714 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April i, 1886. 



sea level, and the mean temperature, like that of 

 Colombo, a little over 80°. The rainfall in 1885 

 was Til-TS inches against an average of 53-26, and 

 the rainy days 118 against 102. The last figure 

 shows that only on about 100 days can rain 

 be expected to fall at Anuradhapura. Hence 

 the necessity lor irrigation works. Regard- 

 ing tlie new garden at Badulla, in the new Province, 

 Pr. Trimcn reports : — 



I am gratified to find included in the Yotes for 

 lf^8(i a sum for an experimental garden at this town, 

 the capit.al of tho District of Uva, about to be created 

 a ni'w and independent Province. I have urged the 

 desirability o( this addition to the Botanical Depart- 

 ment for sonic years in the interests of the inhabit- 

 ants, native and European, of this large and im- 

 jiortanl but somewhat isolated part of the Colony ; 

 and in March last, in company with the Uoveru- 

 ment Agent, Mr. King, I selected a suitable piece of 

 land somewhat over eleven acres in extent in a good 

 position near the town. This has now been taken 

 over by Clovernment, and I shall at once proceed to 

 fence it and lay it out. One object of this Branch 

 specially kept in view will be the cultivation and 

 improvement of tropical fruit-trees and vegetables, 

 and I purpose to place it generally under the Super- 

 intendent of Hakgala and work it as a low-country 

 extension of that Garden. 



Tiie interchange of seeds and plants with all parts 

 of the world lias gone on as usual, and it is stated 

 that the 



Customary rjiatis supplies o£ useful or ornamental 

 plants have been made to the following public 

 officials and institutions! in this Island : — The Gov- 

 ernment Agents and their Assistants at Kandy, 

 Badulla, Negombo, Kegalla, Kalutara, Matara, and 

 Hambantota ; the Queen's House Garden, Colombo ; 

 the Colombo Museum Grounds; the Ceylon Medical 

 School, Colombo; the Local Board, Nuwara Eliya; 

 and the Station Masters at Nawalapitiya, Mahaiyawa, 

 and Katugastota. 



There is a long list of additions to the collections 

 of jjlants at the various gardens, and then come 

 interesting and important notes on economic plants 

 and products. Dr. Triraen does not believe in the 

 extinction of coffee, but rather in the abatement 

 of the evil which has afflicted it, and he is strong 

 in advising planters to cultivate a variety of products. 

 His tone about the cultivation of tea by the natives, 

 in lieu of their lost coffee, surprises us. He hopes 

 as we do, that the natives may benefit by work- 

 ing lor wages, but he holds that tea cannot be 

 cultivated profitably in small ijuantities, and fluit 

 planters would give less for leaf sold to them than 

 what it costs themselves to produce; but many of 

 our readers know liow tliose who have money in- 

 vested in factories and machinery have been coni- 

 {leting for leaf at high prices. Dr. Triinen deprec- 

 ates the growing of tea and cinchona together, 

 as it is only in such cases that hvlopeltis has done 

 any appreciable damage to tea. The '• Verde " and 

 " Morada " Calisayas receive honourable mention, 

 the comparison with Ledgeriana, all tlic trees 

 being 20 months old, being as follows: — 







S-= OM o 



CO CO <■* H 



C. Calisaya Morada.. 1-5.S I'lH — 1-16 -OO 4'78 



Do. Verde .. 1-32 -90 — 1-16 1.19 ITj? 



C. Ledgeriana .. 1-08 -liH — 1-03 1-74 511 



Dr. Trimen deprecates diminished attention to 

 cacao from what he calls an unreasonable dread of 

 Hclopeltis. He adds : — 



There appears now to be a general consensus of 

 opinion among planters, that this bug attacks princip- 

 ally cacao grown in the open; and the planting of 



shade-trees is becoming gener.al. It may be expected 

 that our export of this product, considerably de- 

 creased in the past year, will speedily recover ; and 

 if the llchiiehis panic led to a more appreciative 

 selection of land, and more care iu cultivation, it will 

 not have been entirely injurious. 

 There are notices of the rubber and gutta yield- 

 ing iilants, and the opinion is expressed tliat coca 

 leaves can be received in such plenty from America 

 that there is no chance of the cultivation prov- 

 ing profitable in Ceylon. Dr. Triinen is puzzled 

 to know to what economic use croton oil is luit 

 seeing that its u.se in medicine is limited, and tliat 

 Ceylon planters obtain ISs to 77s per cwt. for the 

 seeds. A new vegetable, like but superior to veget- 

 able marrow, has been successfully estcblished at 

 Hakgala ; so with tlie tree tomato, the fruits of 

 which are good for tarts. The mountain papaw is 

 also mentioned by Mr. Nock as resembling apples. 

 New Zealand sweet-potatoes promise to be a good 

 introduction, as they grow at high elevations ; and 

 the Chinese ginger, which is said never to fiower, 

 is being watched with interest. Of 15 eucalypts 

 at Hakgala, 3J 5'ears old, the .Jarrah (K. morgin- 

 atii) had attained 3(') feet in height with 20 inches 

 girth at base. The red gum (/<;. ruhiixta) was 30 

 feet high, but 22 inches girth. K. nlohiihn, the 

 blue gum, is not mentioned. We cjuote the fol- 

 lowing paragraph : — 



The publication iu June of my new " Systematic 

 Catalogue of Ceylon plants " involved the re-arrange 

 ment in accordance with it of the Ceylou Herbarium- 

 This has been eifected, and at the same time the 

 series of drawings of our native tlora has betm similarly 

 arrauged in numbered genera-covers. The whole is thus 

 now very easy for reference. This baa occupied a good 

 deal of time, but in connection with the work I was 

 able to put together a series of notes on the flora of 

 Oeylon, which have been publislied in the London 

 " Journal of Botany " (May-September, 1885). In 

 this paper about 180 additions to the flora of Oeylon 

 are recorded, and 40 new species or varieties are 

 described. Along with the new " Catalogue " this 

 brings the record of the constituents of the Ceylon 

 flora down to the end of 1881. That much yet re- 

 mains to be done is obvious from the fact, that during 

 the past yearj 1885, fifteen additional species have 

 been discovered in the Island, some of which are 

 striking plants. 



I made a botanical tour through parts of the North- 

 Ceutral and Eastern Provinces during the year, aud 

 shorter excursions to Maturata, &c., and added many 

 specimens to the Herbarium. 



Mu-i'ititi. — 1 am still unable to initiate anj' exhib- 

 ition of au. adequate sort, but the approval of Govern- 

 ment tor the form-ition of such an addition to the 

 Garden has been conveyed to me, and I trust that 

 the small adilitional expenditure involved will aLso be 

 allowed. After the successful Agri-Horticultural Show 

 held in Kandy at the end of May, several of the ex- 

 hibitors were so good as to present to the Gardens 

 their exhibits. I have especially to record my thanks 

 to C. E. Tennekoon, Katemahatmaya of Kurunegala, 

 for a fine series of paddy in CA boxes, a collection of 

 small grains, and other jiroducts ; to A. Payne, E'jq., 

 of Handrokauda, for collection of fibres ; and to 

 Ekneligoda Ratemahatmaya for specimens of work in 

 "Kanabata" bamboo Ttinontiu:Iii/niu vHuufutiim. A 

 great deal of my time during the latter part of the 

 year has been taken up in selecting, preparing, and 

 naming the rough logs of timber sent in by the Pro- 

 vincial Foresters and others, or collected by the Garden 

 officers, to form a series for the Colnuiaj .*ind Imlian 

 Exhibition. Much labour would have been saved me 

 had all the contributors complied with the suggestions 

 sent out. As it is. a good de;il of the material is in- 

 determinable, and cannot be used. There will be nu- 

 merous duphcate specimens, from which it is hoped a 

 fairly full series can be made up for the Garden 

 Museum, and perhaps also for that at Colombo, 



