42 
THE TROPICAL AGIUCUUTHIST. rJn.Y ], 1898 
healthy, but only gave a little over i cwt per acre 
last year. In June and July 1897 another clearing 
was planted in coffee and coconuts (cacao now bs- 
ing planted in it.) The young coffee trees are 
doing very well and have now a email crop on them." 
As to Cacao— of wliic.'i there are now over 
21,000 acres in Ceylon, an increase of 3,000 acres 
in 2i year.s— the reports are f,'enera!ly favour- 
able ; and if only Mr. Carrutliers h enaliled 
to show the jilantcr how to ileal with its |iie>:ent 
enemies in certain districts, the industry shoulil 
rapidly increase in iniportaiiee. Even as it is, 
where care is tahen to j^lant the stron;;er variety 
on good soil, tiiere is not much to fear. Here 
is an encouraging Matale u'l'ort : — 
" Cacao is doing very v.'cll. First clearings all 
common rod are now four to five years old, 
fine growth and no si;;n8 of disense so far. Sub- 
sequent clearings all Porestero and very little else 
being planted now and anywhere. Tho diseaeo is 
said not to Houiish west of the north road, but no 
dependence can be placed in this, (iiub moved 
round about in much the fame way in the old days. " 
This, i', will he observed, refers to Matale ; but 
we have equally good leports from the otiier 
end of the country, say Monaragala, where 
cacao fields are quite liealthy and bearing well. 
Cacao in the lower divisions and cardamoms on 
the higher slopes of the Monartigala range 
seem to jnosper ; while, as already mentioned. 
Para rubber is not behind. Here is how one 
shrewd imiprietor and Inspector of Estates sums 
up the situation : — 
"Accepting cacao as a euccess and well worth 
growing, I think Para Rubber is the coming new 
product, but it should not be planted much above 
500 feet and unless one has sufficient command of 
seed to open a considerable tract it should be con- 
fined to existing estates where it can be introduced 
economically." 
We have already quoted the o])inion of another 
Visiting Agent with e.xceptional expeiience of 
Rubber to the effect that 50 trees per acre of 
Para rubber among tea can do no harm ; w hile 
in some situations (with good soil and plenty of 
rain) he would go up to 100 trees with con- 
fidence. There is an increasing tendency ainonc 
European managers— for Conijianies especiallv-^ 
to plant coconut palms in cacao, eoflee and even 
in some tea clearings in certain districis. 
Dumbara, Kurunegala, Kelani Valley anrl Ka!u- 
tara are the favourite districts , but there is 
also a good deal done in this way in Matale, 
aiid in districts around Kandy ; and managers 
are generally satisfied with the growth so far. 
Kamie is being tried in Dumbara and the .'oil 
should be very suitable ; l>ut a rainfall of 60 to 
70 iuclies is scarcely enough. 
Of other and minor prudiicts, v,e slH.uld like 
to see a little more done witii "Kola" of 
which so far only patches have been tried, but 
with success, in Matale. A great deal iiiore 
ought certainly to be done in Pepjier and v.e 
cannot understand why experiments are not 
freely made in Kegalla and Kelani Valley, seeing 
the large crops that used to be collected there 
for tlie Dutch, over a hundrefl years ago. .A. 
Malale e.\j)erin;ent interests us very nrach : 
pepper is there grown in one case on shaiie 
trees of a cacao field, and the spice now botii 
bears and sells well. 'J'he example ought to be 
'freely followed. Then wii;it. alxmt Vanilla?"! 
believe" — writes one shrewd colonist— " riiere is 
money in vanilla round Kandy and Matale." 
A good deal is being done in Dumbara where 
a report tells us : — 
"Vanilla is being extended as much as we can 
and is promising, but so far we have only a few 
acres, This plant and the curiag require $, attAi 
deal of care and the cultivatiou can hardly be un- 
oertaken on a large scale." 
That is true; and yet why not a vanilla 
garden i;i Ceyh.n on the wale lollowed in poor 
lutle .Seychelles? At any rate, let young plant- 
ers ol the right stamp, on the loot out for i>ew 
industries, take heart. There u a choice lM;loie 
then, and several of tlie products mentioned are 
decidedly promising. As .stiikin;,' out a new line 
altogether we must quote two more ojjijiions or 
rccommen(lation« from . xperieneeil and suwe-sful 
colonists for the bentlit of younger uieu. Here 
IS one in the shape of un er^juiry : — 
•DoQ t you think that the very great demand ior 
castor cake m C.ylon with the fact that the csstor 
plant grows bo well, should make the growine of 
tlie latter a paying concern ?" 
Wliile the other remarks that it won!«l, lie 
believes pa3' well to "plant timber trees ^ ',i«n&. 
nna) for fuel on waste land ucwssible to 
Coloiiibo, &p. ' This reminds us that in (he 
sixties," nn Uva planting proprietor made a 
good thing by planting casuarinas in the neigli- 
bourhood of Ma.lias and afterwards «e!liu-' the 
eleamig for fuel purposes. Uat for fuilher in- 
formation in regard to "minor" a* well b» 
staple productj^ at this time in Ceylon we 
must refer to our Review in the forthcomiu« 
Handbook and Directory." 
PLANTING AND SPOUT IN SOUTHERN 
INUIA. 
CoFrKK— Ci.vciioNA— Soil. 
{by an cx Ceylon PUmter.) 
The buildings in this quarter of the empire setin 
to be ot a very primitive nature, the baDcalows 
lines, etc., are not like the neat (as a role) and com- 
fortable erections one finds on estates in old Cevlon 
1 cannot say anything as yet about the coffee liere' 
only having viewed it in distance, but I hope soon 
to see and go over several estates only a few milea 
from here. It certainly looks well, and I believe 
13 very good, the elevation here is rather too hieh 
t )r cotfee, my bungalow being some C,200 feet and 
the laud ruuumg up to close on 7,000 feet • at the 
same time I cams across a few hundred coffee trees 
which had been planted by some previous suuerln- 
teudeut. and looking exceedingly well. These" were 
one mass of tangled bushes, but finding .ome 
Ceylon coohes who had been on an estate up 
NMvalapitiya way, I imme iiat.-ly had the trc.s han- 
dled out with tho result that there is now a -ood 
out and ,ct ,reU previocs to this, which looks as if 
the elevation was not out of the way. I looked 
h f fn °n ,«''^,^'^^'^y»eaf-dise.se,aleo tor green 
I^TA-i ^'n^'' r''*'"'"' ^""^ this I wa~ giaJ. 
1 noticed thy coffee leaves were much smaU-'-r tlii^n 
U,o-ie in Ceylcn, btiiig long and narrow, sUms of 
trees were cf very f.-.ir sii^e, ..nd alUjcether i am 
inclmed to think coffee would prow and pay w^ 
even at this high elevation. I m!aa to atk^lelve ti 
tH%^^ "penmental patch of a few acre^, and hope 
I sea l be allowed to do so Soil over in this d?.? 
tuct IS Bomethiag to lock at, I have never seen 
m;^n?f ? "^T-' it in C.-vlon durii,g all 
my long stay therp, I am inclined to mo-^oiirL if 
a most too good There in no old lea about 7u 
at this praticokr part of the district, the eldest 
be;cg only two years old, growth is very bick ward 
compared to two years' ola Ceylon tea ; bu^ cne wou'd 
e*^'S -t^'^ '° ^''^ '^-^ ot's^ch au 
ei. v.Jion, .,ou3 0,^00 up to quite 7,000 feet. 
With regard to wild game, Ac. about h^re, I cm 
told It IS very plentiful, elephant, ti^jf (o.:e thes^ 
and a cud nave been taking a da ly r .mhi! thronch 
TJi r^^T^ ^''^^ ^""ds of lite. abou5 
103 yards below my bungalow, and by the size of 
the foot prints it must be a monster:) Sambur 
