290 



[April, 1910. 



The newer buildings are very handsome, 

 and it must be admitted that a new 

 school of architecture is developing. 

 The Botanic Gardens in New York are 

 still in process of being laid out, but are 

 rapidly coming into good condition, 

 and will soon be among the finest on 

 the globe. 



In Washington we spent most of our 

 time in the Department of Agriculture 

 which is now partly housed in magni- 

 ficent quarters upon the Mall. We 

 gave a lecture upon scientific progress 

 in tropical agriculture to the assembled 

 department, especially dwelling upon 

 school garden*, in which great interest 

 is taken in America. We saw mangoes 

 being grafted upon a large scale in the 

 green-houses, and the mangosteen being 

 freely grafted (for sale) upon the Cochin 

 goraka(C?arcima Xanthochy raws), be^id^s 

 many other interesting things. We 

 also interviewed Mr. Austin, chief of 

 the Department of Commerce, and 

 considered with him the influeuce of 

 transport facilities and other things 

 upon agriculture. 



Arrangements were made for exchange 

 of* a number of fruit and other plants 

 between Ceylon and America. Among 

 other interesting work lately done by 

 the department there is the production 

 of a frost-resisting orange, which will 

 open up a good deal of country hitherto 

 useless for the purpose, to this culti- 

 vation. The success of the date and fig 

 in California is now assured, and one 

 rarely sees in the States any but local 

 fruit of these kinds. 



From Washington we went without 

 stop to New Orleans, where one is in a 

 damp, subtropical climate- Here in the 

 Gardens one might see many of the 

 familiar Ceylon flowers growiug, such as 

 Caunas, Bougainvilleas, Poinsettias, etc. 

 The French market in the Creole town 

 was interesting, and much resembled 

 the Kandy market. In the country 

 round were large fields of rice, sugar, 



and other tropical crops. Rice is a g^eat 

 success in the Southern States, and the 

 cultivation is continually extending ; it 

 is produced more cheaply than it is here, 

 by virtue of white labour and good 

 machinery. 



Passing through the desert of Arizona 

 and New Mexico, where there are little 

 irrigated patches, we came to Southern 

 California, and spent some time there. 

 This we regard as the ideal climate for a 

 tropical resident to retire to. In the 

 warmest weather it is as warm as 

 Nawalapitiya, in the coldest rather 

 colder than Nuwara Eliya. The country 

 itself is like Italy, with lovely blue sea, 

 and snow mountains behind, to which 

 one can always retreat by the cog-wheel 

 railways if one wishes for cold. The 

 show of fl iwers of every kind, tropical 

 as well as temperate, is the finest we 

 have seen in the world, and the good 

 subur ban streets of Los Angeles, Pasa- 

 dena, or Santa Barbara are a revelation. 



We went on to San Francisco, aud 

 spent a week there, and then to Stanford 

 University, a few miles south. We 

 then took the beautiful journey through 

 the mountains to Portland and Seattle, 

 and settled down with relatives in Puget 

 Sound for some weeks. This country is 

 rapidly filling up, aud will evidently one 

 day be one of the great centres of popu- 

 lation of the world. Seattle now has 

 over 375,000 people, Tacoma 150,000, 

 Vancouver 100,000. It would lead too 

 far outside the scope of an agricultural 

 journal to discuss this district. We 

 went into several agricultural questions 

 there, however. 



Crossing by the Canadian Pacific boat 

 from Vancouver, we had a little time in 

 Japan, but it was under snow, and little 

 of agricultural interest could be seen 

 other than the little fields of tea between 

 Tokyo and Kyoto. On the voyage to 

 Colombo we were prevented from 

 visiting the Malay States by the break- 

 down of the railway by floods. 



