April 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
681 
his. particular patch of land, and district per- 
haps ; and a previous experinient out heie also 
seems to point to the coQclusion that this plant 
need not necessarily he grown in black soil to do 
well. I feel convinced there must be some 
thousands of acres of other than black soil quite 
capable oi bearing a quality of cotton quite 
equal to any of the best Tinnevelly. 
One hears very little of what is going 
on at Anuradhapura with rega d to this product, 
but I hope that, should this first experi- 
ment turn out, unfortunately, to be a failure, 
it will not deter the Government from making 
further, and riiore exhaustive, experiments at 
Anuradhapura, and at three or four other stations. 
I think it was a pity to confine the first experiment 
to one district as the cotton plant is so peculiarly lia- 
ble to alter its characteristics of growth, yield and 
quality of staple under different conditions of 
soil and climate that, had experiments been carried 
out simultaneously at other stations beside 
Anuradhapura, more data would have been 
available to wotk on, and seed would then 
have been procurable from the most vigorous 
and best-stapled plants grown in ' each district 
with which to carry on further experiments ; and 
and I am inclined to suggest that the experiments 
be extended to other districts from the fact that 
the Indian and American Government (specially 
the latter), iiave been devoting a great deal of 
attention to the raising of varieties of the 
cotton plant by selection of seed, by hybridisa- 
tion, and by aecliinatisation in various districts 
in each of the countries named ; but the 
general apathy of the Indian cultivator 
together with his want of knowledge of 
how to cultivate his land to the best advantage 
and extreme carelessness in the selection of seed 
has, I fear, so discouraged the Indian Government 
that less attention seemed to have been devoted 
to this subject of late years than was the case 
some several years ago. And instead of Tinnevelly 
cotton improving in quality, I hear it now has 
a tendency to become more short stapled every 
year almost. And can it be wondered at 
when the cultivator take everything possible 
out of the soil, and never attempts to 
pud back even a portion of the cotton seed as 
manure? All new industries, especially where 
natives are concerned and who are not thoroughly 
acquainted with the mode of cultivaiion, require, 
a great deal oi "pushing" to give them a start 
but I see no reason why, now that money is said 
to be forthcoming for tiiis new enterprise, it caimot 
be started on a fairly large scale. There must be 
be some thousands of acres of land, now lying 
waste, and in the hands of many well-to-do Sinha- 
lese — such as Ratamahatmayas, and many a fair 
acre of Temple land which might be devoted to 
cotton-growing. Cannot Government hit on some 
plan by which these lands can be brought 
under cotton ? Reasonable advances to plant 
up these lands, and a guarantee fiom the 
British Cotton Growers' Association to take 
all the cotton these lands can pioduce would, 
I believe, jolve the problem it only the 
chiefs will assist. A board could be appointed to 
control the financial part of the busine-s, and a 
travelling inspector appointed to see that the 
recipients of the advances carried out the work 
expected of them, and he wouUl also have to 
select sites for the ginning and storing sta- 
tions and show them iiow to cultivate the 
land. Ceylon has never yet been beaten 
and its cap.ibilities of introducing and obtaining 
thpbest prices foriti produce, and now let it have 
a fling at cotton. It has cheap labour, good lands, 
and railways, and good roails ; everything in fact 
likely to make cotton-growing asuccess, if only the 
opportunities now offered of giving this product a 
thorough good start are made the very most of. 
Apologising for the length of this letter.— I am, 
dears,ir, yours faithfully, W H COWLEY. 
RUBBER IN THE STRAITS. 
CASTILLOA A FAILURE : CONVENIENCE OF 
TELEPHONE CONNECTION. 
Seremban Estate, Negri Sembilan, March 1. 
Dear Sir,— I hear men ia the Straits and in 
Java are cutting out Castilloa Rubber as they 
cannot get the latex to coagulate. Can yon ask 
your readers if this is the experience in Ceylon 
or in South India? as, so far, 1 have not heard a 
good word for it in these pait^. There are 
some very fine Rubber estates over here and the 
growth on them beats anything of the same age 
in Ceylon. One tree on Linsum gave 15 lb. in 
one year and 20 lb. another! How is that? 
A large number of estates are now connected 
by Telephone run by Government and the men 
find it of the greatest convenience. I spoke 
to a friend 2.5 miles off immediately on my 
arrival. There is a motor car service to Pahang 
83 miles over very steep roads which has been 
running (at 15 miles an h(jur) for some months 
and is said to be a great success. I will make 
further enquiries about it. — Yours faithfully, 
L. D, 
RAMIE-WANTED A LOCAL MARKET. 
Colombo, March 16. 
Dear Sir,— A great deal has been written 
from outside the island about the golden 
prospects before cultivators of the ramie 
plant, but everything must begin in a 
small way and grow gradually. More than 
one correspondent has been enquiring of me 
where he could sell the produce of his 
small plantation and what price he may 
expect. A native gentleman, writing to me, 
suggests that T should visit his ramie plot, 
and adds :— " I did not go in largely for 
ramie cultivation, as I do not know how, 
and for what prices, and to whom I could 
sell. If I knew these mattei-s clearly, I could 
have a large plantation in 6 months." If 
a local firm would come to the rescue of 
the small ramie cultivators (quoting, of 
course, for " ribbons "), there is no reason 
why, if a fair price is offered, ramie grow- 
ing should not extend and soon reach re- 
spectable proportions.— Yours truly, 
C. DRIEBKKG, Supt., School Gardens. 
CLOSE SEASON FOR TEAL IN THE 
sour HERN PROVINCE. 
Ambalangoda, March I7th. 
Dear Sir —I have read with interest a 
letter signed by Mr W. Ferguson re the 
subject of Close Season for Teal in your 
March edition. I can in no way see that 
he has gained a point in favour of this 
