274 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. 1, 1898. 
PROGRESS IN ( KYLOX: 
PLANTING STATISTICS:— TEA, CACAO, 
COFFEF, RUBI3EI!, COCONUTS, &c. 
To THE Editoh of the [London] " Times." 
Sir, — At intervals during the p.nst HO years I have 
at the cost of much time and trouble compiled, 
Statistics of the planting enterpiise of Ihia colony 
and have periodically sent you the results for 
publicd/tion. No agricultural iiuUistiy in the world 
probably has a fnlior r.r nioje reliable i-ecord than is 
obtained through the inquiry thus conducted. My 
last report to you was dated August, IB'J.'i, bo that 
nearly thvea years have elupsed, and all interested 
in the ftist of Crown colonies and its most notable 
industry will be glad to have the following figures : — 
Acres. 
Total area of 1,938 plantations and planting 
properties ... . ... 807,079 
J, of 1 ,.").'!'! p'antations in cu tivation 
witli 1,.5()4 superintendents and as- 
sistants ... ... ... ... •l;!l,.'ilO 
Total approximate exlent under Tea ... yG3,»07* 
< offee (Arabica) ll,ilSH 
„ „ Coffee (Liberica) 2.428 
„ „ Cacao ... '21,2CU 
„ „ Cardamoms ... 5,153 
„ ,, ( inchona (5 to 
6 million trees) 
equivalent ... 1,178 
„ „ Kubber ... 1,071 
^, ,, Grass (cultivated) 4,413 
1, ,, of Annotto, 
Cooa,Kola, Bimie, Vanilla, Pepper, (Moves, 
Citionella grass, Divi-Divi, Ciolon, Castor- 
oil Aloes, Cinnamon, Tobacco, I'otlou — in 
our plantations' li.->t ... ... ... 6,242 
Coconuts, Arecas, Nutmegs, Fruit trees (on 
the ciicao, tea, or coffee planlationr.) ... 10,603 
Of Fuel, Timber, Sapan, and Kapok (on the 
tea, cacao, or coti'co phuilations) ... 6,505 
"Without entering into any elaborate comparison, I 
may mention that in the three years over 55,000 acres 
have been added to the total area under cultiva' ion ; 
but the increased c.Kteiit uncleL- 'Mea" in the same 
period is over 50,OUO acras (indeed Otl.tKX) acres if 
native gardens are counted), the difference being 
obtained by a further super ieasion of coffee (Arabica), 
due to the persisten;y of its sever'al enemies, and of 
cinchona (no longei- a profitable product). While 
there are 9,600 acres fewer under ordinary cotTee, the 
cultivation of the hardier Liberian specie j has not 
increased, the fall in price having discou-aged plant- 
in" ; but if an experiment now being made to import 
ladybird beetles from Queensland to clear off the bug 
(coccus) which is troubling coffee in Mysore and 
Coorg he successful, Ceylon is sure to profit by tiie 
example and it is possible that there might then bo a 
fresh departure with our old staple. 
The aiva under cacao (ihocolate plant) has, I am 
glad to say, cen-iiderably increased over 3,000 acres 
having been added in the past thi es years, while our 
export is fast rieing. So also with the cultivation of 
rubber trees a considera' le advance has been made, 
and great interest is now bi-ing taken in the culture of 
Para rubber by planters in our bwcountry districts. 
I am thus particular in specifying certain minor 
industries before touching on tlie present over- 
shadowing staple, tea, be-ause it lia.^ been my constant 
endeavour, in writing for the plmters iu our daily 
Press, as well as in the monthly Tropical Agriculturist, 
to impress upon them the gre.it advantage, wherever 
possible, of having tv?D or more strings to their bow, 
and my hope is to see the cultivation of cac.io, rubber, 
ramie, and other fibre-yielding plants', aad useful and 
* This is apart frjm some 7,000 acres at Iea«t in 
native tea gardens of small extent, so that the grand 
total under tea in Ceylon at the middle of 1898 cannot 
be less than (more likely over) 370,000 acres. 
oruamental timber trees freely extcnAoJ dnring the 
next few years in the Ceylon plantiug districts. 
Nevertheless, I ma bound to confess that so f«r 
tea has prov»i1 the most profitable cullure. .Mlliuunh 
we have now got far bevr.Dd Ihe i«oJ :'.'/i(ni arra ev«r 
planted with coffie (280,000 acres c-ff.e in 1878-79, 
again.st 370,0100 acres in tea in ll?9b), yet the tea 
plant is reported Bverywhtre iR-al'liy and ugoroui, 
and crops faiil» aatiefactory. Nowhere, appaicutly, 
can tea be grown jnore economically thii,;i in the 
favoured divisions of Ceylon, and ut:y ecfuiies of tea 
can be inncli more (-asily fought and conquered lluD 
those of c&ffi»c-. Sliortne.'s cf the hibour supply i« 
occasionally iu some parts a dilKculty, de^rnebs of 
rice (all imported from India fur ilje coolies) and 
cost of transport are further drawbackii ; bal theta 
have been cv( rshadoweJ •ince the he({itining of thia 
year by the great check which adverse excli;>iige— the 
artificial raibiug of the rupee to is 4J by the Indian 
financial authoriiea — and f>carcily of money haa given 
to the tea plinter. Lower prices fur his product ia 
tha London market he cannot help, although everr 
effort ii beiiig made to conquer new markets in Norln 
America and Russia, and to create a direct tr^tde 
through adv«rlisiiig distributio:i of simples, dc-uiun- 
Etratione at fo:d exhibitions, it'c, tha fuuds being 
provided by a Kelf iniposed cess on the pUiileri,' crops 
as exported. In coiuiuou wi b all producers (for ex- 
port) ill India and Ceylon, the tea planters bava » 
Bpcc al stake in the is>u« of the Iudia:i Currency 
Commission, and the future of a proportion of cur 
tea plantations must h iug iu the balajcj, until tha 
result is known. Meantime good hai been done in 
the chuck given to fiiriher planting. It is felt that 
Ceylon has q iite enough area undtr ttii« oua product. 
The Crown for the present will se'i little or no 
land for tea. 
Hilt it may b-; of interest to mention that during 
the aduiiaistraiion of Sir Arthur Gordon (now Lira 
Staumore), 1833-90, the area planted with t<\i ioa« 
from 32,0:10 to 2iO,O0J acres, while Bl.CMt acres wera 
added in the lime of Crovemcr Sir Arthur riaveluck, 
against uo less th.-vn G'j.OOO acres iu the 2} years of 
Sir West Hidgeway's energetic aduiiiiitttration. J hi*, 
has b.:eii largely duo to thv advent of wealthy capita- 
lists hitherto interested in Assam, but who, UjiuU|{h 
several pjwerful limited companies, haveadded greatly 
of late to the area planted with tefv both in Ceylon 
and North Tiavancore. Tlie The large number of plant- 
ations sold by private individuaUto limited companies, 
formed either in London or Colombo, is also a : piecal 
feature of the experience of the past three yeais, I 
luay further mention that the ranks of Ce} Ion phmtert 
are very full at present, and that there is no room 
for adi'.itioDs in young men who hope for a carser 
here, although our plantations continue, in my opinion 
to be the best tropical agricultural school for younf( 
men who are prepared after their trailing to pioneer 
with rubber, cacao, coconuts, cofF«e, in tba 
iMalayan Peninsula, Sumatra, North Borneo, tropical 
Australia, Ug uida or Nya-isalaLd in Central Afsrica. 
The export of Ceylon tea, which was oulv about 
1} million lb. in 1883, will for this year probably 
reach 120 million lb. and I see no reason why this 
should not be maintained (if not exceeded) for many 
years to come, provided thpre is sufficient eucouiago- 
msut in prices and the effect of the new Indian cur- 
rency does not prove seriously detrimental to thfl 
indn-try. As an evidence of the i:hrink;<ge iu valaa 
of Ceylon tea investments which has alresdv taken 
place, I may mention that the shares in our local 
limited (rupf^e tea companies, almost entirely held 
ia Ceylon, show a less aggregate vilTeinJuly", 1898, 
than in Jamiaiy, 1897, of no les^ than 7,235,882 
rupees. Of course, mucli of this difference is due to 
undue inflitiou and speculation which prevailed 18 
months ago, but even since January 1893. there has 
been a shrinkage from a total value of 16.485,310 
rupees to 15.617,490 rupees. 
A word or two many be permitted as to the m re 
purely native agricultual industry in Ce3'lon. 1 cal- 
culate that there are some 50 million of coco-palms 
growing in regular plantations or small native gardens 
in Ceylon, covering about 700,000 acres and yielding 
