April 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
697 
THE MARKET FOR CARDAMOMS. 
A eale of 200 case<? of cardamoms la«t. week 
had no depressing effect on the mnrket, ami, in 
spite of the heavy catalogues, a considerable 
quantity cliai'ged hards at an advance of Id 
to 2d f"er lb. The shipments in 1901 amounted 
to 59,7u4 lb, against 537,455 lb in 1900 and 
499,959 lb in 1899, What this year's total will 
be, the future alone will show. If any estiniiUes 
were obtained of the probable planting area, 
some idea as to the total yield might be formed. 
Will 6,000 acres, or even more, be devoted to 
the cultivation of cardamoms? In 1898 the planting 
area was counted to be a little over 5,100 
acres, whereas in 185S not a single acre was 
planted with the berry. Since then proprietors 
of tea gardens have recognised the value of 
cardamoms as a by-producc to tea, an^ they 
have expended no end of time, money, and 
ground on their improvement, with the result 
we have seen in today's auctions. A beautiful 
berry, well clipped, excellently bleached, and full 
of rich seed is, says the London Commercial Record, 
not obtainable at a considerably cheaper price 
than demanded for the old fashioned Malabar 
sorts from East India. Ceylon has cut the ground 
from underneath the Indian rival, who has 
almost become a thing of the past, although 
the delicacy of Uavour which these berries 
pos-i^essed will remain in our memory, for it will 
hardly ever be reached by the Ceylon descriptions. 
— Homt paper, Feb. 28. 
MISSION WORK;- AND IRRIGATION, 
(Extract from a letter of Sir J. J. Orinlinton.) 
Feb. 20th, 1902. 
The very intereating urticle in the daily Observer 
of 1st February (headed " India at the end of 1901 : 
some recollections " — or rather I should have written 
reflections — " on notes by the way" during a trip of 
6,000 miles) has caused me to feel that I must 
give expreasioa at once to the feelings uppermost 
in tny mind. I regret that I have never been in 
India proper, but my life in Ceylon has enabled 
me to follow most of yoar remarks, more especially 
your "firm belief in the progress ot Christianity 
amongst the natives of the country where the 
Missionaries have been steadily working for years. 
One of my last sets as a public man before leaving 
Ceylon waa that of presiding at the annual gather- 
ing at that beautiful little spot, Cotta, where the 
Church Missionaries have been at work for many 
years. My recollection of the place, when I was a 
young fellow and took but little interest in Mission, 
ary work, enabled me to contrast the two periods, 
and I took ihe opportunity of doing it to the people 
themselves. In the earlier period I noticed only 
very few Sinhalese mothers taking part in the 
service with their children, but on the last occasion 
I was unable to count the mothers and grown- up 
girls : they were so numerous, and all took part in 
the singing which had been taught them by our 
lamented friend, the Rev. S. C'jIus, who was then 
present and looked so happy in leading the singing. 
The large open building was full of bearded men 
who htd been educated at Cotta and hundreds h id 
to remain outside the building. It was indeed a 
pleasant sight, and left a deep impression on me; 
80 much so that I have often since then, in 
public and in private, narrated the circamstances. 
The influence brought to bear on children by 
MOTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN TAUOHT IN THE MISSION 
SCHOOLS ia great, stud it is only when two or three 
generations have been se educated, 'that one ^see^ 
the great advantige, as well as the manifest pro- 
gress made in Mission work — and the improvi'.ment 
in the intelligent look of the people. 
Yuur allusion to irrigation mitunilly attracted my 
attention. India led the way in this during the 
great (xeneral Cotton's time, but during recent years 
comparatively little baa been done, but I am thank- 
ful to sny that in Ceylon great progress has been 
and is still being made. Through tlie courtesy of 
the Governor the Minutes of tOe Irrigation Board 
are regularly sent me. Not alone does Irrigation 
enable good food to be obtained by the poorer 
people who live in places remote from towns and 
•' highways," but it supplies them with good water 
instead of the filthy water they had during dry 
seasons in former times. 
BIG GAME IN THE STRAITS. 
LARGE ELEPHANT SHOT BY MR. EPHRAUMS. 
Galle, March 2C. 
Mr Lennie Ephraums, Manager of the New 
Oriental Hotel, lias just heard from his cousin 
Mr Cyril Ephraums, the well-known sportsman 
in the Straits to tlie effect that he shot another 
big elephant on the 27th February. The tusker 
was bagged 1.3 miles from Serainban in an 
abandoned coffee cleaiins in dense uudei growth, 
and Wds tracked for 2 miles when he came to him 
quite quietly. The animal was bowled over with 
a single shot from an 8-iuch bore rifle, 12 drachm 
of powder and 2i oz. steel tipped bullet. He 
received the shot about 3 inches above the left eye, 
dropped in his track and never moved again. 
The tu-<ks are described us a lovely pair and 
very fine ivory. The measurements are :— 
Total length including' tail 21 ft 4 in ; from 
tip of forehead to base of tail 10 ft ; ear to ear- 
tip to tip 9 ft 9 in ; breadth of .skull 8 ft ; cir- 
cumference of foot 3 ft 6 in and height 9 ft 4 in. 
MR. ALEX. WHYTE, F.Z.S., &c. 
This well-known Naturalist, formerly of 
Kandy, and latterly so much identified with 
East Africa has, we learn, just left England 
for Uganda, delighted to get away from 
this wretched English climate,— his five 
months' holiday having mostly been spent 
in a sick room ! 
« ' 
Ceylon Planters' Rubber Syndicate.— 
We publish on page 678 the report of this 
Company and the proceedings at the annual 
meeting on 28th Feb., when it was resolved 
to raise the nominal capital to R250,090, as 
the funds at present are insufficient to 
carry on the work of the estate. During 
tne autumn it is proposed to raise 80 new 
shares at par to go to existing shareholders in 
proportion to their holdings. Libt>rian coffee 
seems to be well thought of, and it is ex- 
pected that from the beginning of 1906 the 
estate should be self-supporting. Only .350 
acres have been planted, and the reason, it 
appears, for the whole area not having been 
lanted is that bad seed was secured, 
atch-crops have not been a success and it 
is now proposed to do away with all these 
except coffee. 
