3o8 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  I,  1895. 
the  dictum,—'  and  this  too  is  fallacy.’  As  for  those 
who  “proi>he.sy”  they  are  doiiouuccd  as  a gene- 
ration of  false  ))ro[)hets.  flie  paper  is  destructive, 
not  constructive  and  when  thereadei',  dri\en  from 
Ins  strongliolds  of  heliel,  .asks  wh.at  liaxcAvc  tlien 
to  reply  on,  Mr.  Inwards  says : — 
“I  would  venture  to  refer  him  to  all  the  patient  work 
which  is  being  done  in  various  countries,  and  by  which 
a real  Science  of  Meteorology  is  being  slowly  built  up, 
while  to  the  outdoor  weather  student  I would  offer  this 
consoling  reflection— There  is  still  the  sky.” 
Some  people  w'ill  s.ay,  we  ask  fur  bread  and 
these  philosophers  give  us  ,a  stone ! But  this 
would  not  be  fair ; for  in  the  Meteorological  re- 
turns available  even  in  Ceylon,  much  may  be 
learned  in  wmrking  out  averages,  and  in  noting 
exceptional  seasons  as  to  rainfall,  temperature,  &c. 
WHAT  REMAINS  OF  COFFEE  IN  CEYLON; 
HOW  THE  22,000  ACRES  STILL  UNDER 
CULTIVATION  ARE  DISTRIBUTED. 
GOOD  NEWS  FOR  PLANTERS'  FROM 
HAWAII:  “LADY-BIRDS”  THERE  CLEAR- 
COFFEE  OF  BUG  Ac. 
In  1877-78,  coffee  reiiched  its  inaxiimun  area  of  cultiva- 
tion in  Ceylon  with  the  aggregate  close  on  ?.80,000  acres. 
.Six  years  later,  and  no  less  than  100,000  acres  of  this 
extent  had  either  been  abandoned  or  practically  super- 
seded by  cinchona,  tea  or  other  cultivation.  Six  ye.ars 
later  still,  in  1890,  the  area  under  coffee  was  returned  at 
no  more  than  54,000  acres,  in  1893  it  had  sunk  to  30,000 
acres  exclusive  of  about  2,500  acres  under  the  Liberian 
variety  and  now  (Sept.  1895)  it  has  gone  down  to  22,000 
acres  besides  3,000  acres  of  Liberian  coffee.  So  great 
a transformation  in  agricultural  enterprise  within  .a  period 
not  nmch  exceeding  half-.a-generation— as  such  is  reck- 
oned in  temperate  zones— has  surely  never  been  wit- 
nessed in  the  world’s  history  hgfore. 
It  is  of  interest  at  this  time  to  know  over  what  districts 
in  Ceylon  the  22,000  acres  that  remain  of  the  old  staple — 
coffee  Arabica—are  distributed.  North  as  well  as  South 
of  Kandy,  in  districts  that  were  once  the  stronghold  of 
the  coffee  bush,  sc,arce  <an  acre  now  remains  ! For  the 
Knuckles,  Kang.ala,  and  Nil.ambe  distrlcUs,  for  instance, 
no  return  whatever  is  made  by  a.  single  planter,- - 
\mder  coffee  the  record  is  absolutely  nil.  It  is  no  better  in 
Ambagamuwa,  Medamahanuwara  and  Lower  IMkoya  ; 
while  only  a very  few  acres  appear  for  Kelebokka,  Ilunas- 
giriya,  Dolosbage,  Pussellawa,  Rjunboda,  the  llewahetas, 
.md  Kotmale.  Dumbara,  Hantane,  the  Matales  and 
Pundaluoya  show  a little  more  ; but  altogether  in  the 
Kandy  districts  proper,  between  Ikunbodii  .and  Matale  .and 
Dolosbage  and  Med.amahanuwara,  once  the  mainstay  of 
the  coffee  enterprise,  with  perhaps  190,000  acres  under 
cultivation,  the  total  under  coffee  now  does  not  exceed 
3,500  acres  1 
We  now  come  to  the  three  higher  districts  lietween 
Ad.am’s  Pe.ak  .and  Great  Western,  Which  could— fifteen  to 
sixteen  years  ago— show  over  80,000  .acres  cultivated  with 
coffee.  Here  is  the  return  for  the  present  day  :— 
Dimbula 
. 
2,109 
acres 
coffee 
Dikoya 
• 
1,535 
160 
do 
do 
Maskeliya 
• 
do 
do 
Total 
• 
3,804 
do 
do 
We  then  come  to  the  Principality— to  Uva  and  its 
allied  districts- in  which,  for  our  p\irpose  today,  we  in- 
clude Maturata  as  well  as  Ud,ai)ussellawa,  and  althougli 
compared  with  the  maximum  return  fifteen  or  even  ten 
years  ago,  our  figures  show  a woeful  decrease— still,  it  is 
a matter  of  satisfaction  that  so  much  good  coffee  re- 
m.ains,  especially  in  Ilaputale,  and  still  more  that  in 
place  of  every  acre  superseded,  we  have  full  compensa- 
tion in  flourishing  tea  or  cacao.  Uva  coidd  at  one  time 
l)oast  of  well-nigh  50,000  acres  of  coffee.  Here  is  now  the 
record  with  some  extra  districts: 
Ilaputale 
• 
0,110 
acres 
coffe 
H.aputale  West 
• 
507 
do 
do 
Hauulla 
• 
2,419 
(lo 
do 
I’.assar.a 
.Mailulsima  and 
llewa 
1,222 
do 
do 
Kliya 
921 
do 
do 
Monaragaki 
New  Galway 
• 
143 
do 
do 
- 
ni 
do 
do 
Vdapussellawa 
* 
1,449 
480 
do 
<lo 
Maturata 
• 
do 
do 
Total 
t 
13,374 
do 
lig 
Or  let  us  say  13,500  acres  which  is  equ.al  to  nearly  two-thirds 
of  tlie  w hole  coffee  extent  in  the  island.  Moreover,  we  .are 
glad  to  learn  th.at  in  certain  narts  of  Uva,  (.as  in  Dumbar.a 
successful  clearings  with  the  old  staple  with  the  Liberian 
variety— are  being  established,  while  the  gre.atest  care  is 
being  taken  of  the  fields  tliat  remain.  Considering  the 
continued  high  price  of  coffee  and  good  crops  recently 
gatliered,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  .at  that  this  should 
be  tlie  case ; but  there  is  .a  further  reason  now  for  con- 
serving coffee  in  the  news  just  received  from  Honolulu  that 
lady-birds  there  arc  killing  the  enemies  of  coffee. 
As  reg.ards  Liberian  coffee,  the  .3,000  acres  cultiv.ated  are 
chiefly  distributed  between  the  Kurunegala,  Kegalla  and 
Polgahawela,  Matale  North  and  West  and  certain  low- 
country  districts  ; but  there  is  no  re.a.son  why  a consi- 
derable extension  should  not  take  place.  We  hope  to  hear 
of  further  experiments  being  made  with  the  Nalk.anaad- 
Coorg  and  Mysore-hybrid  coffees,  as  .also  with  the  hybrid 
between  the  Liberian  and  Ar.abian  kinds  reported  some 
time  .ago  to  have  been  established  in  the  Peradeniya 
Gardens. 
♦ 
INDIAN  AND  CEYLON  TEAS. 
Mr.  W.  D.  Gilj))on,  Iionieward-bound,  drojis  a 
note  to  us  .as  follows  : — ■ 
S.S.  “ Malta,  ” Suez  Canal,  Sept.  1. — “ We  hope  to 
be  at  Port  Said  at  12  noon  after  a very  uneventful 
journey.  The  “ Malta  ” is  a most  comfortable  boat. 
I understand  from  a London  buyer  of  tea  just  re- 
turning from  Calcutta  that  buyers  there  have  lost 
money  by  their  purchases  the  London  market  for 
Indian  teas  being  dull.  Indian  tea  was  nothing  like 
the  quality  it  had  last  year.  The  season  has  been 
bad,  but  the  increased  area  coming  into  bearing  will  keep 
up  the  quantity  so  far  as  output  is  concerned.  My 
informant,  who  says  he  has  no  prejudice  on  the  sub- 
ject, maintains  that  the  keeping  quality  of  Indian 
tea  is  far  superior  to  Ceylon,  and  that  there  is  a 
salty  flavour  in  Ceylon  tea  not  perceptible  in  Indian 
nd  which  he  tries  to  account  for  owing  to  Ceylon 
being  an  Island.” 
COFFEE,  CACAO  AND  SHADE  IN  THE 
DUMBARA  VALLEY, 
In  connection  with  our  Handbook  Planting  Re- 
view, it  isof  .s]ie(‘i,al  intcre.st  to  le.arn  how  experiments 
with  new  or  old  jnoducts  are  proceeding  and  so  we 
w.ant  to  know'  from  time  to  time  .about  tho.se  in 
Dnmb.ara  with  Coorg  coflee  mixed  Avith  c.ac.ao 
.and  all  umlcr  shade,  first  begun  on  Kondc.salle 
at,  w'e  believe,  the  inst.anco  of  Mr.  ILamlin 
.and  continued  by  Mr.  M'ilkinson ; .and  .also 
c.arricd  on  by  Mr.  Vollar  on  I’allakelly.  The 
Mana<^er  of  Kondesalle  ba.s  accordingly  obliged 
us  w'itn  the  following  very  useful  reports  : — 
Kondesalle  Estate,  Kandy,  Sept.  21st,  1895. 
Dear  Sir, — I have  with  the  exception  of  one  year, 
opened  land  in  Arabian  coffee  and  Forestero  cacao 
and  shade  yearly  since  1888. 
All  the  coffee  planted  on  this  estate  has  paid  well, 
especially  the  40  acres  clearing  planted  in  Jiily  1892, 
which  last  year  gave  a crop  of  almost  4 cwt.  per 
acre  and  this  year  may  give  quite  IJ  cwt.  per  acre,  per- 
haps 2 cwt.  per  acre.  This  field  is  shaded  with 
dadap.  My  previous  clearings  were  shaded  with 
the  Coorg  fig  i.e.,  Ficus  (jlomerata.  which  I do  not 
believe  in  and  am  of  opinion  that  from  the  experi- 
ence I have  had  the  hens  f/Iomcrata  does  not  suit 
coffee  as  well  in  this  district  as  I am  told  it  does 
in  Coorg.  It  certainly  does  not  suit  cacao  except  in 
occasional  patches. 
Allhongh  Arabian  coffee  has  done  so  well  on 
Kondesalle  and  rallekcllc,  I know  of  four  instances 
on  other  estates  in  another  district  where  it  has  even 
on  better  soil,  jiroved  a failure. 
All  our  seed  was  from  Coorg.  A few  acres  lately 
have  been  put  into  Liberian. 
C.  II.  T.  Wilkinson. 
