JTUNB 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTaRIST. 
813 
CLOSE OF THE] PEARL FISHERY. 
ANOTHER FISHERY NEXT YEAR. 
^ ■ Official secrecy as to the date of the 
closing of the Pearl Fishery has been very 
well preserved and few can have been pre- 
pared — unless it were by the "burst" of the 
little monsoon in Colombo on April loth,— for 
the announcement made by our correspond- 
ent in his telegram the next morning. The 
total yield of the Pearl Fishery, owing to 
the fact that the last day's oysters (9a,6o0) 
have been reserved for experiment purposes 
— whether at Ualle or elsewhere our corre- 
spondent does not say— is just above what 
we recorded yesterday, R8l5,569-75, or 
£81,557 calculated at RIO to the £ sterling, the 
official estimate being put at R825,000 or £82,5r ) 
a figure which has only once been beaten 
in the history ©f Ceylon Pearl Fisheries 
since 1838 as recorded in the Ceylon Handbook 
and Directory. That occasion was in 1891 (the 
last) when £96,37^ 18s. was collected from the 
fishery which lasted 43 days. The pi'esent 
fishery can only be said to have lasted 88 days 
and has yielded an average of £2,265 pe?" diem ; 
iis against £2,241 6s in 1891. The result is 
one on which the authorities deserve 
the fullest congratulation and the "Ridge- 
way " Pearl Fishery will be remembered 
as amongst the richest events of an almost 
unbrokenly prosperous administration. 
TOTAL GROSS RECEIPTS R825,000-THE 
iSIXTH LARGEST RETURN ON RECORD 
IN BRITISH TIMES. 
We find we did not, in the above article, 
take account of some of the pheno- 
menally rich Pearl Fisheries which occurred 
in the early days of British rule. The 
result of our further examination of 
the old records (which will be found repro- 
duced at page 523 of our " Handbook " 
for 1*^98-9) is seen in the following compari- 
son : — ^ ^ , 
Pearl Fisheries^ ip, British Times giving 
largest Returns : — 
Gross Days 
Year, ileceipts. Expendifcure. Fishing. 
1797...1,10D,boO 1,918 pagodas No record. 
1798. .,1,400,000 12,729 „ 
1808... 842,574 19,636 rupees „ 
1814, ..1,051,876 36,343 „ „ 
1888.„ 804,247 80.t JO ,, 42 days 
1891... 963,749 100,000 „ 43 ,, 
1903... 825,C0O (?) 38(?) „ 
It will be seen, therefore, that only on 
^flve previous occasions— out of a total of 
^iovty-one Pearl Fisheries in the British era 
'—have the gross I'eceipts been in excess 
' of those accruing for the present year. 
Sir West Ridgevvay in the last year of 
his prosperous rule will receive a larger 
amount than did any ot his predecessors, 
back to Sir Robert Browurigg, in any 
one year, with the sole exception of Sir 
Arthur Havelock from his one fishery in 
1891. At the same time, if all accounts be 
true, the expenditure this year,— especially 
if the cost of Professor Rerdmau's Mission 
lOJ 
and Mr. Hornells experiments be .added 
in, — will be heavier than the 100,000 rupee? 
approximately spent twelve years ago — 
although that was the largest outlay ever 
incurred in any one year up to that date 
by the British Government. Nevertheless, 
there ought to be a handsome net amount 
to credit for disposal by the Governor 
with the advice and consent of his Ex- 
ecutive and Legislative Councils. St. Louis 
Exposition is certain of a full vote for its 
Ceylon Court, and we suppose the long- 
promised extension of the Museum buildings 
will be no longer delayed. Such objects 
have always been regarded as having at 
peculiar claim on Pearl Fishery receipts, 
and, therefore, we may further fairly 
anticipate that the claim of Colombo to a 
really worthy and satisfactory Observatory 
for astronomical and marine as well as 
meteorolofjical purposes, will not he over- 
looked. Not only has our present Governor 
to be heartily congratulated on the result 
of the Fishery just closed ; but it would 
appear that there is every reason to 
anticipate that his successor will have no 
less good fortune in the same direction 
during his first year of office,— with, we 
would fain trust, a continuance of Fisheries 
for two or three years to follow, even if 
the returns be not so large. Pearl Oyster 
Fisheries in the past have generally come 
in successive groups of three or four years. 
Thus Sir Ifenry Ward got four fisheries 
from 1857 to 1860 ; Sir James Longden got 
three hsheries from 1879 to 1881 ; Sir Arthur 
Gordon four from 1887 to 1890,followed by that 
of 1891. On the other hand the years 1863, 
1874, 1877 and 1884 gave detached fisheries 
with NONE in the preceding or succeeding 
years, There is every reason to expect that 
the fishery just closed is to be the first of 
" a group " which, we trust will, on the 
whole, be as prosperous as any in the 
Ceylon record. So mote it be. And further 
may we not hope that before this spell 
of good fortune expires, the experiments 
of Messrs. Herdman and Hornell may be 
so crowned with success as to show us 
how to secure a permanent annual return 
from Pearl Oyster culture on, or near to, 
the coast of Ceylon. 
RUBBER TAPPING IN THE MYSORE 
GOVERIMMENT GARDENS. 
ANGALORE, Apil 8th. 
Central Amebican Rubbeh, — (Castilloa elastioa.)— 
Three trees seeded daring the months of April and 
May, bearing collectively aboat 3,000 seeds. Of this 
aame number a thousand seeds were sold to th« 
Conservator of Forests in Travancore, at B5 per UO. 
This tree will succeed well on oofifee estates through- 
out the Province, and it Is recommended that aban- 
doned estates may be planted up with it. In the 
matter of snpplyiut; rubber hereafter, it should do 
for the maluad what the Ccara rubber tree is expected 
to do for the maid&n. 
Ceara Rubber.— <Xlanihot glaziovii.)— Tapping ex- 
periments made on tiis tree have continued to prove 
instructive not only in gauging the approximate yield 
of caoutchouc from a given tree, but also in recording 
the best season, time, and manner of tapping. It has 
also been nott>d very clear v that some tree* yiel(i 
