Aug. a, 1897.1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
'25 
beans, cream or liglit purple inside. They are 
far superior to the true Forastero, with flat beans, 
dark purple inside, flinty when dry, and always 
quoted in Europe below the other kinds. 
Some of the varieties of the Peradeniya G-ardens 
are very robust, but tlie bean belongs to the 
latter type. —Probably other good varieties exist 
in the island, but I chink that -the selection of 
the best seed cannot be too much recommended. — 
Yours truly. A, VAN DEPc POORTEN. 
MR. E. E. GREEN ON THE CACAO DISEASE 
—AND WITH PRACTICAL 
INFORMATION. 
Eton, Pnnduloya, June 21, 1897. 
Dear Sir,— Mr. Joseph Holloway’s letter 
(see page 124) refers sufferers from the pre- 
sent cacao disease to the discussions on cacao 
pests in the T.A., 1884-85. The present cir- 
cumstances are however, very different. The 
disease of that day was traceable to Helopelti.s 
and took the form of blackened .shoots and 
branchlets, with subsequent dying back of the 
branches. This trouble is still present to a cer- 
tain extent and may possibly be confused with 
the more serious disease which is now attract- 
ing public atleation. In the present cases 
investigations on the spot lead me to be- 
lieve that, the disease is not direr.thj trace- 
able to amj insect. It commences with tlie bark, 
and when the canker has completely girdled 
the stern or limb, then— and not till then— do 
the upper parts of the tree die off. One .special 
character by which this disease may be recog- 
nized is a claret-colored stain which is visible upon 
cutting into the affected parts. 
There is however, one reference to the same or 
a very similar disease in this volume of the T.A. 
(’84-85). On p. 114 there is a quotation from an 
earlier Trojncal Agriculturist published in 1833 by 
G. R. Porter. After describing various enemies 
of the cacao the article goes on to say.— “ Cacao 
trees are likewise subject to a disease, which 
shows itself in the form of black spots, or blotches, 
on the bark, and which, as soon as they 
appear, should be carefully cut out, or the trees 
will quickly die. This disease does not make 
its appearance until the trees are in a bearing 
state.” It is not qniie clear from what country 
the disease was they described ; but from the 
incidental mention of “Spanisli planters” it is 
presumably referable to one of the .Spanish 
colonies. It seems at any rate that the disease 
is an old one, and further information may per- 
haps be obtainable from the same source. 
With reference to the present day Tropical 
Agriculturist, this most useful publication w'ould 
be still more valuable for every day reference 
if a general index of say the first 10 volumes 
w’as available. It is a work of considerable 
time to search through the numerous volumes 
for information on any ])articular subject. — Yours 
truly, £. ERNEST GREEN. 
CACAO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON— THE 
CROPS, VALUE AND DISEASES OF 
THE PLANT. 
Yattewatta, Matale, June 24. 
Dear Sir, — -As far as I can follow Mr. Van- 
Der Poorten’s lette ' to you, (see above) the points 
he raises are : — 
1. That to arrive at the present position of 
cacao, a comparison of the yield per acre with 
that of a few years ago should be made, 
2. That two cwt. of cacao per acre does not pay. 
3. That he is so far convinced of the ultimate 
success of the stronger kinds of cacao generally, 
known as Forastero, that h . recommends his brother 
planters to plant them. 
To No. 1 the answer is ea,sy : — in the Report of 
the Planters’ Association of 1894, I think, the 
acreage planted with cac:io is given at 18,000 
acres and the acreage in bearing 12,000 acres, the 
yield per acre is cwt. 2^ per acre. It is a liberal 
estimate to say that 15,000 acres are now 
in bearing, 14,000 is probably nearer the mark, and 
the estimated crop is cwt. 35,000 ; so the yield per 
acre has not fallen off. 
In answer to 2, the acreage value of cacao for 
the year is probably G8s per cwt. in London. 
Values in cacao generally fall at this time of 
year, and it is now quoted at 65s, which means 
a net in London of .'ffs — say 55s — to be on the 
right side, and cwt 2 are worth £5 10s ; against 
expenditure, say, the eq\ii valent of £3 ; profit £2 10s 
per acre, which, on a capital account of £20 
per acre (a most liberal allowance for bringing 
cacao into bearing), means 12.J per cent. That is 
what cacao means giving had crops and getting 
bad prices, and allowung an outside figure for 
capital account. But I have shown that the crop 
for the whole island exceeds cwt 2 per acre, so 
that it must be a very ba<l estate that does not 
give something more than this. Take cwt 3 per 
acre as the yield of a fairly good estate and it 
will be seen that even in these bad times there 
are wmrse things than cacao. 
The third point. I cordially endorse, and for 
many years have had the courage of my opinions. 
I have, with a few exceptions, planted with 
stronger varieties of cacao generally known as 
Forastero for the last ten years and am now reap- 
ing the benefit of having done .so, — Faithfully 
yours, JAS. R. MARTIN. 
CACAO CULTIVATION AND PRICES. 
Dear Sir, — With reference to Mr. Jas. R. Martin’s 
letter I wish to submit a few remarks. The price of 
65s which he adopts is far above the mark, that 
being the telegraphic quotation for fair red hold. 
What about the dark, the triage, the native, 
the broken ? Would the price of good broken 
pekoe be accepted as the average price of tea ? 
If the £20 to bring cacao into bearing includes 
the price of land, I think it decidedly cheap. 
I take exception as to the acreage; for Mr. Martin 
has left out of calculation the native gardens which 
must produce several thousands of cwts. 
My contention is that so far, cacao has not 
been a profitable product in the island ; that is 
if all the failures are set against all the returns ; 
in other words if a proper debit and credit 
account based on proper statistics, is established. 
It is obvious too that even an ai erage return 
of 2 cwts. per acre must indicate that cacao has 
not found a suitable habitat in Ceylon.* — Yours 
faithfully, A. VAN DER POORTEN. 
TEA BULKING: PRACTICAL ADVICE. 
Dear Sir,— As the subject of tea bulking 
is much in evidence at present, and perhaps 
justly so, a few remarks on it nuay not be 
altogether amiss. 
* That is in certain parts ; for there are planta- 
tions that yield a good deal more and are decidedly 
profitable as Mr. Martin reports his own experience 
to be.— Ed. T.A. 
