t)Ec.  2,  1895.]  th£  tropIc-vl  agriculturist. 
‘ CEYLON  IIANOnOOk  and  DTJJECTORY 
EOU  189r)-6.'’ 
Ill  directing  attention  tO  onr  Directory  Supple- 
ment, we  have  to  tliank  npcountry  subscribers  to 
tliis  volume  for  tlieir  forbearance  in  respect  of  tlie 
delay  attending  its  delivery.  The  last  touches  have 
noAV  been  given  and  the  printer’s  work  closes  to- 
day— so  that  regular  delivery  from  the  binders 
to  outstation  subscribers  in  the  order  of  the  regis- 
ter will  commence  next  week;  and  we  trust  before 
the  end  of  the  month,  “ the  big  book” — for  Me 
regret  in  some  respects  to  say  it  is  the  biggest 
v(Mume  ever  issued  from  our  press — will  be  in 
everybody’s  hands  The  mere  addition  of  all  tlie 
new  Tea  Companies  with  their  Boards,  N'c., 
added  considerably  to  our  pages  ; ivhile  the 
Dll5EcroRif:s  altogether  are  much  fuller  than  ever 
before.  In  Cenekal  Information,  too,  we  have 
never  given  so  much.  Of  many  friends  (and 
perhaps  some  will  become  critics  of  the  bulk), 
each  wants  some  one  new  thing  gi\  en  and  the  total 
result  of  additions,  in  the  endeavour  to  be  ge- 
nerally useful,  is,  of  course,  very  great.  One 
wants  the  Franking  Minute  in  full  ; another  Pa- 
tent Rules  and  still  another  the  I.abour  LaM’s  ; 
while  as  regards  “facts  and  figures”  woe  Iretide  us 
if  everything  possible,  is  not  available  ! The  Peant- 
INO  AND  Aoricultural  REVIEW  has  been  tho- 
rougbly  revised  and  brought  up  to  date.  The 
Map  ok  Ceylon  in  pocket  form,  adds  to  the 
bulk  of  the  volume  ; and  as  our  collotype  ]>ortraits 
of  H.  E.  Sir  West  Ridgeway  have  oidy  just  ar- 
rived, we  have  decided  to  add  them  to  the  Book 
as  a frontispiece,  just  as  Sir  Arthur  Havelock’s 
portrait  appeared  in  the  edition  of  1890-91. — Tlie 
very  first  copy  of  the  volume  put  together  (witli- 
out  the  final  revise)  ivas  given  to  the  (Governor 
before  his  departure,  and  todaj^  we  have  received 
an  appreciative  ackiimvledginent  from  Mr.  Dgilvy, 
Private  Secretary. 
Tliose  Nvho  have  a proper  idea  of  the  labour  in- 
volved in  compiling,  arranging  and  printing,  a 
volume  of  this  k’nd  witli  its  1,500  to  1,600  pages, 
will  believe  us  when  we  say  that  tlie  limited 
edition  wliich  after  all  a field  like  Ceylon  can 
take  oil’,  does  little  more  than  cover  the  actual 
outlay.  We  should  be  in  pocket  probably  if  we 
had  never  touched  this  ye.ar’s  edition  ; but  we 
should  have  known  far  less  about  the  island,  its 
condition  and  wants  ; and  done  far  less  to  serve 
the  public  and  to  discharge  a duty  wdiich,  un- 
dertaken by  the  present  Compiler,  since  186.8,  is 
expected  of  us  and  which  we  are  only  too  glad 
to  be  able  to  discharge.  This,  hoM'ever,  is  pro- 
bably the  last  of  our  very  large  volumes.  We 
sh.ali  take  steps  to  compress,  le.ave  out  .and  re- 
duce certain  sections  before  another  issue  is  called 
for. 
The  handy  “GENERAL  Addre-ss  Directory” 
for  the  island  will  be  ready  about  1st  December. 
A Street  and  Hou.se-'to- House  Directory 
FOR  Colombo  (by  special  request)  is  in  course 
of  i)ieparation,  most  of  the  information  being 
.alieady  in  the  printer’s  hand. 
CEYLON  AND  HER  PLANTING 
ENTERPRISE. 
TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  LONDON  “TIMES.” 
Sir, — At  intervals  during  the  past  80  years  I have, 
at  the  cost  of  much  time  and  trouble,  compiled  sta- 
tistics of  the  planting  enterprise  of  this  colony,  and 
have  periodically  sent  you  the  results  for  publica- 
tion. No  agricultural  industry  in  the  world  probably 
has  a fuller  or  more  reliable  recoid  than  is  obtained 
through  the  inquiry  thus  conducted.  My  last  report 
was  dated  August,  1893,  so  that  two  full  years  have 
elapsed,  and  all  interested  in  the  first  of  Crown  Co- 
lonies and  its  most  notable  Industry  will  be  glad  tb 
navB  tn6  following  figui’es ; 
Position  of  the  Ceylon  Pl.\nting  Enterprise 
At  the  End  of  August,  1895. 
Acres. 
annotto,  coca,  vanillH 
748,017 
379,182 
304.419 
21,634 
2;804 
18,278 
4,093 
634 
82 
133 
.5,330 
7,397 
Total. area  of  1,962  plantations  and  plantinc; 
pioperties  - - . . 
Total  area  of  1,528  plantations  in  cultivation 
with  1,469  superintendents  ami  assistants- 
Total  appro.xiuiate  extent  under — 
Tea 
Coffee  (ArabiCa)  - 
Coffee  (Liberica)  - 
Cinchona  4,483.000  trees) 
Cacao 
Cardamoms 
Rubber 
Tobacco  (on  plantations) 
Cotton  (on  plantations) 
Crass  (cultivatedF 
Total  approximate  extent  of 
pepper,  cloves,  plantains,  citronella  grass,  dlvi-divi’ 
croton,  ca.stor-oil,  aloes,  cinnamon  (on  the  coffee, 
tea,  or  cacao  plantations)-  - 
Of  fuel,  timber,  and  fruit  trees,  sapan,  coconuts, 
.arecas,  nutmegs,  kapok  (on  the  tea,  coffee  or  cacao 
plantations)  ....  16,000 
Without  entering  into  any  elaborate  comparison, 
I may  mention  that  in  the  two  years  26,000  acres 
have  been  added  to  the  total  area  under  cultivation  ; 
but  the  increased  extent  under  “ tea  ” in  the  same 
period  is  over  31,000  acres,  the  difference  being  ob- 
tained by  a further  supersession  of  coffee  (Arabica) — 
due  to  the  persistency  of  its  fungus  enemy,  and  of  cin- 
chona (no  longer  a profitable  product).  While  there  are 
8,500  acres  fewer  under  ordinary  coffee,  the  culti- 
vation of  the  hardier  Liberian  species  has  slightly 
increased  ; and  if  an  experiment  now  being  made  by 
a planter  (Mr.  E.  E.  Green)  to  import  lady-bird  beetles 
from  California  to  clear  off  the  bug  (coccus)  which  is 
troubling  coffee  in  our  richest  districts,  be  successful, 
it  is  possible  that  there  may  be  a fresh  departure 
with  our  old  staple.  At  any  rate,  it  is  satisfactory 
to  know  that  our  export  of  coffee  this  year  is  likely 
to  be  very  much  larger  than  during  any  of  the 
previous  three  years,  the  comparison  so  far  being  as 
follows : — 
Coffee  Exports,  January  1 to  September  16, 
1892-1895. 
Pl.anta- 
Total  exports  tion.  Native.  Total, 
from  Jan.  1 to  Kept.  16,  1895  ..  .52, .383  3,607  5.5,995 
Ditto  ditto  1894  ..  22,201  5S7  22,788 
Ditto  ditto  1893  ..  43,652  1,808  45,460 
Ditto  ditto  1892  ..  34,907  2,030  36,997 
The  area  under  cacao  (chocolate  plant)  is  also,  I am 
glad  to  say,  slowly  but  surely  increasing,  about  2,000 
acres  having  been  added  in  the  past  two  years.  So 
also  with  the  cultivation  of  rubber  trees,  a consider- 
able advance  has  been  made  and  interest  taken  in 
the  culture  by  planters  in  several  districts. 
I am  thus  particular  in  specifying  certain  minor 
industries,  before  touching  on  the  present  overshad- 
owing staple — cea — because  it  has  been  my  constant 
endeavour  in  writing  for  the  planters  in  our  daily 
Press,  as  well  as  in  the  monthly  Tr02ncnl  Aqeicnl- 
turisl,  to  impress  upon  them  the  great  advantage, 
wherever  possible,  of  having  two  or  more  strings  to 
their  how,  and  my  hope  is  to  see  the  cultivation  of 
Liberian  (and  perhaps  as  well  Arabian)  coffee,  rub- 
ber, useful  and  ornamental  timber  trees  freely  ex- 
tended during  the  next  few  years  in  the  Ceylon  plant- 
ing districts. 
Nevertheless,  I am  bound  to  confess  that  so  far  tea  is 
the  most  encouraging  as  well  as  most  profitable  cul- 
ture. Although  we  have  now  got  beyond  the  7naxi- 
mum  area  ever  planted  with  coffee  (280,(XX)  acres 
coffee  in  1878  79,  against  304,000  acres  in  tea  in  1895), 
yet  the  tea  plant  is  everywhere  healthy  and  vigorous, 
and  crops  satisfactory.  Nowhere,  apparently,  can 
tea  be  grown  more  economically  than  in  the  favoured 
divisions  of  Ceylon,  and  the  enemies  of  tea  can 
he  much  more  easily  fought  and  conquered  than 
those  of  coffee.  Shortness  of  the  labour  supply  is 
occasionally  in  some  parts  a difficulty;  but  if' the 
ludo-Ceylon  railway  now  projected  from  Colombo 
to  Madura  were  constructed,  this  difficulty  would 
be  at  an  end.  There  is  room  for  a further 
expansion  of  the  tea  area,  through  private  xe-> 
