Jan.  I,  1896.1 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
4S3 
CEYLON  AND  NYASALAND. 
Since  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Brown,  but  perhnns  more 
especially  since  Mr.  Carson’s  visit,  Ceylon  has  been,  to 
judge  from  its  newspapers,  greatly  exercised  over  the 
planting  possibilities  of  Nyasalana.  Reports,  more  or 
less  accurate,  have  been  published  and  extravagant 
statements  duly  commented  upon  while  every 
little  straw  has  been  regarded  as  a weather- 
cock. On  the  whole,  however,  opinion  seems  to 
be  favourable  as  regards  our  coffee  enterprise 
seeing  that  a Ceylon  Company  has  been 
formed  to  develope  the  land  which  Mr.  Carson  pur- 
chased at  Mlanje. 
In  a leading  article  in  the  Cei/lon  Ohscryrr  the 
subjects  of  coffee-planting  and  health  are  discussed 
with  special  reference  to  our  Commissioner’s  last 
Blue-book  from  which  large  quotations  are  made. 
It  appears  that  H.  M.  Commissioner  asserts  that 
coffee  bushes  here  bear  only  on  their  primary 
branches,  that  secondaries  for  some  reason  or  other 
do  not  develop,  and  that  after  a time  the  bushes 
have  to  be  cut  down.  This  official  dictum  has 
naturally  somewhat  nonplussed  our  Ceylon  friends 
and  they  refer  to  these  “ authoritative  utterances  ’ 
as  “ rather  perplexing  references  ” and  note  that  it 
“ is  passing  strange  to  us,  now  we  have  gone  into 
the  matter,  that  we  can  find  no  reference  to  the 
absence  or  failure  of  the  second  crop,  or  to  the 
non-appearance  of  secondaries,  in  any  other  writings 
from  Nyasaland.”  , , , . . , 
It  would,  on  the  other  hand,  be  passing  strange 
to  MS  if  they  had  met  with  such  references,  for, 
with  all  due  deference  to  our  Commissioner’s  opinions, 
his  statements  are  entirely  misleading. 
Undoubtedly  the  primaries  have  a tendency  to  bear 
too  heavily  as  is  the  case  in  all  hot,  dry  latitudes,  e.nd 
owing  to  ignoranoe  have  occasionally  been  allowed 
to  bear  such  a crop  as  to  kill  themselves,  but  such 
phenomena  are  well  known  in  most  coffee  countries. 
Undoubtedly,  too,  the  old  practice  of  allowing  the  trees 
to  grow  six  feet  high  before  topping  has  produced 
long  bare  treeswith  most  of  the  green  wood  at  the  top, 
but  such  a practice  is  now  exceptional.  On  the  other 
hand  secondaries  not  only  grow  but  bear  crops  and  ter- 
tiaries  too  as  may  be  seen  on  any  average  coffee  estate 
in  the  country.  In  fact  the  growth  and  development 
of  the  coffee  tree  in  this  country  are  quite  normal, 
only  with  our  small  rainfall  it  requires  very  careful 
^*For  "hke  reasons  some  of  the  bushes  have  had 
to  be  cut  down  on  the  oldest  estates,  one  instance 
in  particular  being  due  to  overforcing  the  maiden 
crop  The  cutting  down  of  bushes  is  however  not 
the  practice  and  we  hope  never  will  be.  At 
Zomba  and  Blantyre  there  is  coffee  of  over 
eight  years  of  age  still  bearing  and  if  such  is  the 
case  in  our  two  dryest  districts  and  with  pioneer 
methods,  the  chances  are  that,  with  our  improved 
methods  of  cultivation  ^especially  in  the  wetter  dis- 
triots).  the  results  will  be  eminently  satisfactory. 
A Ceylon  planter  who  lately  visited  this 
country  has  given  us  an  exceptionally  bad 
character  as  regIrds  health.  He  really  believes  the 
death-rate  is  as  high  as  20  per  cent!  and  calls 
Nyasaland  a country  of  ‘ sudden  death.  On  the 
subject  of  health  we  are  at  one  with  H.  M.  Com- 
missioner in  the  summing  up  ns  given  in  his  Blue- 
book  in  which  he  points  out,  “ that  the  only  malady 
to  be  really  dreaded  is  Black-water  fever.  Even 
in  the  case  of  Black-water  we  believe  that  if  all  the 
cases  could  be  at  once  put  into  the  hands  of  a com- 
petent Doctor  the  mortality  would  be  much  less  In 
the  cases  which  have  had  proper  treatment  and  in  which 
the  termination  has  been  fatal  (very  few)  it  has  usu- 
ally been  so  because  the  constitution  of  the  patient  had 
been  abnormally  run  down  either  by  a too  prolonged 
residence,  or,  by  over-exposure  and  pertion  with 
insufficient  nutrition.  This  is  a subject  oh  which 
Dr  Robertson  might  give  us  the  benefit  Of  his 
experience,  meantime  we  would  only  remark  that  it 
is  self-evident  that,  in  a new  country  like  ours,  no 
one  should  come  here  who  has  not  a sound  constitu- 
tion and  who  is  unwilling  to  take  due  care  of  his 
he«Hh.  In  passing  we  may  further  remark  that  we 
were  informed  by  an  ex-Ceykm  planter  that  the  fever? 
61 
here  are  not  nearly  so  severe  as  those  of  the  Ceylon 
low-country,  and  that  the  heat  at  about  2,000  feet 
elevation  here  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  heat 
at  the  same  elevation  in  Ceylon.  In  fine,  past  ex- 
perience has  shewn  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
climate  of  B.  C.  A.  to  deter  planters  from  taking 
up  land  as  freely  here  as  in  otlii^r  tropical  lands. 
As  the  Commissioner  remarked  to  an  interviewer 
when  he  was  at  home — if  a man  who  has  a good  consti- 
tution, takes  care  of  his  health,  and  avoids  alcohol 
there  is  every  chance  of  his  standing  the  country. 
The  chief  difficulty  which  a Ceylon  planter  will 
encounter  is  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  labour. 
Accustomed  to  coolies  under  long  contracts  he  w’ill 
be  naturally  somewhat  non-pluased  when  he  finds 
that  the  longest  term  for  which  he  can  contract 
labour  is  one  year  and  that  the  usual  term  for’ 
which  labourers  contract  is  six  months.  So  far  as 
the  drudgery  of  estate  work  is  concerned  this  diffi- 
culty could  be  borne  with,  but,  when  it  comes  to 
the  opor.ations  of  pruning  and  handling  and  such 
work  requiring  skill,  the  full  force  of  the  evil  will  be 
felt.  This  is  a hindrance  which  we  trust  our  Com- 
mis.sioner  will  remove  and  one  on  which  an  expres- 
sion of  opinion  by  planters  is  desirable.  It  must  be 
evident  that,  unless  the  difficulty  is  removed,  tbe 
coffee  industry  will  be  severely  crippled. 
Another  point,  in  which  the  conditions  here  are 
different  from  those  in  Ceylon,  is  the  great  isolation 
of  estates  and  the  want  of  what  are  called  the  ameni- 
ties of  civilized  life,  to  which  may  be  added  one  of 
the  necessities  of  life  anywhere,  viz,  a good  cook 
These  however  are  difficulties  whi.-.h  are  disappear- 
ing with  the  development  of  the  country.  With  the  ex- 
tension of  the  cultivated  area,  a railway,  and  a greater 
influx  of  capital,  the  conditions  of  life  here  will 
greatly  improve.  By  careful  study  of  our  meteoro- 
gical  records,  by  well  directed  experiment,  and  by 
adopting  the  best  methods  of  cultivation,  it  ought 
to  be  possible  so  to  master  the  conditions  of  coffee 
planting  here  as  to  place  it  on  a permanent  basis. — 
Central  African  Planter. 
THE  UNITED  PLANTERS’  ASSOCIA'nON 
OF  SOUTHERN  INDIA. 
The  following  is  the  Report  of  th6  Deputation 
of  the  United  Planters’  Association  of  Southern 
India  on  the  matter  of  the  address  that  they 
presented  to  the  Vicoroy  white  at  Madras  : — 
“ The  Deputation  had  a gracious  reception  from 
His  Excellency,  and  from  the  tenour  of  his  reply 
we  do  not  consider  that  any  further  action  need  be 
taken. 
As  regards  advances  His  Excellency,  in  his  reply, 
referred  to  the  correspondence  that  has  lately  taken 
place  in  connection  with  this  subject  in  the  Public 
Press,  and  alluded  to  the  fact  that  there  seemed  to 
be  some  divergence  of  opinion  as  regards  the  neces- 
sity of  advancing.  We,  as  representatives  of  the 
United  Planters’  Association  of  Southern  India, 
consider  that  some  form  of  advance  is  absolutely 
necessary,  and  we  cannot  but  regret  that  an  irres- 
ponsible correspondence  should  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  His  Excellency  to  the  detriment  of  the 
interests  of  our  community. 
His  Excellency  did  not  allude  to  the  subject  of 
Extradition,  but  we  infer  that  this  matter  is  to  be 
dealt  with  by  the  Committee  of  Inquiry  which  he 
proposes  to  institute. 
With  regard  to  coffee-stealing.  His  Excellency 
deprecated  the  idea  that  the  Government  of  India 
had  any  sympathy  with  thieves,  and  at  the  same 
time  alluded  to  the  fact  that  his  Government  had 
not  fully  appreciated  that  we  merely  wished  to  pro- 
tect what  was  in  fact  a product  in  its  transition 
state  between  the  producer  and  consumer,  and  was 
not  in  reality  an  article  of  consumption. — Madras 
Times,  Dec.  19. 
Tea  Cultivation  in  Assam.— At  the  end  of  last 
year  the  number  of  waste-land  grants  taken  up  ra 
Assam  for  the  purpose  of  tea  onltivation  was  8,189 
of  Which  the  total  area  was  1,013,756  acres.— Mail 
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