8o 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. TAug. r, 1894. 
delicious about tropical culti- 
vation. 
Th,'s is tho heading if a lengthy article contti- 
buteu to tho July uumoer ot ihe Ninetednth Century 
by S.r William Des Vtejx, ac.u q. The burucu 
ot the writer's remarks is i'uteuded tj apply tu 
Tropical Australia, for as he admits in the oarly 
part of the paper, he was iutiujed lo Write Che 
article after ilia peruss.1 of a paper entitled '• 'ihe 
Australian Outlook," vaLlou by Miso Snaw auU 
lately read before the ltoy al Colonial Institute, ac 
far as this region of the tropical world is con- 
sidered Sir William no doubt writes with ihe 
authority of a man who speaks only of what he 
knows and understands; but when he i^eueraliz s 
from his partial experience there are many w..o 
will be inclined to cry "Hold! 1 The following is 
the opening paragraph ot the artiole referred 10: — 
"The uncu tivated regions of the tropical world 
afford a wide held for the indulgence of imagination. 
Though the soil is probably not more fertile on the 
average than that of temperate climates, the greater 
rainfall and more powerful 6un produce a compara- 
tive wealth, brilliancy, and rapidity of vegetation 
which make a vivid impression upon eyes accustomed 
to a less prolific nature, and commonly lead to trans- 
ports of enthusiastic prophecy. Whenever there is a 
question to taking possession of a new tropical 
couuntry — -whether it is Fiji, Borneo, Madagascar, or 
Central Africa— we are presented with tue same pic- 
true of a not too far distant future, when the vast 
r acts hitherto subordinate to an unaided Nature 
Bhall have been brought under the dominion of Man. 
The luxuriance of the virgin forest, with its flower- 
ing trees and its profusion of tangled leaves, so dear 
to the aasthetic sense of a Lbarles Kingsley, appeals 
to the colonisiug enthusiast chiefly as indisatiug 
possibilities of its succession by tqual luxuriance 
of human plantations ; and that winch with a certain 
contempt he calls ! bush,' or 'jungle,' or 'scrub, 
is seen in his mind's eye replaced hy vast fields of 
■su^ar, cotton, rice and bananas. Now it is, no 
doubt, within tho bounds ol possibility that each 
of these forecasts may be realised some day; but, 
While each enthusiast regards that day as 1 within 
the region of practical politics' for the country in 
which he is especially interested, that which they 
all ignore entire y, and what the rest of the world 
is apt to forget, is how extremely distant must be 
that day for all but a comparatively infinitesimal 
rtion 0 j the total of ' uncultivation,' and that, 
as a matter of fact, the very profusion of growth 
which so excites admiration is destined, for the 
most part, to defeat the aspirations based upon it.'' 
The delusion utdVr union tome ignorant people 
labour, viz., that every truncal jungle is convertible 
in'o 'eotates in whijh the crops will be as 
luxuriant as thd fjrts; g.owth that preoeded 
them cannot, v.ith fbkheeB, be laid to the charge 
of agriculturists with uuy commonsense. The 
ordinary agricultural "p ^.pector " of the presen 
day is not so light-heaued as to purchase land 
—however vivid may be the impression of "the 
wealth, brilliancy and rapidity of vegetation "— 
before carefully weighing a hundred and one con- 
siderations relating to character of natural growth, 
soil elevation, aspect, rainfall and other matters, 
which are always borne in mind by him, though 
they may escape the observation of the casual 
critic or impressionable giobe-trotter. No, Sir 
William de Veeux does injustice to the "pioneer- 
ing planter" of the present day when he classes 
him with such people as those. Our planters are 
now pretty well able to decide what lands are 
suited to tea, what to cacao, and what to coco- 
nuts, and we are not likely, in this enlightened age, 
to indiscriminately and ruthlessly clear forests and 
plant anything anywhere. We are not aware that 
there is any reason lor calling the cacao tree a, 
vine, but Sir William de Vceux bo dubB it cacio, 
he says, requires a combination of heat and 
moisture founi only in very low latitudes. '■ In 
the Northern Ileuhph' re ita cultivation b ..- 
neve-r, I think, met with commercial success in 
a higher latitude than 11°, an j as the S.utheru 
Hemisphere haa a lower average temp mure, it 
may bo doubted wh.incr the cacao-vine could be 
anywhre pr. fi.aiiiy cultivated in Australia, exc pt, 
pethnp.-, in me txtrewe uortu of York Peuinbula " 
"Coconuts," we are toid, " though ihey g va 
a profitable return to cu.tivat ou only ia the 
neighbourhoo 1 ot the sea," &e. If this statement 
is intended to be applied to Trop'xal Australia 
cood and well; but if to the whole tropical world, 
we, at Last in Ceylon, cannot accept it as cor, 
rsponding with o. r experience. 
" I hive grave doubts," Eays the writer 
agiin, "whether any tropical country can 
become a prosperous white man's colony. I in ,.n 
a colony where white men are labourers as well 
as employers, sni ara able lo rear a healthy 
pro k >ny, inclined to, and physically capable of, 
work wilh Ihe hands My tom'.-what 
varied experience, and what I have read cf the 
experience of others, have caused mo to believe 
that there i<? senv thing in tropical Iafitu le which, 
independently of temperature or elevation, operates 
gainst the ' physique ' and the ' morale ' of the 
vvhi.e ma'i ; and thi t, opart from tine, the mere 
presence in large cumbers of an inferior race, 
closes manual labour to be regarded as a degrada- 
tion, and thus affocM, if it does not preclude, the 
energy which is so absolutely neoessary to the 
pioneers of n:w cuuntiiee." It would be inter- 
esting lo have the opinions of veteran planters 
on theEC points. (1) How fur the reproach against 
tropical ocuutiLs applies to the " £ ien of the 
Eastern Wave," (2) what there is in this latito.de 
(not in the men themselves I) that operate against 
their physique and morality, and (3) to what ex.ent 
the alleged causes precluded (it, indeed, it did 
preclude at all) energy in the grand old pionoers 
of Ceylon ? There are pioneers and pioneers and 
planters and planters, and one should be careful 
to distinguish between the worse types (for in- 
stance the ex-criminal who ba= been tranformed 
into the Australian bush-ranger) and the belli r, 
honourable and eduoated agriculturists who are 
to be found in our own planting community. 
EXTENSION OF TEA PLANTING IN 
TEAVANCORE. 
From enquiries instituted by us we find that the in- 
formation supplied by our London correspondent with 
reference to the sale of an enormous tract of country in 
Tra.ancore for tea p'.anting is substantially correct. 
It appears tha 1 ; Mr. tf. M. Knight has for some time 
past teen workiog in conjunction with one of Messrs. 
Fiulay, Mair & Co.'s repiesentctives to bring about 
tbe purchase ot a tract ot land 120 milt s square from 
the Nor h Travancore Astoc ation, who hold the land 
from tl.e 'J'ravitcore Government, and it is believed 
that all difficulties have tow been arranged satis- 
factorily [altfaonga we understand that the purchase 
has n t been quite comp'eted yet.^-ED. 0. 0.] The 
land is desjiibed to us by one who has recently 
been in ihe neighbourhood os magnificent forest and 
crass laud possessing eoil of greater richuess than 
anything we are acquainted with in Ceylon. It iswell 
suited for tre cu'ti?ation of tea. But it bas one 
drawback — ccmnunjications are very imperfect, and 
transport has to bs carried on by means of 
tavalams. It is believed that Messrs. Finlay, 
Muir & Co. are acting ou behalf of the North and 
Sooth Syluet Tea Company, and they intend to 
