758 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  I,  1897. 
abolish  steamer  conferences,  allow  free  use  of  machin- 
cry,  fix  a modest  price  for  Government  lauds,  and 
^ina  will  put  a better  and  cheaper  tea  in  London 
* ^ done,  and  also  her  population 
will  be  the  richer  and  increase  their  import  buying 
rower  by  very  many  millions  of  taels.— C7u'«a  Mail. 
March  25. 
MINOR  PRODUCTS. 
It  may  at  first  sight  seem  inopportune  to  dis- 
cuss minor  agricultural  products  or  at  any  rate 
to  press  them  on  the  attention  of  capitalists 
and  investors,  at  a time  when  tea  is  doing  so 
much  for  the  Colony,  and  when  our  own  columns 
testify  to  eflorts  to  furtlier  develop  the  great 
industry  with  which  tlie  prosperity  of  the  island 
is  closely  interwoven.  It  has,  however,  been  our 
endeavour  always  to  discourage  the  setting  of 
all  our  eggs  in  one  basket  ; and  this  for 
reasons  not  wholly  confined  to  the  paramount 
copsideration  of  supply  and  demand.  The  cry 
of  over-production  almost  always  follows  large 
profits  derived  from  any  great  enterprise,  and 
not  least  from  any  great  agricultural  enterprise  ; 
but  it  is  not  the  sensitiveness  of  the  market 
a'one  which  should  influence  producers.  The 
greater  liability  to  disease  of  large  e.vpanses  of 
one  cultivation— and.  if  not  the  greater  sus- 
ceptiblity  to  attack,  the  greater  facility  Avitli 
which  any  pest,  whether  insect  or  fungoid,  must 
spread  . without  intervening  cultivation  to  ar- 
rest tlie  devastation— is  a consideration  which 
should  always  be  kept  in  view.  And  among 
the  noteworthy  services  rendered  by  the 
lamented  Dr.  Trimen  to  the  island,  must  be 
reckoned  the  annual  warnings  he  uttered 
against  the  increasing  rush  into  tea,  and  the 
counsel  that  other  products  should  receive  en- 
couragement even  in  pncha  tea  districts.  We 
cannot  recall  a single  Administration  Report 
of  our  late  Director  of  the  Royal  Rotanic 
Gardens,  which  did  not  insist  on  tlie  absolnle 
necessity  of  avoitling  sole  dependence  on  one 
product,  if  the  welfare  of  the  individual 
proprietor,  as  well  as  the  progress  in  pro- 
sperity of  tlie  island  generally,  be  considered. 
It  is  not  on  these  grounds  alone  that  we  press 
attention  at  this  particular  time  to  new  pro- 
ducts. We  have  in  view  other  than  the  tea 
proprietary — though  w e,  by  no  means,  desire  to 
exclude  it  ; and  we  do  not  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that,  in  coconuts  and  cinnamon  in  the  low- 
country,  and  in  cacao,  cardamoms  (even  cinchona 
and  coll'ee,  sucli  as  they  are)  upcountry,  Ave  have 
products  Avhich  represent  an  immense  capital  and 
whose  combined  influence  on  the  trade  and  com- 
merce of  the  islaml  cannot  be  mistaken  or  gain- 
said. What  Ave  contend  is  that  our  resources 
are  by  no  means  exhausted  in  connection  Avith 
the  staples  Ave  have  named.  The  soil  and 
climate  of  the  island  are  suited  for  other  pro- 
ducts ; and  capitalists  — Avhethcr  those  engaged  in 
the  enterprises  Ave  have  already  enumerated,  Avbo 
may  be  anxious  about  a second  string  to  their 
boAv,  or  others  Avhoni  local  considerations  and 
financial  trainin£r  may  have  deterred  from  the 
old  products — may  find  remunerative  employment 
for  themselves  and  their  money  in  the  minor 
products  Ave  suggest. 
The  one  which  specially  occurred  fo  us,  in  con- 
nection with  the  ratlicr  sombre  report  of  the 
Spinning  aiul  ^^^ea^  ing  Company,  is  cotton.  Why 
should  not  the  islaml  jiroiluce  all  the  cotton  it 
needs,  Avithin  its  OAvn  bonlersV  At  any  rate,  Avhy 
eliould  it  not  be  independent  of  imports  for  the 
laAv  material  w'hicli  is  necessary  to  keep  our 
solitary  mill  at  Avork?  The  matter  has  been 
urged  Avith  great  persistency  by  “Rambler”  in 
our  columns  ; and  the  following,  from  a planter 
Avho  does  not  confine  hi.s  energies  to  one  pro- 
duct, and  Avho  has  some  knoAvledge  of  the  Northern 
districts,  is  the  text  on  Avhich  Ave  should  Avish 
to  say  a feAV  Avords  today  : — 
“ I'here  are  tliousands  of  acres  in  the  arid  dis- 
tricts Avhich  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  great 
irrigation  works,  but  Avlnch,  reasoning  from 
analogy,  should  groAV  cotton  splendidly.  It  Avould 
be  a grand  public  service  to  bring  these  tracts 
into  remunerative  cultivation ; and,  as  a first 
step,  Avhy  should  not  the  best  of  the  dismissed 
Agricultural  Instructors  be  encouraged,  by  free 
grants  of  land  (and  even  of  money  under  strict 
business  conditions),  to  pioneer  cotton,  and  set 
the’example  to  the  peasantry  of  making  its  culti- 
vation pay  ? ” 
The  suggestion  is  one  Avhich  deserves  the  at- 
tention of  the  Governor  Avho,  Ave  are  glad  to 
think,  is  fully  convinced  of  the  importance  of 
official  encouragement  to  agriculture,  and  Avhose 
little  speech  at  the  Agri- Horticultural  SIioav  at 
NuAvara  Eliya  indicated  the  practical  bent  of 
his  mind.  We  have  not  lost  sight  of  the  failures 
and  the  successes  connected  Avith  cotton  culti- 
vation in  the  year  that  the  Sinnning  and  Weaving 
Company  started  operations.  The  Directors  im- 
ported seed  from  India,  Egypt,  and  even  America, 
Ave  believe,  and  distributed  small  quantities  for 
e.Aperimental  purpo.se.s.  We  can  recall  very  en- 
couraging reports  of  yield  and  staple  from  the  late 
Mr.  Blackett,  as  the  result  of  experiments  in  Dolos- 
bage,  from  Dr.  Stork  at  Heneratgoda.  from  more 
than  one  planter  in  Dumbara,  as  also  from 
Ceylone.se  landoAvners  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  But,  so  far  as  Ave  knoAv,  no  one  ex- 
perimented Avith  the  seed  on  fresh  land  or  on 
an  extensive  scale,  and,  as  a result,  fcAv,  if  any, 
repeated  the  experiment.  The  secil  Avas  put  doAvn 
for  a catch  crop,  Avith  tea  or  coconuts,  or  in 
some  unoccupied  corner  of  a large  plantation. 
The  experiment  brought  to  light  the  destructive- 
ness of  the  insect  enemies  Avith  Avhich  cotton 
has  to  contend,  the  sns.ceptibility  of  the  plant, 
and  especially  the  boll,  to  moisture,  and  the 
care  that  is  necessary  in  harvesting  and  pre- 
paring the  crop  for  transport.  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  the  remunerativeness  of  the  principal 
jiroducts  overshadoAved  the  subsidiary  stranger. 
The  profits  Avere  not  dazzling  ; and  men  did  not 
care  to  burden  themselves  Avitli  the  petty  details 
and  worries  of  a product  Avhich  did  not  yield 
better  returns  than  the  industries  in  Avhich  they 
Avere  engaged.  They  diil  not  care  to  be  diverted 
from  their  large  investments.  The  game  Avas 
not  Avorth  the  candle. 
The  case  Avould,  hoAvever,  be  different,  if  fresh 
ground  Avere  to  be  broken  for  the  product ; and  if 
the  Northern  Raihvay  is  to  be  undertaken,  it 
Avould  be  to  the  direct  and  immediate  interest  of 
the  Government  to  jirovide  against  the  running 
of  empty  trucks.  The  idea  of  utilizing  the 
service  of  the  youths  Avho  have  been  trainesd 
to  agriculture  in  the  Agricultural  School,  strikes 
us  as  a good  one ; but  Avhy  should  concession 
lie  confined  to  them  ? Let  tenders  be  invited 
for  the  purchase  of  suitable  blocks  of  land  on 
easy  terms  of  payment,  on  condition  that  a defined 
proportion  of  the  land  should  be  devoted  to  cot- 
ton cidtivation.  If  the  conditions  be  faithfully  ful- 
filled, the  last  instalment  might  be  remitted  ; 
or  if  an  acreage  in  excess  of  the  stipulated 
c.xtent  be  devoted  to  cotton,  a free  grant  of  sucli 
