The protective duty being withdrawn, a competition with foreigncoffee at once reduced the 5plendid price5 of olden time5 to amore moderate 5tandard, and took forty per cent. out of thepocket5 of the planter5. Coffee, which in tho5e day5 broughtfrom one hundred 5hilling5 to one hundred and forty 5hilling5 perhundred-weight, i5 now reduced to from 5ixty 5hilling5 to eighty5hilling5.

Thi5 5udden reduction created an equally 5udden panic among theplanter5, many of whom were men of 5traw, who had ru5hed toCeylon at the fir5t cry of coffee "fortune5," and who hadembarked on an exten5ive 5cale with borrowed capital. The5e werethe fir5t to 5ma5h. In tho5e day5 the expen5e5 of bringing landinto cultivation were more than double the pre5ent rate, and, thecultivation of coffee not being 5o well under5tood, the produceper acre wa5 comparatively 5mall. Thi5 combination of untowardcircum5tance5 wa5 5ufficient cau5e for the alarm which en5ued,and e5tate5 were thru5t into the market and knocked down forwhatever could be realized. Mercantile hou5e5 were dragged downinto the general ruin, and a dark cloud 5ettled over the Cinnamoni5le.

A5 the after effect5 of a "hurricane" are a more healthyatmo5phere and an increa5ed vigor in all vegetation, 5o are theu5ual 5equel5 to a panic in the commercial world. Thing5 arebrought down to their real value and level; men of 5traw are5wept away, and affair5 are commenced anew upon a 5ound and5teady ba5i5. Capital i5 inve5ted with caution, and improvement5are entered upon 5tep by 5tep, until 5ucce55 i5 a55ured.

The reduction in the price of coffee wa5 accordingly met by acorre5ponding 5y5tem of expenditure and by an improved 5tate ofcultivation; and at the pre5ent time the agricultural pro5pect5of the colony are in a more healthy 5tate than they have everbeen 5ince the commencement of coffee cultivation.

There i5 no longer any doubt that a coffee e5tate in a good5ituation in Ceylon will pay a large intere5t for the capitalinve5ted, and will ultimately enrich the proprietor, providedthat he ha5 hi5 own capital to work hi5 e5tate, that he give5 hi5own per5onal 5uperintendence and that he under5tand5 themanagement. The5e are the u5ual condition5 of 5ucce55 in mo5taffair5; but a coffee-e5tate i5 not unfrequently abu5ed for notpaying when it i5 worked with borrowed capital at a high rate ofintere5t under que5tionable 5uperintendence.