The Planting and Agricultural Industries of Ceylon

Abstract

THIS is a reprint, in the form of a small octavo volume, of information contained in Ferguson's “Ceylon Hand-book and Directory,” specially relating to the tropical cultures of Ceylon. It affords much authentic information in a handy and accessible form, and is a valuable summary of the results attained in the cultivation of most economic plants suited to a tropical country. Ceylon itself is a singularly interesting island. It is usually described as the largest, most populous, and most important of the Crown Colonies of Great Britain. It has in recent years become the seat of planting industries which have intone or two instances almost monopolized the markets of the world. It is six times the size of Jamaica, and about five-sixths the size of Ireland. Of its sixteen million acres, at present only about three millions are under cultivation, and these support a population of exactly the same number. The value of the imports and exports amounts to about ten millions sterling. The total number of European residents in Ceylon is under five thousand, while the mixed or coloured population called Eurasians or Burghers amounted to about nineteen thousand. The bulk of the population, amounting to nearly two million souls, is composed of Sinhalese—a remarkably tractable and inoffensive people—while the remainder is made up of Tamils, Moormen, Malays, and Veddahs. The latter are an aboriginal race, comparatively few in number, inhabiting the forests of the north-east.

Review of the Planting and Agricultural Industries of Ceylon, and Statistics of the Planting Enterprises in India and the Colonies.

By J. Ferguson. Pp. 168. (Colombo: A. M. and J. Ferguson, 1888.)