Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-17

| namon-COcoa Palm Trees-Coffee Plan
tstions Ruined by the "yast-of-TrIcks.'
The Tea Industry.
Ceylon now pays its own military expenses
the force being only one regiment of British
| infantry, one Of native and one brigade OF
artillery. The island government grants aid
10 schools having a required number Of pu
| pls. The Dutch requirement of Protestant
| profession was at once abolished Hospitals
and dispensaries abound. A British governor
founded our medical college, which is liber,
ally endowed by two wealthy Singhalese
! The Singhalese, the native CeylonianS, have
| an aptitude for the medical vocation. and
have large practice in government emplo
and among resident British.
The proportion Of children is one in twenty
eight In India il is one iii 100 The Sin
ghalese are prone to litigate They go To law
about owning the sixth part of u cocoanut
tree. Singhalese is judge of the supreme
court Others are leading lawyers The
abolition Of slavery WAS finished about forty
years ago. Less than thirty years ago poly
andry tmany huSbands was legal
The people have both Singhalese and Tamil
newspapers. Those two are the most numerous
of the several eastern races here
British law conServeS the forests and pra-
vents the extinction of wild elephants. ell,
etc. The tcwnspeople have modern advan-
tages-
Government, from time to time, according
o the will of the different governors, clears
away overgrowth and excavates out of debris
and earth the still remaining architecture of
a civilization which ranks among the most
interesting of ancient ruins, and will hence
forth much increase the attractions of Ceylon
CEYLoN's NATIVE PRODUCTS.
The native people could raise plantation
and garden products-pepper, cinnamon. nut
meg, chocolate, cardamoms and fruit-sell
them dear, and buy rice cheap from India
and Burmah. Rice is their staple grain food
But they take to their inherited rice culture
more than TO any other agriculture Rice re
quires flooded ground Falling in with
their preference, the British have largely re,
stored ancient irrigation works, thus doing
more for the Singhalese than for centuries
had been done by either European or native
rulers The average native was more spar
ing eater seventy years ago than he is to-day.
and he Is apparently very moderate eater
now. He was always inclined to vegetarian
ism through his devotion to Buddha. The
exported cinnamon has greatly increased
under British rule. Cinnamon is native TO
Ceylon, as tea is in some parts of Assam and
Burmah. Ceylon cinnamon Is the finest in the
world.
More attention is now given 10 the various
palms. Many forehanded Singhalese and
Tamils, whose thrift also is within the last
nifty years, now plant gardens of palms and
other profitable trees as an investment 1t is
estimated that in CeylOn there are 6,OOO.OOO
cocoa palm trees, covering over 800. 600 acres,
almost all owned by Snghalase and Tamils
The annual exports Of Is tial oils made
from lemon grass, citronella grass, cinnamon
leaves and cinnamon value nearly 500. 600
The Singhalese raise their OWL tobacco. and
export little to India. They sometimes mix
it with their "betel," a combination with
lime, which is generally used by the people Of
this region, who live mostly on rice and the
like. 1t is said by Psychologists to furnish an
element in which their food is deficient.
Every Singhalese garden grows a little
sugar cane, mainly TO be chewed like candy.
There is only one large manufacturing sugar
estate in Ceylon. The culture has been tried,
and in most situations the cane runs in stalk.
and the moist climate and soil do not allow
the sap to crystalize, nor does the stalk yield
enough crystalizable material
THE -vAsT-oF-TRICKS"
The Arabs introduced the coffee plant very
anciently; yet its beverage was unknown
when the European arrived The Singhalese
used the coffee leaves in their spicy curries.
and they OF namented the shrines of the adored
Buddha with the delicate white and jasmine
like coffee flowers. But the British made
great plantations, each estate employing
scores and hundreds of laborers mostly Tamils
from South Hindustan. The Tamils are more
energetic 10 get the opportunity of hard work
than the Singhalese The British planter soon
introduced the West Indian system of cultiva-
ton; coffee became the backbone of our
treasury and the manufacturer OF individual
fortunes Then the Singhalese caught the
coffee zeal, and quarter to one half of the
export was native coffee.
Meantime a small, bright orange spot an
peared on the coffee leaves, yet slightly af-
fecting the plant Nobody cared for it ex-
cept the director of the Ceylon Botanic gar
dens, and gold in the planters pockets jingled
louder than the plant doctors word of alarm.
But that little blight, the -Vast-of- Tricks as
was Anglicized the Himmaleia Vastatrix,
brought the proprietors home from their
haunts, mortgaged their estates, cheapened
their lands, and now a new generation of men
are as energetically and enthusiastically
planting tea with an anticipation of more
than the prosperity Of coffee times, if the
world will continue 10 be thirsty, and will
continue to quench that thirst over athe cup
that cheers but not inebriatesr Everything
is booming Ceylon at present is a favorite
place for British capitalists to start their sons
in a really wide and interesting career Of in
dustry, the direction of great plantations EN-
ploying one and a half to two laborers to
every acre.-Anna Ballard in Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette.