Sept,  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
213 
gentlemen  was  about  to  read  to  them  could  not  ! 
be  in  better  bands. 
Mr.  Ferguson  remarked  that  he  was  afraid  a 1 
paper  which  must  deal  so  largely  with  statistics  j 
could  hardly  be  made  a pleasant  one,  but  he  had 
confined  any  detail  of  figures  to  an  appendix,  and 
would  not  weary  his  audience  by  reading  them. 
He  proceeded  to  review  the  conditions  under 
which  agriculture,  and  especially  planting  agri- 
culture, was  carried  on  in  Ceylon,  stating  that 
one  great  advantage  included  among  them  was 
an  unstinted  supply  of  cheap  labour  from  India. 
This  was  now  being  largely  supplemented 
by  resident  native  labour,  now  becoming 
habituated  to  labour  on  the  estates.  The  leoturer 
next  acknowledged  the  great  indebtedness  of  Ceylon 
and  other  oolonies  to  the  authorities  at  K~w.  Ha 
mentioned  the  diversity  of  training  required  to  make 
A THOROUGH  CEYLON  PL  INTER. 
Among  other  requirements  he  said  he  must  become 
partly  an  engineer,  60  many  were  the  constructive  and 
meohanical  works  he  had  to  supervise.  He  must  alBO 
learn  to  speak  the  native  language,  colloquially,  and 
become  an  expert  in  every  department  of  tropical  agri- 
culture. It  was  no  wonder  that,  with  suoh  a training 
as  this,  an  experienced  Ceylon  planter  held  a pass- 
port for  employment  in  every  part  of  the  world. 
After  the  oollapse  of  the  ooffee  industry  about  300 
planters  left  the  island  to  seek  a livelihood  else- 
where. They  found  this  in  Trinidad,  the  Straits, 
Borneo,  Jamaioa,  Grenada,  California,  New  Guinea 
and  elsewhere  ; while  but  recently  two  most  ex- 
perienced Ceylon  planters  had  been  engaged  in 
reporting  on  the  capabilities  of  the  country  around 
the  ranges  of  the  Andes  for  various  forms  of 
tropioal  planting  cultivation.  He  might  instance 
how  highly  Ceylon  experience  was  valued  by  planters 
everywhere  by  citing  a story  told  him  by  a long  settled 
West  Indian  planter.  This  person  mentioned  hav- 
ing asked  a Ceylon  man  how  far  he  thought 
caoao  was  suited  to  a particular  island.  The  reply 
was  that  he  feared  wide  hybridiziDg,  whereupon 
the  questioner  remarked: — “Ah  ! from  your  answer 
I can  recognize  the  locality  of  your  training. 
Such  a remark  I should  never  have  heard  from  a 
West  Indian.”  Mr.  Ferguson  proceeded  to  admit 
that  many  products  had  been  tried  in  Ceylon 
whioh  had  not  answered  expectations  : 
THEIR  PRESENT  CULTIVATIONS 
were  " the  survival  of  the  fittest.”  He 
might  mention,  he  Baid,  tobacoo  as  a particu- 
lar instance  of  suoh  failure.  Although  this  was 
largely  grown,  it  had  become  evident  that  its 
regular  cultivation  by  Europeans  could  not  be 
profitably  pursued.  Cotton,  also,  had  not  been  a 
sucoess,  and  sugar,  which  had  been  tried  many 
years  ago,  had  had  to  be  entirely  given  up.  The 
island  seemed  to  be  but  suited  to  spices  and  tea. 
Proceeding  to  deal  with  existing  forms  of  pro- 
duction seriatim,  Mr.  Ferguson  referred  first  to 
CINNAMON, 
reviewing  the  earlier  endeavours  made  by  the 
Portuguese  and  Dutoh  to  regularly  culti- 
vate it.  He  stated  that  the  cinnamon  was  among 
the  indigenous  growths  of  the  island,  and  that 
inland  the  forests  contained  large  trees  of  it.  It 
had  always  been  a valuable  island  product,  the 
BomaDs  in  the  time  of  Nero  having  paid  as  much 
as  £8  per  pound  for  this  Ceylon  spice.  He  was 
sorry  to  say  that  the  present  prioes  hardly  paid 
expenses  of  cultivation  and  preparation.  This  was 
greatly  the  fault  of  the  Ceylon  cultivators,  who  had 
flooded  the  market  with  enormous  quantities  of 
chips. 
PEPPER, 
was  the  next  item  dealt  with,  the  lecturer 
observing  that  this  had  been  an  ear'y  cultiva- 
tion of  the  island,  and  it  had  obtained  celebrity 
as  early  as  1602.  The  Dutoh  had  given  great 
attention  to  it.  As  to 
CARDAMOMS, 
or  grains  of  Paradise,  Mr.  Ferguson  said  that  they 
were  now  an  article  of  large  export,  as  they  had  been 
indeed,  some  oenturies  back,  although  afterward, 
comparatively  abandoned  until  of  late  year.  The 
failure  of  coffee  compelled  the  planters  to  seek 
for  new  industries,  and  oardamoms  had  largely 
and  profitably  engaged  them.  There  are  about 
5,000  aores  now  under  cultivation  with  this 
produot.  Speaking  of 
CINCHONA, 
it  was  remarked  that  this  artiole  furnished 
probably  one  of  the  most  striking  instances 
of  fluctuation  that  could  be  quoted.  These 
had  been  without  precedent  in  the  whole 
history  of  trade.  Its  cultivation  had  afforded 
no  gain  to  Ceylon.  Kew  had  sent  the  first 
seeds  to  the  island  in  1863  or  1864.  The  trees 
had  first  been  planted  either  for  ornamental  or 
thade  purposes,  but  eventually  no  estate  was  to 
be  found  without  large  numbers  of  them.  The 
highest  prioe  for  the  bark  was  reached  in  1880, 
sinoe  when  it  had  diminished  so  rapidly  that 
the  bark  had  become  scarcely  worth  the  cost  of 
collecting.  Mr.  Ferguson  thought  there  might  be 
a great  future  for 
INDIARUBBER 
in  the  colony.  The  demand  for  the  gum  was  large 
and  increasing,  while  the  supply  was  falling  off. 
Parb,  now  exports  about  17,000  tons  per 
annum  and  obtains  between  £3C0  and  £400 
per  ton  for  it.  Attempts  to  cultivate  the  vine 
in  Ceylon  were  made  some  twelve  years  back.  The 
production  sold  well,  and  the  vines  were  rich  in  yield, 
but  the  lush  for  tea,  and  the  age  required  to  make 
the  vines  profitable,  had  nearly  stopped  their 
cultivation.  There  are  now  about  400  acres  under 
its  growth.  Probably  the  great  demand  and  the  high 
prioe  now  obtainable  would  resuscitate  this  as  a 
planting  industry,  and  in  suoh  a connection  further 
items,  such  as  gambier  and  the  kola  nut,  might 
be  cited  as  offering  inducement  for  trial  by  Ceylon 
planters.  Mr.  Ferguson  assigned  a high  importance 
to  the  cultivation  of 
THE  COCONUT. 
He  said  that  there  were  1,000  known  varieties  of 
the  palm  family,  but  only  25  of  these  were  to  be 
found  in  Ceylon.  Several  of  these  were  of  vast 
importance  as  local  food  suppliers,  but  com- 
mercially little  notice  need  be  taken  of  any  of 
them  save  the  coconut.  This,  in  th9  form  of 
coppera  and  desiccated  coconut  and  as  oil,  was 
now  a very  large  artiole  of  export,  statistics  as 
to  which  would  be  found  in  the  appendix.  With 
reference  to 
CACAO 
Mr.  Ferguson  informed  his  hearers  that  this 
had  first  been  introduced  by  the  Dutoh. 
Systematic  planting  by  the  English  had  been 
begun  in  1872.  It  was  an  exceedingly  trouble- 
some product  to  grow  until  the  plant  has 
attained  some  ten  years  of  age.  The  demand  for 
coooa  was  fully  up  to  if  not  in  excess  of  the  supply, 
and  Mr.  Ferguson  contrasted  the  cultivation  and 
preparation  as  pursued  in  Ceylon  with  the_  forms 
of  both  praotised  in  the  West  India  islands, 
asserting  that  Ceylon  coooa  held  the  pre-eminence 
in  all  European  markets.  His  striotures  on  tha 
West  Indian  practice  with  regard  to  this  article 
