688 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
{April t, 1898 . 
Increase of our total out-turn, to work cheaply 
will be an essential to profitable w’orking, and 
in aonie cases to existence. If contract jilucking 
is to be the salvation of some estates, and the gilt 
edging of others, there can, of course, be no reason 
why it should not be carried out. But, as things 
are at present, where, below a certain average, 
a full name is not given we have contract- 
plucking now in force, and the question is simply 
this, has the average demanded not been placed 
too low' ? What coolies can do when working 
for cash, — or as is often done, a name for a 
certain quantity, and money for the lurplus,— 
should open the eyes of most men, and the piece 
work, with its resulting higher wage is an 
appeal which Ramasami will not be able 
to withstand. It may take a little time before 
our estate labour force will pluck exactly as de- 
sired, and to the planter there would be at first a 
great deal of worry, and a call for alert at- 
tention : but that this could be overcome and 
that ere very long and without much friction 
either, we certainly believe. It would be folly 
of course to look for all the advantages of con- 
tract plucking to be secured just at once, but 
even a cent a lb. saved is something, and then 
to go on to further conquests. To judge yb 
a cash scramble of the quality of leaf 
which regular contract plucking would result in, 
is about as fair as to compare the scurry 
of a belated weeding contractor in diead 
of a fine, and the work thus produced, with 
the carefulness manifested when the contract is 
well in hand. But on the whole, our conclu- 
sion alter full consideration and reading and 
listening to the opinions of many planters, 
is . that “ contract plucking ” is for the low 
country where quantity, rather than quality, is 
the desideratum. 
The call for economical working is only mut- 
tering as yet ; hut it seems likelj' to increase in 
volume and imperativeness. At every point of 
an estate’s outlay there will require to be care- 
ful thought and keen economy. It is the cents 
which will have to be taken care of, and all 
over the manifold daily workings of tea proper- 
ties, there must brood the watchful eye, and a 
nervous determination to see that each individual 
labourer does his day’s work, and that carefully 
and well. With dwindling dividends, there is sure 
to come the cry of change ot management (and 
perhaps of Directorate 1) ; for, without divi- 
ends. Companies have no call to be. As an 
rmy is said to march on its stomach, so the 
sweet reasonableness of public Companies only 
lasts as long as dividend warrants are re- 
gularly received. When the Manager and Direc- 
tors fail, repeatedly, to produce these, there 
must be a rough time in store. Ceylon plan- 
ters have for some time hack had easy times. 
When an estate was good, and there was exchange 
to live on, slack management and nominal over- 
sight were not noticed much ; but now that a 
dishonest lupee has to be wrestled with, as well 
as low prices and an increasing output, the con- 
ditions are wholly changed ; and only to those 
who recognise this fact, and set themselves man- 
fully meet it, will there be a due reward. 
PERADEBIYA GARDENS AND CAMBRIDGE. 
On 25th January Mr. Pearson, B.A., of Christ’s 
College, Cambridge, who was recently in Ceylon 
for the purpose of r.otanical Research, read a paper 
before the Botanical Club on the Peradeniya 
Gardens w'hich was illustrated by fine photo * 
graphs. Professor Marshall Ward was present 
and took a part in the discussion that followed ; 
the question rvas gravely ]>ropounded *• why do 
more coconuts fall in the night than in the day,” 
and it was suggested that the explanation was 
to be found in the fact that the stem and stalk 
w'ere fuller of sap, because the leaves retained 
their moisture during the night, while they give 
it off freely during the day. Mr. Pearson would 
like to know whether it is an acknowleilged fact 
in Ceylon and elsewhere, that nuts do fall 
more in the night than during the day. Per- 
haps coconut planters will be able to speak 
with authority. Mr. Pearson has not yet re- 
ceived the botanical specimens in methylated spirits 
that he had collected, which shippers have fought 
shy of ; but hears they are now on their way 
home, so nothing can be heard at present of 
his researches in reference to the patana gras.ses 
of Ceylon. 
THE EFFECTS OF FIRE ON GRAZING 
AND THE PRODUCTION OF 
GRASS. 
Forest officers in their endeavour to extend fire con- 
servancy, consantlj find the objection put forward 
that fire protection will interfere with grazing. 
There is among agricultural people a fii'mly rooted 
conviction, which is not confined to natives ef this 
country, that burning off the dead grass that re- 
mains at the close of the autumn or in early 
spring, is a neces ary condition for a good cri.p of 
grass. It is said that burning not only causes the 
grass to spring earlier and yield a more luxuriant 
crop, but, also destroys a vast number of ticks and 
otiier it sects, which if unchecked, would render 
grazing an impossibility. 
On the other hand, it is asserted by Forest officers 
that the annual fires, though they may stimulate 
the grass to earlier growth, have the effect of kill- 
ing out the better kinds and leaving only the coarser 
varieties which cannot be eaten by cattle except 
when they are quite young. That this is the case 
and that constant burning must necessarily cause 
deterioration of the soil, seems almost self evident, 
but in the absence of recorded facts it is often diffi- 
cult to convince people who hold opposite views. 
It is hoped therefore that those who are in a position 
to do so will take the matter up and give the 
readers of the “Indian Forester” an account of the 
precise effect on the grazing or grass supply, of any 
protective measures with which they have been 
concerned. I have heard it stated that in many oases 
where fire protection has been for many years 
the rule, the grass supply has been so obviously 
improved that neighbouring landhoders have come 
to recegnize the value of such measures and have 
taken to fire-protecting their own forest lands, but 
I cannot find any reports in which such facts are 
officially recorded. 
Another point in which information is desirable, 
is whether fire protection alone is sufficient to im- 
prove the crop in areas set apart for the production 
of grass, and if so how many years it takes to 
obtain the desired results. So far, my own expe- 
rience has been that where rank grasses have once 
thoroughly establisi ed themselves, protection alone, 
unaccompanied by heavy cutting or grazing, only 
causes such grasses to grow more luxuriantly and 
that the finer kinds do not re- assert themselves. 
This, of course, applies only to bona-fide grass lands ; 
in areas under forest, the young trees which naturally 
come up as a rule kill out the tall glasses, but 
I beard it stated ti at this is not the case in chir 
forests, in which fire protection is said to stimulate 
the production of coarser and ranker grasses. — “X" 
in Indian Forester for February 1898. 
