July 1, 1902. J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
55 
THE PLANTING ENTERPRISE OF 
CEYLON. 
IN JUNE 1902 : 
IN TEA, CACAO, CARDAMOMS, CIN- 
CHONA, RUBBEK, COFFEE AND MINOR 
PRODUCTS. 
6,000 ACRES LESS IN TEA ; 5,000 ACRES 
MORE IN KUBBEH, CARDAMOMS, 
CINCHONA, CACA.O, Etc, 
Omitting tlie usual el.iborate analysis and 
review, we summarise the information 
sent to us in correction of oui- Directory 
and her« present th« results in the briefest 
possible form : — 
Total area of 1,9U6 plautationg and Acres, 
planting properties .. ... 817,933 
Total area of 1,539 plantations in cultiva- 
tion with 1,493 Superintendents and Assis- 
tants (apart from Conductors, &c.) .. 460,215 
Total approximate extent under Tea ... 382,343a 
Do do Cacao .. 24,1.366 
Do do Cardaaioma 8,621 
Do do Coffee {Ara- 
bia) ... 4,304 
Do do Coffee (lAbe- 
rica) . . 788 
Do Ao Cinchona [8 to 
9 million trees 
or plants] = 8,4/1 
»o do Eubber ... 3,356* 
Do do Grass (Culti- 
vated) . . 4.461 
Do io of Camphor, Aunatto, 
Coco, Kola, Ramie, 
Vanilla, Pepper, 
Cloves, Citronella 
grass, Divi-Divi, 
Croton, Castor-oil, 
Aloes, Cinnamon, 
Tobacco, Cotton — 
in our plantations' 
list . . 11,201 
Coconuts, Arecas, Nutmegs, Fruit trees 
(on the cacao, tea, or coffee plantations) .. 22,696 
Of Fuel, Timber, Sapan, and Kapok (on 
he tea, cacao or coffee plantations) . . 7,576 
The most notable fact is the falling-off 
in the area of Tea— our total iu cultivation 
on plantations being 4,000 acres less than 
a year ago, or including native gardens a 
decrease of 6,(XX) acres, making a total 
of 386.000 in place of 392,000 acres. 
This must be due to the abandonment of 
non paying fields and some unprofitable 
gardens ; for it is accompanied by an ex- 
tension of the total extent in cultivation 
by 1,000 acres, although poor " Coffee " has 
gone down, being 3,200 acres less than a 
year ago. Cacao on the other hand is 500 
acres more in planted extent ; Cardamoms 
are greater in area by 1,800 acres ; Cinchona 
shows an increase of 1,000 acres ; and Rubber 
of nearly 1,000 acres— which must, however, 
« This is apart from perhaps 3,000 acres still 
cultivated in native tea gardens of small extent ; 
80 that the grand total under tea in Ceylon in 
June 1902 may be taken at say 386,000 acres. 
t Apart from 7,000 to 8,000 acres in native gardens. 
« Chiefly young, and interspersed v»ith other 
predncts. 
be ratiier under the actual area plaiitoil during 
the year, our total extent i)laiite(l being 
about 3,4(0 acres. In several nniior pro- 
ducts, too— Cani[)h()r, Nutmeg.9, Crotons— 
there has been a goi>d deal of i)lanting : and 
still more have we had in tiie Kelani 
Valley and other low-country estates a 
planting out of Coconut Palms among 
the Tea, just as Para Rubber has been put 
in freely on the Kalutara tea estates. 
The check to Tea, and the fact that there 
are no clearings this year to plant, ought 
to strengthen the hopes of those who believe 
in a future for our staple, so soon as con- 
sumption overtakes production. A year ago 
we anticipated that there Would be 400 000 
acres under Tea at an early date in Ceylon • 
whereas now we are in reality back to 
386,000 with no immediate prospect of 
extension. 
PLANT SANITATION IN INDIA. 
THE "PIONEER' ON MR. .J. B. CARRUTHEKS' 
SUBJECT. 
A striking instance of the progressive specialisa- 
tion in agncultiiral science is to be found in the 
latest issue of the Contemporary Review, which 
contains an a. tide by the well-known authority 
Mr J B Carrulhers, entitled " Plant Sanitation,'' 
and dealuig with the methods adopted by advanced 
communities for the prevention of ordinary plant 
diseases. Not very longr ago an agricultural 
experiment station was considered to be 
adequately equipped if it was supervised by a 
chemist and had a botanist on the staff ; nowadays 
there should be at least ten experts in different 
branches of science ; soil-physics, agricultural 
entomology, cryptogamic botany, bacteriology 
vegetable pathology— each of these requires an 
expert, and the latest development is the sani- 
tary inspector. In the United States the founda- 
tion of the whole system appears to be based on 
compulsory nolilication of disease, combined in some 
oases with regular inspection of nurseries. 
Now there can be no doubt that India offers 
ample scope for plant sanitation. Mr. Cairuthers 
quotes the well known estimate that the annual 
loss to this country from wheat-rust alone amounts 
to ninety one millions sterling, though by some 
curious error he attributes this damage not to 
when trust, but to the ravaciesof the hop aphis ! 
The destruction of the mango crop in wet seasons 
is believed to be due to an insect ; the occasional 
entire loss of the niohwa crop may possibly have a 
similar cause ; sugar-cane suffers enormously from 
grasshoppers, borers and fungoid pests, rice and 
poppy from caterpillars, and almost every Held 
ciop grown largely in the country has its own 
peculiar enemies. Of general enemies to plant 
life it is sufficient to mention the locust, whose 
ravages we have recently discussed. 
What is wanted is organised and sustained re- 
search into the life-history of our pests ; and we 
welcome the recent strengthening of the Imperial 
Agricultural Department by the appointment of a 
cryptogamic botanist and an entomologist as an 
important step in this direction. But where the 
area of research is so vast, a few experts cannot 
make rapid progress ; they require the co operation 
of trained observers all over the councry. To 
take an instance : the intermediate host of the 
wheat rust in this country is still unknown ; 
