JUNE 2, 1890J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
ask who buys it, and the host practical answer I con 
give is that Mr. Pole Oarew a few weeks ago bought 
several lots of land under one of the branches of the 
Walawe scheme, for, I believe, the cultivation of cotton 
and tobacco." 
Again, in reply to a second letter of mine, my 
correspondent wrote: — 
" You are substantially but not verballv right in 
your interpretation of what I wrote about land under 
tanks. You sav that ynu are glad to hear that 'lands 
supplied by Government with irrigation waW are 
open to all purchasers and for all purposes.' I think 
I said all lands put up for sale bv auction wonld be so 
available. But in some cases, just as Government sell 
a planter a bit of land next his estate for extension, 
without auction, so they sell land needed for the exten- 
sion of the village fields or practically in possession of 
the villagers through a long succession of cbena per- 
mits. But this does not apply to large blocks of land 
newly supplied with water." 
If, therefore, even in remote parts of the island, 
Indian rice should ever be 1 able so to compete with 
the native-grown article as to render the production 
of the' latter unprofitable, the irrigation works will 
facilitate other enterprises such as the cultivation of 
ootton, tobaooo, palms Ac, as also the watering of 
grass meadows for the feeding of cattle. This con- 
sideration should tell with Europeans in modifying 
their objections to liberal votes for irrigation votes, 
which after all.'from the time of Sir Henrv Wardnntil 
now. have not aggreeated mure than half a million 
sterling. I quite anticipate a very large andprofitable 
growth of cotton and other products in of dry and 
arid portions of the island bv means the irrigation. 
Nanuoya, April 25- 
I wrote yesterday that if such a morning as had 
then dawned did not mean fair weather human 
vaticination was vain. And vain it is I On the 
lower portion of this estate there was fierce 
thunder- and rain-storm which gave 2-40 inches of 
rain in 45 minutes, the total being 2-56. That 
was at 4,700 feet altitude irj the valley of the 
Dimbuldanda. At the upper bungalow, altitude 
5,750 feet, the measurement this morning is only 
1-28, pretty well, however, after all wehave had. 
The thunder was terrific and the flashes of lightning 
vivid beyond description. While all this was going on 
up here, we were down at Lindula, where, although 
the storm was felt, it was in a modified degree. 
On our return journey the fl oded and roaring 
rivers, yellow and even red with silt, dicated what 
had been going on amidst the mountain heights. 
It was interesting, after the lapse inaf a couple of 
years, to traverse the once familiar " Lome Road " 
and to look down on the pretty scene of mingled 
cultivation and extended buildings town merging 
into estate bungalows and stores in the low-lying 
valley of Lindula. It must still be a prosperous 
place, for Jordan <% Co.'s store is one of the most 
extensive and well stocked beyond the capital. 
En route we were struck wilh the quantity of ooffee 
and cinchona whioh still exists, although gradually 
giving way to tea. Near Lindula we saw some of 
the first planted suooirubras, perfect giants. The 
sight of them led our friend " the patriarch " to 
broach his theory, that the cinchona has not been 
and oannot be naturalized in Cevlon : that fresh 
seed should constantly be obtained from South 
America. On the other hand, the latest Niloiri 
report indicates the sucoess of the fine hybrid, 
O. magnifnlia. The Grevillea robust a trees along 
the roadside were sights to see, those belonging 
to Dessford and Lome being in a blaze of brilliant 
comb-like orange-coloured blossom. For svrn- 
metrical growth those at Somerset excelled. The 
roadside along Lamiliere was lined with young 
grevilleas of most luxuriant foliage, planted by 
Mr. Wright, I understood, from seed yielded by a 
few old trees at his bungalow. A row of these 
trees, severely trimmed and standing up tall and 
dtraicht, along the road to the Htore, was very 
striking. I regard this tree as, for ornament and 
use, one of the greatest acquisitions in arbori- 
culture the colony has even made. Prom the 
pruned branches of those lining the road through 
Dessford and Lome a very appreciable supply 
of good fuel is available. Then both the blue 
gums and the sapu°, at the lower elevations 
and in shelter, showed grand growth. The "eanus" 
thus grown are not. our indigenous Michelia 
nilagirica. but Michelia champac, an introduced 
plant with much larger leaves. More beautiful 
trees than those along the roadside at Langdale 
could not be wished for, and many of these also 
were in blossom,— covered with the large fragrant 
flowers so conspicuous in Hindu poetry and legend. 
About 4,600 feet ?S evidently the zone for the«e 
splendid trees. At a thousand feet higher up, with 
us, thev have merely, as a rule, struggled for exis- 
tence. That and worse we found to be the condi- 
tion of some " white toons" which we reoolleot as 
fresh and flourishing after being put out some 
half-dozen vears ago. Now wo found them with 
bare tops. So that clearlv 4,600 feet must be too 
high for the tvpical Cedrela toona, while the red 
flourishes equaliy in the Kotagala valley and in 
Nuwara "F.livn. Altogether the drive through the 
once familiar scenes, now revisited was pleasant and 
interesting, although the sight of Langdale, Lorneand 
other places called up sad recollections of so many 
" OH familiar faces" 
anished into the land of the hereafter, 
v * 
A NEW COCONUT PRODUCT. 
Paragraphs have been going the ronnd of London 
and provincial journals concerning a new manufactured 
product of the coconut, so much the reverse of cor- 
rect, and so calculated to leave a wrong impression 
as to the future development of the new industry, that 
it may be well to correct these errors. 
The product to which we refer is what has been 
termed "coconut butter," a name which is incorrect, 
and is probably accountable for much of the ill renute 
into whioh it has fallen. Being regarded as a "butter." 
and produced at about half the market price of or- 
dinary butter, those who have written on the subject 
raise a crv condemning it as a new adulterant of 
the dairy produoe, and a rival of margerine. In the 
first place, it is not a butter in any sense of the 
word and is not at all likely to be employed na 
an adulterant bv reason of its peculiar flavour and 
colour. It is in faot a vegetable lard, and as such it 
is intend ad to be used, and is so employed in Ger- 
man kitchens in all cooking processes. We are 
desirous of correcting the erroneous statements 
regarding this article, because we believe there is a 
great future for it in a way and in a direction which 
we will indicate further on. It is, moreover, worthy 
of notice as being one more product added to scores 
of others from the same remarkable tre° — the coconut 
palm — regarding which the British public are but in- 
adequately informed. The graceful form and bright 
hue of its golden fruit and feathery foliage are well 
enough known to most readers of illustrated botanv 
and books on the East ; but how few are acquainted 
with the numberless uses to which everv fraction of 
its stem, leaves, and fruit are applied bv the natives 
of Eastern countries ! So numerous are its uses, such 
a blessing is the tree tothe races of tropical countries, 
and so little is known of its original habitat, that 
it has been termed " a gift of the gods." 
We •hink it necessarv to remove the wrong im- 
pression created by allusion to this new article as an 
" adulterant,'' because we believe it will build up a 
future trade in the eastern and western worlds. 
Throughout India wherever Indian coolies are found 
as labourers, as is the case in the west Indies, the 
n"'ives of that vast country employ in their culi- 
nary oprrations a large quantity of fat under the 
Dame of " ghee," nnswerin in colour and 
quality to our " lard," It i the product of 
