6i8 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [April  i,  1893. 
day  on  a mission  about  New  Zealand  frozen  mutton, 
is  an  acoomplished  soientist,  and  that  when  in 
India  (as  more  lately  in  Queensland)  he 
acquired  a high  reputation  as  a Meteorologist. 
This  is  made  evident  by  his  name  being 
so  specially  coupled  with  an  established 
periodic  law  bearing  on  the  India  winter 
rainfall.  Mr.  Archibald,  while  in  Ceylon,  was 
much  taken  with  the  papers  and  statistics  in  our 
“ Handbook  and  he  maintains  that  similar 
laws  to  the  Indian  one  probably  remain  undis- 
covered in  other  parte  of  the  world.  It  is  at 
all  events  an  additional  proof  in  favour  of  such 
a fact  and  a strong  argument  for  using  the  influence 
of  the  sunspot  cycle  as  a working  hypothesis,  that 
Mr.  Archibald  was  able  to  bring  to  our  notice  a 
remarkable  period  in  the  dates  of  the  arrival  of 
our  big  monsoon  which  ho  considers  to  be  quite 
as  marked  as  that  in  the  Caloutta  winter  rainfall 
which  led  him  to  shout11  Eureka”  in  Maroh  1876. 
It  is  of  course  well-known  that  there  are  two 
periods  of  rain-burst  in  Ceylon,  called  respec- 
tively, the  little  and  big  monsoons.  These 
answer  to  the  “chota”  and  ‘‘burra  bareats”  of  India. 
Confining  our  attention  at  first  to  the  big  mon- 
soon we  find  from  the  table  published  in 
our  “ Ceylon  Directory  ” page  256 g,  for  1892, 
a list  of  the  dates  on  which  the  big  monsoon 
made  its  first  appearance  at  Colombo  during  the  past 
40  years.  The  average  date  for  the  arrival  of 
our  “big  monsoon"  at  Colombo  for  the  39  years  from 
1853  to  1891  is  May  19th.  On  arranging  the  years 
in  three  eleven-year  groups  commencing  with 
1856,  a year  of  minimum  sunspots,  and 
ending  with  1891,  Mr.  Archibald  has  found 
the  following  oyole  of  periodicity,  for  the  aver- 
age departures  from  the  average  date  which 
we  put  into  a table,  so  aB  to  make  it  quite 
plain  to  our  readers 
Arrival  of  big  mon-  Sunspots- 
Years.  soon  at  Colombo, 
1866-67;  1867-78;  1878-89=  7'50 
1857- 68;  1868-79;  1879-90=  3‘25 
1858- 69;  1869-80;  1880-91^  2‘00 
1859- 70;  1870  81;  1881-92=  4 00 
1800  71;  1871-82;  1882-93=  2 00 
1861- 72;  1872-83;  =10-33 
1862- 73;  1873-84;  = 4'00 
1863- 74;  1874-85;  = 2C0 
1864- 76;  1875-86;  = 133 
1805  76;  1876-87;  =•  3-25 
1866-77;  1877-88;  = 0 00 
days  late  minimum, 
do  late 
do  late 
do  late 
days  early  maximum, 
do  early 
do  early 
do  early 
do  late 
do  late 
average. 
These  figures  in  spite  of  not  having  been  doctored 
in  any  way  by  smoothing,  shew  a remarkably  re- 
gular oscillation.  This  may  be  roughly  described 
as  late  monsoon  about  the  time  of  minimum  sunspot 
and  before  and  after  ; and  early  monsoon  com- 
menoing  at  the  maximum  epoch  of  sunspots  and 
continuing  for  some  four  years  after  that  date. 
These  results  were  by  no  means  unexpected  or 
merely  empirioal.  It  has  already  been  accepted  aB 
a canon  of  Indian  meteorology  that  at  and  about 
the  time  ef  few  sunspots,  both  the  Bay  of  Bengal  and 
Arabian  sea  branohes  of  the  summer  monsoon  are 
usually  retarded,  and  that  they  are  correspondingly 
accelerated  about  the  epoch  of  many  sunspots.  The 
foregoing  results  for  Ceylon  are  therefore  in  complete 
correspondence  with  the  Indian  observations.  Mr. 
Archibald  does  not  think  it  would  be  possible  to 
predict  the  precise  date  of  arrival  or  a given 
year  of  the  burst  of  the  monsoon,  but  taken  in 
conjunction  with  the  dates  in  the  two  immediately 
preoeding  years  and  the  position  of  the  year  in 
the  sunspot  oyole,  a very  fair  idea  of  the  ohanoe 
of  the  big  monsoon  being  late  or  early,  could  be 
formed.  Thus  in  the  present  year  1893,  Mr. 
Archibald  thinks  the  burst  of  our  big  monsoon 
ought  to  be  early,— two  days  earlier  than  the  average 
—or  to  ooour  about  17th  May,  unless  there  has  been 
any  abnormal  snowfall  in  the  Himalayas.  The  dates 
for  the  little  monsoon  are  found  to  be  leas  regular 
but  still  to  follow  to  some  extent  the  same  law.  Thus 
all  the  greatest  departures  from  the  average  ooour 
at  the  oritioal  epochs  of  solar  spotted  area,  the 
early  abnormals  at  maximum  and  the  late 
abnormals  at  the  minimum  epoch  ; but  there  is  a 
double  oscillation  which  looked  to  Mr.  Arohibald,  as 
if  our  little  monsoon  was  due  to  a more  complicated 
set  of  ciroumstancee. 
Without  going  further  into  these  interesting 
questions,  it  is  plain  that  investigations  into  Ceylon 
weather  changes  from  year  to  year  would  prove 
fruitful  whether  by  statistics,  or  synoptio  charts. 
The  latter  the  Queensland  Government  have  decided 
to  undertake  on  Prof.  Archibald’s  recommenda- 
tion as  we  learned  from  the  Brisbane  Courier 
some  months  ago-  We  may  also  hope  that  before  loDg 
steps  will  be  taken  to  disoover  the  relations  that 
exist  between  the  Indian  and  Australian  areas,  so  that 
the  publio  may  be  able  to  understand  how  droughts 
in  the  one  are  coincident  or  otherwise  with  those 
in  the  other  ; and  bow,  apart  from  all  direot  solar 
influences,  such  an  indirect  factor  as  an  unusual 
influx  of  antarctic  water  into  the  southern  ooean, 
may  possibly  oause  an  abnormal  season  in 
Ceylon.  We  hope  that  Mr.  Arohibald  (who  is  a 
Vioe- President  of  the  Royal  Meteorological  Society 
of  London)  will  follow  up  this  interesting  question 
and  lay  it  before  the  Indian  Meteorologists  with 
whom  he  has  worked  so  successfully  in  an  unofficial 
oapaoity  in  past  years. 
CACAO  IN  ECUADOR, 
Report  by  Consul  General  Sorsby,  of  Guayaquil. 
The  preparation  for  planting  the  cacao  bean  con- 
sists in  clearing  the  land  of  all  underbrush  and 
trees  by  cutting  and  burning,  which  is  commenced 
about  July  and  pushed  until  the  rainy  season,  begin- 
ning in  November,  December  or  January.  After 
the  ground  has  been  cleared  of  all  debris,  it  is 
marked  in  rows  about  3 yards  wide,  and  in  each 
row  sticks  are  driven  about  3 yards  apart,  and  at 
the  foot  of  each  stick  a hole  about  3 inches  deep 
is  made,  into  which  are  put  three  or  four  beans, 
over  which  is  thrown  sufficient  earth  to  cover  them. 
The  next  step  is  to  plant  rice,  bananas,  or  other 
cereals  or  plants  of  rapid  growth  and  shade  to  pro- 
tect the  young  cacao  plant  from  the  sun’s  rays. 
It  is  usual  to  thus  protect  the  plant  for  three  or 
four  years. 
The  tree  matures  in  six  years,  but  begins  bear- 
ing  usually  at  four,  after  which  the  only  care  necessary 
is  to  cut  out  the  weeds  twice  a year;  and  this  is  the 
only  cultivation  ever  giveir  the  cacao  tree  in  Ecuador. 
An  average  of  one  thousand  trees  to  the  cuadra 
(about  If  acres)  are  planted.  The  life  of  the  tree  is 
about  100  years,  the  height  about  15  feet ; the  trunk 
is  clear  of  branches  for  5 or  6 feet  from  the  ground, 
and  the  foliage  is  a rich  green  and  abundant. 
A heavy,  deep,  vegetable  soil  is  required,  because 
the  cacao  tree  has  but  one  main  root  or  taproot,  which 
grows  straight  down  7 or  8 feet.  If  this  main  root 
or  taproot  strikes  a clay  or  gravel  formation  the  use- 
fulness of  the  tree  ceases. 
The  total  cost  of  the  purchase  and  preparation  of 
the  land,  purchase  and  planting  of  the  seed  bean,  and 
caring  for  the  plant  until  maturity  or  until  it  has 
reached  a safe  stage  will  not  exceed  $300  per  thou- 
sand trees. 
The  laborers  to  look  after  and  care  for  the  trees 
and  to  plant  cereals  or  plants  to  shade  the  tree  while 
young  usually  have  the  privilege  of  living  upon  and 
cultivating  the  land  free  of  rent ; there  is  not,  how- 
ever any  fixed  rule.  If  the  owner  personally  supervises 
the  work  of  the  estate,  the  labor  is  employed  by  the 
day,  month,  or  year,  and  the  revenue  from  the  culti- 
