Feb.  i,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
5ii 
there  are  40,000  acres  available  in  private 
hands  in  what  we  used  to  call  the  “ Southern 
Coffee  Districts’  for  extended  tea  cultivation 
is  to  give  them  the  very  reverse  of  welcome 
or  seasonable  intelligence.  We  cannot  contest 
the  special  illustration  afforded  by  an 
“ Old  Coffee  Stump”  as  to  the  success  of  tea 
on  the  Ealangoda  chenas  ; but  certain 
we  are  that  there  is  as  much  pros- 
pect of  the  difference  between  the  total 
and  cultivated  area  on  all  our  plantations 
(namely  353,879  acres  according  to  last  Direc- 
tory) being  transformed  into  tea  fields,  as 
that,  of  the  private  reserves  in  Balangoda, 
Rakwana,  Kukulu  and  Morawak  Korale,  there 
should  be  40,000  acres  fit  for  profitable  culti- 
vation. 
But  it  is  surely  time,  in  view  of  specu- 
lation as  to  farther  large  extents  available 
for  tea,  to  urge  on  all  desirous  of  a field  for 
planting  enterprise  and  capita,!  in  this  island, 
to  give  their  attention  to  other  products, 
rather  than  our  staple.  To  open  more  tea  plan- 
tations until  at  least  there  is  increased  en- 
couragement in  new  markets,  will  probably 
be  as  suicidal  on  the  part  of  the  investors 
as  it  will  prove  injurious  to  existing  interests. 
The  intending  investor  in  new  tea  land 
should  ask  himself  seriously  what  the  pros- 
pects are  in  the  face  of  a considerable  fall  in 
prices  and  the  certainty  of  increased  pro- 
duction. 
Now  we  should  like  to  plead  for  renewed 
attention  at  this  time  both  to  Cacao  and 
Liberian  Coffee.  With  the  early  prospect  of 
the  railway  to  Uva  being  opened,  we  think 
there  is  room  for  prospecting  in  that  province 
for  land — in  small  blocks  perhaps — suitable 
for  these  two  much-required  products.  It  is 
with  regret  that  we  see  no  encouragement 
to  try  clearings  with  ordinary  coffee  : on 
the  contrary  we  much  fear  a farther  con- 
traction of  area  uuder  cultivation  when  we 
have  to  face  such  a doleful  account  as  the 
following  from  an  Uva  planter  : — 
“ My  wish  has  been  to  keep  in  a good  deal  of  the 
old  staple.  I have  been  taking  the  utmost  care  of 
the  coffee  for  the  last  twelve  months  ; and  although 
the  weather  at  the  flowering  season  was  not  parti- 
cularly favourable,  the  trees  set  an  excellent  crop. 
Just  as  the  berries  began  to  swell  up,  a fearful 
attack  of  green  bug  came  on,  which  will  rob  me  of 
half  the  crop.  We  read  of  the  olive  leaf  before  the 
deluge,  of  the  grape  and  the  vine  in  ancient  classic 
lore,  and  are  we  to  believe  that  the  coffee  bush, 
»s  a sign  of  Heaven’s  displeasure,  has  been  smitten 
to  rise  no  more.  What  theories  have  been  urged  to 
explain  the  ruin  that  has  come  over  a splendid  cul- 
tivation in  less  than  a life-time.  One  scientist  de- 
clared that  an  almost  microscopic  fungus  would  kill 
every  coffee  tree  in  Ceylon ; were  he  alive  now  he 
would  moderate  his  prognostication  of  absolute  ruin  ; 
others  wrote  of  _ excessive  inbreeding,  unnatural 
electric  action,  variation  in  the  magnetic  earth  cur- 
rent°,  excessive  stimulus,  more  waste  than  supply ; 
while  the  philosophic  geologist  said  plants  die  out, 
the  coffee’s  race  is  run  and  it  has  ever  been  so, 
since  the  creation  of  the  world.  Poor  blind  mortals, 
we  are  only  groping  in  the  dark ; perchance,  a score 
of  years  hence,  as  science  advances,  the  mist  will 
be  rolled  away  and  we  shall  see  clearly  what  natural 
law  violated  brought  on  us  this  destruction  and 
misery.  It  is  true  that  small  coffee  clearings  have 
been  put  out  in  this  district.  The  time  has  not  yet 
arrived,  however,  in  my  opinion  to  do  so  with  any 
chance  of  success,  Hemileia  vastatrix  does  not  now 
do  much  damage,  but  this  green  bug  is  a dreadful 
pest  much  more  destructive  than  any  other.  I hope 
that  a remnant  of  the  coffee  in  Uva  will  yet  be 
saved ; but  it  will  be  a smaller  portion  than  I at 
one  time  believed.  Time  flies  and  the  financial 
situation  presses,  so  that  we  cannot  afford  to  wait 
for  the  change  which  sooner  or  later,  be  the  cause 
what  it  may  be,  will  come  and  will  enable  coffee 
again  to  be  cultivated  successfully  in  Ceylon.” 
We  can  only  hope,  even  if  against  hope,  that 
green-bug  and  hemileia  will  disappear  and 
leave  us  still,  especially  in  Uva,  a certain 
and  profitable  area  under  the  old  staple. 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  surely  the  news 
of  success  at  the  Straits  with  Liberian 
coffee  ought  to  stimulate  Ceylon  planters 
to  make  further  experiments  in  this  direc- 
tion. Mr.  T.  H.  Hill,  formerly  of  Matale, 
has  been  giving  some  wonderful  figures  in 
statements  published  in  the  Kew  Bulletin 
(which  we  are  taking  over  in  full  into  the 
Tropical  Agriculturist).  Returns  of  94  cwt. 
and  11£  cwt.  per  acre  must  be  enough  to"  make 
young  planters  desire  to  share  in  so 
good  a thing,  and  it  is  impossible  that  Ceylon 
cannot  have  land  in  considerable  area  as 
suitable  for  Liberian  coffee  as  that  taken  up 
in  the  Straits.  We  have  mentioned  the  Uva 
province  with  the  facilities  in  many  ways 
which  the  railway  will  offer  to  extended  oc- 
cupation. The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
Southern  Province  which  can  by  no  means  be 
played  out  or  fully  settled  in  the  districts 
suitable  for  planting.  But  still  more  what 
about  the  expanse  of  rich  land  north-east  of 
Matale,  beyond  and  around  the  Minnen 
tank?  We  had  a visitor  the  other  day  who 
with  special  knowledge  of  the  country,  de- 
clared that  in  that  direction  lay  the  very 
richest  reserves  of  Crown  land  for  agricultural 
purposes  in  the  island,  and  he  strongly 
protested  for  that  reason  against  Mr.  Waring’s 
route  for  the  Northern  railway  being  adopted, 
in  so  far  as  it  ran  in  a straight  line  from 
Kurunegala  to  Anuradliapura.  In  the  public 
interests  as  well  as  in  the  interests  of  traffic, 
the  line  ought,  in  his  opinion,  to  tend  Eastward 
to  the  point  that  would  best  command  the 
route  to  Trincomalee  and  from  which  a road 
or  branch  railway  could  easily  be  run  into  the 
heart  of  the  fertile  reserves  referred  to.  He 
did  not  think,  too,  that  the  actual  outlay  per 
mile  of  the  Northern  line  would  be  much  if 
anything  increased.  This  is  a matter  for  the 
Government  in  connection  with  the  Surveyor  - 
General  and  Government  Agents  to  decide. 
Mr.  Waring  has  to  do  his  work  as  Engineer, 
but  he  will  only  be  too  ready, we  suppose,  to 
adapt  his  line  to  fresh  industrial  and  revenue 
claims,  if  these  are  pointed  out  to  him  and 
ho  is  asked,  to  serve  them.  Meantime  we 
have  surely,  arnoDg  our  younger  generation 
of  planters,  men  of  enterprise,  who  will  not 
shrink  from  thoroughly  exploring  this  region 
with  reference  to  the  cultivation  of  Liberian 
coffee,  cacao,  &e.  The  question  of  rainfall 
will  have  to  be  answered,  and  yet  in  rich 
soil  with  shelter  and  shade,  fruit  trees  can 
get  on  well  with  a limited  rainfall.  The 
distance  and  climate  should  not  deter  pioneers  ; 
for  the  difficulties  would  be  trifling  compared 
with  those  encountered  in  the  early  days  in 
