Nov. I, 1897.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
309 
LAND IN NORTH BORNEO. 
Mr. A. E. Wright who represesents some im- 
portant Ceylon planters arrived here on tlie 15th 
August froi’n Singapore and was the guest of Mr. 
H. VV'alker. He left for Lahad Datu on the I6th 
and on his return stayed at Government House 
unril tl!e23rd, when he left with Mr. H. Walker 
for Kndab. He was looking for land suitable for 
coconuts, tea, coffee and cinchona and is reported 
to have been well pleased with some of the locali- 
ties he visited.-- Rorueo, Sept. 1. 
ARECA PALMS ; PLANTAINS ; 
PLUMBAGO, &C. 
AGEICULTURE AND MINING IN THE KEGALLA 
DISTRICT. 
(From Mr. IV. E. Dcividson’s Administration Report 
for 1896.) 
What we ask from the 
AGBICULTUEAL SCHcUl. 
and the Eoyal Botanical Gardens is (1) that the Super- 
inten dent and Director should guide us when we want 
information ; (2) that we should be supplied with seeds 
and young plants when we want them ; and (3) that 
the Superintendent of the Agricultural School, or a 
really competent assistant from the school or from 
Henaratgoda or Peradeniya, should deliver special 
popular lectures on any new garden development. 
E.y.. this year we want in Pour Korales to have all the 
information we can get on (1) the growing and pre- 
paring of rhea fibre ; (2) the preparation of the tan- 
ning material in the green arecauut, and an analysis 
of the increased profit to be derived from preparing 
the product locally. Again, this year and next in 
Three Korales I want the whole country to hear all 
the facts and figures about plantain culture, so 
as to have their produce properly cultivated 
and ready for the railway to carry it to the market. If 
Mr. Drieberg can prepare popular lectures on these 
points with limelight illustrations and such-like at- 
tractions, I will guarantee to find twenty audiences 
in selected neighbourhoods, and the net advantage to 
the country will in one season exceed all the advan- 
tages derived from any attempt at local school train- 
ing. In fine, from my point of view the one benefit 
derivable by this district from the appointment of 
an Agricultural School in Colombo is that the Superin- 
tendent, or a competent assistant, should deliver 
locally popular lectures on popular subjects. He 
should fulfil the same functions as are discharged 
by a “ County Council ” lecturer, e.g., as in Sussex. 
The subject is fully discussed in my reports of the 
2nd December, 1895, and of the 16th February, 1897. 
NEW PRODUCTS. 
In the same reports I have reviewed the history of 
the attempts to introduce new paddy, e.g., muttusamba 
pulukhamban, and Carolina, and of barley ; of new gar- 
den fruits such as pomegranate. Mandarin orange, Mada- 
gascar papaya, pomeioe, loquat, jambu, guava, and 
the Cochin goraka ; and of new commercial products, 
such as tea, Liberian coffee, cacao, cotton, cloves, 
pepper, and rhea fibre. The growing of rhea fibre 
promises to develop into a cottage industry. 
In a fertile, highly cultivated district like the Four 
Korales a great deal depends on facilitating the 
transport of surplus p -oduce to the best market, and 
in this direction my own efforts have been specially 
directed by opening out feeders to the railway and 
constructing bridges a,nd developing paths into roads 
fit for wheeled transport. In this way the area upon 
which plantains can be profitably cultivated has been 
greatly extended. 
Following up the detailed account of the plantain 
industry given in the 53rd paragraph of my report 
for 1895, I furnish in the next paragraph a few par- 
ticulars of general interest regarding arecaimt culti- 
vation. I may record here that the plantain indus- 
try around Rambukkana is still growing fast, and 
that the railway carried 3,481 tons of plantains from 
Rambukkana to Colombo, earning thereby freight 
charges amounting to R19,319'55. This local industry 
will reach its culminating point about 1,900 and wi 
then fall away owing to want of further suitable so 
I hope that the cultivation of rhea fibre — well-suiced 
to village ideas — will step in to take its place. 
The Areeanut palm flourishes throughout the Kegalla 
District most luxuriantly. Although it grows freely 
over a limited range in other districts and countries, 
yet, as almost the sole source of supply to Southern 
India of what the Indian races look upon as a neces- 
sary of life, the arecauut trade of the Kegalla Dis- 
trict has for generations represented one of the few 
agricultural monopolies of the world. The ’DioUuce 
of the arecannt.s of Four Korales was the nackbone 
of the King of Kandy's revenue ; and the Dutch Gov- 
ernment on the coast used, whenever occasion arose, 
to put pressure on the Kandyan King by blocking 
the export trade at Puttalam and Kalpitiya and 
stopping the importation of salt in exchange. 
Areeanut palms, if left to seed as they please, grow 
as densely as 1,200 to the acre. This is often the 
density in the village Aramba ; and then the average 
yieM per palm is 80 to 100 nuts. If, however, the 
palms are planted fas is generally the case now) at 
750 per acre, they practically double their yield. 
A fair crop is 120,000 nuts per acre, and 24,000 
dried arecanuts go to the ainunam, which is the 
standard measure of the trade. The weight of an 
amunam of dried iruts is 2J cwt. The yield there- 
fore may be calculated at 121 cwt per acre. An amu- 
nam of dried nuts sells on the spot at from Rl2 
to K24 according to the market demand and the 
facilities of transport. The present average rate is 
RI8 ; it seems to me probable that high prices will 
be again reached owing to a quantity of the crops 
being sold when unripe as sliced arecanuts in order 
to meet the demand of a new market. The gross 
average return per acre would be about R85 to E90. 
An experiment in which 250 palms only were planted 
in an acre resulted in an average yield of 750 nuts 
per palm, or 187,500 nuts per acre. This is equal to 
about 8 amunams per acre, or nearly a ton in 
weight, with a g’ross return of R144 per acre. 
The yield of the Madras Presidency estimated 
at 3,000 tons off 1,600 acres, is manifestly 
inaccurate. The area under arecanuts in the 
Kegalla District is 24,749 acres, rather less than one- 
half of the total acreage under the areeanut in Ceylon. 
The yield is 15,469 tons in weight, and that of the 
whole Island at perhaps 25,000 tons, of which about 
one-fourth appears scheduled in the Customs returns 
as exported to India or Mauritius. It is probable, 
however, that the weight of the produce has 
decreased before export, and that the quantity ex- 
ported considerably exceeds one-fourth. 
The growth in the demand for “ kalli pakku ” — 
the sliced green areeanut— has been very marked in 
the past few years, and it is now most profitable to 
dispose of the crop while still green and unripe. It 
is used in South India, I am informed, to tan leather, 
chiefly sheep skins. But it is generally boiled down 
and made into a kind of “ kaipu,” and in its prepared 
state finds its way to Bombay and is shipped to 
Europe. It has been suggested to me that the Govern- 
ment should send a trained agricultural student to the 
coast of India to ascertain the processes through 
which the prepared produce passes, the prices current, 
the ports of destination, and the uses to which it is 
eventually put. 
Plumbago. — I here follow up the theme touched 
on in the 54ih paragraph of my Administration 
Report for 1895. A professional miner, who has 
been appointed Inspector of Mines under the provi- 
sions of Ordinance No. 2 of 1896, has made a thorough 
inspection of the plumbago pits in this district and 
reports highly as to their prospects, which he con- 
siders equal to any in the Island Of the 18 pits 
now open and working, 10 are situated in Bebgal 
korale, 4 in Paranakuru korale, and 4 in Three 
Korales. In Beligal k rale is the deepest perpendi- 
cular shaft in the Island, 328 feet deep ; and at 
another pit there was on the day of liis l.st 
inspection a force of 201 labourers, the lirgest 
force at any one pit in Ceylon. The average number 
of miners employed is a little short of 1,000 
men The condition of the timbering is generally 
