Dec.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
401 
ADVANTAGES  OF  CEYLON  TO  BRITISH 
MANUFACTURERS. 
By  Mr.  John  Ferguson  of  the  “ Ceylon  Observer. 
The  Colony  of  Ceylon  is  now  recognised  as  the 
best  school  in  the  world  for  the  training  of  the 
tropical  agriculturist  or  planter  of  sub-tropical  pro- 
ducts, such  as  coconuts,  palmyra,  or  any  of  the  palm 
family,  coffee,  cacao,  tea,  sugar,  cinnamon,  cinchona 
bark,  tobacco,  cardamoms,  nutmegs,  etc. 
It  is  well  that  British  manufacturers  should  know 
that  every  improvement  in  machinery  bearing  on 
sub-tropical  plantation  work  is  eagerly  canvassed  by 
Ceylon  planters,  and  discussed  in  the  press.  All 
motors — electric,  steam,  gas,  water-turbines,  etc.,  etc. 
— rolling,  drying,  sifting,  pumping,  pulping,  hydraulic 
machines;  also  improvements  in  furnishing,  tropical 
clothing,  tinned  fruit  products,  etc. ; experiments  with 
new  seeds,  plants,  etc.,  and  all  novelties  in  hardware, 
implements,  building,  labour-saving,  etc. 
To  show  the  position  attained  by  Ceylon  as  a 
plantation  colony,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  ex- 
port of  tea,  which,  so  recently  as  1886,  was  under 
eight  million  pounds,  was,  in  1891,  over  sixty-eight 
million  pounds,  and  will  in  1892  approximate  to  eighty 
million  pounds,  while  ultimately  it  may  reach  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  millions — making  Ceylon  the  greatest 
tea  growing  country  in  the  world. 
Of  coconut  palm  trees  there  are  over  fifty  millions 
planted  in  the  island,  the  exported  produce  being 
valued  at  over  twelve  millions  of  rupees  apart  from 
home  consumption.  The  island  also  produces  the 
finest  cocoa,  cinnamon,  and  cardamoms. 
The  mining  of  plumbago  has  developed  greatly  of 
recent  years,  so  that  the  export  has  quadrupled  in  ten 
years,  being  now  close  on  400,000  cwt.  a year. 
Precious  stones  and  gems  are  dug  for,  and  exported 
to  the  value  of  £20,000  to  £40,000  every  year. 
The  advertisements  suitable  for  the  Ceylon  papers 
include  all  machinery,  electric  motors,  gas,  steam, 
wind,  and  water  engines,  agricultural  implements, 
and  machinery  connected  with  the  production  of  tea. 
— Fame. 
PLANTERS  AND  THE  TRAVANCORE  STATE. 
A communication  received  from  a Peermaad  cor- 
respondent suggests  reflections  upon  the  past,  the 
present  and  the  future  of  planting  in  the  Travancore 
State.  Our  correspondent  enters  upon  comparisons 
with  Ceylon,  and  probably  the  remark  will  be  gen- 
erally approved  that  “ what  Travancore  wants,  is 
more  advertising.”  Ceylon  has  given  itself  bold 
advertisement  for  some  time  past,  and  has  reaped  a 
rich  reward.  But  the  secret  of  its  success  does  not 
live  in  this  alone.  Planters’  interests  are  better 
looked  after  in  Ceylon  than  in  Travancore,  or  indeed 
in  India ; and  more  encouragement  is  given  for  the 
investment  of  capital.  There  is  a Planting  Member 
of  Council  in  Ceylon ; there  is  none  yet  in  India. 
In  Ceylon  there  are  fine  roads,  while  in  Travancore 
there  are  not.  All  these  points  are  of  importance  ; 
and  it  is  unquestionable  that  in  Travancore,  and  in 
the  whole  of  Southern  India  up  to  the  present  time, 
the  planting  community  has  not  received  from  Go- 
vernment the  consideration  that  it  merits,  from  the 
capital  that  it  represents  and  the  labour  that  it 
employs.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  where 
the  State  takes  an  interest  in  a community,  the 
feeling  usually  becomes  reciprocal,  and  thus  tends  to 
the  benefit  of  all  concerned.  Alluding  now  to 
affairs  in  the  Travancore  State,  we  may  remark  that 
the  Government  there  is  not  unmindful  of  Planters’ 
interests.  Indeed,  a considerable  amount  of  praise 
might  be  bestowed  upon  its  treatment  of  planters. 
Yet  the  fact  remains  that  the  good  which  planters 
do  to  the  country  is  not  fully  realised.  Every  year 
half-a-dozen  young  capitalists  are  coming  into  the 
country.  Unless  they  see  their  way  to  get  land,  and 
good  means  of  transport  for  their  produce  they  are 
scarcely  likely  to  prefer  Travancore  to  Ceylon. 
Nevertheless,  the  sale  of  forestland  has  been  stopped. 
No  sales  of  such  land  have  taken  place  for  some 
fifteen  years,  though  miles  and  miles  of  forest  is  left, 
51 
which  is  absolutely  valueless  except  as  a nursery  for 
elephants.  During  the  year  there  have  certainly 
been  one  or  two  sales  of  land  of  sorts,  but  these 
have  been  unimportant ; and  the  question  arises, 
“ When  the  old  lands  are  all  planted,  what  is  to  be 
done  if  no  more  land  is  sold?”  Travancore  is 
in  many  ways  exceptionally  well-suited  to  the 
production  of  tea,  and  probably  there  is  no  place 
where  the  present  inclination  to  increase  the  indus- 
try is  so  strong.  But  if  the  State  places  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  sales  of  suitable  land,  the  extension  of 
the  planting  industry  cannot  go  on  very  long;  and 
the  natural  resources  of  the  country  cannot  be  pro- 
perly developed. 
The  history  of  the  last  decade  in  Travancore  is  one 
of  growth  of  tea-planting,  and  partial  deoay  of  coffee 
planting.  Ten  years  ago  Mr.  Ptrker’s  estate  of  Fens- 
burst,  in  the  Peermaad  district,  was  the  only  real  tea 
estate  in  Travancore  ; at  any  rate  the  only  one 
which  shipped  tea  regularly  to  London.  The  total 
export  from  TravaDcoro  will,  this  year,  be  certainly  10 
millions,  most  of  it  of  a very  desirable  quality.  Some 
of  the  yields  in  Peermaad  were  very  large.  Mr.  Ac- 
worth’s  place,  Arnakalle,  gave  in  1891  just  60,000  lb. 
at  an  average  of  10J.  whilst  Bon  Ami  with  a yield  of 
considerably  over  100,000  1b.  was  but  a fraction  below, 
and  in  all  the  districts  the  price  was  kept  up  nearly  at 
this  level.  The  yield  on  Arnakalle  is  said  to  have  been 
abnormal,  giving  rather  over  than  under  a thousand 
pounds  an  acre.  But  many  estate  s give  an  average  of  over 
five  hundred, and  the  total,  an  average  yield  of  just  above 
400  lb.  an  acre  for  all  tea  in  bearing,  which  compares  very 
favourably  with  OeyloD.  This  year  in  sympathy  with 
every  tea-producing  country  in  the  Eist,  the  crops 
have  been  below  estimates,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  heavy  rains  whioh  have  been  falling  recently  will 
benefit  the  yield  of  the  latter  months.  Coffee,  unfor- 
tunately, is  now  very  nearly  a thing  of  the  past  in 
Peermaad  ; the  only  three  estates  which  oan  be  called 
Coffee  Estates,  and  are  by  their  size  really  worthy 
of  the  name  are  Tinyford,  Paycarnum  and  Chenkara, 
and  both  the  latter  places  lie  on  the  banks  of  the 
Periyar  river  at  a much  lower  elevation  than  the 
generality  of  the  others.  Of  course,  most  other  plaoes 
have  nice  little  sheltered  bits,  which  are  nursed, 
and  amply  repay  the  care  thus  bestowed  on  them  ; 
but  they  are  seldom  60  acres  in  all,  and  can 
therefore  hardly  be  called  Coffee  Estates,  especially 
as  there  is  generally  treble  or  quadruple  the  amount 
of  tea  on  the  same  places.  There  oan  be  no  doubt 
that  in  the  best  and  most  sheltered  plaoes,  given 
good  soil,  and  various  other  advantages  thrown  in, 
high  cultivation  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the 
word  is  necessary  to  obtain  a continuance  of  even 
fair  crops  of  Coffee,  whilst  if  these  are  wanted,  and 
the  land  is  cold  or  exposed,  it  is  but  lost  labour. 
Still  with  present  prices,  it  is  worth  the  effort  to 
keep  any  tree  alive  that  will  bear,  and  this  is,  we 
believe,  generally  done.  OinchonB,  of  c urse,  flourishes 
best  in  the  Nothern  ranges  at  and  near  Davyoolum, 
where  they  have  been  growing  the  fiuer  kinds,  and 
have  kept  along  well,  even  through  the  awful  prioes 
which  have  been  ruiling.  Iu  Peermaad  over  to  the 
South  there  is  still  a very  great  amount  of  Sucoiruba 
growing  luxuriantly,  and  forming  in  parts  regular 
forests.  But  these  are  left  alone  very  much,  in  hopes 
of  better  days,  nearly  all  the  bark  which  is  taken 
now  being  from  trees  which  had  to  be  rooted  out 
of  tea.  Cinchona  no  doubt  stops  tea  flushing  very 
much,  aDd  if  it  is  thick,  says  6 or  7 feet  apart,  tea 
will  do  nothing.  But  it  fairly  kills  Coffee  in  a very 
short  time. 
From  what  we  have  said  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  prospects  of  tea  are  excellent,  that  coffee  pro- 
mises a fair  return  under  favourable  conditions,  and 
that  cinchona  flourishes,  though  of  late  years  prices 
have  fallen  so  much  as  to  counteract  to  a very  great 
extent  the  advantages  of  healthy  growth.  There  is 
enough  iu  this  statemeut  to  warrant  the  Travancore 
Government  making  some  slight  effort  to  encourage 
the  planting  industry.  There  is  a good  deal,  too,  in 
a suggestion  whioh  has  been  put  before  us,  that 
a Planting  Member  of  the  Travancore  Legislative 
