57° 
*THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[March  r,  1893. 
ASSAM— A PARADISE  ; AND  CEYLON  FAR 
BEHIND  ! 
( From  a planting  correspondent.) 
Two  Assam  tea  planters  who  were  here  lately 
would  have  it  that  they  live  almost  in  a Paradise. 
Their  factories  were  equipped  with  all  the  latest 
improvements.  No  machines  in  use  in  these  parts 
but  were  obsolete  in  Assam,  thrown  out  long  ago  ! 
Coolies  were  plentiful.  The  average  plucking  was 
801b.  a day,  the  leaves  often  rivalling  in  size  the 
biggest  you  would  find  on  oaeao.  And  their 
Caloutta  agents’  one  cry  was  “Don’t  spare  expense.” 
Prices  were  at  the  top  of  the  market,  so  were 
salaries,  not  to  mention  substantial  bonuses.  The 
atmosphere  about  these  fellows  much  resembled 
what  some  of  our  planters  experience  in  trains — 
only  it  was  more  so.  They  had  it  that  India  was 
lying  low,  till  Ceylon  was  played  out,  and  then 
she  would  step  in  and  take  the  cake.  One  of  them 
when  passing  a swamp  in  the  lowcountry,  where 
some  old  cinnamon  trees  were  struggling  for  life, 
asked  “ When  was  that  tea  abandoned  ? ” They 
were  in  a carriage  however,  remember,  and  the  train 
in  this  case  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
WHAT  THE  NATIVES  THINK  OF  VALUABLE 
COCONUT  LANDS. 
(From  the  “ Dinakaraprakasa.”) 
It  is  Beldom  that  valuable  ooconut  properties  can 
be  purchased.  Now  there  is  an  opportunity  of  buy- 
ing such  lands.  Some  valuable  coconut  estates  situ- 
ated near  the  Blahaoya  and  belonging  to  the  estate  of 
the  late  Mr,  J.  B.  Daniel  are  advertised  for  sale  on  the 
11th  proximo  at  Colombo.  On  referring  to  the  small 
book  in  which  the  accounts  of  these  estatr  s for  the  last 
15  years  have  been  entered  it  appears  that  70  nuts 
was  the  average  product  of  each  tree.  The  portion  of 
land  of  81  acres  is  fully  f earing,  and  those  who  know 
the  value  of  coconuts  will  know  the  value  of  these 
lands.  In  the  other  properties,  half  of  their  extent 
contains  fully  bearing  trees,  aud  each  tree  produces  on 
an  average  mere  than  50  nuts.  As  there  are  thousands 
of  trees  to  becoming  productive  year  by  year  these 
lands  will  become  very  valuable  in  the  luture.  When 
the  trees  in  Colombo  lands  are  considered,  and  that 
even  substantial  banks  do  suffer  heavy  losses,  there  is 
no  better  way  to  invest  money  safely  than  in  tho  pur- 
chase of  coconut  lands. 
It  is  seldom  people  get  an  opportunity  to  buv  such 
valuable  properties  a«  are  to  be  sold  now,  and  there- 
fore we  say  that  those  who  wish  to  invest  their  money 
safely  ought  to  buy  these  properties.  On  reference  to 
the  aocount  books  now  in  the  possession  of  the  owners 
and  auctioneers  it  appears  that  those  who  purchase 
these  properties  will  be  able  to  get  the  interest  on  the 
purchase  amount  safely. 
The  properties  are  to  be  sold  to  enable  the  excutors 
to  act  aocording  to  the  last  will  of  th6  la'e  Mr.  Daniel. 
TEA  PLANTING  AND  PRICES. 
(From  a Planting  Correspondent.) 
If  we  don’t  get  better  prices  for  fme  teap,  we 
must  go  in  for  coarser  plucking.  These 
pestiferous  blenders  and  packet-men  can  only 
ake  so  muoh  of  fine  tea  to  mix  up  with 
ubbishy  China  and  Indiau  tea. 
♦= 
AN  AUSTRIAN  SCIENTIFIC  VISITOR. 
Herr  John  Bolle,  Knight  of  the  Iron  Crown  3rd  CL, 
Director  of  the  I.  R.  Experimental  Station  of 
Agricultural  Chemistry,  Vice  President  of  the  I.  R. 
Agricultural  Society,  from  Gdrz,  Austria,  is  on  a 
visit  of  a few  days  to  the  island.  He  goes  to 
Kandy  and  Peradeniya  Gardens  tomorrow,  and  to 
Nuwara  Eliya  and  Hakgala  and  Tea  Gardens  on 
Monday  and  Tuesday,  returning  to  Colombo  on 
Wednesday  and  leaving  on  the  following  day. 
Mr.  Bolle  is  very  anxious  to  see  coffee  leaf-diseaee 
(which  he  may  do  at  Peradeniva  probably)  and  a'so 
tea  in  the  field  and  factory.  We  bespeak  attention 
to  this  Agricultural  savant  during  his  few  days  up- 
country. 
THE  AREA  OF  LAND  UNDER  COFFEE  CULTI- 
VATION IN  THE  MADRAS  PRESIDENCY. 
The  following  are  the  figures  published  by  the 
Government,  as  to  the  area,  production,  and  cost  of 
cultivation  of  Coffee  in  tho  different  districts  of  the 
Madras  Presidency  for  the  year  1890-01,  which  is  the 
last  available.  It  will  be  observed  that  tbe  area  given 
for  each  District,  is  tbe  amount  taken  up  for  culti- 
vatior.,  not  the  area  of  mature  Coffee  while  the  figures 
on  which  the  average  nut-turn  per  acre  is  calcu- 
lated are  not  given.  The  cost  of  production  per 
acre  varies  so  greatly  in  the  different  districts 
that  it  carnot  be  accepted.  The  great  difference 
cannot  be  accounted  for  by  tbe  larger  crop  per 
acre  which  would  entail  greater  cost  per  acre 
for  the  preparation  and  carriage  of  the  crop,  as  the 
largeslbearinj  districts  are  by  no  means  the  most 
costly.  While  the  statement  of  the  total  production 
of  the  Presidency  by  no  means  agrees  wi'h  the 
statement  of  exports  from  the  West  Coast  for  that 
year,  which  amonnted  to  nearly  15,000  tons.  And 
although  the  fine  coffee  districts  of  Ooorg  and  Mysore 
are  not  included  in  these  figures  for  the  Madras 
Presidency  their  crops  would  by  no  meaus  account 
for  fo  reat  a difference.  While  from  so  many  small 
proprie  ors  it  must  be  possible  to  get  reliable  in- 
formation. The  total  area  of  land  in  the  Madras 
Presidency  taken  up  for  coffee  cultivation  is  stated 
to  be  192,000  acres  of  which  6G,800  are  under  mature 
plants  9,200  under  immature  plants,  and  the  re- 
mainder 116,000  acres  not  yet  planted.  This  land  is 
divided  up  into  16,676  separate  plantations  giving 
each  proprietor  12J  acres  of  land  aa  an  average  or 
44  acres  of  mature  coffee  tacb:  the  total  produc- 
tion is  put  at  7,792,000  lb.  say  3,500  tons  or  about 
1 owt.  per  acra  average  all  round  and  the  cost  of 
produc  ion  is  said  to  vary  from  R150  per  acre  in 
Malabar  to  RI2  per  acre  in  Tinnevelly.  With  such 
statis  tic  only  at  hand  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  Government  and  the  Collectors  desire  further 
information.  Probably  the  only  reliable  figures  are 
with  reference  to  the  area  taken  up  for  cultivation, 
and  number  of  plantations. 
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Nilgiris 
...  93'635 
679 
4,126,000 
190 
70 
Malabar 
...  73-798 
10,562 
1,980,829 
64 
150 
Salem 
...  10  954 
368 
506  611 
112 
60 
Madura 
...  6*353 
4755 
670,747 
67,705 
139 
78 
Tinnevelly 
1990 
52 
34 
12 
Coimbatore 
1693 
18 
206,941 
296 
87 
Vizagspatam 
700 
3 
2,085 
19 
215 
S.  Cauara 
70 
10 
6,753 
155 
54 
Tcavancore 
3010 
29 
224,862 
70 
60 
191-913 
16,476 
7,69,533 
Immature  and  not 
cultivated  ...  125,000 
Mature  ...  67,000 
— Nilgiri  News.  . 
David°on’s  Sirocco  Driers, — The  nomber  of 
down-draft  Siroccos  exported  by  Messrs.  Davidson 
& Co.  now  amounts  to  over  2,700.  We  also  learn 
that  a large  shipment  of  up-draft  SirocooB  has 
just  been  reoeived  in  Ceylon.  There  is  evidently 
a “ boom  ” among  planters  in  these  maohines. 
