BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE IN CEYLON 317 



disease, and to call for the help of the Mycologist or the 

 Entomologist. 



The passing of an ordinance (law) is under consideration 

 in Ceylon, giving to the Governor power to proclaim any 

 district as " infected " with some particular disease, and to 

 appoint a board for that district, which shall have power to 

 compel him to carry out the recommendations made by the 

 Entomologist or Mycologist, when such recommendations have 

 been approved by the larger Committee of Agricultural 

 Experiments. 



The next appointment to be made in Ceylon was that of 

 an Agricultural Chemist. The work that lies before such a 

 man scarcely needs detailed description ; but some of the most 

 important directions in which his work has been of great use 

 to the people of Ceylon may be briefly mentioned. Thus he 

 has taken up the question of the manuring of tea and other 

 products, and shown people how to manure with the best 

 results and at the lowest cost ; prior to his work manuring was 

 largely a matter of chance or luck. He has studied the dis- 

 tillation of camphor in Japan and elsewhere, and shown people 

 in Ceylon how to distil cheaply, and how to get the largest 

 percentage of camphor. He has investigated the manufacture 

 of "oolong" teas in Formosa, and found out how to produce 

 the peculiar flavour hitherto supposed to be a monopoly of such 

 teas. Already Ceylon is making a considerable quantity of 

 oolongs, and this may result in the capture of a large part of 

 the American market, which prefers such teas. In many other 

 ways his work has proved of the greatest value to the people 

 of the Colony. 



The appointment of the officers just mentioned of course 

 involved the establishment of proper laboratories, and advan- 

 tage was taken of their construction to make them large enough 

 to accommodate visitors from abroad, as well as the staff of 

 the department, so that now there is ample room at Peradeniya 

 for any foreign visitors, even as many as five at one time. 



To return to the consideration of the botanic gardens proper, 

 and the lines along which their work has been extended and 

 expanded to meet modern requirements. Their main object was 

 always acclimatisation of plants from abroad, which of course 

 involved the growth of these plants in the gardens, and the 

 supply of small quantities of seeds or cuttings to those who 



