428 
THE TROPICAL AOfRItJULTURlST. 
[December i, 1890 
rROGKESS IN OLD KADUGANNAWA: 
COFFEE AND TEA. 
We hear very favourable reports of the young 
tea plantations in the old Kadugannawa districts. 
Mr. Akbar’s 200 acres in tea at “ The Farm” 
are desoribed by a competent authority as very 
fine. On the other side, the young estates of 
Messrs. Thomas and Shelton Agar are promising ; 
also one belonging to Mrs. Burt ; while close by 
a spirited native gentleman is opening land vith 
Arabian coffee as well as tea. May success crown 
his enterprise in both products. 
■ -♦ 
CACAO PODS DISAPPEARING ! 
{The Enemies of a Cacao Planter.) 
Nov. 6th, 
I have been smothered with work lately ; uneasy 
lies the head that thinks of cacao pods, as there 
is now a regular industry in stolen cacao, Which 
of the Colombo firms are the final ‘ receivers ’ ? 
The Census Commissioner might, while revelling 
in figures, add a column to his lists for the cacao 
districts for the headmen to fill up, showing the 
number of villages owning no property and doing 
no work 1 This would help to explain why half of 
oUr crop never reaches the drying-house. 
9 
DR. VOELCKER. 
Simla, Oct. 28th. — Dr. Voelcker leaves Simla about 
the 21.st of Nov. and proceeds to Poona, and sails 
from Calcutta en route for London on the 18th of 
Dec. — ^Thursday’s “ Observer.” 
Dr. Voelcker, we learn, is due in Colombo on 
the 23rd Deo. and will be the guest of Mr. T. 
Watson Hall for three or four weeks, during which 
time ho intends taking a trip through the planting 
districts. We are very pleased to have this intelli- 
gence. The Planters’ Association should arrange 
to show some special attention to this great agri- 
cultural and chemical authority. 
^ 
Paddy Cri.TivATiON in the Easteen Pno- 
vince. We call attention to the very important 
Report furnished by Mr. Elliott on the careful 
experiments carried on under his direction by 
Agricultural Schoolmen with paddy culture in the 
Battioaloa district. The full details given are 
most interesting and certainly give us a new idea of 
the scope that exists for improvement in local 
grain culti^;^on by the people and of the really 
handsome profits per acre that may be realized. 
Of course no one will say that careful experiments 
on selected fields can be equalled over a wide 
area ; but Mr. Elliott shows that the land taken 
up was only of an average description and that 
the bad season affected his experiments very con- 
siderably. So that we are forced to the conclusion 
that over the extensive paddy-growing fields of 
such exceptionally favoured districts as Batticoloa 
and Matara and no doubt over a great part of the 
Colombo and Negombo districts of the Western 
Province, not to speak of Madampe, Ohilaw, and 
some other divisions of the island,— a clear profit 
of from 1U5 to R25 per acre in paddy-growing 
would not be diflicult of realization if attention 
were given to such means of improved cultivation 
as are well within the cultivators' reach. It would 
be well if other Government Agents followed Mr. 
Elliott’s example in ] carrying on careful experiments 
after the pattern he has sot. 
CEYLON UPCONTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
PEPPEE CULTIVATION— CACAO PODS AS FOOD FOE CATTLE 
— CACAO PEO.SPECTS AND PEICES — COFFEE AND COO- 
LIES — DECLINE OF THE CINCHONA MABKET — WEATHBE 
— LABOUB. 
Nov. 6th. 
The Pepper spurt, which about a year ago was 
very much in evidence, seems to have exhausted 
itself. You never hear anything of this spice by 
any chance, and when you do see it, and ask as 
to its ways and doings, the record is not an 
encouraging one. I begin to fancy that to grow 
it successfully a very rich soil is necessary ; and 
when it has not got this it struggles along in a 
half-marked kind of way, vigorous enough just 
to keep hope alive but not to contribute any- 
thing reasonable to the exchequer. Now and then 
you fall on a vine that does gladden, with an 
exuberance of fruit ; but this is the exception not 
the rule. I wonder how many who have gone in 
for it in Ceylon are satisfied with the present or 
the future outlook ? Precicus few, I fancy. We 
would all, however, willingly see an extension of 
its cultivation, as there would be a chance of 
making something off cuttings 1 With a flow of 
coin and a hopeful spirit abroad it is wonderful 
how bright life can become and how the poten- 
tialities of even Pepper culture would swell out. 
Has anyone ever tried Feeding Cattle on cacao 
pods ? Cattle take to it very kindly, and as far as I 
have seen without any evil effects, and it may be 
that what really is a valuable cattle food is allowed 
to run to waste at present for lack of knowledge. 
In a matter of this kind, however, the natural 
feeling is, that you would prefer another fellow 
to try in case of accidents 1 The piles of broken 
pods which accumulate in every cacao garden, 
need not be wholly wasted, as they can be and 
are returned to the soil as manure ; but if it were 
proved that they were a good fodder, those gardens 
which had a cattle establishment would score. 
The Cacao crop is coming in fast now, and it 
would seem as if in some places at least it will 
be quite as good, if not better than last year. 
This, however, is not to be the rule everywhere, 
as I understand that Dumbara is not going to do 
so well owing to the drought in the early part of 
the year. The grand prices ruling at home are 
very encouraging, and make up for a lot of former 
disappointment and worrying work in bringing 
the gardens into bearing. 
The little Cafi'ee we have on this side is looking 
fairly well for coffee, but it is very little. It, too, is 
ripening, but there will be no great rush over the 
gathering of it. It is strange how so many keep in 
touch with the old king ; for there are few estates 
which have not got some trees about. A clump 
under a jak, or by the lines, or in the bungalow 
garden, is evidence of the past universal order. 
Then the cooly is not willing to let the memory 
of coffee die out wholly, for you find them referring 
■ to tea, as coffee ; and they will speak of a line 
of tea as a “ coffee nirr(5.” I have noticed them 
even using the word coffee to cacao. I suppose 
this is language in the act of being made ; and 
that by-and-bye the Tamil people in the hill 
districts of Ceylon will use the word coffee as a 
general instead of a particular term. It may 
puzzle some future philologist to account for this, 
but if he digs but deep enough ho will discover 
what other students have often noted, that a single 
word may contain the compressed history of a 
great crisis. 
What is to be made of this wretched Cin- 
chona market ? 1 don’t know how many years 
ego it IB DOW, Bince wo all ooniideatly looked for a 
