22 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[July 1, 1898. 
Mexico, Florida, California, Jamaica, Trinidad, 
Dominica, Fiji, the New Hebrides, West Africa 
and San Donnn<»o have all seen the Ceylon planter 
and to nearly every land we have named, the 
Ceylon " Tropical Aqriculturist" (iiids its way, in 
following our wanderers, or iii beint; be spoken 
by residents who have lieanl of it through their 
visitors. 
Verily Ceylon has proved a Traiuiii;,' School for 
Planters to serve tiie whole Tropical World ' ; and 
if we speak at this time of our Planting Districts 
being overcrowded with "creepers" (pupils), 
let us not fortret that their training over, if they 
are men of the right stamp, and have put their 
heart and mind into their work, the tropical 
— world ia all before them, where to choose. 
Their place of vork, aud Providence their guide. 
* We are accustomed to say that Ceylon ia the 
best field and school in the world for the training of 
the tropical planter. This saying is baaed, not simply 
on the interested ppiiiion o' our very good solves, 
but on the observation of scientific gentlemen con- 
neoted with Kew, or other botanical, agricultural, aud 
chemical institutions, who have visited us ; of tra- 
vellers who have been able to compare plantation 
work in different colonies ; and on the evidence of 
intelligence, skill, and experience in tlie development 
of our looal enterprise. A young man properly gra- 
duating as h. planter in Ceylon is bound to acquire 
much practical knowledge respecting the best treat- 
ment of the plant and soil on which he is engaged ; 
in regard to the proper management of coloured 
labour— (and nowhere are labourers treated more 
kindly)— including the learning to speak the coolies 
language colloquially ; he ia expected to understand 
not only the mysteries of seed nuraeries, ol plant- 
ing, draining and road-making; but to be able to 
design and superintend buildings, whether in wattle 
and "daub for coolie lines, or in brick and stone for 
his own bungalow and factory, and the more he is, 
or becomes, of a practical engineer, land surveyor, and 
even physician for his coolies, tiie better. To know 
something of chemistry and geology, of soil consti- 
tuents and manurial applications, is no drawback, but 
the reverse, to such colonists. Many of our planters, 
after they have learned the nature of their work, 
are anxious to experiment— backed by the expert in 
Mincing Lane, the machinist, or the analytical 
chemist, or by all three, in the hope of turning out 
a better, or better prepared product, of securing a 
more abundant arop, without injury to the plants, 
or waste of soil ; or of economising in their field or 
factory work, in freight or other expenses, by some 
meohanical contrivance or improvement. For such 
improvements there is still plenty of scope in con- 
nection with nearly every deparlnifnt of tropical 
agriculture. Supported by the local press — (and 
Ceylon produces an organ, the monthly Tropical 
Aqriculiurist, unique among English periodicals, and 
which finds its way to the Agricultural Department 
in Washington, whilst it is highly valued all over 
India, in Australia, East and South Africa, Central 
and South America, in fact, all round the tropics) — 
there is a constant interchange of ideas, experiments, 
and criticism in our island. Therefore it is no 
wonder that, to have earned the reputation of being 
a reliable, experienced planter in Ceylon should pretty 
well be a passport to respect if not profitable em- 
ployment, in any part of the tropic il world. In this 
region the Ceylon trained planter, like the Scotch- 
man who is never so nmoh at home as when he is 
abroad, promises to become ubiquitous. The first 
great exodus took place after the collapse of our coffee 
when some three hundred planters gradually left 
Ceylon and began cultivation in the jungles of Perak 
and Jo'hore, of the Straits Settlements, in North 
Borneo or " New Ceylon," in the tobacco fields of 
Deli Sumatra; in the sugar-growing regions of 
Northern Queensland; while I found some of them 
in 1884 in the vineyards and fruit orchards of Cali- 
tornia, and orange-growing in Florida, Others went 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
We direct attention to the full and husinew!- 
like letter of our Tea Couimisisioner publi&hed 
on another pa^e. It is well deserving of careful 
con.'sideration by all who are indinett to criti- 
cize the course pursued by Mr. Mackenzie and 
the Thirty Committee across the Atlantic. The 
Commissioner is satirical and rightly »o about 
some of the applications made to him for iiioney 
to push or advertise Ceylon teas: ■ 
The sacristan said nothing to iudicate a doubt, 
But he put his hand up to his nose and spread his 
fiiigera out. 
In some cases, at least, the Comniissiutier hold* 
that private pockets would Ijenelit, rather than 
the Ceylon planters if he made grants. Wliat 
he is prepared to do is tu add a third 
more of Ceylon money to the bona Jiilt 
advertising fund of any Firm taking up 
Ceylon teas ; and that, we think, i« a 
safe and wise principle to act on. Finally, 
we may notice soriie of the accusations brought 
against Mr. Mackenzie by a contem|»orary or in 
liiscolumns. Uur Conimis.sioner was accused of mak- 
ing no annual Keport and sending in no accounts. 
Ho has never failed to £en<l in both every year. 
Further he was accused of only writing casually 
and that to one and another meml>er of Com- 
mittee. It 80 happens that the Conmiisaioner 
never wrote to a member of Committee: but 
always to the Chairman aa<l that he has never 
failed writing once-a week, save when travelling 
or at 6ea. Then again as to Green Teas he was 
accused of making a new departure not approved 
of by Mr. Blecliynden — whereas the suggestion 
has the latter's full approval ; bat with this we 
deal elsewhere. Altogether whatever criticism 
may be offered in Colombo, it is quite evident 
fronr the recent meeting of the Thirty Committee, 
that the Commissioner has the full confidence of 
his Planting Constituents. 
Ckvlon Cacao.— The Mincing Lane salt of 
" Cocoa" recorded elsewhere does not seem to 
have been very satisfactory, so many of the lots 
are marked "out." Still we notice several sales 
at from 70s to 75s per cwt. 
to try coffee on the Blue mountains of Jamaica, to 
revive cacao planting in Grenada, to open coffee and 
cinchona plantations for the President of Guatemala, 
aud to supervise coffee investments in Brazil. Farther, 
two ex-Ceylon planters of experience have lately 
returned from a Trans-Andean Expedition in Pern, 
where they explored and selected large areas of fine 
land for tropical products, these areas lying along 
the tributaries of the Amazon, and being taken up 
for the Peruvian Corporation of London ; while 
another gentleman, Mr. J. L. Shand, closely connected 
with Ceylon, has just been reporting on cultivation 
in Johore and North Borneo. New Guinea and 
Madagascar have been explored by Ceylon planters, 
and among the pioneers in the hill-country of East, 
or rather Central Africa, at this moment are men 
trained in our island. An illustration of what ia 
thought of such training in ether lands came under 
my notice the other day. One of our planters was 
travelling through a West Indian island. The director 
of the local Botanic Gardens, greatly interested in 
his cac.xo field, and seeking the opinion of his Ceylon 
visitor on the different kinds he had growing to- 
gether, was reminded by the latter of one result in 
the probability of his different plauta hybiidising. 
" Ah ! '' said the director, " that word alone teaches 
me a lesson as to your training; such a suggestion 
I have never heard from any West Indian planter." 
— From Mr. J. Ferguson's Lecture before the London 
Chamber of Commerce, July 25, 1892. 
