30 



-fHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



QuLV i, 1885. 



ally no existence on the Kandyan estates with 

 tlie opening of the railway, but as for Uva, 

 you must have a railway not only to Haputale 

 but to BaduUa. It is a very great mistake 

 to suppose that the trace from Haputalo to Badulla 

 I9 either costly or difficult to construct: on the cou- 

 trary, it is by far the easiest porti'in of the linp, 

 the diffi'julty was in getting a trace to meet the re- 

 quirements of the consulting engiueer as to curves 

 and gradients ; the sudden drop froui Baudarawela to 

 Kumbalwella between the 17th and 19th railc-posts 

 on the Badulla and Haputale road waa the real 

 difficulty, lut I pointed out to Mr. Ferrar that by 

 keeping well belrnd the resthouse he would prob- 

 ably find a good enough trace with a little cutting 

 and the whole line to Badulla his been pegged out 

 and there is h'lrdly a piece of rock cutting on tht 

 line. The difficulty, if difficulty it can be called, will 

 be to get good stone for the few culverts oa tlie liae ; 

 so soft and yieldiug is the whole country heie.that 

 Mr. Ferrar's fear was that constant slips would add 

 much to the cost of upkeep for some time after 

 opening, and, in order to avoid this, the trace has 

 followed the bed of the Baduluoya as closely as 

 possible, where the bed of the road would be sounder 

 and stone and lime available for building ; this necess- 

 itates crossing the stream several times, and the 

 bridging of the Baduluoya wdl be one of the most 

 costly items in the consti uction. This trace will take 

 all the coliee from LuniigiUa, Ampitikande, Leau- 

 gahawelle, Craig aud the whole grou^ of estates near 

 Baudarawela ; the whole of the Kaudapola estates 

 will also find their nearest outlet at Baudarawela, 

 but a cart road must be out from Koslauda to the 

 Baudarawela station. The large group of Badulla 

 estates from Ravenswood through Gowrakelle to 

 Pepolgaahena will find their outlet at a station near 

 Demodara, their present place of dispatch, Keeuakelle, 

 Naraangalla aud piobably the Gampaha group of estates 

 in TJdapussellawa will find their outlet at DikweiJa 

 station, as the nearest point on the raileway liue. 

 Badnlla station will serve the whole of tho Badulla, 

 Passara and MaduUima estates i.nd probably Mouara- 

 gala as being nearer than Haputale via the uuhealthj 

 country of Wcllaivaya. When the railway is com- 

 pleted, thea may the Badulla planters hope to com- 

 pete with the Kandyan districts in the cultivation 

 of tea. I still adhere to my previously expressed 

 opiniou, that the soil and climate of Uva are cipable 

 of producing alike the maximum yield with the 

 finest quality of any tea grown in Cejlon, but, still 

 you have got a railway, you will labour under far 

 greater disadvantages in tea cultivation than yiui have 

 ever done with coffee. * » * Jamks Irvine. 



[If Sir Arthur Gordon brings back sanction for 

 the Haputale section we and the Uva men v/ill bo 

 well-pleased ; but should he overcome all objection 

 to go on to Badulla at once we should indeed be 

 delighted 1— Ed.] 



BURNING OF ANOTHER TKA FACTORY: 

 The need of special vkecautions : asbestos paint- 

 iron STORES— EIRE INSURANCE, 



The report that Mr. W. I. Cotton, of Warwick 

 estate. New Galway, has sustaiued the loss, by fire, 

 of his tea-house and a considerable quantity of pro- 

 duce, more or less prepared, is, we much regret to 

 say, confirmed. This occurred ou the evening of 

 Friday, May 28th, aud so sudden was the seizure, about 

 7 p. m., that although the alarm was at once 

 given and all possible steps taken, almost nothiug 

 was saved: the tea-house with the furuishing, 



thi bins full of tea (2,500 lb.) and 50 boxes of tea ready 

 for dispatch ; all were lost. There was some danger 

 at one time of the tire spreading to the bungalow 

 and outhouses; but, fortunately, this waa prevented. As 

 it stands, the loss is a heavy one for Mr. Cotton, 

 aud much sympathy is due to an honorable, indu-- 

 trious and (like eo many more in these day,) struggl- 

 ing planter. 



This is the second case of the burning of a tea-house in 

 the neighbourhood of Nuwara Elira wdiere, no doubt, the 

 cooler temperature aud oecaiional strong winds increase 

 the risk. A third and even more important case was 

 that of Campden Hill. It is no wonder therefore though 

 the agents of Fire Insurance Compouifs ehould ex- 

 pect to do considerable business in Ceylon. But In- 

 surance at best oin ill compensate for all the loss 

 aud incouvenienes sustained on such occasions — the 

 stoppage of work for instance. And therefore it. will 

 become a question whether iron stores should not be- 

 come the rule in the future. In the meantime those 

 with timber exposed to^the risk of catching fire should at 

 at once consider the importance of applying this new 

 fireproof asbestos paint, which, we understand, is 

 not much dearer than ordinary paint and which has 

 stood so severe a test that a log painted with it 

 aud thrown into a furuace resisted the action of 

 the fiames '. 



CEYLON UPCOUNTRV PLANTING REPORT. 



THE WANT OF REVERENCE OF THE PRESENT AGE: AN IN- 

 STANCE — A TEA "authority" — LOSS OF FLUSHES FROM 



helopeliis — a cacao estate planted up with areca 



palms— A REAL OLD-FASHIONED SOUTH-WEST MONSOON, BUT 

 WITH VERY LITTLE WPND. 



8th June 1885. 



Want of reverence is said to be one of the crying 

 sins of the age ; it affects things facred and secular, 

 theology and tea. 1 had a sad example of its in- 

 trusion into the region of our promising now product 

 the other day. One who ought to have known better 

 come up to me with a Iroad grin on his face, and 

 said ; " Did you hear that good joke? " and not having 

 heard it he poured it out then and there, adding 

 as his moral to the tale : " These fellows who give 

 themselves aiis as authorities ou tea seem to me to 

 know very little about it." The irreverence displayed 

 was shocking, — but I will tell the =tory that was told 

 to me, so that my readers may judge for themselves 

 how far my indignation is righteous. On an estate 

 about to bo turned into a tea garden a report was 

 called for as to suitability for the new enterprize, 

 and special refereU'je wjs made to some tea bushes 

 then growing, as to what they were, and whether it 

 would be worth while preserving them for seed. The 

 "authority" came, saw, aud delivered as his verdict 

 that the tea was a very poor j;U, and ought to be 

 rooted out. The superintendent on the estate was 

 not an authority, and did not pretend to have that 

 nice precention which distinguishes the knowing ones ; 

 but for all that he na? practical, gathered the seeds of 

 the doomed plants, and put them out in a nursery. 

 In due time the nursery flourished, and specimens 

 from it were forwarded to " the authority " and ad- 

 vice aeked as to whether it would bo safe to buy similar 

 plants for planting. The answer returned was to the 

 effect that they were of a very fair jAt indeed, and 

 a recommendation that they should be bought ! 

 Now I don't pretend to understand what mv frl-nd 

 had got to laugh at. You remember — in " Dm Quixote" 

 was it?— the perplexity caused by the different verdicts 

 on a pipe of wine by the two famed connoisseurs. 

 Oue said it had a taste of iron, and the other that 

 it had a fiavour of leather, and how their skill was 

 established by the discovery when the pipe of wine 



