JfUNfe 1, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



8t3 



Ous ornamental and fruit trees and shrubs from India, 

 N. Australia, and the West Indies. 



A large collection of additional plants and seeds have 

 been sent from Peradeniya during the year, and I am 

 glad to be able to report that the Conductor, by the 

 careful attention he gives to their culture, continues to 

 merit ray approbation. 



Notwithstaudiug this success, it is disappointing to 

 find that, at present at all events, one object of the 

 formation of the Garden remains almost in abeyance. 

 The natives and settlers show no iuclination, and in- 

 deed are averse, to cultivating anything beside paddy. 

 Areca and mango plants are offered at a nominal price, 

 and jak plants free, but almost in vain. So far from 

 seeing any advantage in possessing these additional 

 future sources of food or income, it is but too evident 

 that the ordinary cultivator regards them with in- 

 difference, and would consider any ofKcial recommend- 

 ation to plant' them as merely an additional trouble 

 and hardship forced upon him by Government. But 

 it may be hoped that vehen the tanks are more steadily 

 full and paddy cultivation more regularly established 

 and easier, a different temper will prevail. 



The vote for this Garden is very small but, as pre- 

 viously, I have had this year the use of a small pro- 

 vincial vote also, and this has enabled the Conductor's 

 little house to be properly finished, and lines for the 

 coolies to be made. We have missed this year the 

 assistance of prison labour, nearly the whole having 

 been required for the clearing and repairing of the 

 ancient ruius*; and in dry weather our staff of five 

 coolies find it difficult to keep up with the necessary 

 watering. 



Badulla Garben. 



The piece of land acquired for an experimental 

 garden in Badulla has been taken in hand, and a 

 commencement toward fitting it for its intended 

 purpose has been made. I find that some dissatis- 

 faction with the site and surprise that it should 

 have been selected, have been locally expressed. 

 Certainly, had it been possible to secure a piece of 

 jungle near the town I should have preferred it to 

 old paddy land, but none such was available, and 

 of the three plots of ground I had to choose from, 

 that selected was unquestionably the best. It is at 

 present of course quite bare; and several years 

 must elapse before any efficient shade and shelter 

 can be provided : but it will, I hope, prove of 

 some utility before it presents much beauty. 



Work was commenced, on February 10th, by 

 putting up a temporary bamboo fence round the 

 grcind, and planting outside it a line of green 

 aloes (Furcraa (^iyantea). It is intended to form a 

 bank along the whole boundary, and plant a strong live 

 fence of Madras thorn ; and this would have been done 

 during the year but seeds were not to be obtained. 



A small bungalow has been erected for the Sin- 

 halese conductor at the east end of the ground, 

 where are also placed the cooly lines and a bam- 

 boo shelter for raising seedlings, &c. In front of 

 the bungalow a flower garden of 47 beds has been 

 made, and separated from it by a hedge of Hibiscus, 

 a nursery of 32 beds. 



By far the principal work of this first year 

 has consisted in the formation of a carriage 

 drive. In the making of this, which is nearly 

 completed, we have had the advantage of prison 

 labour, and for this and much other help my 

 thanks are due to the Government Agent, Mr. 

 jE. a. King, aud his Assistant, Mr. S. M. Burrows. 

 The drive is 365 yards long, and forms a direct 

 continuation of a new road leading by the mosque ; 

 it passes out of the Garden into the " Green-lane," 

 This is not the course which I had planned for it, 

 but the change was necessitated by the abandonment 

 of a projected public road to the cemetery, which 

 was to have formed the northern boundary of the 

 Garden, and from an entrance gate on which I had 

 intended the drive to malce the circuit of the Garden. 

 It is hoped that this road, or some equivalent public 

 one, may still be made; as when the Garden gates 

 are put up it will not be possible for the present 



* Too bad.— Ed. 



garden drive to be constantly used as a public 

 thoroughfare. A large collection of ornamental Kbrubs, 

 palms, &c., sent from Peradeniya, have been pl.^nted 

 out along the sides of the drive, and efforts are being 

 made to get up a stock of economic plants and fruit- 

 trees suitable for Uva. A commencement of sales 

 has begun, and a small quantity of young trees, &c., 

 supplied for planting about the town. Ordinary 

 garden plants appear to have done very well in the 

 new feeds, and Mr. Nock tells me that the show of 

 dahlias and chrysanthemums was really very fine. 

 I observe that the choeho,the ]oqna,t, avd Erythroxy- 

 Ion Coca are all growing vigorously. The climate of 

 Badulla differs from that of the other Gardens under 

 my charge. The rainfall is mainly under the influence 

 of the north-east monsoon, and is heaviest in No- 

 vember and December, but rain falls more or less in 

 all months of the year, June and July being Ihe 

 driest months. The mean of the years 1876-1885 was 

 78-62 in., falling on 91 days. The elevation of the 

 meteorological station— a few feet higher than the 

 Garden— is 2,225 feet above mean sea level, and the 

 annual mean temperature 72'2. 

 NOTES ON ECONOMIC PLANTS AND PRODUCTS. 



Coffee. — The export of coffee from Ceylon has sunk, 

 in the commercial year ended September 30th 1886, to 

 the very low figure of 223,693 cwt., being over 

 65,000 cwt. less than in the previous one, and lower than 

 any year since 1846. In rightly estimating this fact, 

 however, one must not fail to take into full consideration 

 the greatly reduced area under this crop. I do not think 

 that there is now going on a further progressive dimi- 

 nution in the yield per an'e on estates in good cultiv- 

 ation ; ill the Province of Uva especially, as I gather 

 from the reports of planters and othtrs, there are 

 no signs now of increasing deterioration, and coffee- 

 growing remains a remunerative industry. The general 

 destruction of badly diseased coffee over many square 

 miles has doubtless greatly diminished the supplies of 

 Hemileia spores, and there is good evidence that, as 

 was to be expected, since the chances of infection are 

 lessened, the " attacks " of leaf-disease occur less fre- 

 quently and at longer intervals, aud the trees 

 suffer less proportionally. It is satisfactory to learn 

 that in Uva, though a considerable acreage of tea has 

 been planted, this has not been done to any large 

 extent by the sacrifice of coffee, — as in other parts of 

 Ceylon, — but mainly by opening new land ; for I cannot 

 but thiok that a general substitution of the new pro- 

 duct for the old one is not justified, either by exist- 

 ing circumstances or in view of the fu<^ure. 



Apart from coffee, the increase in the exports of all 

 estate products during the past year is very s^^riking. 



Tea. — Over seven million pounds (7,170,329), or 

 nearly double that for the previous one, were exported 

 during the financial year ; and an immense impetus to 

 the demand at home has been givt-n by the costly 

 advertisement at the Colonial and Indian Exhildtion 

 in London, where Cej'lon tea gained a very great po- 

 pularity. Otherwise there is nothing in the position 

 of this product that calls for any remark from mo 

 beyond what is contained in ray last report. The 

 amount of land now under tea is estimated at over 

 130,000 acres, but this is to be regarded only as an 

 approximation. 



As anything relating to this product, which has 

 now stepped into the first rank of our exports, 

 has become of interest, this is the proper place 

 to put on record the facts with regard to the 

 first introduction of Assam tea into this Colony. 

 In December, 1839, Dr. Wallich, the eminent 

 Indian botanist, at that time at the head of the 

 Calcutta Botanic Gardens, sent to Peradeniya seeds 

 of the then recently discovered " Indigenous Assam 

 Tea"; and these were followed in February, 1840, by 

 205 plants. In May, the then Superintendent at Pera- 

 deniya, Mr. Norinansell, sent k,>_ veral plants to Niiwara 

 Eliya, and a man was supplied to look after them. 

 'I'his was after a representation to Government that 

 tea was likely to prove a " new and profitable specu- 

 lation" and a "valuable source of revenue." Again, 

 in April 1842, another instalment of Assam plants 

 was received from Dr. Wallich, and in Octobor Bom9 



