AGRICVLTCHE is the chief industry of Ceylon as well as the main source of its prosperity. Of a total of over I6,000,000 acres covered by the ishund, an area of about 3.000,000 acres. or about 19 per cent. is under cultivation and pasture. Of these, about 750.000 acres are under rice anti grain, 19,000 acres under coffee, over 41)0,111)0 acres under tea. about 860,000 acres under cocoanuts, and 33.001) acres under cacao. The cultivation of grain and t•oenanuts receives but scant attention from foreign settlers. who are the principal owners of the large tea plantations to which the island owes its importance. The cultivation of tea in Ceylon is of comparatively recent origin, the first plantations having been established by Europeans in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century after the failure of the coffee plantations. The tea plantations, of which there are about 1000 at present, are situated mostly in the mountain regions of the central province, some of them lying as high as 7000 feet above the sea. Owing to the reluctance of the Singhalese to work on the tea plantations (a reluctance due partly to their satisfaction with their present condition and partly to their mistrust of foreigners), the tea-planters depend for their labor on imported who come over to the island with their families, and after a stay of several years generally return to India. Of n total of about. _won° people Img'nged on the tea plantations, only a small fraction consists of Singhalese, hut their pro portion is gradually increasing. The rapid de velopment of the tea industry is best shown by the inerease in the exports of the commodity. In 1873 there exported from the island 23 pounds. which increased to 100.000 pounds in 1879 and 2.302.975 pounds in 1884. In 1895 it reaehed 98.581.060 pounds, while in 1899 it amounted to nearly 130,000.000 pounds. This as tonishing advance may be partly accounted for by the fact that many of the tea plantations occupy the sites of the former coffee plantations, and tints had the advantage of a prepared soil.
The coffee industry, introduced first by the Dutch and afterwards taken up by the 'British settlers, enjoyed an artificial prosperity until after tile middle of the Nineteenth Century, when it was almost completely destroyed by disease of the plants, and has been gradually declining since then. Cinnamon, tobacco. and cinchona are also cultivated to some extent. The areca-palm yields the areea-nut. Of minerals. Ceylon has some iron, and extensive deposits of graphite, which constitutes one of the staples of the island. Gem-quarries are also worked extensively, and the pearl-fisheries are a State monopoly.
Under British occupation, the commeree of Ceylon has made considerable progress. The value of the total commerce for 1899 was about Rs. 224,000.000, divided equally between imports and exports, while in 1892 it amounted only to about Rs. 133,000,000, the imports exceeding the exports by about Rs. 9,000,000. The trade is ehielly with Great Britain and India. The ex ports and the imports of the former to and from Ceylon, for 1899, amounted to Rs. 31,500,000 and Its. 61,000,000 respectively, while India ex ported to Ceylon about Rs. 67.000,000 worth. and imported only about Rs. 5,300,000. The chief exports are tea, cocoanut products-, spices, and graphite. The imports consist chiefly of cotton good:, rice and grains, coal, and beverages. The total direct commerce of the United States with Ceylon for 1899 amounted to a little over $1,600,000, of which over $4,500.000 represented imports into the United States. The three prin cipal ports of the island are Colombo, the capi tol, Gallo, and Trincomali. The first named. while less favored by nature than the other two, is the chief port, and its harbor, improved by the construction of the gigantic breakwater, now admits the largest vessels. The total tonnage entered and cleared at Ceylon ports in 1899 was 7,439,205. The railway lines of the island have a total length of 297 miles and are almost en tirely owned and operated by the Government.