Oct. 2, 1893.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
221 
to her icithout mentioning any name. I am 
impelled to send it by Unseen dictation." 
The enclosure was a £20 note, and it might 
not be out of place now to take a passing peep 
at the home of the poor young planter's widow, 
whose half-broken heart still fondly clung to 
the hills of Ceylon. 
It was the November term ; the grey granite 
city looked cheerless and cold, and few were 
abroad in the slush, except what Tytler play- 
fully called the Platypus, /. ,c., a beast with a 
bill! 
Poor Mrs. heard the door bell ring, felt 
assured it was a demand for the rent, her 
legs trembled beneath her, she sank down on 
the stair and uttered a brief prayer. Again 
the bell rang, and she opened the door to find her 
prayer fully answered. 
This I know to be only a sample of R. B. T.'s 
religion, and the grief he felt at the downfall 
of coffee was chiefly the grief of having to 
discontinue these genreous acts of real Chris- 
tian charity. 
The Gloom Deepens. 
Early in 1882, he wroce after his last visit 
to Ceylon There is now no longer any 
doubt about the gravity of affairs. What to 
do is the question asked on every side. What's 
the use of foreclosure? and who's to buy if 
put up for sale? I incline rather to the view 
of restricted upkeep doing its fatal work by 
degrees, and how fatal that will be in Ceylon 
soil and amongst coffee planted as the hulk of 
it has been, there's none can conceive better 
than yourself. Whole sweeps of districts, and 
even districts themselves, Avill drop out of ex- 
istence as coffee producers, and then the poor 
owners, their tvives and families ? (Oh ! good Lord 
help them I) What vnll become of them in such 
a country I do not know; mortgages will 
drop very heavily, banks and firms will go 
down, and then ? W^hy I fear except for Cacao 
it will be gloaming in Ceylon." 
It will here be noted that there is not a 
word about tea, the profitable cultivation of 
which has since been rendered possible by the 
depreciation in the value of silver. 
Cacao the Hope of the Future. 
I have already alluded to Mr. Tytler's experi- 
ments in cacao cultivation. He was the first 
to plant out this famous tree in Ceylon. 
His '• Chocolate Watte" at the Kondesalli 
corner, was for years one of his favoiuite show 
spots on Pallakellie. He invariably spoke of it 
as •'Chocolate " in order to distinguish it clearly 
from the somewhat confusing name of cacao 
(really pronounced kakoio in its native home 
of South America). At first, the tree had many 
enemies in Ceylon, the worst of which proved 
the dry scorching winds. To provide against 
this, and with a view to further exten.sions, 
Mr. Tytler had been for years steadily planning 
and planting belts along the ridges. He 
was opposed to shade, but after a visit 
to the West Indies in 1879, he became convinced 
that a moderate amount of shade was beneficial 
for cacao. The soil of Dumbara is well adapted 
for its growth and the climate admirably 
suited for the preparation of tlie product, but 
there is much more moisture in the warm shady 
valleys of Ecuador and Amazon, where the tree 
is indigenous. 
Visit to Trinidad. 
In the winter of 1879-80, ^Iw Tytler paid a visit 
tbe islands of Triaidad aud Grenada for tlie 
purpose of further studying the growth and 
manipulation of cacao. In Trinidad he found 
much to interest and surprise him in the vigour 
and fruitfulness of the gigantic trees, albeit 
gr-owing in a soil much inferior to the average 
of Ceylon, but in a climate even hotter and 
much moister than Dumbara. So long as this 
soil is kept shaded it will bear abundant crops ; 
remove this, and it would be reduced to steril- 
ity for years. In the matter of curing the 
i cacao it soon became evident that there was 
I little to be learned from the Trinidad planter, 
who indeed has got very much to unlearn 
before he produces good marketable cacao. We 
: have nothing in Ceylon to compare to the 
massive cacao trees in Trinidad, but the curing 
of the crop here is primitive, slovenly and filthy 
to a degree, quite accounting for the low prices 
of the article when compared with the carefully 
prepared cacao from Ceylon. In after years the 
writer had occasion to follow in the footsteps 
of his friend, through Trinidad and Grenada, 
and was gratified to hear him frequently 
.spoken of as "the G. O. M. of Ceylon," for 
by this time— though only 60 years of age — 
he looked quite an old man, the cares of recent 
years having already told npon him. 
Last visit to Ceylon, 
Once more, after his visit to the West Indies 
he returned to Ceylon full of schemes for the 
future, and sanguine of cacao as ever he was 
of coffee. Probably many will think he was 
over sanguine, but here again the fault surely 
leant "to virtue's side," for the world has ever 
been much indebted to her most sanguine men. 
Early in 1882 he wrote in great glee from 
Pallakellie : — 
" Cacao in Dumbara is something magni- 
ficent. During the first stroll, I let my cheroot 
out three times, absorbed in the spectacle 1 800 
acres Palli. The last sold at 115/6 against Trini- 
dads at 90/, and with 8 cwt. per acre, clear protit= 
100/ p. cwt. Mind you, we take a trip round the 
vjorld two years hence, to celebrate my freedom 
from debt!" 
Hopeful to the Last. 
In May 1882, just a month before the end, 
he writes : — 
"Palli Cocoa selling at 116/. Caracas 93/. 
Keep me going for only two or tkree years, 
and— harroosh for all debts paid!" 
To the last he firmly believed in the recuper- 
ative powers of his Ceylon properties. " 
fair play between man and man, the utter- 
most farthing will soon be paid." 
Those now most interested, may at any rate, 
well congiatulate themselves upon the fore- 
thought and perseverance of K. B. T. on leaving 
one of the most valuable properties in Ceylon*) 
where thirty years before he found an aban- 
doned coffee estate. 
Value of Estates. 
Yes. Ye who shake your heads and talk about 
the depreciation of Ceylon property, remember thit 
that in 1852, R. B. T. purchased Pallakellie at 
the then current value of £1,500 with 5 years 
to pay it in, and after gathering crops to the 
value of fully £150,0iiti, he leaves to his fortunate 
creditors a property valued at £60,( 00 ! This 
applies to the .single estate of Pallakellie, .md 
does not include his one-tiiird of the Kaja 
group, and the whole of Hoolankanda. 
The end came in June 1882, at the critical 
agQ oi 6;i. Uia fatbev WilUau Tytler di»d abou^ 
