Jani'akyIiJ886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



471 



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J'o the Ediior of the '■ Ceijloii Obsa-vir." 



TEA IN DADULLA. 

 Dotland Instate, BacluUu, "ilst Nov.- 1885. 



Dear Sin, — By this day's tappal I send you sam- 

 ples of tea made here from two-year old trees, 

 rolled by Frater's new tea roller, and tired on 

 estate. 



If yovi will jjive me an opinion on it, as to 

 w heHier the same would find a market in Colombo, 

 I would esteem it a favor. I have aUeady some 

 1". acres planted, but before extending the acreage 

 would like to arrive at what price this class of 

 tea is likely to be worth. Uehig so heavily handi- 

 capped in iiadulla in the way of transport and 

 fuel likewise will be a serious item to eost of 

 production (especially should we have to use 

 coal or coke for our machinery) compared to 

 the more favored districts south of Kuwara Kliya, 

 where the principal estates (giving laige returns) 

 are very near the Government cart-road or along- 

 side of a railway station. 



The present season is and has been all one 

 conld wish for planting and a large acreage has 

 been put in with many thousands of cinchona. 



Coffee is looking very well, and very little leaf- 

 disease to be seen, but no doubt it is there, but 

 nothing like in the form it was two years back. — 

 I am. dear sir. yours truly, T. J. E. .JOHNSOX. 



The tea is certainly marketable and very good in 

 make for iirst samples. — Er>.] 



FLORAL : 



TBK nOR3E-T.UI. CREEPER, POR.INA VOLUBILIS, UlTM., 

 AND THE CtOATS-FOOT irOSKEA. 



Dear SiK, — In my notes op "Hints on Garden- 

 ing specially adapted for Ceylon, by W. Cameron," 

 which appeared in your Directory for 18G.3, pp. 205- 

 '224, I made the following note at p. 212 in refer- 

 enci! to the Convolvulus family : — " A member of 

 this order 'called the horse-tail creeper, Parana 

 rnlKhilix, sent to me by Mr. Dyke from Jaffna 

 some time ago is now, Dec. 1862, in full flower 

 in the Fort Garden, and with its hundreds of 

 small white flowers which hang down in festoons, 

 in the shape of horse-tails, is a fine plant and 

 will soon be a great acquisition for trellises in 

 Colombo " ; and the nisgniticent sight of this plant 

 in full flower all over Colombo during the last 

 few days confirms the truthfulness of my assertion 

 made 22 years ago. 



The addition of this splendid creeper to others 

 now in Colombo deserves a few notes respecting 

 its introduction, and others which may be of interest 

 to the readers of the Ceylon Oburver and Tropical 

 Aurirnlinriit. 



• When passing through Jaffna to or from Madras 

 in 1849, I saw this plant for the first time in full 

 flower in the garden of the late Mr. Minor of the 

 American Mission at Manippay, and it was then 

 called the Pulney or hor.-etail creeper as it was 

 brought by one of the missionaries from the Pulney 

 hills, in the Madras districts, .Southern India. Ciit- 

 lings of it which I got from Mr. Minor then failed 

 to grow. In 18.59 Government veiy kindly gave me a 

 free passage in the steamer " Pearl," then bound to 

 inspect the Pearl Banks oil Arippu,' with Mr. Vane, 

 Inspector of the Banks, and Mr. I>yke, Government 

 Agtnl of .laflfua. al; o passengers, Captain Donnan in 

 com.iinnd. Tin- ** Pe:irl "' went on diifct (o .(alTna to 

 land Mr. Dyke, and then cauie baik to the I'earl 

 Bank;-, which were inspected and surveyed, and 

 plans made o{ them. On our return to Colombo 



i the ■■ Pearl" encountered a cyclone in tl)o Gulf of 

 Mar::ar, and ray belief is that we passed through 

 the centre of it ; an account of this would be 

 interesting, and Captain Donnan has no doubt 

 correct notes of it, but sulHcG it to say tliiit 

 during four voyages round the Cape and tlu'ce by 

 the overland route I never encountered sueli * a 

 storm as •■ : went through on that occasion. We 

 did not renip- 1 long enough at Jaftiia to enable 

 r:' to get another supply of the horse-tail creeper 

 h\.: the late Mr. Dyke promised to send me some 

 rooted plants, and two of these in separate 

 flowerpots came shortly afterwards, but the plant.s 

 wore eaten down to the surface of the soil by 

 goats which were on board the vessel that brought 

 the flowers. On examination, however, it was 

 found that the plants were still alive, and one of 

 them was plaiiled by me about 18(10 in the centre 

 of what was then called the Fort Garden, the 

 space now bounded on four sides by the 

 Government OtJices, 8t. Peter's Churcli, the 

 Grand C)riental Hotel, and the Rcotcli Clunch, &c. 

 and from tliis plant all those now growing in 

 Colombo are offshoots. It appears from Moon's 

 Cat. p. 1;-!, that tlii^ jdaut and another, J', ^jtoa'c- 

 iihitii. were introduced into Ceylon before 1824, 

 and I believe these are still growing in the Boyal 

 Gardens at Peradeniya, but they do not flower so 

 well there as in the low hot part of the island, 

 and no attempt has been made that I am aware 

 of to cultivate them until those froui Jaffna were 

 brought to Colombo as stated above. 



The genus Poraiui (probably j^ureiio, to extend, 

 or journey, from the rambling branches) was 

 established by N. L. Burman (son of J. Burman, 

 author of the Tltemuriis Zfijhuiicus) in his " Flora 

 Indica " in 17'i8, the present plant being tlie. type 

 of the genus. It is described on p. 51 and 

 figured in table 21*, figure 1, but universally 

 quoted as tab. 21 f. 1 which is an error, as there 

 are two tables, viz., 21 and 21*. 



The above notes were written exactly this time 

 last year, and the free flow'ering of the horse- 

 tail creeper, now makes them as applicable as they 

 were then. These flowers in many respects remind 

 one of the hawthorn or may flowers of old Kngland, 

 and if "a thing of beauty is a joy tor ever" 

 surely the " horse-tail creeper," now in flower all 

 over Colombo, is a joy to the lovers of flowers of 

 many lands. — Yours faithfully, W. F. 



P.S. — And this reminds me that another plant 

 with an apjjropriate conmion English name, the Goat- 

 foot Ijioma'a is now in full flower, and remarkable 

 for its large purple-colored flowers, and two-lobed 

 leaves resembling a goat's foot, close to the Fort of 

 Colombo. Some years ago the seashore from the 

 Fort to Mount Lavinia was lined with this beauti- 

 ful plant, patches of which occupied the roadside 

 on the Gaile Face parade ground, the branches of 

 ■ those on the shore spreading till they were dashed 

 back by the waves, thus proving that it is one of 

 the best sand-binding plants in Ceylon. The plant 

 is such a favorite as food for rabbits that the 

 owners of these, almost entirely rooted out the Goat-- 

 foot Ipomo?a in this place with the exception of 

 some enclosed in the compound of Aloe .\vcnue, 

 but even here it is an eternal struggle to keep ths 

 plant from being stolen. Pressure having been put 

 on the Superintendent of Works of the Colombo 

 . Municipality to plant some ornamental trees in the 

 1 triangular piece of ground in tiont of the police 

 station on (inlle Face, he had some cartloads of 

 this ]ilant removed frr>ni the bar of the Kelani 

 ! river, which were planted here and along the .sea- 

 i shore at Galle Face, as a beginning, and before 

 tlie last rain» Le took tbe liberty to plant the open 



