574 
tME TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Febeuary i, 1892. 
From this quantity the rise in 1891 has been to 
Baled bark 2,309,774 lb. 
Chips 688,264 „ 
Total 
Total 1882 
2,898,038 lb. 
2,009,931 „ 
Increase 888,107 lb. 
The market has, in truth, been swamped with 
an article incapable of any very large increase, 
even by such lowered prices as the export of such 
large quantities of inferior bark and especially 
chips (equivalent to the " duat " of tea — scarcely 
equivalent indeed) have led to. Of this latter 
Btufif which ought to have been distilled into 
oil or converted into mnnure, there has been an 
average esport of over half-a-million of pounds ciur- 
ing the ten years, while the baled ppioe has gone 
up from 1,587,000 lb. to 2,309,000 lb. The 
causes of the severe depression are manifest — 
excessive exports and lowered quality, quality 
in many oases on a level with China "caaeia," 
so that a reaction to diminished exports 
is inevitable ; while to the cinnamon producers as 
to the tea producers of Ceylon the same advice 
must be given: "Study quality rather than mere 
quantity." In coconut oil Ceylon well supports its 
claim of being the largest exporter in the world ; 
and this is an article which is not likely to 
exceed the demand which exists for it, in Holland 
and Germany specially, for soap-making. The 
increase in the export of this article has been from 
208,000 cwt. in 1882 to 409,000 cwt. last year— a 
doubled export. For this oil India and America 
ore customers to the extent of 107,000 cwt. in the 
first case and 110,000 in the second. —Copra, the dried 
kernels of the coconut from which the oil is expressed, 
leaving a valuable oil cake behind (known locally 
as poonao), has fluctuated preatly ; and the fi<^'ures 
for last year show a fall more than equivalent to the 
increase in oil. The increased export of " desic- 
cated coconut " used in confectionery may to some 
extent account for the decrease in copra ? The 
export of " poonac " has increased in proportion 
to that of oil, the figures for last year, 192,210 
cwt., being, we believe, unprecedented. The exports 
of coconuts fluctuate violently, the figures for last 
year being 6,699,000, against 11,908,000 in 1890. 
The export of coir rope, with Bome fluctuations, 
has ranged at an average of 10,000 cwt., but the 
increase in yarn and fibre, for the manufacture of 
mats, (&a. , some of the fibre being used in lieu of 
bristles, has been very important, yarn having 
risen from G6,803 cwt. to 90,699 cwt. and Ubie 
from 7,959 cwt. to 37,897 cwt. Taken together 
the value of products of the coconut palm ex- 
ported are of great value in our comm'rce, 
only second to tea indeed ; with this grand 
difference between the two plants, that all 
but a fraction of the tea grown is exported, 
while most of the products of the coconut 
palm are consumed locally. " Desiccated cooo.nut " 
is a marked exception ; and the introduction : nd 
use of kerosene as an illuminant has Sft free 
from export a good deal of coconut oil which 
was formerly burned in the lamps of local houses, 
huts and boutiques. We now come to our oae 
important mineral product (precious sconea not 
reported except in rare cases), namely plumbHgo 
or graphite, of which in its finer forms, in large 
masses free from impurities, this island has almost 
a^natural monopoly. Its very refraotory charuoter 
renders it exceedingly valuable in ilio shape of 
crucibles for the melting of the precious metals 
and the finer kinds of steel, such as is used for 
oidnanoe. The exports have fluctuated with 
" waraaud rumoure of wars," oommenoing in 188^ 
with 258,877 cwt., going down to 180,912 cwt. in 1884 
rising again to the culminating figure of 475,510 
cwt. in 1889, and closing last year with 400,268 cwt. 
Mining for this article and the search for eapphires 
and other precious stones are sometimes conjoined. 
The plumbago enterprise is far the less precarious. 
Heavy digging is necessary, but this strange 
mineral, the result either of carbonized vegetation 
or deposited, as a German savant thinks, from 
either gas or water, is more or less prevalent and 
plentiful over largo portions of the western, and 
south and north western portions of Ceylon, Its 
preparation and classification in Colombo afford 
employment to large numbers of men, women 
and children. The export of Ceylon ebony, under 
a restrictive policy adopted by the Forest Department, 
has gone down from a maximum of 23,951 cwt, in 
1886 to a minimum of 3 539 cwt. in 1891. The one 
important dye-wood of Ceylon, sappan,has fluctuated 
and fallen, having shown an export of over 10,000 
cwt. ten years ago, going down to 1,080 cwt. in 
1889 and recovering last year to 2, .577 cwt. 
Another dye substance, orchella weed, has fluctuated 
between 1,394 cwt and 308 ".wt., closing with 774 
cwt. Kilul fibres, used as substitutes for bristle, 
for brushes and for brooms, began with 1 496, cwt. 
rose to 2,771 cwt. in 1889, and closed with 
1,889 cwt. The export of deer horns will probably 
decrease under the operation of recent laws 
directed to ".ho preservation of game animals. Tt e 
figures have varied from 2 375 cwt. in 1882 to 1,735 
cwt. in 1891. The table closes with two essential 
oils, that from tbe lemon-scented giass, citron- 
ella, and cinnamon oil. The former, used 
chiefly to sent soaps, we believe, has as- 
sumed imporlant proportions, the exports rising 
from 2,940,000 oz. in 1882 to 14,559,000 cz. in 
1890 and 11,263,000 in 1891. It is regrettable 
if what we read, especially in American journals, 
be true, that this delicate product is not 
infrequently and not slightly adulterated 
with kerosene oil. The elegant cinnamon oil, 
obtained from the cells of the inner bark, in 
which alone resides the odour which poetry has 
imparted to " the spicy breezes," is not, we 
believe, tampered with. It was exported to the 
extent of 93,000 oz. in 1882, the export rising to 
167,000 oz. in 1886 and closing at 122,835 oz. in 
1891. The relative importance of our chief staple 
exports, now that coffee is no longer king, may be 
stated thus we believe: — TEA; Pboducts of the 
OocoNDT Palm ; Ooitee ; Cinnamon ; Plumbago ; 
Cinchona; Cacao ; Cardamoms and minor articles. 
In present value and future premise, three arti- 
cles seem to stand pre-eminent : TtCA, which is 
King in succession to coffee, abJicated ; Pboeocts 
OF THE Coconut Palm ; Plumbago. Coffee, as we 
have indicated, may possibly revive, and minor 
industries may develope into importance. But the 
fortunes of the colony, doubtless, now and for years 
to come will be mainly dependent on the success of the 
tea enterprise. Increase of production is so assured 
that herein lies ground for anxiety and reason 
for every possible effort to promote increased con- 
sumption. 
PROSPECTS IN WYNAAD. 
OoiY, De?.20. — A? I have visitpd Wynaad I write 
^o•^ a few lines, to give you the ircprc scions which 
I have formed, (s they are tot 8llo„ether so 
entirely of the " has been '' as our old friend 
who revii^iteft the country lately wrote you if. That 
it i« vtry sad to flee bo many large properties that 
vjc kuew in the oM ticuo as flourishing coffee estates 
now overrun with lautana acii jungle, must be 
allowed; but iu writipg of Ibis deserted cnltivatiou, 
