428 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1889. 
In the buildings attached to the Director's resi- 
dence, there is a library which- is becoming very 
complete, a rich herbarium, a splendid collection 
of coloured drawings of Ceylon plants, and a 
useful assemblage of specimens of Ceylon tim- 
bers. There is also a laboratory for researches 
into the structure of plants, where one scien- 
tist has already done good work and to oc- 
cupy which another is soon expected. We never 
coveted leisure — the power of disposing of our 
time according to inclination — so much as when 
we had to tear ourselves away from such objects, in 
the study of many of which we should have re- 
yelled. In going round the Gardens we were specially 
interested in a new and very conspicuous form of 
label, which is superseding all the former unsatis- 
factory expedients of zinc, wood, &c. The names are 
now marked in white paint overa black ground on the 
broad sloping faces of well burnt bricks, of good 
size and with long pointed ends running well down 
into the earth. These baked clay objects can, 
Dr. Trimen told us, be obtained in large numbers 
at an exceedingly moderate price, and their in- 
vention has solved a long-standing and great diffi- 
culty. When we next visit the Peradeniya Gar- 
dens we hope to be able to readily identify, by 
means of the new and almost indestructible 
labels, not only the forms of valuable and curious 
vegetation which have been introduced, but 
also our own interesting local floral and sylvan 
treasures. One thiDg we noticed which would seem to 
demand attention. The overground roots by which 
the gioup of ficus trees outside the gate are 
buttressed (why should some trees be thus supported 
and others not ?) we found to be infested with 
white-aots, which had eaten the bark, if not some 
of the woody structure of the tops of those roots. 
A dose of the ubiquitous kerosene, properly 
diluted, might put an end to the rather destruc- 
tive investigations of the termites ? At "The Firs," 
Kandy, and in Peradeniya Gardens, we saw speci- 
mens of the beautiful weeping cypress, which 
ought to be grown in cemeteries. In the 
Colombo cemetery there is a beautiful young 
specimen of Ficus benjamina grown from a 
plant which we brought from Java in 1881 
and which can be readily propagated. Its 
weeping habit renders it a perfect substitute 
for weeping willow. Amongst our notes we find 
reference to a tree, beautiful and useful for tim- 
ber and firewood, — Cupressus rhomboida, seeds of 
which, we understood from Dr. Trimen, can be 
obtained at Hakgala. On the banks of the Maha- 
weliganga, which skirts the Gardens, a reed abounds 
which strangers might well be excused, if they 
mistook it for sugarcane. That cane grows well in 
Ceylon, but the juice of it in our climate is 
too watery for the manufacture of sugar. The 
plant which so closely resembles the sweet cane 
(a saccharam destitute of saccharine properties ?) 
is that which gives its name to the railway 
station of Eambukkana, at the foot of the De- 
kanda Incline. We mentioned the concert of bird- 
notes in the Gardens, but forgot to notice the 
harsh interruption of the concert by a flight of 
screaming parrots, the bright glancing of whose 
plumage no more atoned for the absence of 
music in thfir souls than does the still grander 
adornment of the peacock alleviate the horror 
of its screams. Attempts have been made to 
initiate in these Gardens what Ceylon so sadly 
wants, a /.oological collection. But on the pond, on 
the occasion of our recent visit, we saw only a solitary 
specimen of the table swans, so many thousands 
of which crowd ihe Gippslacd Lakes and other 
waters of Victoria. The fate of a couple of emeus 
(the Australian representatives of the ostrich) which 
we had previously seen here, bodes but ill for th e 
longevity of the vara avis in terris who is at present 
Like lady of the mere, 
Lone Bitting by the shores of old romance. 
One of the queer Australian birds referred to was 
drowned while Dr. Trimen was recently absent in 
England, and the other met his fate on that sharp 
contrast to a path through "the bush," — the railway. 
Amongst the unsolved mysteries must remain the 
question whether the catastrophes were due to 
accident, or to morbid feeling leading to suicide. 
In any case, the moral is that Ceylon, now be- 
coming so rich in gardens devoted to botany, ought 
as soon as possible to relies a herself of the dis- 
grace of having no zoological gardens, even at the 
capital. If Government gave a grant and made a 
beginning, we cannot doubt that gilts of animals, 
birds, reptiles, fishes, &c, would soon give us a 
very complete collection. Near the pond are 
specimens of aloes growing amongst rock work ; 
various species of cacao, which is amongst our 
exports, are growing in the vicinity, while asso- 
ciated with the palms are plants which are often 
confounded with them,— eycads. Of another plant, 
which is popularly called "fan palm," — the traveller's 
tree of Madagascar,— the foliage of which resem- 
bles that of the plantain, finer specimens are 
to be seen at Colombo than at Kandy or Pera- 
deniya. — We have thus gone through a few of 
our notes, pencilled or mental, the result of a 
far too perfunctory visit to the beautiful scientific 
and landscape gardens at Peradeniya. But we 
find numerous notes on every page of Dr. Trimen's 
interesting Guide. To it and to the catalogue of 
over 2,500 species of plants grown in these Gardens, 
we must refer readers and visitors. We cannot, 
however, deny ourselves the pleasure of adding a 
few short extracts from the Guide : — 
" The Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya were 
established in 1821, six years after the final occupa- 
tion of the Kandyan Kingdom by the English. The 
site is less than four miles from Kandy on the 
Colombo road, and occupies a loop of the river Maha- 
weli, which surrounds it on all sides except the 
south, where it is bounded by the high road. The 
area, nearly 150 acres in extent, is beautifully un- 
dulated ; its average elevation above sea-level is about 
1,540 feet. The climate is hot, moist, and very 
equable; the mean annual temperature is about 77° 
FT, April and May being the hottest and December 
and January the coolest months.* Rain falls on 
about 200 days in the year, the annual rainfall being 
about 85 inches ; it is pretty evenly spread through 
over the year, but is usually heaviest in October and 
November and in June, at the full establishment of 
the N. E. and S. W. monsoon, respectively. February 
and March are the dryest months, but even then there 
are in most years showers at no distant intervals. * * 
" Many rattans (^Calamus) — climbing palms which 
make tbeir way up to the summits of the tallest trees 
by their long tendrils closely Bet witb grappling hooks. 
Their stems may attain a length of several hundred 
feet, and are the canes of commerce ; nine or ten 
species are found in Ceylon. 
" A plant of the vegetable ivory palm of Central 
America (I'hytelaphas macrocarpa) will also be foui d 
here. There are many beautitul and interesting trees 
by the drive round the circle. The native "muruta" 
(*Lagerstrosniia Ftos-Reyina) is surpassed by few when 
profusely covered with its large mauvepink blossoms ; 
Another indigenous tree, the "del" {*Artocarpus 
nobilis), has strikingly handsome foliage ; the "goraka' 
i*Garcinia Cambogia) yields bright orange or yellow 
fruits usually grooved like a tomato, and often of 
very good flavour, though inferior to those of the 
niangosteen. The young " bo" tree (*Ficvs religiosa) 
on the east side of the circle was planted by the 
Prince of Wales during his visit to the Gardens in 
*In the early morning in December, the temperature 
has been rarely as low as 62° F. 
