand of a mysterious 
providence has fallen heavily have a right to expect 
that their rulers will do all that is possible to lighten 
their burdens, instead of assuming the attitude and 
carrying out the policy with which the name of "Reho- 
boam" is associated in a manner the reverse of favour- 
able, or famous, or worthy of imitation. 
THE " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. " 
( Communicated.) 
The " Tropical Agriculturist " has now reached the 
age of half a year. The last three numbers show a 
marked improvement in the way of selection of use- 
ful articles relating to our old products, as well as 
to those of later time, and hints respecting those that 
might be cultivated. A great many useful extracts 
occur which point out to us the state of affairs relating 
to such products in other parts of the world 
It must be admitted by every one interested in 
Agriculture, directly or indirectly, that this is one of 
the best Agricultural Records in the East, pointing out 
to us the success and failures of the different modes 
of treatment in various localities of this island. 
With the steady growth of this magazine, we note that 
there have been rapid strides in the yield of our 
cinchona trees, the last recorded in the journal be- 
ing 9'6 of quinine from a 5£ year old tree in Dim- 
bula. This has been outdone by trees on Yarrow. 
However, with the increased yield of quinine and in- 
creased planting, we have to note that Howard now 
quotes his quinine at 8s per ounce, and though this 
may be only a temporary depression, giving rise, per- 
haps, to a greater consumption ; yet the time must 
come when the price will fall far below 8s. There 
is now still greater need for us to manufacture the 
quinine in Ceylon, and so save the charges of trans- 
port, as well as the heavy agency charges at home. 
A very useful paper on " Lime and Mannre" appears 
in the October issue, and an interesting article on 
lime or the ashes of the kunibuk tree. 
Coffee leaf disease has its share of literature, and 
Mr. Ward's final report is promised us in the next 
issue. We doubt whether much good will spring from 
ail this enquiry, save the fact that certain proposed 
remedies are of no avail. Hemileia vastalrix is of a 
deeper stamp and more mysterious than it looks, 
and all outward treatment will lie futile. Such treat- 
ment may, however, afford a passing relief. 
Tea and rubber show a gradual progression. With 
respect to the latter, however, the one thin,< required 
is : will the yield be sufficient to enable the European 
to pronounce it a remunerative crop ? 
Two valuable papers referring to scientific agriculture 
and agricultural education appear in the last number. 
W$ only ho, e that we may have some agricultural 
education here, accomp mied with some practical work, 
to divert the ever- abounding and continually in- 
creasing thirst for the youth of Ceylon to enter 
the legal or medical professions, or to rest content 
with a clerkship. If only such a diversion could be 
effected, what a different race we should have in time 
to come ! How much they themselves would be bene- 
fited and the island in general ! 
Papers on gardening from the Asian and Sutton's 
Guide will be much appreciated by those who have 
leisure to spend on such a useful and healthy occupation 
