154 
f HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. t, 1894. 
not grow Coffee. Fortunately he bad still enough 
left, and be had the courage to dip into 100 acres 
of the new land. The result was that in 3 years ho 
sold out for £10,000, having got back all his money 
and a profit to boot. Moral: — Never re-open aban- 
doned land, while you have new to go upon. 
No. 18. 
Disaster followed disaster in coffee-planting from 
1847 to '51. And when the atmosphere cleared up, 
many a timid bolder sacrificed at the first bid, a valuable 
Property. It was then that a Native offered a random 
sum of £250 for an Estate of 303 acres forest, and 
120 acres coffee, which had been cultivated and aban- 
doned, resuscitated and re-abandoned, for the previous 
20 years- The offer took, and the property changed 
hands. £450 were immediately given the lucky buyer 
for the forest land. The Coffee he worked up a little, 
and in a few montbs sold for £2,400. 
No. 24. 
G — consistod of about 1,500 acres (a whole country 
side in fact) of very good forest which had gone 
a-begging for many years,— an evil report bavin- 
blasted its reputation. It was called too high and 
blown — all slab rock — no water, Ac, — so at a venture, 
a European Planter bid £500 and got it. Frightened 
at reports which be never took the trouble to confirm 
or contradict, be sold it to a Native for £800. This 
Native opened two or three peddling 1 it t e bits ol the 
land at the two extreme ends of the Estate, worked 
up the old abandoned coffee and died. The estate was 
then put up for sale and only brought £4,000. The 
fortunate purchaser, bolder and more confident than 
bis predecessors, went to reside on the place— opened 
it up — sold off bits of the forest at £ 5 an acre, and 
cleared out after 3 or 4 years with a profit of £8,000. 
It is now a largo and valuable Property, worth pro. 
bably £20,000 
No. 25. 
VICISSITUDES OF COFFEE PRICES. 
This series -would probably be considered incomplete 
Were not a word or two said on the vicissitudes also 
of Coffee prices, as well as . of Coffee Estates. In 
1848 and early in 1849 the value of Coffee had attained 
its lowest limit. It had been declining for years; and 
as it fell men ventured cn another and yet another 
purchase believing its lowest possible limit had been 
attained; and that now it must advance. Many bow- 
ever doomed to disappointment in that expectation. 
The writer heard one of the oldest, shrewdest and 
most respected Merchants of that day say that for 
three years be bad dabbled in Native Coffee and during 
all that time he had never bad a successful transaction. 
Indeed this downward tendency of this article continued 
so long and so persistently, and so many had been 
bit by their operations, that the timid retreated from 
the field and the cautious would not venture on it. 
All seemed to fear that there would be no end to 
this declension : and prices fell very low in conse- 
quence. It told severely on the Planter, for his parch- 
ment Coffee fell in proportion : while Eice was 
exceedingly high. At that time a bushel of Rice and 
a hundredweight of Native Coffee could be purchased 
in Kandy for the same price, 9s. It was then that 
one . of the now leading Colombo firms entered the 
field. Unhurt by the past, its founder was undeterred 
for the future from venturing on this, to others, 
forbidden ground. Supplied with ample means he 
■went in boldly, buying up almost all that came to 
the market. The result was that in a few months he 
cleared an immense profit, and established his character 
as a clever and sagacious Merchant. Plantation Coffee 
was sold also at ridiculous figures during the period 
referred to. Pertaining to one of the Insolvent Estates 
■with which that period abounded, two crops were sold 
on the Estates where they lay stored, in Badulla at 3s per 
Bushel of Parchment, equal to perhaps 4s 6d delivered 
in Colombo ; while 35s per cwt, was the price realised 
for good average Plantation coffe in London ! ! ! 
Eice too has fluctuated even more than Coffee. I 
hough', it in Kandy in 1849 @ 2/9 per Bushel : and 
ill 1806 at the same place I paid for the same 
article 23/6! | 
COCOA (CACAO) REVIVAL FOR COLUMBIA. 
The following which has been translated for the 
Tropical Agriculturist from the Spanish will prove in- 
teresting to many of our planting readers: — 
To His Excellency Don IE, A. auo- 
Sir — I take the liberty to submit for your Ex- 
cellencv's consideration the following observations 
concerning one of the most valuable products of 
Co'umbia, namely cocoa. I desire your Excellency 
to note the interest I have taken in the cultivation 
of this plant, during a long series of years, first 
in Jamaica and tben in this country. My object is 
to demonstrate that this cultivation deserves en- 
couragement on the part of Columbia 
During the time that I was superintendent of the 
Botanical Department of Jamacia, for a period of 
over 12 years, one of the most valuable plants that 
d'ew my attention was cocoa, whose cultivation had 
h>en once rlorishing in that Island, but had now 
become quite insignificant. 
With the view of re-establishing iu the Island this 
most important industry, the first step taken was, 
the Government commissioning me in 1873 to go 
to the Island of Trinidad and there to investigate 
the mode of cultivation in use in that colony. In 
my report relating to this mission, which was 
published by the Government, I gave an account 
of my experience based upon the opportunities I 
had of examining thoustnds of acres of this 
cultivation, whose products figure amongst the mo6t 
valuable iu the world. 
From another of my officials tecords on the products 
w 1 ich Jamaica contributed to the Phi'adelphia 
Exhibition in 1876, which record was presented to 
both Houses in the English Parliament, I take the 
following passage from the section relating tn cocoi: — 
" I hive repeatedly an I most energetically recom- 
mended the cultivation of this important plant in 
extensive dis'ricts of the Island. This i lant is 
particularly adapted to the limited number of hands 
on the Island, if it is taken into consideration that 
the crops are produced with abundance, and with 
much less labour than the cultivation of the coffee 
plant requires. In view of stimulating the cultiva- 
tion of cocoa the Government could offer premiums 
lor each so many hundred trees upon their attaining 
a certain age. The advantages of this svsteni 
would not fail to make themselves felt within a 
short nun ber of ye rs." 
Whilst iulfiling my mission in Trindad. I collected 
quite a number of beans of the best varieties, which 
beans I took over to Jamaica with a view of 
propagating this cultivation. The i-rprovement 
produced by these seeds and their immediate produc- 
tions, appear in the following extract from the first 
annual record C 1879-18S0) of my successor Mr. D. 
Morris, who took charge of the Botanical Deparment 
in 18T9, that is to say upon my retirement in 1878. 
"In tbe propagation and distribution of this 
valuable product attention has been exclusively given 
to the better grades of Trinidad cocoa, and a good 
many pods have been gathered from these varieties 
imported in 1873-1874. 
Although the cultivation of cocoa 150 years ago 
had been an important industry in Jamaica, it had 
fallen to such a point some twenty years ago. that 
the on'y trees on the island were a few plants of 
inferior varieties disseminated here and there on the 
lands of the colonist?. But, nevertheless, owing to 
the stimulus given to the industry by the Govern- 
ment, and to the introduction of the better varieties 
of Trinidad cocoa, and the vulgarization of facts 
upon the cultivation and preparation of so valuable a 
bean, a decided improvement has taken place both as 
to the quantity and quality of the exported article." 
He then makes a recapitulation from which it 
appears that the total value of the cocoa exported 
in 1875 was £875, whereas in 1880 it amounted to 
to £10,918. 
Subsequent to my retirement this same Mr. Morris 
paid a visit to the island of Trinidad in order to 
acquire practical knowledge on the cultivation of 
cacao, upon which he published a pamphlet, 
