95° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Jtine I, 1883. 



but neither there nor in Cochin China, where it is prob- 

 ably of high antiquity, is there any tradition of its in- 

 troduction from India. Its name is unknown in Sanscrit, 

 as in the various dialects of modern India. The cultivated 

 plant spreads its seeds readily, and thus runs wild — vei-- 

 wildert, as the German botanists say— so that naturalists 

 are much at variance as to the actual spontaneity of the 

 specimens alleged to have been found growing wild in 

 different parts of China and Japan. A better established 

 fact appears to be that the plant has been found, in an 

 apparently indigenous state, by English travellers in Upper 

 Assam and Oachar. 



M. de CandoUe, who treats the plant as a distinct botanic 

 genus, not, as some naturalists are inclined, as a species 

 of camellia — believes its native home to be the mountains 

 on the south-west of China, which separate the great 

 plains of China from those of India. Thence, in remote 

 times, its use spread into China, but — strangely enough, 

 considering the success which has attended its recent in tro- 

 duction in Assam — not in the direction of India. He 

 likewise notes a curious incompatibihty between the tea- 

 plant and the vine, in which speculative advocates of 

 total abstinence might find a suggestive theme. The two 

 are never found together. In a few spots, like the Azores, 

 it is true both tea and vmc are grown ; but these have 

 been experiments on a small scale, and plants thus tried 

 often prove unremunerative when tried on a larger scale. 

 China has the vine, but it is little cultivated. China, 

 .Tapan, Assam, and next to them, t^eylon and Java — these 

 are the great tea-growing countries of the worlrl. None 

 of them grow the vine to any extent, if at all. On the 

 other hand, Austraha, the (Jape, and other countries 

 which promi.SB to make their mark as the vine-producing 

 countries of the future, are unfitted by drought for the 

 cultivation of the tea-plant. — Grater. 



DR. TRIMEN'S REPORT FOR 1882 OF THE 

 CEYLON ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS. 

 Now that Colombo is the mail port and the great 

 steamer port of the island, we are not surprised to 

 leam, what the Director states, that there has been 

 a large increase of visitor.? to the central establish- 

 ment at Peradcniya and to the Tropical Gardens at 

 Ilenaratgoda. When the railway is open to Nanuoya, 

 we have no doubt travellers from Australia, India, 

 and elsewhere, will be making pilgrimages to Hak- 

 gala, not only to see the site where ciucliona cult- 

 ure was commenced in Ceylon, but to complete their 

 enjoyment of beautiful and varied scenery by a \iew 

 of the grand panorama of mountains, forests, patanas, 

 rice fields and river stretching away over the princip- 

 ality of U\a. We are glad, therefore, to learn that 

 much has been done and is being done to add to the 

 natural beauty as well as the economic value of the 

 various gardens. It was only to be anticipated that 

 with the occurrence of "hard times" the revenues 

 of the gardens should fall off, from fewaiess of pur- 

 chases and paucity of purchasers. But we must re- 

 member what the establishments have done for the 

 interests of the island in the past, what they are 

 doing in the present to help us to overcome depres- 

 sion, and what we feel certain they are destined to 

 do in the future in accelerating revived prosperity, 

 by introducing and siipplying information regarding 

 " new products." The cost of the Ceylon Botanic 

 Gardens in 1882 was R37,824, of which about ten per 

 cent was recouped bv sales. It does not seem 

 that this included the amount realized by sales of 

 cinchona bark, a total from the first of 1 4,529. In 

 looking at the total cost to the colony, wr must not 

 fail to take into account the fact that a sum £of 



over R2,000 is included on account of upkeep of the 

 beautiful Pavilion Gardens, portions of which are 

 open to the public and which add so much to the 

 attractions of Kandy. We do not envy the mount- 

 ain capital its good fortune in having one fine public 

 garden in its centre in addition to the beautiful river- 

 encircled garden, park and forest combined at Pera- 

 dcniya, but we must put in a strong plea for a dis- 

 tinct government establishment in the real capital of 

 the colony. We are not forgetful of what the Municip- 

 ality have done (the growing of plants and trees be- 

 ing a labour of love to their Superintendent of Works), 

 or of the extent to which they have been aided by 

 gifts of seeds and plants from Government ; but 

 surely Colombo is entitled to a separate Botanic Gard- 

 ens of its own, in wliicli visitors with only a day 

 or a few hours at their disposal could see represent- 

 atives of all the leading plants which flourish on or 

 near the seashore. We believe a site witli suitable 

 soil could be found in tiie Cinnamon Gardens, 

 at Wellewatta, or elsewhere. The capital of the 

 North-Central Province is to have a Botanic 

 Garden of its own, and we should be glad to see 

 the capital of each of the other iirovinces of the 

 island equally favoured. Money devoted to such pur- 

 poses is never thrown away, for we have to consider 

 not only the profit to the country by the successful 

 introduction of new plants, but the refining and 

 humanizing influence on the people of a well ordered 

 collection of plants and flowers to which they can 

 have constant access. Visitors to continental India 

 cannot but be struck with the existence at every 

 station of importance of Public Gardens which, in 

 the name, still retained, of " Company Bagh," pre- 

 serve the traditions of that eminent body of English 

 traders, who, beginning as merchants, developed into 

 statesmen and w-arriors and gave Britain ultimately 

 the grandest empire which the world has e\'er seen : 

 an empire in which all the productions of every clijne, 

 as well as most of the world's races, are meeting 

 and flourishing. In the forefront of agricultural and 

 horticultural enterprise has been and will be this 

 "India's utmost isle" of ours, and erelong we have 

 no doubt we shall take good rank in attention to 

 arboriculture. We now await with interest the ap- 

 pearance of Mr. Vincent's elaborate Report ou our 

 i'orests, to which Dr. Trimen alludes and which we 

 have no doubt will prove as useful as it will be 

 interesting. 



For the right cultivation of forest trees as welj 

 as for the successful establishment of plants in 

 Botanic Gardens, a knowledge of the main character- 

 istics of climate is indispensable. Our readers will, 

 therefore, be as much surprised as we are to learn 

 that, although so long ago as 1861 Mr. Clements 

 Marlchain chose, for tlie initiation of the experiments 

 connected .witli the introduction of tlie fever plants 

 to Ceylon, the plateau under the rock sununit of 

 Hakgala, because of the general resemblance of the 

 natural features to those which distinguish the 

 habitat of the cinchonas in the Andean ranges, 

 yet, in the whole interval of twenty-two years, no 

 regular meteorological observations have been taken, 

 untd Mr. Nock cook to countmg the uunib>;r of 

 rainy days . It is just possible that, as observations 

 were regularly taken near bj' at Nuwara Eliya, two 

 stations in such close contiguity were not deemed 

 necessary. But Hakgala altuough not very distant 

 in a direct line is in a diflerent position as regards 

 the vast plains of Uva, and faces the east, while the 

 site of the Gardens is 600 feet below JNuwara Eliya 

 Plain. The observatuine which Mr. jNook has been 

 able to take seem to prove that the mountain 

 plateau rfCfives as much rain aa the mountain plain, 

 Mr. Nock's exiierieuoe has been that rain tell at 

 llakgala in 1882 (a specially wet year) on 2.'J5 days out 



