THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1887. 
doing duty at Abbotsford factory, should be re- 
turned to the same stream lower down. 
As already mentioned, I made the journey of 
over 5 miles from Nuwara Eliya to Nanuoya station in 
40 minutes, more comfortably than in any coach. 
Nothing could be better or more uniform than 
the jat of tea in this neighbourhood so far 
as I had an opportunity of observing : on 
Edinburgh and Inverness particularly so ; on 
Clarendon and Loxa tea is doing well, while 
it is refreshing to see good coffee well kept up 
both on the first-mentioned estates and on Dess- 
ford and Lome, where, however, preparations are 
being made by extensive nurseries for planting of 
tea on a big scale. Higher up tea prevails on 
Maha Eliya and especially on Calsay with its tur- 
bine-worked factory, while farther round it is very 
promising on Lippakelle and on other places in the 
neighbourhood. The Agrapatana division of Dim- 
bula together with the middle and lower Boga- 
wantalawa sections of Dikoya are regarded as among 
the few remaining strongholds of coffee on this 
side of the country, and very opportunely have 
the good prices and brighter prospects come to en- 
courage continued attention to the old staple. 
Nevertheless, we may be sure that neither here nor 
in Uva will efforts be wanting to prepare against 
the necessity of a change, especially if " green 
bug" continues. This pest I hear is still preval- 
ent on the other side and does not confine its 
attention to coffee, being freely seen in the jungle. 
"Down the line" from Nanuoya, coffee on each 
side is slowly but steadily giving way to its more vigor- 
ous leafy successor. But as yet there are not many 
fully-equipped factories at work in this region. What 
a large demand on our tea-machine makers, and on 
iron-work in great variety, must be made before all 
Dimbula even is equipped with the rollers, driers, 
sifters, cutters, &c, &c, requisite in the present 
day to a well and economically arranged factory, 
If cooly labour continues scarce, we may be sure 
0 f all the greater rush after labour-saving ap- 
pliances, and in all departments of the tea- 
planter's work, both in field and factory, there is 
a mple scope for the application of ingenuity. 
Erroll estate, above Hatton, where I made a 
short halt, is in the midst of a tea district pure 
and simple. Coffee is nowhere to be seen, save far 
up the valley ; but there are very fine covers of 
tea visible, notably on plantations which never 
took high rank, even in the palmy days, for their 
yield of the old staple. Erroll is a model little 
tea estate, and there are many very fine shows of 
tea on the hillsides and flats visible from it in the 
lower division of Dikoya district, as well as in 
Lower Dikoya proper. Farther away, towards Nor- 
wood and Bogawantalawa, a good deal of coffee 
is still carefully looked after, although tea is 
getting a fair share of attention. Maskeliya, on 
the other hand, is to be a tea district par excellence 
almost immediately. Coffee on Kintyre, Avoca and 
Brownlow, and one or two other places, is still to 
the fore, yielding well this season ; but the one hope 
of the future in this favoured region as regards rain- 
fall is in tea. The large extent of forest still visible 
from any eminence in both Bogawantalawa and Mas- 
keliya is reassuring, when we reoall the large demand 
which must be made on the wood-fuel of the 
country, where all the tea now growing is in bear- 
ing, unless some cheaper or equally accessible fuel 
provided. Even with its splendid water-power 
for driving machinery, the Carolina or K A W 
Factory for drying alone requires the produce of 
i vcral acres of timber for its annual outturn. 
Whero a steam-engine as well as driers have to 
be fed, the demand will be larger, and when wo 
think of the many plantations in the middle of the 
young districts without a stick on them, or in 
reserve, unless it be the old coffee, the question 
of firewood is indeed likely to be a troublesome one. 
K A W factory does at present the largest 
amount of work in the country, buying leaf 
far and near, as many as a couple of tons a day of 
freshly-gathered leaf coming down the line in 
basket to be delivered at Watawala station at times. 
This is a great convenience to young estates, but 
factories are more rapidly multiplying. That of Dara- 
wella is now going ahead and leaf being bought 
for it in mid Dimbula ; but few sites have the 
natural advantage of K AW with the water from the 
river to drive its turbine up to 30, 40 or more 
horsepower if required. There need be no hesitation 
here to make the " roll " heavy or fully-charged. 
(To be continued.) 
■ ♦ 
CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
PLANTING WEATHER — WHERE THE PLANTS 60 TO — GREEN 
BUG STILL GOING ON — BRAVE EFFORTS TO COMBAT THE 
ENEMY — CANKER IN CINCHONA. 
5th July 1887. 
Since the Jubilee festivities the rain has been 
on in proper style, and with it there has been a 
good deal of wind. This of course is what is to 
be expected at this season of the year, and when 
one gets up to one's expectations there is not much 
room to grumble. All the same, we could do 
with less wind. Plants are very much in demand, 
and the prices keep pretty steady. I understand 
that those who put out extensive nurseries on 'spec' 
have had fair orders, and where the jat is really 
good, many of them are sold out, and could have 
disposed of considerable quantities more if they 
had had them. And yet before the planting 
season began, there was a kind of idea abroad that 
nurseries for the season were rather overdone, and 
that to sell, some sacrifies would have to be made. 
But it is pretty much always this way. The sell- 
ers have a harder time of it with the buyer who 
buys in advance than the man who comes in when 
the rains are on. He does not ask many quustions 
as to price, if at all like the thing, and an extra 
rupee a thousand is not thought so much of 
when times are propitious, and plants must be got. 
Where all the plants go to is the mystery, and 
yet those who have bad experience of bad bits, 
and have seen how the hope of yesterday which 
looked so promising when planted out has come 
in a short time to resemble those Arabs, which folded 
their tents " and silently stole away," can at least 
account for some of them albeit not in a very 
satisfactory way. Nothing tickles a man up so 
much as these sore bits that won't grow, and the 
capacity they have for putting away plants is 
harrowing. Round after round of supplying still 
find them wanting, and the unhappy possessor is 
at last driven to his wits' end to give a reason 
for the failure. He only attains unto the wisdom 
of the wise when he ceases his speculations, and 
keeps " pegging on." 
l i it the oase that tea planted on old estates is 
proving somewhat of a disappointment ? I 
have heard this said. Of course there is a wonderful 
difference between one district and another, new 
land and old, and those who have planted 
old places must necessarily exercise more 
patience, and wait longer for results. The London 
Director who explained the cause of the tardiness 
of the returns of his Company from the fact that 
the taproot of the tea had not yet penetrated into 
