Nov.  I,  1895.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
351 
VARIOUS  PLANTING  NOTES. 
Season  Reports. — The  Season  Reports  for  the  past 
month  are  published  in  the  last  Gaiette.  The  reports 
regarding  paddy  crops  and  harvest  are  generally  fair; 
the  Southern  Province  reports  several  districts  where 
fever,  chicken-pox,  measles  and  dysentery  prevail; 
hoof  disease  in  cattle  is  reported  to  be  increa-ingin 
the  Eastern  Province,  and  cattle  murrain  in  the 
Anuradhapnra  district. 
Cacao  in  the  Dumbera  Valley.— V hat  i.s  this 
we  hear  from  a Colouiho  dealer,  of  cacao  being- 
uprooted  on  a well-known  Uiimbera  ])lantation  in 
favour  of  tea?  Tea  is  said  to  grow  and  Hush 
at  a marvellous  rate  in  the  old  rich  valley. 
Another  authority  hints  that  coconuts,  rather 
than  tea,  are  likely  to  supersede  the  chocolate 
plant  in  certain  divisions.  We  are  very  £orr,y  to 
think  there  should  be  any  circumscribing  of  the 
area  under  cacao. 
The  I.mporx  Duty  on  Tea  in  Ceylon.— The 
Import  duty  on  Teas  in  Ceylon  is  cei  tainly  un- 
fair to  India — says  the  Madras  Times — and  if  it 
cannot  be  removed  it  should  certainly  he  coun- 
teracted by  a similar  import  duty  in  India.  As 
Mr.  Acworth  says,  the  Ceylon  duty  i.s  about  50 
per  cent  ad  valorem,  while  the  Indian  is  only  o 
per  cent.  In  respect  to  tea  duties,  at  any  rate, 
Ceylon  is  considerably  behind  the  age.  Its  trade 
is  (^uite  strong  enough  to  dispense  with  a pro- 
tective duty  of  50  per  cent,  and  if  the  duty  is  not 
protective,  it  must  be  useless. 
Coconuts  and  Lightning.— “Of course, ’’writes 
a corres])ondent, — “lightning,  as  you  suggest,  would 
be  a sufficient  explanation  of  a coconut  tree  on 
fire.  Was  it  not  witnessed  in  a garden  near 
Christ  Church,  last  year  or  the  year  before, 
about  the  time  of  that  terrible  storm  on  Calle 
Face  when  a horsekeeper  was  struck  dead  ? But 
in  Pondicherry  a storm  is  not  suggested.  Indeed, 
I gather  that  it  is  its  absence  which  suggesteil 
spontaneous  combustion.” — There  is  such  a thing 
as  a bolt  out  of  a blue  sky  ; but,  of  course,  it 
should  be  observed : what  is  the  e.xi)erience  of 
Messrs.  Lamont,  Wright  and  Jardine? 
“How  TO  Supplement  Tea  with  Coffee” 
— is  the  title  of  a series  of  articles  in  the  Indian 
Planters"  Gazette  evidently  for  the  benelit  of 
North  Indian  tea  planters.  We  wonder  if  the 
writer  ever  heard  of  the  late  Mr.  Charles  Anderson’s 
experience  with  50  acres  of  coffee  in  Assam  ? 
If  not,  he  hail  better  enquire.  Mr.  Anderson  (an 
old  tea-planter)  failing  to  jiersuade  Ceylon  (Dik- 
oya  and  Maskeliya)  iilanters  in  the  late  seventies 
to  go  in  for  “tea”  (as  they  ought  to  have  done 
and  made  a fortune  20  years  ago),  was  ]iersuaded 
by  them  ratlier  to  go  in  for  coffee  in  Assam,  with 
of  course  disastrous  results. 
Crown  Lanu.s  Sold. — Governor  Havelock  has 
sold  a less  area  of  Crown  lands  than  any  ]ue- 
vious  Governor  of  Ceylon  during  the  prst  forty 
years.  Sir  Henry  \V'ard  (1855-60)  sold  112,000 
acres  for  about  £200,000  ; Sir  Chas.  MacCarthy 
and  General  O’Brien  (1861-65)  157,000  acres  for 
£807,117  ; Sir  Hercules  Robinson  (1866-71)  ’227,000 
acres  for  £3-11,562;  Sir  Win.  Gregory  (1872-77) 
270.000  acres  for  no  less  than  .£612,000 ! — the 
maximum  in  extent  and  amount  th''ugii  not  in 
average  per  acre;  Sir  James  Longden  (1878  to 
1883)  sold  149,000  acre.s  for  £375,0iJ0  ; Sir  Arthur 
Gordon  (1884-89)  sold  115,000  acres  for  £218,000; 
wdiile  Sir  Arthur  Havelock  sold  (189"0-95)  70,500  acres 
for  £182,000— (highest  average  £2  11s  7.j:d  per  acre) 
— or  if  1895  be  fully  added,  in  perliaps  about 
78.000  acres  and  £2OO,O00.  Although  in  the  40 
years  over  1,100,000  acres  lia\e  realized  o\cr  2}: 
million  pounds  sterling  eoing  by  the  old  cur- 
rency throughout — or  an  average  of  over  R20 
an  acre. 
On  the^  MoVE.--Mr.  Maguire  of  Messrs. 
Davidson  N’  Co.,  proceeds  on  a visit  to  Assam 
this  week.  His  itinerary  will  be  through  the 
tea  districts  there,  and  he  will,  probably,  re- 
turn before  the  end  of  the  year. 
Sale  of  an  Estate.— Mr.  J.  B.  Lindsay,  of 
Ruamvella,  says  a contemporai-y,  has  almost  com- 
jileted  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  Rothes 
estate,  Dikoya,  the  property  of  the  late  Mr. 
Arbuthnot  Smith.  It  consists  of  lUO  acre.^  of  which 
5 are  planted  in  tea. 
A Quinine  Factory  in  Java— so  long  talked 
of,  is  really  ?'H  fait  accompli  at  lost.  It  is  situated 
near  Bancloeng,  is  under  the  control  of  four- 
partners  and  IS  not  at  first  to  buy  bark,  but 
to  manufacture  at  a fixed  charge  for  planters. 
That  charge  is  to  be  about  os  ])er  lb.  of  quiirine 
which  ouglit  to  pay  the  jiroducer  very  well  if 
the  quinine  is  worth  16.s  or  over  per  lb.  Fur- 
ther particulars  will  be  found  in  another 
column. 
Tea  to  Manchester. — Those  responsible  for  the 
first  direct  cargo  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  to  Man- 
chester are  rather  proud  of  the  success  attending 
the  experiment.  The  tea  has  arrived,  been  discharged, 
and  sold  within  fifty-eight  hours.  The  importers  con- 
gratulate themselves  upon  making  a study  of  the 
market,  for  did  they  not  send  out  samples  in  sealed 
bottles  of  the  drinking  water  of  Manchester  to  Cal- 
cutta and  Colombo  in  order  to  see  which  teas  were 
best  suited  to  the  Manchester  market. 
Coffee  Crop  Prospects  in  Coorg— w^e  learn, 
are  better  than  they  w'ere  last  year.  Mr.  R. 
Tatham  wn-ites  from  Tellicherry  : — “ We  have  had 
a good  average  monsoon,  always  a dreary  time 
on  the  coa.st.  I have  gauged  at  our  mills  111 -41 
inches  from  1st  -I line  to  date;  it  is  all  over  now'.” 
Mr.  Tatham  was  about  to  start  on  his  usual 
visit  prior  to  cro[).  Another  old  Colombo  resi- 
dent, Mr.  Noone  is  referred  to,  as  well  and 
busy. 
A New  Te.v  Company. — The  prospectus  is  iasued  0^ 
the  British  Darjeeling  Tea  Company,  Limited,  with  a 
capital  of  £50,000  in  £T  shares.  The  company  is  formed 
for  the  purpose  cf  acquiring  and  working  the  free- 
hold tea  estates  known  as  West  Darjeeling  Nigali,  and 
Pusunibing  situated  in  the  district  of  Darjeeling,  in  the 
province  of  Bengal,  India.  The  price  to  be  paid 
for  the  properties  is  as  follows : West  Darjeeling 
and  Pusunibing,  R7, 10,000,  or  £39,197  18s  4d  ; Nigali, 
TO, 000  in  fully  paid-up  shares.  The  present  issue  is 
of  29,000  shares  and  £'25,000  in  six  per  cent  deben- 
tures. The  directors  of  the  company  are:  R.  J. 
Boyle,  Esq.,  chairman  Moabund  Tea  Company,  Li- 
mited; W.  F.  Rabai),  Esq.,  director  Moabund  Tea 
Company,  Limited ; Sydney  Thompson,  Esq.;  and 
Loftus  R.  Tottenham,  Esq.,  late  Judge  of  High  Court 
Calcutta. — II.  and  C.  Mail. 
Pl.vNTING  between  ('Jiilaw  and  Pnttalam  is 
chietly  contined  to  coconuts,  but  w-e  belieie  ex- 
periments are  being  made  with  cacao  and  Libe- 
rian cotl'ee.  The  region  is  a ratlier  dry  one  and 
a contemporary’s  cories|)ondent  only  shews  1’92 
inch  of  rain  from  1st  -July  to  date;  but  in  the 
Rajakadaluwa  division  especially,  the  soil  is  never 
too  dry  and  the  roots  of  the  palms  seem  to  find 
all  the  moisture  they  require  not  far  from  the 
surface.  The  rainfall  return  is,  however,  for 
Mr.  C.  A.  Seton’s  Segersta  estate  18  miles  North 
of  Chilaw,  12  North  of  Rajakadaluwa  and  14 
South  of  Pnttalam.  It  is  verj'  satisfactory  to 
find  European  capitalists  pioneering  in  this  fnsliion 
in  remote  and  comparatively'  untouched  p:irts  of 
the  low'country.  Mr.  Seton  in  the  I’uttalam 
district  is  balanced  by  Mr.  Pole-C'arew's  enter- 
prise in  palms,  cacao,  N'c.,  in  the  equally  dry 
and  remote  district,  Hambantota.  May  bc'ih  be 
very  successful. 
