August i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL A"ER1Ct31_TUR1ST, 
89 
INTER-COMMUNICATION ON ESTATES. | 
A friend, whose visits to our upcountry estates 
have been few and far between, mentions to us 
his surprise that so little is done — according to his 
observation — to overcome the difficulties in the way 
of communication between the integral portions of 
upland plantations owing to the natural formation of 
the hillsides upon which they are mainly situated. 
He has noticed that it is often a long and tedious 
climb to get from one part of an estate to 
another, although the point desired to be reached 
may be within a stone's throw of the position 
started from, and yet how to obviate this unnecessary 
labour is, he contends, a matter both patent and 
easy. It is all very well, of course, to point out 
the difficulties — difficulties which no one would 
be more anxious to remove than the planting 
proprietors or managers, were it only to save 
unnecessary labour to themselves — but the question 
of expenditure is one which would be expected to 
prove serious on many of our estates were it to 
be attempted to make " straight paths." Still, 
while saying so much, we must admit that 
probaly a good deal might be accomplished in the 
way of bridging the gullies which are so commonly 
encountered, dividing one part of an estate from 
another. A great deal of wasted time and labour 
would, no doubt, be saved if some endeavour were 
made in that direction, and the needful outlay would 
probably be recouped within a limited period, by 
the saving of the superintendent's and coolies' time, 
as well as by the more constant supervision the 
former would be enabled to give to the parties work- 
ing on different portions of such an estate as we 
have been describing. 
We believe that the former proprietors of the 
well-known ' Bluefields ' estate at the foot of the 
Eamboda Pass had every reason to be content 
with the result of the expenditure they incurred 
in bridging a very inconvenient " break " of the 
above kind on that property. A light iron bridge 
of 80 feet span was thrown across the ravine, and 
it must have saved its first cost over and over 
again by the reduced expenditure in labour, both 
of men and cattle, which its erection secured. 
The ironwork of this bridge, we have been told, 
was prepared in Glasgow and put on board 
ship at a cost of only £120, and probably 
that sum was doubled before the bridge was fully 
erected. Still, when the span of the bridge, 80 
feet, is considered, this cost seems extremely small, 
and it is certainly surprising that the adoption of 
the same type of bridges in such situations and for 
similar objects has not been more fully extended 
than has been the case. Jiut the instance cited is 
an extreme one. There must be a large 
number of situations in which bridges of 30 or 35 
feet span might be found to yield a considerable 
economy in estate management. Very few superin- 
tendents are aware in the opinion of our pro- 
fessional friend, of how readily obstacles in gullies and 
ravines may be dealt with and how slight the cost of 
bridging them can be made. A thickness of three 
2-inch planks bolted together— and these planks 
oan be of two or more lengths each — and stiffened 
with an iron tension rod, or better still a pair 
of iron bars, will constitute a beam so strong 
that a pair of them would suffice safely to trans- 
port heavily-laden carts. The greater the depth 
below the centre of the beam at which the bars 
meet, the less strain there will be on them. The 
most elementary shilling book on bridge-building 
would afford the fullest instructions by which au 
estate carpenter and blacksmith could make beams 
such as these, and a pair of upright posts on either 
side of the span is all that would be absolutely 
12 
necessary to carry them. 250 to 300 rupees 
would, it is expected, go a long way towards 
covering all the cost of a bridge so constructed 
of from 30 to 35 feet span ; and really no more 
engineering knowledge is requisite than, as we 
have said, can be gained from the perusal of any 
one of the several little manuals which deal 
with the theory and practice of bridge construc- 
tion. Many of our superintendents, we think, 
might wisely turn their attention to this matter, 
and their doing so might result in a considerable 
saving of labour of every kind and in improved 
efficiency in supervision. A little reading indeed, 
we are told, would show that the two types we 
have quoted — the tension iron beam and the 
wooden beam strengthened by a tension bar — 
by no means exhaust the resources which a little 
pleasantly -gained knowledge would place at their 
command. A pair of timber trusses to span forty 
feet would be within the accomplishment of the 
roughest of estate carpenters if only intelligently 
directed, and four rough timber piles well sunk 
in the earth for supports are all that are 
needed to constitute an efficient abutment, the 
spaces between each pair being filled in with earth 
and sodded to prevent slip and wash. 
The man who can devise means whereby 
labour may be saved in the conveyance of pro- 
duce to an estate store is sure to find adequate 
reward, and there is scarcely a plantation of any 
size in our mountain ranges which does not 
offer some scope for the adoption, with great ad- 
vantage, of such rough and ready bridges as are thus 
described. There is undoubtedly somewhat in our 
friend's observation that insufficient attention is, 
as a rule, given to overcoming the obstaoles which 
natural formations give rise to on Ceylon hill 
estates, and we commend his complaint as to this, 
and the brief suggestions for dealing with it, which 
we have ventured to summarize, to the notice of 
upcountry superintendents. 
SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF GREEN BUG 
ON COFFEE. 
We have the greatest possible pleasure in calling 
attention to the statement with which Mr. Jackson of 
the Agrapatana division of Dimbula has just favoured 
us. We received one or two reports on the experi- 
ments made on St. George coffee in the early 
stages and we certainly got the impression then 
that the results were not equal to anticipation and 
barely justified the expense. But it is peculiarly 
gratifying to learn that in reality, Mr. Jackson 
sees no reason for dissatisfaction in his experience 
of fighting the bug, and that the cost was by 
no means excessive, while he is hopeful that per- 
sistence in treatment with kerosene and lime may 
lead to the complete disappearance of the enemy. 
The total cost of the treatment— including outlay 
for kerosene oil, soap, lime besides labour in 
application — has evidently been reduced to about 
ten rupees per acre per annum by Mr. Jack- 
son, and at this rate, if only J owt. of aoffee 
crop per acre was saved, the treatment would be 
worth the undertaking. Our correspondent does 
not enter into particulars of crops — quantity saved, 
or additional coffee due to the treatment ; but from 
what he says of the condition of the trees improving, 
especially from the lime, it is evident that the 
profit to the luoky proprietors who still own an 
appreciable acreage of good coffee, from treatment with 
kerosene &c, may be considerable. Mr. Jackson, in 
conclusion, refers to the labour difficulty for any 
extra work such as this treatment of green bug by 
kerosene emulsion — all hands being required on the 
