§52 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1886, 



;)etent residents as Mr. Eobt. Morison (Chairman 

 !.f tlie Kalutara Planters' Association) and JMr. 

 I'ocbar, lies some of the best land in the prov- 

 i:ice, — is found Mr. Shelton Agar's investment 

 called Horagoda-Mukalane, 42(i acres, liO of which are 

 ujjened. This is situated a good few (perhaps 12) miles 

 larther from the river than the main cluster of Kalii- 

 Lara estates, hut there is a capital road all the way, 

 'abour_ is abundant and cheap, and the soil is 

 pronounced if anything above the average of the 

 uUlcr estates. Farther to the South, inland from 

 Bentota, but still North of the river so as to be in 

 the Kalutara district or revenue division, lies Peliya- 

 goda of 270 acres, 100 of which liave been cleared 

 leady for tea this present season. This is 

 known as " Wardrop and Watson's land" and the 

 - oil and lay of the clearing are said to be all that 

 iould be desired, while, although Tamil coolies 

 .lave been employed by the superintendent, Mr. F. W, 

 Poppenbeel: to do tlie main portion of tlie 

 work, lowcaste Sinhalese women have been found 

 to work readily at weeding for a Tamil Kangani 

 who had won the villagers' favour, his Tamil wife 

 superintending the gang of Sinhalese we'^ders. 

 Sinhalese men of better caste readily take con- 

 tracts for road cutting and draining and they appear 

 111 be much interested in learning the mysteries 

 "[ lining, pegging and holing for tea under Mr. 

 I'oppenbeek's direction. T)ie benefit conferred on 

 the poorer class of Sinhalese in these inland 

 Western districts by the work and money intro- 

 duced by the tea planters is incalculable, and apart 

 from a larger consumption of food, we may ex- 

 pect thousands of the people to manifest an interest 

 iu " Manchester goods " and " IJrunnnagen wares " 

 .as time rolls on, in a way which cannot fail to cheer 

 llie .spirits of the Biitish merchant ! 



Having travelled so far afield, we must now 

 return to the Kalutara Tea District proper, but 

 first a glance at the map will shew that already 

 the Kalutara revenue district has been regularly 

 entered on at all points by tea planters and it 

 only remains for the Government to throw into 

 the market the good lands in the neighbourhood 

 of Agalawatte and Horagode, not to speak of the 

 forestland up the rivers, in order to secure very 

 animated competition and good prices. The story in 

 the district is that further sales would have come off 

 before now save for a controversy started by the 

 ;iHi'/.ii Assistant Agent who wished to override the 

 Surveyor-General and have his own way about 

 cutting up the forest into blocks of 100 acr^ or 

 thereabouts. Be this as it may, we have the 

 assurance of competent authorities that better 

 jiriccs are likely to be paid for blocks of three or 

 four limes that area, which would enable capitalists 

 to open plantations sullicient for one charge on which 

 they could pay a really good salary to men whose 

 labour in a hot lowcountry deserves a fair reward. 



Bat we might go even farther afield in describ- 

 ing the extent to which planting' operations have 

 extended along our Western Coast, only that 

 in crossing the Bentota river we get into a new 

 province and to ramifications which extend to 

 Matara on the one side and the Morowa Korale 

 on the other. Our pre.-ent duty is rather to dispose 

 of the Kalutara Tea district. How refreshing after 

 a hot day's occuaption, long jouruoying or estate 

 walks in this lowcountry, is the warm bath, the 

 cheerful evening meal with its 



feast of reason and How of soul,— 

 and the interchange of reminiscences of days gone 

 by from the comfortalile inside of a long arm-chair ! 

 Unly more enlivening are the early tea and morning 

 sLmt, after a good night's rest, such as we hail 

 before leaving Geekiyanal.aiule on foot through the 

 several tea clearings, the Hat subject to llouds, the 



slope with the best jat, and so through the 

 old sugarcane fields, on our way to Culloden. 

 From the Geekiyanakande valley glimpses can be 

 got of some of the clearings of Hogart — the new 

 name given to the property of Messrs. F. D. Mitchell 

 and Mackay. But our morning walk first brings 

 us to the foot of Dean Park, a very promising 

 clearing of Messrs. Robertson, Hendry and David- 

 son with a desirable lay of land. Beyond it to 

 the east lies this now extensive property of Rogart 

 of 770 acres, of which 200 acres in tea are well ad- 

 vanced, and 200 more will probably be planted this 

 season. Right in front rise the heights of Culloden 

 the most extensive estate in the district, next to 

 Geekiyanakande, with 450 acres planted out of 1,100. 

 This is the property of Messrs. DufI and Leech- 

 man, and was one of the earliest and mo.-t successful 

 scenes of Liberian cofJ'ee cultivation, the well- 

 grown apparently flourishing trees being only linally 

 condemned this season. The difference between 

 tea in the open and tea within the shading or root 

 influence of the coffee at once justifies this decision, 

 hard as it may be to sacrifice a product to whicli 

 so much attention was at one time given. Cul- 

 loden has the largest area under tea in the district 

 and it also affords the means of judging of the 

 product in a variety of situations from the easily 

 undulating forest valley to the gently sloping hill- 

 side, and from rich alluvial flats (owile) reclaimed 

 by deep drainage, (the land in fact suitable tor 

 paddy) to as steep and rocky eminences as can bo 

 found in the Central Province. Culloden is in the 

 care of one of the best planters in the country, 

 Mr. K. Morison, the local "Chairman,'' a gentle- 

 man esteemed and liked by all, and who in Kot- 

 male, Dimbula, Morawak Korale, Hunasgiriya and 

 several other districts has, during the past twenty 

 years, seen as much of the vicissitudes of pUnting 

 in its various phases as most men. His hospit- 

 able bungalow is .">00 feet above sea level, — the 

 highest inhabited point in the Kalutara division of 

 the island we suppose — and the climb up from the 

 (hits after the sun rises and heats the massive 

 numerous boulders on the hillside, is a caution. 

 More particularly will this be the case if the un- 

 wary visitor follows the invitation of the Manager, 

 after a morning walk from Geeka, to come " along 

 the flat " meaning the path through a decidedly 

 rocky up and down field to the store before ascending 

 to the heights; but there is one advantage gained in 

 tliat, this enables a capital idea to be got of the 

 different portions under cultivation. Nothing can 

 be finer than the tea in the valleys and on the flats, 

 but very vigorous also to our idea was the growth 

 all the way up the hill side. Passing through a part 

 of the Torwood property of Messrs. Ruthei'ford, 

 Tod and Mackay, where Mr. Cochar's pluckers 

 were busy at work, we had tiuie to notice the even 

 nicelooking tea on this fine property. It is absurd 

 to see the shifts to which some of the Kalutara tea 

 planters with large areas in bearing are put for 

 the preparation of their leaf as compared with 

 the style in which )na<hinery is lavished on brand 

 new estates in other parts of tli" country. Verily, 

 the proprietors ' ca' canny ' in Kalutara and per- 

 haps they are right until a little more light is 

 seen through the great contest of rival macliinisls 

 and machines. But in the meantime such Kalutara 

 managers are undoubtedly placed at a considerable 

 disadvantage. To pass for instance from Maria- 

 watte or KadawcUe with their magnificent factories— 

 withering room ad Vihitnm and array of machinery 

 Ci|uul to a big factory, -to Culloden, or Rogart or 

 Geekiyanakande, is to run from the most artificial 

 and advanced to the most primitive mode of work- 

 ing. But this will no doubt be remedied eieloiig. 

 lieingouly 10 to 12 miles inland, there arc from Cul- 



