BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE IN CEYLON 315 



To return now to the consideration of the Ceylon Botanic 

 Gardens, it was in view of the considerations above set forth, 

 that the first appointment made in enlarging upon modern lines 

 the old department was that of a Scientific Assistant. This 

 post can be held for any period not exceeding three years, and 

 its occupant has to devote himself to research during that 

 period. Similar appointments are in existence in Java. With 

 a period like this at his disposal, the holder of the post can 

 take up lines of work that would be impossible to a short-period 

 visitor. As an indication of the kind of work that may be 

 done, that carried on during the last eight years by the Ceylon 

 incumbents may be mentioned. Mr. J. Parkin worked out the 

 method of coagulating rubber into " biscuits," a method which 

 is now worth many thousands of pounds per annum to the 

 rubber planters of Ceylon and the Malay States. Mr. Herbert 

 Wright wrote a monograph of the Ceylon species of Diospyros, 

 hitherto very imperfectly known, and a full account of the 

 periodicity of trees in Ceylon as to leaf-fall and renewal, work 

 which it seems likely will lead to a reconsideration of many 

 problems in physiology and fossil; botany. Mr. R. H. Lock 

 carried out some valuable experiments in breeding upon 

 Mendelian lines — the first work of this kind to be done in the 

 tropics, and one which has not only given valuable scientific 

 results, but 'has produced some useful, new, and improved 

 breeds. Mr. A. M. Smith, the present holder of the post, is 

 carrying out valuable researches upon growth, which is by 

 no means the same phenomenon in the tropics that it is in 

 Europe. 



During the last ten years the Ceylon Botanic Gardens have 

 grown entirely beyond the old conception of botanic gardens, 

 and have become practically a department of agriculture, though 

 the name of " botanic gardens " is still retained, and the work of 

 purely botanic gardens is still carried on among many new lines 

 of work. The history of the transformation is interesting, and 

 may be followed, as illustrating what is being considered in this 

 paper. The gardens in Java commenced to grow in a similar 

 way about 1885, and have lately been given the title of a depart- 

 ment of agriculture. The great distinction between the two places 

 is that the staff of the Ceylon department consists mainly of men 

 who have to deal with all the different industries pursued in 

 Ceylon, while that of the Java department consists mainly of 



