304 Coffee Planting. 



the year 1855, I had the advantage of becoming 

 acquainted with a most worthy old gentleman, then 

 a resident of some thirty-five years' standing in the 

 island. This was Mr. George Bird, the pioneer of 

 coffee planting in Ceylon. It will be apparent that 

 any estates opened about the time of his coming to 

 the island would now be upwards of half a century 

 old, and as a matter of fact there are estates in the 

 Kandian district, still under cultivation, which were 

 first planted about that time. I believe I am 

 correct in naming among these Sir Edward Barnes's 

 Gangaroowa, and Condesalle in the Doombera 

 Valley. At the same time, it must be admitted 

 that most of the estates planted fifty years ago, or 

 anything like that period, have either been long 

 since altogether abandoned, or, if not entirely so, 

 are at least very much the worse for wear. And this 

 admission may be freely made without by any 

 means involving any such doctrine as that it is 

 impossible to keep up estates for fifty years, or, as 

 far as that goes, for ever ! 



It is only natural to suppose that half a century 

 ago coffee planting would have been carried on in 

 a very rude and imperfect fashion. We know this 

 to have been the case, to a very large extent, in 

 even much more recent times. At the outset all 

 must have been groping experiment. The condi- 

 tions of soil, climate, &c., best suited to the plant 



