THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Jttlt 2, 1883. 



than by the practical illustrations the boys or others 

 would now treceive at the hands of Mr. Jenman. In 

 Canada, Ausralia, some parts of India, Ceylon, etc., these 

 schools under thoroughly practical trainers are doing a 

 great deal of good. It seems rather an anomaly here, 

 when compared with other colonies, that the only section 

 of the community being deliberately trained to agricult- 

 ural pursuits are those juveniles who qualify them- 

 selves by some grave offence against the law for a 

 leutithened period of confinement and teaching at the 

 industrial school at Onderneeming. In some respects, 

 therefore, the. lot of these is preferable to the law- 

 abiding boys who tio nothing but play marbles, or fly 

 kites until they reach man's estate. This subject is 

 an important one, and well worthy the careful consider- 

 ation of all parties. 



PLANTING IN UVA, CEYLON: MONARAGALA 

 I'OR ITS COFFEE AND COCOA. 



Madulsima, May 21st. 



The coffee is fresh and vigorous looking with not 

 a sigu of le'if-disease or grub. I have not seen finer 

 youug coffee in the island — not even in Haputale. 

 The lower half of the hill grows magnificent cocoa- 

 finer than anything to be seen elsewhere for its age, 

 and bears very heavily. 



Cardamiins are also exceptionally good. I saw 

 some six acres on Walton, two years old, and 

 planted 8x8 feet, covering the ground and from 

 5 to 10 feet in height, — and going to blossom. 

 Where every estate is so good it would be invidi- 

 ous to mention any one in particular ; yet, on the 

 whole, Eaxawa struck me as being the finest and 

 most regular sheet of coffee. The whole hill is 

 covered with immense boulders of magnesian rock, 

 so large that on the top of one in Raxawa the coolies 

 are mustered. The soil is rich and very deep and 

 porous. The roads in the hill are rough, as one 

 might expect where the ground is so uneven and 

 some of the short-cuts in estates aud in the- jungle 

 left standing are indescribable. Up and down ladders 

 amongst a mass of rooks, aud into holes that have 

 never yet seen daylight, remind one of Bulwer Lyt- 

 ton's "Coming Race"— the journey into the land of 

 the Vril ! The Wihara rock on the hill is some 

 hundreds of feet high aud ascended by means of 

 ch.iins, but I had not the requisite time to visit it. 

 II you wish to electrify your readers by a descrip- 

 tion of scenery, go and stand on the Kawdawa trig, 

 in Monaragala, and survey from thence the various 

 mountain ranges of the island. The view is simply 

 exquisiti- 1 The sea is clearly visible from Trinco- 

 malee to Gal!c almost, and with the naked eye ves- 

 sels can be seen s.ailing along between Batticaloa 

 and Hambantota. Would like to have stayed all 

 night on this trip to see the sun rise, but, as it 

 looked for rain, came down and met my companions 

 at Maragalla bungalow to breakfast, and a Bett-er 

 breakfast we could not have had. This buug.alow is sur- 

 i-OHnded by immense banyan trees, and here you may also 

 see a coffee tree bearing a ton an acre and growing on a 

 b.ire rock ! Such a thing was never before seen ! Left 

 the hill from the " Sirriagalla" end — an estate planted 

 up alternately with Liberian and cocoa and promis- 

 ing well Experieuced great hospitality on the hill, 

 and came away delighted with everything we had seen. 

 Rode back via Maddegama and Bibiie, along a very 

 pretty bridle path, and during the latter part of the jour- 

 ney, in torrents of rain, for it was on this day (13'h) that 

 so much rain fell all over the island. Every stream 

 was a river, aud one of our party was nearly carried 

 a%Tay by an alligator which frequents a particular ford 

 we had to cross. The ride from Bibile, or Yalkumbura 

 completed one of the most enjoyable trips I have had 

 in Ceylon. 



POETT'S PLANTATION: "THE NORTHERN 



TERRITORY " OP SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 



[By S. A, Register Correspondent.] 



Rum Jungle, March 25. 



Mr. Poett's driver kindly gave me a lift over in his buggy 

 to the plantation, which has been largely invested in by 

 Adelaide capitalists, and is a distance of four miles from 

 Rum Jungle. And here let me say that there is but little 

 doubtinmy mind that the greatest industry of the Ter- 

 riory will eventually be the cultivation of tropical pro- 

 ducts, audit is consequently highly desirable and import- 

 ant that all matters connected wiih agriculture of this 

 description should receive the fullest consideratiou at 

 the hands of Parliament. That this has been done 

 hitherto, I think, is seriously open to question. I do 

 not believe in giving away the lands ot the Territory 

 for nothing, but still I think greater inducements 

 should be held out to planters to settle amongst ua. 

 And I think that the clause in the old regulations 

 for the disposal of the waste lands, which provides 

 for the granting of quantities for this purpose at a 

 nominal rental of 2s 6d, payable in live years, at the 

 end of which time the ground would become the 

 property of the licencee. was inserted for the pur- 

 pose indicated. But, unfortunately, that clause has 

 been found to be a dead letter through the introduction 

 of the words "country lands," which by the inter- 

 pretation of the regulations mean surveyed blocks, 

 the said surveyed blocks having already been pur- 

 chased, i.e., those along the watercourses, the only 

 land suitable. I hope that in the not distant 

 future planters will be allowed to select Lands 

 suitable for their avooatious in any part of the 

 Territory, whether surveyed or not, care of course 

 being taken that large tracts of land should not be 

 taken up ostensibly for planting purposes, but in 

 reality for other objects. The clause I refer to, 82 of 

 the old regulations, provided for this contingency by 

 making it necessary that ihe license should have a 

 sufficient amount cultivated before the land became his 

 property. 



However, to return to the plantation, which is situ- 

 ated from Rum Jungle in a south-westerly direction: 

 It stands at the head of a creek, as yet unnamed, which 

 rises from a waterhole within a hundred yards of the 

 homestead. This is fed liy numerous tiny springs, 

 which can be plainly seen bubbling up from the bottom 

 of the hole, and the water tinds its way by a channel, 

 enly five or six feet wide, but three feet in depth, running 

 through the plantation, and onwards for fully six or 

 seven miles till it joins the Finniss, of which river 

 it is one of the most important tributaries. The estate 

 contains a total area of 4,000 acres. The main road be- 

 tween Southport and Pme Creek runs through the estate 

 about one and a quarter mile in an easterly direction from 

 the bungalow, and the proposed railway line, which 

 hereabouts is nearly parallel with the road, is not more 

 than a mile and a half away. It is most likely that 

 when the line is constructed a station will be built at 

 Rum Jungle ; so, as fir as position is concerned, Poett's 

 Plantation is magniticenlly situated. In fact, this feat- 

 ure had, in conjuction with the favourable character of 

 the soil, much to do with Mr. Poett's selection of the 

 site, which was made after three months' prospecting 

 of the Territory by that gentleman and his assistant, 

 Mr. McKinnon. The ground was taken up by Mr. 

 Poett eighteen mouths ago, and it was formed into 

 a Company in Adehiide in August last, when it was 

 registered under thy title of Poett's Northern Ter- 

 ritory Plantation Company. All the shareholders 

 are South Australian men, and I can, I am glad to 

 say, sincerely cougr.itulate them on their investment. 

 The work done on the estate up till the present 

 has been purely of an experimental character. Mr. 

 Poett, the manager, 13 qualified as an experienced 



