June 2, 1890,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
liar with the grand " Madagascar tree" Poinciana 
regia, with its emerald green, fern-like foliage, 
contrasted with its gorgeous masses of soarlet or 
orange flowers, relieved by spots or tips of white 
in some of the petals ; but my sensations on seeiDg 
the wealth of blossom which had expanded and 
accumulated in the course of my two months' 
absence, enable me to appreciate the astonishment 
and the rapture of stranger visitors in this month 
of May and onwards to August to our beautiful 
oity of widespread suburban parks and many miles 
(not far short of 100,) of splendid driving roads. 
Along those roads at present, in contrast to the pe- 
culiar, but elegant foliage, much of it pendent, of the 
casuarinas, and in contrast also with each other, are 
the ■poineianas, intense soarlet and desp orange, with 
albizzias and cassias, of golden or pale yellow, while the 
blossoms of one species of oassia, shade away from 
the most delicate pink (almost white) to the richest 
rose. The poineianas are now growing practically 
everywhere, and so are the foreign trees with similar 
foliage, but shewing rich yellow blossoms, beoause the 
natives have not discovered that the bark of those trees 
contain a curative principle, the existence of whioh 
in the bark of our own beautiful cassia fistula, 
(described as combining the foliage of the ash and 
the blossoms of the laburnum) has so sadly hindered 
its prevalence and led even to the destruction, by 
gradual decoration of numerous fine trees. But there 
is a grand specimen, now one mass of golden 
blossom in Mr. Jeronis Pieries' garden in Turret 
Eoad. Still more exquisitely beautiful, is the ma?s 
of pink and rose blossoms on the pink cassia 
in the garden of one of the houses near the 
Banian tree. The contrast here of the scarlet 
poinciana, the pink cassia, and the purple-red 
bougainvillcea, with the grand scalloped leaves 
of the breadfruit tree, is something worth 
a journey to see. To view the poincianas in 
perfection, " Muirburn" garden, which is a perfect 
blaze of red and orange, contrasted with all shades 
of green, should be inspected. Then there are the 
brilliant trees at the house on the end of the 
southern division of the lake (near the Malay 
Cemetery) and the rows along the side of the north- 
ern section of the lake, near the Kew Police Barracks, 
where also the magnifioent growth of the rain trees, 
(Inga saman) and their elegant pink blossoms are wor- 
thy of admiration. Colombo is now more than ever 
what the Russian Prince Soltykoff called it, half 
a century ago, " one vast botanical garden." It is 
already one of the most beautiful places in the 
world, with a wonderful variety of drives over 
good roads the red colour of which in contrast 
to the prevalent greenery, strangers greatly admire. 
But our city is capable, under the well-directed efforts 
of the Municipality of being rendered still more 
attractive, by the multiplication, as means permit, 
of such combinations of verdant turf, walks, foun- 
tains and flowering shrubs as is presented in the 
Gordon gardens, which have converted what I re- 
member as one of the ugliest spots in the Fort 
into a perfect " thing of beauty.'" The improve- 
ment in the shape of the boulevard which runs 
southward from the new landing jetty and the 
Grand Oriental Hotel, promises to be still greater 
and more marked.— This year is not only abnorm- 
ally a year of flowers, but also specially favourable 
for he production of fruits. There are the usual 
cart loads of pineapples in the bazaars, while 
m ango es and jak fruits are plentiful and cheap 
* I .suppose oranges arc equally plentiful, and having 
been engxged in readiug mid making notes 011 Dr. 
Bonavia's great work on theoitius family, I am in- 
teres ted and amused by an advertisement from the 
out r prising ilubash gentleman, Mr. Henderson, who is 
evidently about to establish au orangery on an extousivo 
8 4s 
beyond precedent. The main fruit season in 
Colombo is in the summer months of May, 
June and July, but the months in which vege- 
tables oan be most successfully grown, (mainly 
by irrigation,) are the dry winter months of January, 
February and March. A more complete contrast 
can scarcely be imagined than the wind-vexed, 
liehened, mossed, bearded and contorted natural 
forest on the dividing mountain range between west 
and east which the railway to Haputale is to cross, 
and the luxuriant palms, bamboos and flowering 
trees indigenous and imported, which are grown at 
Colombo. — But what was meant to be prefatory 
matter of a few lines, has grown, under the charm 
of the suject, to such length, that I feel it better 
to postpone a notice of my visit to the tunnel region 
of subterranean darkness and damp until next issue, 
— — +- — 
CACAO IN THE WEST INDIES. 
The Lesser Antilles: a Guide for Setters in the BriiiiK 
West Indies. By Owen T. Bulkeley. (Sampson Low & 
Co.) — Emigration to the West Injics i» an idea that has 
a certain novelty about it. We commonly look upon 
them as " played out." Mr. Bulkeley is not of that 
opinion. He sees in them a promising field both for 
labour and for capital. Here is a balance-sheet. An 
emigrant is supposed 10 go with a capital of JS100 : — 
Ten acres of virgin lmd, at £1 per acre .,. £10 
Clearing and planting same, at £2 per acre ... 20 
Building cottage 4U 
Implements and six mouths' living ... ... 30 
The settler will p'.ant cacao-tree.-, and will support 
scale in the congenial soil and climate of Cotta. I wish 
him the success he deserves. It would appear that no 
member of the citrus family is indigenous to Oeylon, 
and yet oranges, lemons and limes flourish in our soil 
and climate, the oranges improving in quality with 
altitude, up to close on 6,000 feet. In Australia and 
especially in Java, I have seen orange groves blighted 
to death, but I havo never seen such a sight in Oeylon. 
It is a great pity howover that our low grown oranges 
are pulled when green. The excuse offered is that if 
allowed to yellow on the trees, maggots would infest 
the fruit. But the real reason why, not only oranges 
but all other fruits are plucked in Oeylon, in an unripe 
state, is the thievish propensities of the people. If 
allowed to ripen on the trees, our ordinary orange 
would have flavour as well as juiciness to recommend it 
and Dr. Bonavia found that even green oranges from 
the bazaar, when kept for over a month until of a 
golden hue, were delicious. But our green orange is not 
the sweet lime of India, which seems never to have been 
introduced here. If therefore, Mr. Henderson obtains 
sweet limes in Oeylon, we believe Dr. Trimen will 
share our consequent surprise. "Manderim" plants are 
of course, the so-called " Mandarin " oranges, the loose 
skinned orange of India and Ceylon, which Dr. Bonavia 
states is not the true Mandarin. That he found in 
Peradeniya Gardens, amongst plants which came from 
Egypt in 1812 and he strongly recommends planters 
to cultivate it. Meantime, good, well ripened, speci- 
mens of the loosse [and brittle] skinned oranges of the 
Colombo Bazaars, (popularly known as " Mandarins ") 
are very superior in flavour to the tight skinned green 
Oranges. Inorderiog '■ pumbloe " (puoielo) plants, Mr. 
Henderson ought to carefully choose the variety. The 
fruit varies honi specimens with deliriously juicy, pink 
pulp, to dry and even dangerous productions. Once, 
after partaking of the fruit of a "wild" pumelo tree 
on the Yatewatte Pass, wo were put into a state of 
alarm for hours, by sensations of heat and constriction 
in the throat. In India reallv good pomelos are con- 
fined to limited localities. We have tine varieties at 
Colombo and only these should he grown. This note 
is a mere ftather floated in advance of a notice as 
elaborate as its merits deserve, of Dr. Bonavia'a 
Monograph which we hope shortly to give in these 
columns. 
