610 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [March 1, 1904. 
capital of Selangor State, and which is now 
the Federal Capital of the Federated Malay 
States. There they have electric liglit, a tele- 
phone system, teleprraphs and other modern 
requirements to an extent far in excess of any- 
thing we have in Ceylon, while as many as 
TWENTY MOTOR CARC 
ai'e already nspd in this small place. The 
JVIunicipal Council— theie it is called the Sani- 
tary Board— are very energetic and sanita- 
tion is carried out in the latest methods 
with all modern appliances. This includes 
the incineration daily of all town refuse. 
The necessary arrangements for this in- 
cludes a very tall chmmey which at once 
catches the eye of the traveller, 
EUROPEAN CULTIVATION OF TROPICAL 
PRODUCTS 
.^8 making great progress, although hitherto 
alluvial tin mining has heen the backhone of 
the country The whole of the railway system 
has been made out of revenue, and although 
there is a very large mileage of railway open 
there is no debt. There is a great deal of 
planting of liberian coffee, coconuts and 
RUBBKR OF DIFFERKNT KINDS. 
The rubber industry is at present the rising 
and most prominent and from a Europ'an 
point of view, the most interesting cultivation. 
He visited many of the principal estates which 
looked very promising indeed. The growth 
was very free there, on the low lands espe- 
cially ; he thought it on the whole freer than 
in tha districts <>f Ceylon he had seen. In the 
Straits they have not done so much tapping 
as we have done, although there was a large 
number of splendid trees on many of the 
estates. He thought that tapping there was 
postponed to a rather later age of the 
rubber trees than was the custom in Ceylon 
on the average. In the course of his travels 
Mr Leechraan came across many Ceylon 
men, among them :— Messr-* W VV Bailey, 
E V Carey, Caulfield, Parkinson among 
the planters and many other friends and 
acquaintances. There are many Ceylon 
men also in high Government appoint- 
ments, in the Railway, Post and Telegraph 
Departments. Many of the stationmasters, 
guards and telegraph clerks are from 
Ceylon and as he passed along many claimed 
acquaintance with him on the common 
ground of Colombo and Ceylon. 
Mr Leechman looks as fresh and vigorous 
as ever after his trip. 
THE EBONIES OF CEYLON. 
THE GENUS "DIOSPYBOS" BY MB. HEBBBBT 
WBIGHT. 
The first part of Mr. Herbert Wright's ex- 
haustive paper on "The Genus Diospyros in 
Ceylon : Its Morphology, Anatomy and 
Taxonomy," has just been published and a 
copy has been received from the Director of 
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. There 
was little definite knowledge of the Oevlon 
species and of the commercial values of ebony, 
clamander and other valuable timbers of the 
Island until Mr. Wright took the matter in 
hand. The work gives a detailed description 
of the distribution, the flowers, fruits, etc., 
of over 20 ebonies found in Ceylon. Mr. 
Wright has given three whole years of 
hard work to the subject, and his essay 
is an invaluable addition to the scientific 
works on Ceylon. We wish him all 
success with the completion of the study. 
The work is divided into two parts ; 
Part I contains a general statement of the 
species, with account of the distribution in 
Ceylon, the vegetative characters, anatomy, 
timber, seedlings and their development, 
reproductiDn, etc. Part II, which will be 
published in May or June, will contain scienti- 
fic descriptions and illustrations. 
jrURUNEGALA PLANTERS' ASSOCITION. 
PRODUCTS. 
CoooNCTs.— The year 1903 shows the largest 
export of all products of tha Coconut palm for the 
past ten yeara, except in coconuts in the shell which 
is abiut 1 866 less than in 1900 the year of largest 
export. All others show a marked increase ; Coconut 
oil cwts. 665,357 ; copra cwts. 721 575, desiccat'.d nnta 
17.485,369 lb ; nuts in shell 13.129 349 ; rope cwtB. 
2'>,638 ; y>vn cwta. 92,124 ; fibre cwts. 132,203 ; our 
best customers have been the United Kingdom, 
Geim^iny, Ras'i* nnd America. The United Kingdom 
takes nearly two-thirdi of the oil, eleven million pounds 
out of thirteen million of desiccated coconuts, and 
nine millions outof thirteen millions of coconuts in the 
shell, two thirds of the yarn asd one half of the fibre. 
Germany takes cwts 256 299 of copra, followed clot^ely 
by Russia with cwts 223,530; Germany and Belgium 
take between th m almost all the poonao. As seems 
to be the rn e Singapore has taken all but cwts 2.i6 out 
of cwts 20,638 of rope. Prices have dropped somewhat 
from those of last year, though still higher than what 
they were before the high prices, caused by special 
conditions three years ago, which cannot be expected 
to continue. The severe drought of February and March, 
did some h^rm to coconut trees and caused a large 
number of immature nuts to fall, especially on lands 
with stiff soil. The weather during the other months 
of the year was favourable, and fair crops for 1904 
may be expec'ed. Some legislation on the subject of 
protecting palms from the ravages of the red beetle 
would be desirable ; but the Malay S.ates Urdinanoe 
is far too drastio for the conditions prevailing in 
Ceylon. Considering the considerable increase |in the 
output of almost all the products of the cocount paliu 
it is satisfactory to note that prices continue remune- 
rative. We have not heard that many are growing the 
sensitive plant as a nitrogen conserver ; there is a 
great discussion at present as to which out of the 
many indigenous legnmes ia the best to anltivate for 
this purpose. 
Cocoa — has done well during this season and your 
Committee understand that good crops have been re- 
ceived all over the district. 
Rubber. — Extensions of this product are being 
pushed along in this district ; estates which have trees 
old enough to tap have had very satisfactory results. 
The soil and elevation of a considerable area of the 
district being very suitable for the product, your Com- 
mittee expect that a large acreage will be opened with- 
in the next few years. 
Value or L\ND IN Grrman East Africa. — An idea 
of the value which Geim^ny puts U|.o j t;9 African 
colonial possessions is afforded by the statement that 
the Government has just sold to the Kilimanjaro 
Agricultural and Trading Company, of Garmaa kast 
Africa, for f 5()0, a tract of 395,000 acres ; and in 
addition valuable hunting and breeding concea-ions. 
The Colonial authorities criticise the action of the 
Government, not only in selling lands to a rich 
corporation at the ridiculous figure of less than a half- 
penny per acre, but also in compelling poor colonista 
to pay as. 6d. an acre for the same land. 
