Sept. i, 1899.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
well as the 'highly in*:ei'eBting exhibits in the 
classes devoted to " food products,'' were ex- 
amined carefully by the more thoughtful class 
of visitors. 
(From a Lady Correspondent.) 
This is the first Show ot the kind which I liave 
had the pleasure of attending since I came to Cey- 
lon and I must say that it was rather an "eye- 
opener" to me. I did not, of course, expect to lind 
such a display as I have seen at flower-shous at 
home and 1 was surprised to notice the height of 
perfection to which natives had attained in the 
culture of tlie fruits and flowers of the 
island. Some of the vegetables, particularly car- 
rots and beet-root, were the best I liave seen in 
Colombo, and I thought the display of fruits was 
exceedingly creditable. The oranges looked very 
tempting, so did the mangosteens and 1 don't think 
that the people of tlie country could liave jiassed 
without admiration the display of jaks. A 
w-ord of praise is due to Messrs. Thompson and Co. 
for the very fine and neatly laid out show of 
Australian garden produce, and one cannot wonder 
that the firm has gained so much popularity in 
Colombo. "While speaking of fruits 1 must not 
forget to mention the delightfully cool, refreshing, 
skilful and artistic work exhibited by Messrs. 
J P Morton and Co. In the fruit, section, there 
were two nicely moulded pillars of ice in which 
were frozen an extra large pine-apple and a big 
bunch of bananas respectively ; and in ti>e tlower 
section there were two similar blocks containing 
a varied collection of the blooms and leaves that 
are common in Colombo and of the arecanut 
flower which, if 1 may be allowed to say so 
was the best of Messrs. Mortons exhibits. 
The display ot table decorations seemed to 
me to be particularly good, but I had expected 
to find a much better collection of palms and ferns 
considering the wealth of those in Colombo. Art 
Work rather took my fancy and I was very 
envious of the fortunate possessor of the large 
and magnificently carved side-board which oc- 
cupied the centre of the room devoted to this 
section. 1 had not before seen lace-workers en- 
gaged at their occupation and I watched with 
great interest their deft and industrious fin- 
•rers turning out the delicate work for which the 
women of this country are famed. Poultry a])- 
peared to me to be a poor show, but I thought 
the bulls exhibited in the cattle section were a 
splendid collection. I did not see any that I 
could praise tor speed, but for draught purposes I 
think those shown would be hard to beat. I 
had expected to see an imposing spectacle at the 
opening ceremony, but must confess to having been 
somewhat disappointed :it was so simple and so 
brief. Everywhere there was a delightful har- 
mony of colour, not only in the exhibits but in 
the dressess worn by the ladies, some of them 
showing exquisite taste and design. I thought we 
might have had a little more music from the band 
during the time we were waiting for the arrival 
of His Excellency. It was a monotonous time, and 
a sweltering time and anything soothing in ad- 
dition to Burdayron's ices would have been grate- 
ful and comforting. 
. ^ 
COFFEE IN NORTHERN INDIA. 
More than twenty years ago a well-known 
Assam planter— the late Mr. C. B. Anderson 
—visited his brother, Mr. T. C. Anderson, 
who was at the time resident on Annfield, 
Dikoya ; and he was so struck with the 
splendid growth of tea bushes in an avenue 
24 
leading to the bungalow, that he then and 
there wanted to start a tea "garden" in.; 
Ceylon. Well for him if he had done so ! 
The "avenue" arose from soaie seed sent" 
from Assam to Mr. T. C. Anderson, which he ' 
treated as if it were an ornamental plant, 
and without the slightest belief in its com-' 
mercial possibilities in Ceylon. Apart from 
this want of faith, there was the fact that ; 
(although the " leaf -fungus " had already 
been seven or eight years at work) coffee , 
was at the time "booming" — prices were 
specially high and no one had the least fear 
of such young districts as Dimbula, Dikoya 
and Maskeliya not gi-owing coffee profitably for 
several decades to come. Accordingly Mr. 
V. B. Anderson was simply laughed out of 
his conceit of establishing a tea-garden in 
Ceylon, some 23 years ago. The Dikoya 
I)lanters of that time would not hear of it, 
and, instead, some of them absolutely per- 
suaded Mr. Anderson to take back with him 
to Assam a select parcel of Ceylon coffee seed 
and to plcint out 100 acres in a favourable 
situation on behalf of a little Syndicate who 
joined him in the venture. The coffee grow 
all right; but so did the inevitable "leaf- 
fungus " which by 1880, had changed the 
entire prospect in Ceylon. Mr. Anderson, we 
believe, abandoned the Assam clearing before 
anything like a decent crop had been 
gathered on it and nothing more was heard 
of the venture. But very bitterly, we have 
IK I doubt, did Mr. T. C. Anderson and some 
other Dikoya men of the "seventies" 
regret that they had not allowed Mr. 
C. B. Anderson, with all his Assam experi- 
ence, to open out a pioneer tea garden in 
tieylon, at a time when prices were so good, 
and competition so limited in the tea market 
for the India and Ceylon product. 
We are led to recall this true reminiscence 
of a strange experience in our planting 
world, V)y the revival of a cry at this time 
to plant "coffee" freely in Assam and some 
other parts of Northern India. We have 
grave doubts of any appreciable success 
attending the venture. Fifteen degrees on 
each side of the equator is usually the limit 
of coffee growing ; and the coffee bush is by 
no means so hardy as tea in respect of stand- 
ing frost, &c. On the other hand, here is the 
very encouraging report from a planting 
correspondent of the Indian Planters' Gazette, 
who writes of what he has seen or heard on 
good authority : — 
Any bushes I have seec in Upper Assam or 
Sylhet seemed to be in perfect health, and bearing 
crops which it would simply be impossible to 
beat I have it on the best authority that Arabian 
bushes have been growing in South Sylhet in 
the planters' bungalow compounds for the las*^ 
ten years or so, and that they have been fruiting 
all these years. When this is the case there 
can be no earthly reason why they will not grow 
and fruit for forty years. I think the real reason 
that coffee has not been gone in for more is 
simply that, from the very start, tea has had 
full sway, and as it has, as a rule, proved a fairly 
renumerative investment hitherto, there was no 
special reason for the tea planter to turn his 
attention to anything else. There can be no 
doubt that if tea was wiped out of existence iu 
Assam through any cause, that the Assaiii 
planters would be equally as capable of rising 
