April i, 18S6.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



71; 



DR. TBIMEN'S REPORT FOR 1«S5 ON 



THE CEYLON ROYAL BOTANIC GARPENS. 



As usual there is much that is inttiesting and 

 valuable to horticulturists, agriculturists, and 

 botanists in Dr. Trimen's report, the wliole, or 

 the larger portion of which, we hoj^e to reprint, 

 in the Tropii-nl Afirieulturist. At the very outset 

 in detailing improvements made in roads and 

 paths, an incident is reported to show that Mr. 

 Gladstone's favourite recreation of tree felling 

 must in this tropical land l>e pursued with caution. 

 There seem to be other trees besides the eu- 

 phorbias which exude dangerously acrid juices. 

 Amongst these is Hiira crepitans, the Sandbox 

 Tree, during the cutting of which some of the 

 milky juice of the bark was squirted into the 

 face of one of the workmen, with the result that 

 the man cumpletely lost the sight o( one eye. 

 Wo notice that along a new path have been planted 

 seedlings of the elegant Australian palm, ,-I/i/ic)ii(o- 

 pltirnix Ali.riiiHir(€, so common in the dense 

 " scrub " (tall forest) of tropical Queensland. 

 Not only ought this palm to be more conmionly 

 used than it is in Ceylon, being as graceful as 

 the areka, and considerably tallei', but the ex- 

 ample set at I'eradeniya ought to be followed in 

 utilizing the dwarf China bamboo tor fences. In 

 Singapore fences are almost universally made of 

 this plant, which when pruned down and trimmed 

 grows thickly and looks very neat. Subscribers to 

 the Thwailes memorial in the Peradeniya (wardens, 

 besides receiving a photograph of the building, will 

 be glad to .see the following account of it : — 



This little building ha.^ been erected during the 

 yt*ar, and no\»' wants, to complete it, only some seats 

 and a suitable inscription. The design is octagonal with 

 a bii^h-pitched, tapering *' broken-backed '' roof of the 

 ordin.iry Ivandyan style supported at thu an^'lesby thick- 

 set pillar!^ of brick and cement, and intt-rually hy eight 

 slender, car\'ed jakwood pilasters. The proportions in 

 gtrneral .ind details of the pillars are in :iLc;»rdanci! with 

 tbose of the octagon of the Maligu\v;i TeniuU: in Kaiidy ; 

 and 1 am much indebteil to Air. Rliu-Bride, Director 

 of Pnhlii- \Vorks, for transforming my rough Hketclies 

 into accurate working plans. 



We regret to notice that of four black swans 

 presented by Capt. Bayloy ot the P. A 0. Com- 

 pany, and which added to the attractions of the 

 enlarged garden pond, one fell a victim to a tiger-cat. 

 Tea. as yet, seems, happily e.\enipl from serious 

 damage by grubs, but those engaged in other cultiv- 

 ation will be interested m the information embodied 

 in the lollowing paragraph : — 



The large lawn suffered during the wet weather of 

 June from ,iu attack of root-eating grubs. Tliey were 

 the larvre of apparently one of the same species of 

 3Ielol.>iithoid beetles that have been so destrnetive 

 to colfoe in some districts. The roots were eaten olf 

 below the ground, and the drifd aud wither(ul grass 

 could be stripped oil the surface, with which it bad 

 no longer any connection. Jiut the plague was short- 

 lived, a"tl the value of large insectivorous birds well 

 shown. Durnig the whole perio<l of the vi<4itatiun, 

 the places affected were the bivouac of numurous 

 crows who sought for arid eagerly devounid the grubs 

 (often so gorging themselves as to be scarcely able to 

 rise olf the ground), and eventually externiiuate<l 

 them. It is a matter for regret that this hird does 

 not extendi its range into th • higher cotfi-e districts, 

 where " grub " has been so destructive. 

 A new edition of the Hand Guide is for sale in 

 the ( jardeus at 25 cents a copy. Meteorological pheno- 

 mena and their ellects arc thus recorded :— 



The who'e fall for tli*i year w.is somewhat above 

 the average, though January was absolutely ruinless, 

 and the fall for October — usually our wettt^st mouth 

 — i.Hiis tlian usual. The greatest fall recorihid in any 

 21 hours was 3'21 inches on Septem*)er 27-2X 



The river rose at the end ot Juue to a great height 

 than I have before seeu and, threatened to cover 

 a part of the drive, but subsided before any harm 

 was done. 



lu March we suffered from a heavy north-east wind, 

 aud sevi'ral trees were destroye.l. The must serious 

 less was one of the t'oeo-ile-mer palms (X(jd(u'f«./), 

 nearly 3.5 years old, and an obji'ct of great beauty. 

 Its fellow of the same age remains, b it is not so 

 well-growu a specimen. 



The very tall and conepicnous Norfolk Island Pine 

 (Aridicdria txctlsaj in front of the old Director's bung- 

 alow, died very suddenly in a few wt eks from above 

 downwards, and has been removed. We have uuuiy 

 sni.aller specimens about the grounds, but none are 

 healthy. 



We suspect the magnificent Norfolk Island Pino 

 will succeed better at loftier elevations than that 

 of Peradeniya. The rauifall for 18.S.') was only 4 

 cents less "than il8 inches, or (i inches above 

 the Colombo average. Tlie rainiest months were 

 June and .Tuly, ags''egatiug iCrSi inches, aud October- 

 November, which gave '2i■:V^. The number nl rainy 

 days was 14(5 out ol the 36.5, a fact whicli will take 

 some persons by surprise. The Hill (iardon at 

 Hakgala, which, as Dr. Trimen truly remarks, con- 

 tinues to increase in usefulness and beauty, re- 

 ceived 10 inches less rain in 1H85 than Peradeniya, 

 but the smaller amount ot HH-14 at Hakgala was 

 far better distributed, the number of rainy days 

 being 215, or H days fewer than the average es- 

 tablished by the observations of four years. Of the 

 weather Mr. Nock reported : — 



The fir.st few days nf the year were very fine and 

 bright, aud the rest of the month xiia reuiark- 

 .able for wet, cold, foggy, and misty weather. The fog 

 was very thick at times, but only on one dav, tb." 15th, 

 did we have any very heavy rain. ()u that d.ay I 14 

 inch fell The other •J.'J days on which rain fidl brought 

 up the total fur the month of .lauuary to .5 .)(> inches. 

 The m-xt threi' mouths were ver\ dry ; only S»'7U inches 

 of rain fell during lh.it time. May, .Inn.-, and part 

 of .'uly, were very favourable months lor garden 

 operatious, but troni 1.5tb .Inly to 22nd .September it 

 was again very dry. 4 5(i inches of rain were all that 

 fell liming these (iti days. 'J'hc rest of the year was 

 very .seasonable, Uecemlier. as usual, hfiug a wet, foicgy 

 month. The toial rainfall for the year was S.'il4 

 inches which fell on '21R days, the heaviest fall in any 

 registerrd 24 hours hiMUg S-55 inches on 12th and 13th 

 Decembir. curiously on the same days and nearly to 

 the same amouu tfts in last year. 



The highest temperature during the year in the 

 sun's rays was 1480 bu Slsk August, aud the lowest 

 on grass was 35-0 on 22nd Kobru;iry ami !)tb March. 

 The mean amount ot cloud for the year was 7 d aud 

 that of ozone '2 6. The cloudiest mouth this year was 

 .fuue, with a mean amount of y'o, aud the brightest 

 mouth was March with C-1. 



The mean temperatures of the months ranged from 

 .5fS-5 in .January to tib' in Sept. aud the mean for 

 the year was tJ2-'J, or about 13' warmer than the 

 mean of Nuwara Kliya. The extremes in the shade 

 at Hakgala for 1H85 were TJ' on 31st August and 

 435 on 3rd Feb. The Henaratgoda Garden (tropical) 

 is reported to be in good order and to have sup- 

 plied a large number of cacao pods for distribution. 

 Of the Anuradhapura Garden Dr. Trimeu reports : — 

 A further large supply of plants iu Uvo carts has 

 been sent to this Garden frcu rer.ideuiyi. • mprisiug 

 espi-eially fruit trees, vegctahles, and uselu. and orn- 

 ameutal shrubs. I^arge supplies of seed of the areca 

 palm, jak, uiang", oranges, and limes were also for- 

 warded for raising on the spot; and muny have been 

 distributed at a small charge to the own. rs of the 

 uewly-cleared pad.ly lan.ls un.ler the tanks. This work 

 is capable of great f.u-ther exfension. 

 The past .year was a favourable tme for the garden 

 the rainfall having been much above the average. 

 The site of the garden is about 302 feet above 



