July i, 18S5] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



21 



the thermometer only onoe went down lower than 

 45°, ami tlien it w.ia over 44", in the month of 

 Maich. But iu February last year, Mr. Nock at 

 Hakgala, recorded 4o'5" in the shade and 34' on the 

 grass iu the same month. The maximum in the shade 

 was 78'o' and in the sun 147'. The tirst portion of 

 the year being droughty, the rainfall for the year 

 was 75-4 inches on 19U days. We should think 

 that when the weather of 18S5 has been carefully 

 recordtd, fair averages for temperature, rainfall, &c., 

 at Hakgala can be computed. The conditions of 

 climati are very different to those at Peradeuiya 

 even, and certainly the opposite of those which pre- 

 vail at lleuaratgoda and Anuradhapura. It is specially 

 pleasing to hear of the success of the latter Garden, 

 as persons condemned to live in the climate of the 

 ancient city need every possible alleviation of their 

 lot, such as the sight of luxuriant plants and 

 beautilul Uowcrs can supply. The rainfall at I'era- 

 dcuiya was only a few cents below that which fell 

 at Hakgala, but the rainy days at the 1,()00 feet 

 station were only 11.5 against 196 on the mountain 

 plateau. The Hakgala Gardens, which command so 

 grand a view of the Valley of Uva, will, now that the 

 rail«.iy has been opened to near Nuwara Kliya, be more 

 than ever the resort of visitors, and we are glad 

 to bo assured, and indeed to know, tiiat, under 

 Mr. Nock's energetic management, the place is 

 a credit to the colony, in degree only behind 

 the romantic scene near Kandy of which Dr. 

 Trimen ii the presiding genius. Our readers will see 

 that interchanges of plants and seeds have gone on 

 briskly and that to the list of plants at Pera- 

 deniya large additions have been made, while the 

 volumes iu the Library have also been increased. 

 We now know why the Ceylon BdopelHi has the 

 distinguishing name of Antonii. It is named after 

 Dr. Anton Uohrn, but why the tirst instead of the 

 second name of that gentleman was chosen, except 

 for r. asons of euphony, we cunnot say. We are also 

 informed that cacao was grown at the Botanic 

 Gardens at Kalutara in ISl'J and that in 18:i4-35 

 Sir I-tob^rt Wdmot Ilorton (who had just declared 

 the Indian rupee to be the equivalent of two shillliugs) 

 obtained a consignment of the plants from Triifidad. 

 Of course there is reference to the old narcotic and 

 new anesthetic coca or cuca, and it is shown that 

 specimens of Strychnos mix vomica growing in Ceylon 

 are especially rich in the alkaliids from which the 

 valuablo nie.liciue but deadly poison, strychnine, is 

 obtained. Fruit trees are not forgotten, and alto- 

 gether Dr. Trimen's Rviijort will well repay perusal. 

 We hope his next will announce a revivtd demand 

 for trees,- [jlauts and seeds; and the establishment 

 o£ a Garden at BaduUa which the Goveinment his 

 too long delayed. 



make any unpleasant remarks it the superintendent 

 estimated lO.UOO aud cured 15,000 ; and yet he would 

 be equally wrong in the latter case as iu the former 

 and quite as deserving of censure. I wonder what the 

 feelings of those people are now who have been 

 cutting down good bearing coffee to make room for 

 tea. " CoS'ee ain't dead yet, and so I telli yer." 

 Afternoon sliowera have been prevalent during the 

 last fortnight, and one day recently a rather severe 

 thunderstorm was experienced, which, however, was 

 only of very short duration. 



GOOD COFFEE CROPS IN UVA. 



Badulla, 30th May. — You will, no doubt, be glad 

 and perhaps also surprised to hear that almost every- 

 body iu thete parts is getting a great deal more than 

 his estimate of cutfie crop : in some ins'ancea indeed 

 nearly double the estimate has already been attained 

 and there is a lot more to pick. If coffee quotations 

 were only at a decent figure, we might well exclaim : 

 " What a day we 're a 'aving." Many of the oldest 

 and most experienced planters here have been altogether 

 out in their calculations this season ; the very severe 

 attack of leaf-diaease we had making it extremely 

 doubtful if half the crop would ever ariive at maturity. 

 The mistakes in estimites being on the right side, 

 however no one is likely to raise an outcry about 

 the error. Agents and proprietors might object to a 

 superintendent estimating 10,000 of parchment and 

 getting 5,000, whereas they would not be likely to 



HOW LIBEBIAN COFPEE WAS FIRST 

 INTRODUCED INTO CEYLON, 



[From a letter addressed to a Loudon correspondent 

 by the late Mr. John Gordon.] 



London, 27th November 1878. 

 You may have been reading in the papers from time 

 to time the history of the Liberian coffee without 

 perhaps being aware of the trivial circumstances 

 which tirst led to its introduction into Ceylon : it 

 may not therefore be out of placo if we give it now. 

 In 1SC6 there was a ship captaiu who had been on a 

 trading voyage along the West Coast of Africa, who 

 thought if he had some copper coins to trade with he 

 could do so much better than by barter. He therefore 

 called on Mr. Gordon (late of Ceylon) and spoke to 

 him with reference to having some copper coined. 

 While iu Mr. Goi'don's oflice the captain saw there a 

 number of small sample bottles of oullee, when he 

 remarked that at one place where he had gone ashore 

 he had si en two culfee trees growing side by side, 

 in the jungle, one of which was a large tree with the 

 berries on it like small English plums. The other tree 

 was entirely diff'erent and grew smaller berries. 

 Gordon asked the captaiu for a few berries of both 

 aorta, which he gave him. Mr. Goi'don was greatly 

 «urprized at the large-sized beans : the other coffee was 

 about the usual Ceylon size, but different in this respect 

 that about seven-tenths of the berries had three beans in 

 each cherry, in place of the usual two. 



Gordon did not think much of this latter coffee, but 

 sent some of the large beans to Mr. Massey in Kandy 

 and set about obtaining a quantity of the coffee seed 

 from Liberia to forward to Ceylon, but, owing to the 

 Civil War and President Kay's death, the seed was not 

 obtained for som-i years. When Gordon succeeded in 

 getting eight bnehels of parchment coffee, he packed it in 

 powdered chare >al in old flour barrels aud sent it out 

 to Mr. Tottenham, who unfortunately had just left 

 Ceylon for a trip to Borneo. The ca.ks lay for several 

 months in the Customs House at Columbo until hia 

 return, when he liad it planted. Owing, however, to 

 the coffee having become t.io much dried from the 

 absorbing nature of the charcoal, not a single seed of 

 it grew. 



President Roberts brought homo an open box of coffee 

 plants which ho presented to Mr. Goidon, who sent 

 them to Mr. Tottenham. The weather being rather 

 cold at the time of the plants' arrival, and the steamer 

 for Ceylon not sailing for ten days, Mr. Tottenham 

 took the box of plants in a cab to Mr. Bull's hot-houso 

 where tliey remained until the departure of the vessel. 

 (Two leaves from the plauts in this box are still pasted 

 against the wall in Mr. Gordon's office.) This was 

 the first time Mr. Bull had seen the coffee. Iu 1872 

 Gordnn had two wardian cases with plants, and 

 cherries, in theei.rth, aud these were also sent to Mr. 

 Bull's conservatory until the steamer was ready. 

 These plants were all sent to Mr, L. St. George Carey 

 to whom Mr. Tottenham had sold hia estates. 



Althoujjh .Mr. Tottenham paid the greater part of the 

 actual expenses, Gordon states that ho is still out of 

 pocket by the introduction, and, as the (Government 



