568 
THE TKOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
rPEB. 1, 1900. 
PLANTERS AND AUXILIARY PRODUCTS. 
Upcountry, Feb. 7, 
Dear Sir, — Now that we have to face more 
enemies than one, connected with the Tea enterprise, 
is it not time that all tea planter!? should turn 
their attention to auxiliary products suited to their 
different altitudes, so that we may be prepared to 
tide over troublous times when they do begin to 
make themselves felt ? The prices most of us are 
now realizing for our staple product can but only 
help to keep the wolf away from the door ; but 
when we are told of gis;antic organizations to 
wipe us dry, by depriving us even of that last 
drop in the bucket, it belioves each and all of 
us to look alive and to be up and doing. 
That such another crisis as this Island experi- 
enced in the early " eighties, " is looming in the 
not distant future (this time not from disease but 
from numerous other causes too voluminous to 
mention) doesjnot require a prophet's eye to discern, 
and when it does come, how many amongst ns 
will then be found prepared to face the inevita- 
ble with all our eggs in the one basket, as most 
of ns at present stand ? I trow few, very few ! 
When the cofTee catastrophe swooped down on 
Ceylon like a thunderbolt, those of the knowing 
ones amongst our planters of that day, who 
had cinchona planted on their estates, found and 
got no little help from that product to keep 
themselves afloat : a good many of those men will 
own up that their cinchona went no small way 
to help them to develop the new industry tea. 
Where in Ceylon is cinchona to be found 
now ? Except in a handful of places, this 
product is a thing of the past. That this 
commodity is in demand cannot be doubted, 
when we see the "sons of the prophet" on the 
tramp offering quite 25 cts on the spot 
for a pound of dry bark. I only wish I was 
the possessor of a few thousand pounds of bark 
this day : what a haul I should have made ! 
I will (if you will permit me) through your 
columns offer a small suggestion to both lowland 
and highland planters. To the former I would 
suggest that they plant up all vacancies, road- 
sides, above drains, boundary belts, &c., 
with Para rubber, nutmegs and cloves — products 
well adapted to their climate — and all their flats 
and undulating lands with coconuts at 30 or 40 
feet apart: this will in no way affect their tea. 
To the highlanders I would say, plant all your 
vacancies, roadsides, above drains, boundaries, 
&c., with a good jat cinchona. My brethren, 
take this advice in a good spirit as it is given 
in a kindly one; and perhaps, it may be, at the 
end of five years or so you may live to thank. 
EXPERIENCE OF THE EARLY "EIGHTIES." 
h: 
SUGAR CULTIVATION. 
Dear Sir, — Re your articles about sugar culti- 
vation. Did not one of the Lords Elphinstone 
lose heavily by an experiment in this direction 
at a place called "Paradua" (I think), in the 
Kalutara district, in the "fifties ?" Rumour had it 
that my Lord dropped some R30,000 over the 
business. I hope sincerely I may have been 
misinformed as to the loss sustained by Lord 
Elphinstone, but caution is required in all such 
ventures. E. F. T. 
V ' rrhe changes that have taken place in sugar 
cultivation and preparation in the past twenty 
years are very notable and our correspondent 
may be quite sure that Mr. Turner and bis staff 
will do nothing rashly.— Ed. T. A.] 
PLANTING NOTES: 
CoREAN Pearl Divers.— The diving for the 
pearl oysters found off the Corean island of 
Quelpart is entirely done by women. Diessed 
in a kind of bathing suit, with a sickle in one 
hand and a gourd with a bag tied to it in front 
of theui, they swim out from the shore as far 
as half a mile — boats cannot be afforded — and 
thuy dive, probably a depth of forty oi hfty feet, 
to the bottom, cut the weeds with t!ie fickle or 
if they find a pearl oyster, tear it oil from the 
stone, and then put it into the bag, which is 
kept floating by tlie gounl. They (lo not go 
back before the bag is filled, whicli often t.-ikes 
more than half an liour. — Iloitie paper, Jan. 16. 
Fowls in Fruit Cultivation.— In the old days 
of the Agricultural Gazette Mr. AUIprman afid 
Sheriff Mechi used to entertain the readers with 
stories of his agricultural experiences, including 
the work done by fowls in vegetable-gardens and 
orchards in clearing-off in.«ect-pests. This sort of 
work is being done now with ajiproval in many 
parts of the v. orld ; and from abioad come encon- 
raginj. reports of the value of chicken-peck. One 
fruit-grower writes : — " I enclosed lialf-a dozen un- 
productive cankei-worm infested Apple-trees in a 
chicktn-yard, and as a result the insects were 
cleared, and the trees produced good crops of line 
fruit." Another v> rote: — "The hen Iras a golden 
claw ; she is a jn-ofe-'^sor of agriculture, too, and 
teaches clean culture, and lots of it, with higli- 
feerling for a fruit-orchard." Verb Sap. — Garden- 
ers' Chronicle, Jan. 20. 
Tea in Assam.— The heavy rain that fell in 
Upper Assam a.nd the nortli-east tea districts 
generally the week before last, though it will 
render the first hoeing more easy and benefit 
general cultivation, comes rather at an inoppor- 
tune time for those who commenced their pruning 
last month, inasmuch as it w ill bring out a flush 
to'igh, leathery, and sapless that will not be 
worth gathering for manufacture, and yet mast 
be removed or bangi will be the result. We 
are generally prepared for (and expect) the usual 
Christmas showers but hardly for such an ab- 
normal downpour as this. One or two complaints 
have reached us that the rain will delay clear- 
ance, but with these we have not the slightest 
sympathy, as there is quite enough land under 
tea for all likely requirements for the next two 
years. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
^ 
RAINFALL RETURN FOR COLOMBO. 
[Supplied by the Surveyor-General.) 
1S95. 
1S96. 
1897. 
1898. 
1899. 
Av of 
29yr3. 
1900. 
lanuary . . 
Inch. 
Inch 
Inch 
Inch 
Inch. 
Inch. 
Inch. 
5-00 
2-92 
3-81 
2-3a 
6-98 
3-09 
3-72 
February .. 
0-81 
0-3o 
1-68 
1-98 
2-78 
1-90 
0-02» 
March 
1-84 
5-64 
3-66 
4-21 
0-88 
4-92 
April 
9-34 
5-93 
10-97 
•22-81 
6-66 
11-47 
May 
10-09 
9-31 
8-30 
5-80 
17-73 
11-89 
June 
13-99 
8-37 
10-14 
10-94 
9-23 
8-34 
July 
0-52 
2 -So 
5-Z4 
6-15 
1-11 
4-49 
August 
0-92 
6-35 
9-09 
0-97 
0-62 
3-77 
SeptexDber 
4-09 
10-99 
4-58 
6-90 
1-4S 
5-13 
October . . 
30-36 
16-78 
4-71 
20-60 
12 99 
u-r>7 
November.. 
5-83 
IS. 8 1. 
11-06 
17-38 
8-58 
12-80 
December. . 
9-44 
11-76 
8-89 
3-05 
4-44 
6-45 
Total.. 
92-23 
101-06 
82-73 
103-11 
73-48 
S8-S2 
3-74 
* From 1st to 7th Feb. 0-02 inch, that is up to H-30 a„m. 
on 8th Feb.- Ed. T.A. 
