254 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 2, 1893. 
The coining year in Ceylon is not expeoted to be so 
heavy as last year, but it is too eoon to make any 
reliable estimates. 
Caiile Dibkaee (foot and mouth) has been 
troublesome in the Dikoya and Maskellya districts. 
How thankful we ought to be for our railways I 
RoAi)3 are generally couEidered to be somewhat 
starved. Too much of the work of metalliog and 
gravelling has to wait for suitable weather. Mao- 
Bride is a veritable Micawber in the way of waiting 
for something favourable to turn up. 
Helopeltis in Tea, — Dr. Trimen's advice is like 
himself, sensible. Let planters in districts where 
it is troublesome, which at present is in the low 
country, use every effort to catch the insect. Thank 
goo'lness it is not a vegetable fungus. 
Weathbb very unoertaio, except that we have 
more constant windy weather than we care for. 
Coconuts. — It is amusing to read in the August 
Tropical Agriculturist of the editor of the " Catholic 
Messenger " (an old collea planter, I believp) 
warning the natives of Ceylon to have another 
horse ready in oaee the coconut nag can be ridden 
no longer. Native organs have always been taunting 
the European planter that he puts too much trust 
in tea- The " Catholic Messenger " proves that 
the tea buah is less liable than the coconut tree to 
disease. " Over production may be the downfall of 
the tea bu^b, not disease," says our Catholic friend, 
but over-production may kill cooonuts for I have 
heard W. J. confidently assert that if coconut 
planters, European and native, properly cultivated 
coconuts, the present cultivated area would produce 
double what it now does. What about prices iu 
that case !l 
Vegetation poisonous to Cattle. The article in 
the supplement to Tropical Agriculturist or maga- 
zine of " Suhool of Agriculture " is almost as 
gruesome reading as Mr. Clark's " Clockwork 
Coolie." It is bad enough to have one's cattle 
poisoned by Datura leaves being mixed with grass, 
but to be poisoned eating beef of an animal whose 
life had been slowly terminated by eating such 
food is too. too. 
Advice to Caoao Plantees is given in this same 
number and that is never to take seeds for a nursery 
or stake planting from a pod which grows on the 
branch but on the stem. 
CACAO CULTIVATION AND CEOPS IN CEYLON. 
When oofiee began to fail in Ceylon, it was 
remarked how the crops became a t-rnate ones — how 
a very poor export was followed by a better one and 
so on, althoutijh every pair showid a steady dealine 
on the total of the preceding two jears. Now, we do 
not think it has been noticea how i'l the case of our 
cocoa crops and exports, tha experience from almost 
the outset of the enleip ise has also been one of 
alternate crops, and these have prevailed even 
before and after the severe visitatioa of Helopeltis 
Antonii some years ago. The difference in the case 
of cocoa is, that each pair of crops shews a rise 
on the preceding, we are glad to say. Here are the 
exports for ten years with a regular alternation ; — 
Cocoa. Cocoa. 
Cwt. Cwt. 
1883 4,166 I 188S... .. 13,159 
1884... .. 9,606 I 1889... ... 19.054 
1885.. .. 7,247 ; 1890 15,981 
1886 14,855 1891 20,532 
1887 16,301 I 1892 17,327 
Moreover the export for 1893 will fully maintain 
the alternation with, however, a considernbla bound 
forwards ; foe already tiie export is about 25,000 cwt. 
and ought to be at least 28,000 cwt. by the end 
of the year, 
As regards the area planted in 1877-78, it was 
500 acres ; in March 1881 this bad incre aged to 
5,4C'J aore=, end this area in three years by 
December 1883 had increased by 4,500 acres, 
making 10,000 acres. Up to lu84, the growth and 
promise «ere all that could be desired, and pro- 
prietors of cacao clearings we'e deemed fortunate 
men; but about the middle of 1884, sfttr a prolonged 
drought, the appearance of the oaoco io several 
districts was so lamentable that Dr. Trimen was 
called on to report, and he found the chief enemy 
to be a sucking bug {/lelopeltis Antonii), which 
lives on the tender young tissues of the fUnt, The 
only remedy was systematic catching and destruc- 
tion of the larvB}, but it was aho clear that an 
exceptionally dry year, and a wrong eyetem of 
cultivation in the open in place of under shade- 
trees had increased the vir"l>noe of the attack. 
Where cacao has been grown from th« first under 
' shade, it has euflfered very little frrn in-"- '. Mi V 
Shade trees are now being grown everywhere. As a 
I consequence, however, of the attack referred In, 
I the planting of cacao was for a time stopped, and 
I the total area covered by December 1885 was only 
I 12,325 acres or 2,300 acres of extension in the 
i two year?. Then our figures gave no more 
i than 12,000 aor<>B in July 1888; and 12,000 acres 
for Augt. 1891. Among the natives in some parts 
of the lowconntry, in Matale, Uva, Kegalla, 
Eurunegala, and Dumhara districto, there was a 
good d':'al added to garden cultivation, but the 
ruph into tea, and the long time taken by the cacao 
tree to mature, kept back the European planters. 
Nevertheless, in the two years up (o Augutt 1893, 
about 3,400 acres have been added acd from the 
area now planted (IG,28G acres) we trust we may 
look for an export of 00,000 cwt. (or say 6.720,000 
lb. as the Trinidad people count it) by the time 
all is in full bearing. For 1893, the export is 
likely to be between 28,000 and .^0,000 cwt. Now 
that the railway is opened to Hapuiale we expect 
to see cacao culture gradually extended in Uva ■ in 
Monaragala district it flourishes well and the 
Government Agent for Uva reports (1893) "abundnnt 
land available" there a'rd in other lowlyiog parts. 
Of cacao planted alone, the area returned now is 
13,322 acres; of co£fee and cacao planted together 
we have 3,006 acres, besides 516 acres of Liberian 
coffee and cacao. At present cacao cultivation is 
chiefly confined to the Dumbara valley (about 4,200 
acres); Kurunepak. Kegalia and Polgahaweli (about 
2,700 acre-); M^italo North, Eact and West (over 
4,800 acres) ; about 1.000 Rcres in Uv» ; nearly 
1,600 in Panwila; and 250 to 4.'i0 acres each in 
Alagala, Ksdu^^ar nawa, Dolosbage, Haniani'. 
Nilambe, &o In Matnle the Assistant Agent says, 
I " the Matale and Afgiri Valleys will soon be one 
sheet of cacao" and with this and Uva ani ether 
peris in the lowcountry, ihere should he no difficulty 
in covering a gcod deal more than 25,000 acres of 
suitable land with ihis product. But it is of glrw 
growth, and more liable to en' mies than the 
favourite tea and the planting of it therefore ud 
vanoes much more slowly. Shelter a? d good soil 
are indispensable : even in the Dumbara Va'ley, 
the trees never grow when exposed to wind or on 
poor patches. 
An experimental cacao clearing of 13 acres has 
been formed near the Walawe river in the Southern 
province on a large block of 800 acres taken np 
for low-country prcducls by Mr. Pol -Carew. 
Cacao was supposed to be first introduced into 
Ceylon in the time of the Dntob, and Bennett 
states that h : got ripe pods early in the present 
century, before 1820 certainly, from trees planted 
by a Dutch gentleman. Indeed Dr. Trimen men- 
tions that as early as 1819 " chocolate pods" were 
