594 



THE TROPICAL ADltlCULTURIST. [March 1, 1886. 



The fifth occurs in the BaduUa district. As in the 

 guc'iss wo bnve a great many varietius, so also in the 

 dolomites. They all contain carbonate ol magnesia, 

 ■■.vhieh varies from 1 to over 40 per cent. 



These limestones are very valuable for estate pur- 

 nosrs as well as for building stone and building lime. 



In colour they vary mvieh. dependent on the numer- 

 ous aeeidontal minerals that occur along with them. Thus 

 the specimens from AVilson's jlinigalow are very dark; 

 lliey contain pyrites, pliilogopite, chlorite, epiiote, kc. 



A dolomite occurring at Wariiipola on the Matale 

 railway contains a large amount of blue spinel. Some 

 of tho crystals of these dolomites have large facets 

 others small ami of a granular texture. Many con- 

 taiu white translucent siliceous grainsnot easily dis- 

 tinguished. 



A beautiful example of limestone of a somewhat 

 peculiar tiuc:e, due to the metal chromium, occurs 

 beyond Balaugoda, and often contains fine specimens 

 of crystaline biotite — a magnesian mica. This lime- 

 stone shews a very peculiar and characteristic wea- 

 thered surface. 



As we are writing, the following letter from Mas- 

 keliya reaches us with a small specimen of reck, 

 Ri)nilar to the Ambawella rock, but differing in 

 the prevalence of small, wlute crystals contrasted 

 with the blue : — 



Theberton, Ambagamuwa,* Jan. 27th, 1880. 



Dear Sir, — I semi by this post a small sample of 

 my limestone, as I see by the account you give in 

 your issue of the 2Gth iust. of the stone found by Mr. 

 Kellow, that mine is of the same description. I have 

 it in my lime reef red, b'ue, green, violet and black, 

 at least some of the limestone has black crystals the 

 same description as the others in every way except 

 colour My children have found quite large pieces of 

 red spinel which we have taken no care of, as -Mr. 

 Dixon told us they were only spinels and of no va'ue. 

 I have at times come across from the limest'^ne really 

 beautiful pieces full of these blue and violet crystals 

 and other colours, but blue is the most abundant. Mr. 

 Dixon did not think much of it and said they had 

 somethiug to do with copper and iron. 



A\'hat an extraordinary Jan. ; rainfall so far in the 

 month 7'32 against an average for the last 6 years 

 for the whole month of 238 and a max. in 1832 of 

 4-61 and a min. in 1881 of 0-58 we had on the 20th 

 iust. a shower at 4 p.m. in which 31G fall ; the most 

 we have ever had in 21 hours before closing the last 

 6 years, in Jan. was 1'50. The last wet Jan. was 

 the year of oxces.sive rain, 1882. Is 1886 also going to 

 follow suit? Hope not. T.J. Griou. 



P.S. — One of the boys smashed the other day a red 

 spinel he found in h inch square as he thought it wjis no 

 M ir, I 'irmly be'ieve if we hatl a tjouJ mUit. to make 

 ' iurvev et?. in Ceylon, som-'thing would turn up of 

 . liue tu the islaud. T. J. G. 



! • is quite true that ordinary spinel is not of mucli 

 value, but large, perfect crystals, especially if of 

 j'uby red colour, ought to be preserved and their 

 value ascertained. 



THE GOSPEL OP AGRICULTUEE, NEW 

 PBODUCTS, &c. ■ 



Not long ago I found a brother farmer in a very 

 bad case. He said that it had actually come to it 

 that a man could not make a living in this country, 

 and if he could find anybody to give his land to 

 he was going to hunt new ground. I was sorry 

 1< r him for he did look powerfully long faced. 

 ;Says 1 : " Have you tried to make a living at farming ?' 



"Have I tried?" he said with a look that in- 

 dicated that I was a fool. " I have worked my- 

 self and folks nearly to death, and we have been 

 getting jioorer every year." "That is strange," 

 says I, " some people do make a living right here 

 in this country. I have not found it hard to do." 



* Post town in Ambagamuwa, but dates in Muskdiya. 

 —Ed, 



After taking a long look at me. he said: "I 

 carried my last cotton to market t'other day, and 

 when I went to square up I was left in debt for 

 meat and bread last year, and now I have got 

 everything to buy this year. Them merchants just 

 take all a poor farmer can make and ihen they 

 ain't satisfied. We all work hard and have nothing, 

 and we are always in debt. This is no country 

 for a white man." As he said this his voice 

 trembled and he shook. It made me real sorry ; 

 for he is a good, hard working man. Said I : 

 " How do you manage, Zeke Pitkin ; do you make 

 a good garden and have plenty of vegetables in 

 their season ?" Looking down at his feet, he re- 

 plied : " Do you reckon I have got nothing to do 

 hut work in a garden ? I tell you it is all I can 

 do to work my crop." -'Weil," says I, "you 

 have been on the same place htteen years — reckon 

 you have got lots of fruit of different sorts to eat 

 in the summer and fall and to put up for the 

 winter.'-' " I reckon I ain't. I need my land for 

 my crop, and land with trees on it won't fetch 

 a crop." " Do you raise plenty of Irish and sweet 

 potatoes to do you ?" " Plenty while they last ; 

 that ain't long ?" " Do you keep cows to give you 

 butter and milk ?" " Sometimes." " Does your 

 wife raise plenty of chickens and turkeys, and 

 such like?" "How can she, when she has to help 

 me with the crop?" "Do you make plenty of 

 corn, oats and hay for your own use ?" " Of 

 course I don't, when I am obliged to put in a full 

 crop of cotton to pay my debts and buy something to 

 eat." Several fellows sitting round said: "That's 

 what's the matter with Sallie." Says I: " l-'rieuds, 

 I want to tell you what is the matter with Sallie, and 

 Mary and Jane, and Tom and Bob and Zeke here, 

 and all the rest of you. You say you can't make a 

 living, and the truth is you are not trying to make a 

 living. You are trying to make money by raising 

 cotton to buy a living with, and there is no reason in 

 that. Now, listen to me a little, for your own good : 

 You and yours toil the year round to make cotton, 

 and then you get your meat from 1,000 miles away ; 

 corn. Hour, hay, and so on come the same way. The 

 Yankees sell us their grass at a big price, and we 

 work ourselves to death to kill grass. If you will do 

 as I tell you, inside of three years every one of you 

 will be easy." Several of them spoke right out and 

 said : " Let us hear it." " Very well," I said, " go 

 home, and tonight get your wives and children all 

 round you, tell them just how you liave been doing 

 and how it has worked. Then say I propose to turn 

 over a new leaf. First we will not spend one cent 

 we can help — not a cent for tobacco, whiskey nor 

 clothes more than is necessary. We will get cows 

 enough to give us plenty of milk and butter, and we 

 will attend to them, and we will get some cows 

 and pigs and look after them. There will be a good 

 garden and plenty ol chickens raised. We will plant 

 plenty of ijotatoes, corn and whatever is to live on. 

 In short, we will go in to making a living first, and 

 something to sell next. You willlind all will agree to 

 it. Then just stick to that for three years, and my 

 word for it, you will never say again that a living 

 can't be made in this country. 



" Now it any of you doubt it come to see me, and I 

 will show you that it can be done, and I will show you 

 that it is done." 



I saw that it took, so I followel up my licks and 

 said: " Now, friends, don't flinch, don't keep your 

 trouble to yonrself, and when it pinches you do not 

 buy on credit, like your neighbours do and like you 

 have done ; don't give up. Just settle it with your- 

 self aud family, you will bo free and you will come 

 out right." 



