986 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1882. 
ORANGE CULTURE IN CEYLON. 
We have more than once touched upon the subject 
of the cultivation of fruit in Ceylon, as a means of 
affording a livelihood to young men with limited means 
who can find no opening in professions, or in general 
business. The question assumes more importance as the 
time approaches for Colombo becoming the port of call 
for so many more steamers than hitherto. Our atten- 
tion is re-called to orange culture by a notice which 
this industry has received in one of the consular reports 
which enters at some length into the cultivation of and 
trade in oranges and lemons. The trade in oranges 
from the West India Islands, Malta, and Egypt to 
Great Britain has been of considerable importance for 
many years past. The first crop of the season is looked 
for with great eagerness by the London dealers, and 
there is as much rivalry between clipper fruit steamers 
with the new fruit of the seasons as there is with the 
China clippers with argoes of new Teas. 
But the trade to which our attention has been directed 
by a consular report from Beyrout, is that of the two 
Syrian districts in which oranges are most plentiful, 
those of Jaffa and Sidon. The orange trade from these 
two places we are told, began to assume considerable 
proportions some forty years ago, when the new Go- 
vernment of Egypt took shape, and it is now one of 
the most profitable industries in the two towns above- 
mentioned. Unfortunately the inhabitants, allured by 
first gains, commenced planting gardens and expending 
money beyond their resources, the result of which has 
been that, in spite of all remunerations for small out- 
lays, their improvidence has placed most of them in 
the power of money-lenders, who continue to advance 
at interest of 15 to 20 per cent. However a company 
has lately been formed in Jaffa to negotiate loans with 
orange cultivators, and if its operations be carried on 
f airly, we may expect an extension of horticulture, with 
benefit alike to the company and the borrowers. At 
the present moment Jaffa possesses some 340 gardens, 
averaging from 2,000 to 2,500 trees in each. The crop 
of fruit from these may be put down at about 
36,000,000. 
A garden costs from 40,000f. to 50,000f. and brings 
in 4,000f. to 5,000f. per annum. For several miles 
round Jaffa extends a fertile plain on which water is 
always to be found at a depth of 40 ft. or 50 ft. 
The cultivation of the orange is not generally carried on 
with much enterprise or skill, and it appears but little 
is done to aid the trees beyond irrigating them, and 
even this is canied on, on the most primitive system. 
At present implanted land close to Jaffa able to sup- 
port 2,000 trees is worth 2,000f. to 3,000f. ; but at 
two or three hour's distance it will fetch only 5f. to 6f. 
a deunum. The export is carried on chiefly by sailing, 
boats for Egypt and Constantinople, and by steamers 
for Russia, Trieste, and Marseilles. Exportation in 
cases is a comparatively recent introduction, which has 
given considerable impulse to business with Europe. 
The orange gardens of Sidon are cultivated on the 
same principles as those of Jaffa. An acre of land at 
Sidon is generally valued at from 6,000f. to 7,000f., and 
is capable of bringing in an income of about 600f. 
An abundant supply of water appears to be a neces- 
sity for the orange tree, if it is to produce abundant 
crops. It will be seen that the growers there receive 
not more a return than ten per cent upon the value of 
their properties, the largest profits being realised who 
purchased them for the supply of foreign markets, those 
markets in the present case being Turkey and Russia. 
Oranges are likewise cultivated to a considerable ex- 
tent in Tasmania, whence a large trade exists to the 
other Australian Colonies. We are, however, without 
data as to the returns yielded by this industry, but 
seeing how little labor need be expended on the tree 
after it has arrived to maturity, beyond that involved 
to its irrigation, tho return in this couutry should bo 
very considerable. The produce of a tree is said to 
range from 200 to 800 fruit per annum. The demand 
for such fruit as these, will very shortly be far greater 
than the supply can satisfy ; and considering at what a 
lowr ate suitable land can be purchased or rented on 
long leases, and having regard to the pleasant and not 
by any means laborious occupation of a fruit-grower, 
an orangery should have attractions for the young men 
of this country. Hitherto the fruit has been grown 
without care and attention, and certainly without irri- 
gation, and we cannot wonder therefore that quality does 
not form a very prominent feature in the article. In 
the western province oranges are planted chiefly on rising 
ground, under the impression that it thrives best in a 
dry situation, but this is not the case, and the absence 
of moisture in the soil may go far to explain the 
poverty of some of the fruit. We are assured that 
oranges grown in the manaar district are of a very fine 
description and very refreshing to the quality of juice 
they contain; this is probably explainable by the fact 
that irrigation is easily obtained from some of the many 
water-courses flowing through that part of the country. 
We would advise any intending cultivators of the 
orange to select land capable of being irrigated by means 
of wells and water channels, and without that trees 
can scarcely be expected to yield abundantly. A very 
little mechanical contrivance will unable water to be 
raised from the wells and distributed through an orangery, 
especially if bullock-power be available. To what extent 
the demand for this fruit exists in Syria alone may be 
gathered from the fact that 30,000 cases of the fruit are 
annually shipped from that country. — C. Times. 
COCONUT CULTIVATION ON THE MALABAR 
COAST. 
One of the chief agricultural pursuits on the West 
coast, as also in different parts of the peninsula, which 
ranks only second in importance to paddy cultivation, 
is coconut planting, which is considered 'so profitable 
a speculation that the mania for getting possession of 
reclaimed lands, and lands along the river side, favor- 
able for the above purpose, is ever on the increase; 
and if it is cultivated on scientific principles, the profit 
will be ten-fold more than under existing arrangements. 
As things now stand, particular attention is ' paid to 
the following points, which those interested iu the pro- 
motion of this branch of industry will do well to bear 
in mind. In the first place, great care is taken in the 
selection of the nuts for growing. Only large-scarred 
nuts of trees that have passed then- middle age, will 
fit for the same, and these, when they have attained 
then- full maturity, have to be gently let down in baskets, 
and not violently chopped on the hard ground as ordin- 
ary nuts are ; but those who consider this process rather 
too troublesome, generally . select trees growing on the 
banks of tanks so that the fully-ripe nuts might drop 
down into them, which is considered less injurious. 
These nuts are generally planted on the ground only 
half-covered at a distance of one feet from each other. 
In some cases they are simply slung, two by two, over 
a large horizontal pole, while the more common plan 
is to place them on house-tops in a similar manner. 
In each case they are fully exposed to the weather, and 
remaining thus for about three months they generally 
begin to germinate ; and when they put forth foiu- leaves, 
or when they are about four or five months old, they are 
carefully transplanted, while on high roads, only plants 
three years old are considered fit for transplanting. 
The pits into which they are to be transplanted must 
be prepared with due care, at least six months before 
they are to be used. One essential element in the pre- 
paration of these pits is observing a proper distance 
between each, which necessarily varies according to the 
nature of the soil, a distance of 24 feet being considered 
sufficient in low ground, while in higher regions they 
