June 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
819 
CEYLON FIELDS FOE PLANTING 
ENTERPRISE, 
IN THE NORTHCBNTKAL PROVINCE. 
Of several applications received from 
Europeans, one for the lease of 600 odd acres 
for a coconut and fruit plantation in 
Tan:ankaduwa has practically been settled, 
and others are being negotiated. Fresh 
inquiries are being made by people desirous to 
try the cultivation of rubber and cotton, in 
one case a tract of any extent up to 5,000 acres 
suitable for the latter having been asked for. 
It is known that cotton will grow in the 
Province, but it remains to be proved whether 
it can be grown of sufficiently good quality 
and staple to render its cultivation com- 
mercially profitable. For this purpose the 
Gevernment is about to start an experimental 
garden on land under the recently restored 
Maha Iluppallama tank, about 11 miles from 
Talawa railway station. The experiment 
will be conducted under European supervision, 
and will be under the control of the Director 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens. Other new 
products, such ag rubber, cacao, fruits, and 
fodders, will also be tried. Should the experi- 
ment with cotton be successful, it may con- 
fidently be expected that the example will 
largely be followed. There should be many 
other openings for the investment of capital 
in the Province. The soil is rich, and the 
climate, though now unhealthy, will improve 
rapidly with the development of permanent 
cultivation. That it was once healthy we 
know, or it could not have supported the 
teeming population which inhabited it in 
ancient times. The -virgin soil ot the irrig- 
able lands under the restored reservoirs will 
yield paddy forty or fifty fold, while enough 
has already been accomplished in the cultiva- 
tion of coconuts, arecanuts, oranges, pine- 
apples, and fruits and vegetables and many 
kinds to show that they will thrive under 
proper methods of husbandry. While cotton, 
ruboer, cacao, and many other products 
should find a congenial home on the richer 
and more low-lying lands, Indian corn and 
fine grains of all sorts will yield enormous 
returns on the higher lands. Pasturage being 
abundant, it is probable that cattle breeding 
might be made to pay, and the dry climate 
during nine months of the year should be 
favourable for poultry-rearing. Indications 
of plumbago have been found in several parts 
of the Province, though no attempt has yet 
been made to work it systematically. It will 
not be surprising to find that the country is 
rich in this mineral and perhaps in others. — 
Mr L W Booth's Administration Eeport for 1903. 
INDIAN TEA FOR AUSTRALIA. 
HOW TO RIVAL CEYLON. 
We have recently referred to the prospects of 
Indian tea in the sjreat Australasian Colonies ; and 
we make no apology for returuinc; to the subject. 
Ceylon has got a certain hold on that market, and 
we must follow with energy. We make the follow- 
ing suggestions for the consideration of the Indian 
Tea Association and Tea Cess Committee. Firstly, 
consignments of good class teas of certain charac- 
ter must be sent forward. If possible, some gardens 
might be induced to manufacture Standard Indian 
teas which, at the beginning, should bear a distinc- 
tive name for blending purposes ; at the same time 
to make another type which could be put into the 
hands of retailers direct for consumption as im- 
ported, without any blending. The most satisfac- 
tory method for the latter would be to pack the 
teas in 1 lb. packets on the factory. An effort 
should then be made to open restaurants or tea 
shops in Sydney and other large towns, where only 
Indian teas would be served, in the cup, while the 
tea from which the beverage was made would be 
on sale in the shops. Next would follow the 
export, on a large scale, of packet teas, done up in 
attractive packets bearing the legend ' Pure Indian 
Teas.' The next step would be the appointment 
of a properly qualified gentleman, who should push 
Indian teas only, by advertisement and personal 
influence. He would be in constant communication 
with the Indian Tea Association. We understand, 
says the I.P.G. one gentleman, now residing in New 
South Wales, has already addressed the I T A on the 
subject, and as he is well acquainted with Indian tea 
aifairs would prove to be the very man we require 
there. The freight question should not be a bar to 
the development of our tea trade with Australia. 
The I T A have dropped a good bit of money in the 
endeavour to capture the Indian market with the 
help of the Indian Tea Expansion Commission. 
Had this money been spent to develop the Austra- 
lian market, those who paid in specie and kind 
would now be reaping a harvest. 
CEYLON AT ST LOUIS EXHIBITION, 
March 26 — Russel Stanhope, who has been our re- 
presentative here, still takes the greatest possible 
interest in the Ceylon Court. He is always^on the qui 
vive to advance its interests. The '' boys " are quartered 
in a comfortable and snug cottage, very near the Fair 
grounds. It was Mr. Stanhope who selected this 
desirable residence for them — away from the back 
alleys, and the " boys " have a cfaarmiog place to 
themselves and they are living practically in a Ceylon 
at St. Louis 1 The two clerks have also their quarters 
separately in another section of this cottage. One 
of them has not arrived as yet. Mr. Hnyshe Eliot 
arrived here on the 24th instant and on the same 
day he reported himself to our Commissioner Mr. 
Bois, and he has now assumed duties as Chief Assis- 
tant Commissioner of the staff. With Mr Peter de 
Abrew they may be seen busily engaged either at 
their desks or on the gronnds pushing forward the 
work connected with the Ceylon Court. 
With this I am sending you a ground plan of the 
World's Fair. On it you will note how advantage^ 
oasly we are located — thanks to Hon. Mr. Figg for 
his sense and good judgment in securing this ex- 
cellent site for the Ceylon Court, and also to Mr Stan- 
hope for helping Mr Figg in this matter. Visitors 
to the ground must necessarily pass our Court If they 
really will visit the World's Fair I To enter that 
most important building — the Agricultural — from its 
main entrance the v'sitor must pass our Court I 
Another attractive feature of our pavilion is, that 
in its architecture it is unique — there is no other 
building on the grounds vihich has a style peculiar 
to its own except our Ceylon Court, and the streams 
ot viaitors will necessarily take home with them an 
idea of the Ceylon Court, owing to its unique style 
of architecture, and we will thus help them to pro- 
mote the interests of our island in the world. 
^ . 
French Cultivators of Ramie Fibre— 
are coming to Ceylon, to take up this pro- 
duct, our London Correspondent reports. 
We wish them all success : local anxiety to 
grow Ramie is not excessive ! 
