March i, 1886J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



653 



New Forest, also belonging to the Cocagalla group. 

 The last three years' crops of bark from this group 

 have been as follows : — 



1882.1.SS3 equal 30.000 lb. 

 188H-188i „ ;i2,000 ., 

 1884-1885 .. 128,500 ,. 



Total .. -250,500 lb., or nearly 115 tons 

 Just before crossing the boundary line which diviiles 

 this estate from old Hewa Eliya. you will see a 

 long narrow belt of tea, a little over two years 

 old, whose history furnishes incontestable evidence 

 that a great part of this property and therefore 

 a large area of land in the district is certain to 

 yield excellent results under tea. This field has 

 been regularly plucked, from the date of the bushes 

 attaining their eighteenth month, and, although, 

 so far as I am aware, no professional valuation of 

 the manufactured tea has ever been obtained, I 

 have seen a memorandum of the prices placed on 

 a large batch of samples by n competent plant- 

 ing authority, and these ranged from Is to "is Id 

 per pound. A fact worth mentioning is, that the 

 land on which this tea is growing, is very poor 

 and occupies a most exposed situation, at an 

 altitude of over 1,500 feet. There can be no reason- 

 able doubt, that a very large area of Cocagalla 

 might be plantccl up in tea with great gain to its 

 proprietors, and it is to be hoped that Mr. G. E. 

 Osborne, who is now in England, \rill return 

 with full powers for the large extension of tea, on 

 one and all of the Madulsiraa Company's pro- 

 perties. 



Hewa Eliya is the next estate you pass through ; 

 the whole of which, with the exception of a small 

 experimental field of tea, near the top boundary 

 is uncultivated. The progress made by the young 

 plants is however an indication that, wherever the 

 soil is suitable, the other conditions of rainfall 

 itc. are not absent, and it is to be hoped that 

 the prospect will encourage the proprietor to ex- 

 tend the area under tea, next year. You should 

 ride through this clearing on your return journey, 

 as it is well worth seeing, 



Instead of followng the old tavalam road, 

 which is now abandoned, walk on (for the paths 

 are not very .smooth just here) in the direction 

 of the bungalow where poor old Ballantyne lived, 

 keeping the lower road till you reach the stream 

 near the boundary of what is now Elemane estate, 

 where formerly lived that intrepid hunter and true- 

 shot Barkley, now of tusker-slaying renown, who 

 when here kept our tables so well supplied with 

 venison, by the aid of his clever little pack, j 

 Here you may again resume your seat in the ■ 

 saddle and ride all the way to the top boundary. 

 The fine big cinchona trees planted through- 

 out Elemar.e will claim a glance in passing, but 

 there is little more worthy of note until you reach 

 Hathkeale, where although the roads are in 

 beautiful order, tlie atniobpherc, throughout the ,' 

 greater part of the year, is so deliciouslv crisp 

 lind bracing, that I feel sure you will prefer 

 to walk, provided the weather" is fine. A 

 slight detour in the direction of the bungalow 

 which nestles in a sheltered nook, behind tlic 

 jungle forming the western boundary of the estate, ( 

 will well recoup you for the little extra time re- 

 ((uired. You will find your way to the bungalow 

 Held, through a small clearing of cinchona ollicin- 

 alis planted under jungle shade, and thence 

 through a patch of cardamoms, and half a mile 

 rif road gracefully winding through pataiia and 

 trips of jungle (the scene of many an exciting 

 1 base) to the most recently planted fields of the 

 I late. The growth heir is all that could be 

 debited, but the sppearaiice of the whole is per- 



1 haps a little marred by lines of straggling calisayas, 

 I alternating with rows of the more robust-looking 

 succirubra and hybrid trees. 



From Eatlikeale you would do well to walk 

 as far as the Roeberry stream, or if it is not too 

 late in the afternoon, you might canter along the 

 upper road which branches off near the wire fence, 

 gain the Dehigalla ridge, and have a peep into 

 the property beyond where the Blackwood Com- 

 pany have just planted some 40 acres with tea 

 this season. Half an hour's ride through Roeberry, 

 on which there is now a tine healthy cover of 

 I cinchona will bring you out on the patana near 

 the Katukitulkona trig. 

 Y'ou should reach this spot first about the hour 

 ' of sunset, and a short time spent in contemplat- 

 ' ing the fair scene before you, with the wonder- 

 ful cloud transformations, and the ever changing 

 shades of light thrown over the wide valley beneath 

 you, which separates you from the far away 

 Kaudy hills, will fix such a picture iu your 

 memory, as you will not easily forget, for, — 

 Tlie heavens appear to love this vale: 

 Here clouds with uuseeii motion sail, 



Or 'mid the eileuce lie ! 

 By that blue arcli this beauteous earth 

 'Mid evening's hour of dewy mirth 

 Seems boundiul with the sky." 

 Y'ouder dark line of trees near the middle of 

 the valley marks the course of the noble Maha- 

 weliganga, 



" Broad and deep and stil/ a.s Time, 

 .Seeniiug ati/l — yet still iu motion, 

 Tendiug onward to the ocean 

 Just like mortal prime." 

 Wending your way downward to the bungalow 

 you will be surprised that such a luxuriant 

 growth of vegetation could ever have been induced 

 to cover with such profusion, so steep and rugged 

 a pieci of land as this part of Uva consists of. 

 The growth and healthy appearance of the cinchona 

 trees covering the steep slopes, would seem to 

 point out that good natural drainage is of 

 incalculable importance to its successful culture. 

 Here, on Uva, as on Cooowattie, you will find 

 two of these wonderful products which arrrest your 

 attention, whether you will it or not, and you 

 may criticise them when you see them, for, depend 

 upon it, they will criticise you. 



So much has been done in the way of tea plant- 

 ing on this property , that it will take you the 

 whole day to see the different clearings, and please 

 take special note of the fact, that these cannot 

 be viewed from the saddle, rs you will Ijave done 

 in the case of the different estates through which 

 you will have passed, on the two preceding days. 

 Fortify the inner man well at the early tea table, 

 and put on the most comfortable, and strongest 

 pair of boots you may have, for you will hav« 

 a very stiff day's heel and toe work before you, 

 good wallcer tliough you may be. and I think I 

 have heard " /<; our old friend W. W. W. boas 

 of his prowess in this repect. 



You will enter the tea fields immediately aftei' 

 leaving the- bungalow and with the exception 

 of about half a mile of patana and forest, through 

 which you must Jiass, you may continue to 

 wander through them, from something like five 

 miles, before you reach the northern extremity 

 of the estate, where the oldest tea is to be found: 

 The first rteld has been planted only tpiite recently, 

 with sturdy-looking plants of Assam indigenous, 

 and only extends to some or 7 acres. Next 

 follows a field of .SO acres of .\ssain hybrid, 

 planted in land where the cofTeo had been cutout 

 to make way for it. Then comes a tniall clearing; 

 ou the ridge, which from the soulheru boundary of 



