762 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May t, 1888 
short, and by January the ears hjve appeared. In 
March it ripens and is reaped, and the land can either 
lie fallow till the end of the year, or crops of yams 
and other roots can be raised upon it ; though whether 
a regular rotation of crops will be necessary we do not 
know. We think it is a great thing that native cul- 
tivators have taken so readily to the cultivation. In 
former years, the villages between Wilson's Bungalow 
and Wellamadde were all surrounded by native coffee 
trees and coffee gardens, but of late disease has played 
sad havoc with them. Many are. abandoned, and those 
that remain are not very remunerative. The decline 
of coffee has in reality been as severely felt in the 
villages of Uva as in any part of the Central Province, 
and, once convinced that it is a paying crop, we feel 
persuaded many natives would gladly cultivate barley 
in small patches. Messrs. K. M. and D. A. Fernando, 
who took the second prize for barley at the Show, sow- 
ed less than 5 bushels, over 8 acres, and obtained 
150 bushels, equivalent to about 33-fold. Con- 
sidering that paddy cultivated in the ordinary 
fashion in Ceylon does not yield more than 14-fold, this 
result must be considered highly satisfactory, more 
especially if as much as R3 per bushel is paid for the 
crop! Of course, Mr. Howard is desirous of fosteiing 
the cultivation as much as possible in its initiatory 
stages, but, even if only RP50 or Ii2 per bushel were 
paid, it would still be very remunerative to growers if 
anything like such satisfactory results can be obtained 
in the future, as have already been done. Mr. Howard, 
in what he has done, has doubtless been chiefly guided 
by a desire to work in the interests of his Brewery, but 
nevertheless, the greatest credit is due to him for 
what he has done and for the liberal manner in which 
he has given seed away gratis to cultivators and encour- 
aged them with advice and assistance to persevere. 
We hope that in time the Brewery at Nuwara B'iya 
may cease importing barley at great cost from Bombay, 
and that the beer that is brewed there may all be 
made from Ceylon-grown grain, thereby allowing the 
Brewery in all probability to extend its operations and 
providing a number of cultivators with something over 
and above their crops of paddy whereon to live and 
prosper. — " Times of Ceylon." 
«. 
THE PUBLIC GARDENS OF BRITISH INDIA, 
ESPECIALLY THE BOTANIC GARDENS.* 
The appearance of the hundredth Annual Report 
of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, is an event of 
no little interest in the botanical world, not alone foi 
what it contains, but also for the evidence it affords 
of the vitality and vigour of the institution, the primary 
object of which wa9 to disseminate useful information 
respecting the vegetable products of the possessions 
of the " Company," and to introduce exotic plants of 
economic value. 
Dr. George King, F.R.S., the present able Superin- 
tendent, gives a concise history of the foundation and 
progress of the Garden down to the present time ; and 
the appendices show that the establishment was never 
conducted with greater activity. We might make 
some interesting extracts from the present Beport ; 
but our object now is to give a foreigner's view of 
the principal horticultural establishments in 
India. 
Mr. Warburg roughly classes the gardens under 
three heads, according to their degree of scientific and 
practical utility, as distinguished from purely pleasure- 
gardens, though no hard and fast line can be drawn, 
because some of the gardens are maintained 
partly for pleasure and partly for profit. 
There are only three real botanic gardens in 
India — we let Mr. Warburg speak for himself — namely, 
Calcutta, Ma<lras,t and Saharunpore, unless we count 
* Chiefly from an article by O, Warburg in vol. xliv. 
of the Botanisclie Zeitung. 
t Mr. Warburg refers here, doubtless, to the Madras 
Presidency, as the botanic garden is at Ootacamund in 
the Nilgherries, and not at Madras. It should be un- 
derstood that we are only extracting passages from a 
rather long article. 
the garden at Gunesh Khind, near Poonn, which is 
often erroneously called a botanic garden. Besides 
these, there is the botanic garden at Peradeniya 
in Ceylon, which, however, comes under the Colonial 
Office. Of the officially so-called- botanical gardens, 
two were originally founded as such by far-seeing 
ofhc'als: Calcutta by General Kyd in 1786', and the 
Ceylon Garden by Sir Joseph Banks in 1810; the latter 
having been established at Peradeniya ever since 
1821. The origin of the Sarahunpore garden in the 
North-West Provinces I did not ascertain [it was 
originally a pleasure garden of the native princes, and 
when Lord Moira conquered the Mahiattas, he caused it 
to be transformed into a botanic garden ; and the first 
Superintendent was Dr. Govan (1816-23), who was 
succeeded by the better-known Dr. Royle, Dr. Falconer, 
and Dr. Jameson]; and the gardens of Ootacamund 
and Singapore have passed through various stages 
before attaining their present condition. Of agricul- 
tuia' experimental gardens, I am acquainted with those 
of Kandtsh (Bombay Presidency), Saidapet (near 
Madras), Nagpore (Central Provinces), and Hyder- 
abed (in the Deccan). 
There is also a hoiticultural gatden in Lucknow, an 
agri-horticultural garden in Lahore (Punjab), and the 
beautiful garden at Madras belonging to an Agri- 
horticultural Society. Similar Societies exist in 
Calcutta, Rangoon, and probably in other places; 
the first publishing a special Journal.* 
In almost every town where there is a considerable 
European population or garrison, there are ornamental 
gardens or parks, called into existence by the demand, 
and almost necessity, for some such p'ace for social 
recreation — riding, driving, and walking — in a tropical 
country, where many of the pleasures and amusements 
of our Europeans towns cannot bs enjoyed. Then 
there are numerous extensive and costly gardens be- 
longing to the native princes and nobles f 
Respecting the gardens having a practical aim, we 
may be very concise, as their objects are much the same, 
subject only to the climatal differences of the various 
provinces, and consequently the kinds of plants that 
may be profitably cultivated within their several 
radiuses of activity. The manner in which tiiese prac- 
tical ends are attained, consists on the one hand of ex- 
periments and trials in the acclimatization of useful 
and ornamental exotic plants; and on the other hand, 
of raising new and improved varieties of native plants, 
and win u successful results follow, propagation on a 
large scale is practised for free distribution or sale. 
Thus, for instance, during the year 1884-85, the 
Calcutta Garden sent out 23,500 living plants to various 
placesin India, and forty two Wardiun cases of plants 
to foreign countries. Further, some 3,000 packets of 
seeds were distributed ; yet the proceeds amounted 
to only 1,075 rupees, because one of the principal 
functions of the Calcutta Garden is to provide the 
public gardens and pleasure-grounds with plants. 
In the same year, the Saharumpore Garden distri- 
buted as many as 42,000 plants and 21,300 packets of 
seeds: whereof 31,400 plants and 14,000 packets to 
private persons ; the amount received being 8,500 
rupees. But ornamental plant-, both as living plants 
and seeds, occupy the first position, while fruit-trees, 
timber-trees, and seeds of vegetables take a second- 
ary place. 
The Singapore Garden sent out the large number of 
163,000 living plants in 1884. These figures, however, 
are'merely extracted as examples of what is done by 
the different establishments, and afford no idea of 
their relative importance, inasmuch as the number of 
plants distributed by each one is subject to the great- 
est fluctuations; in illustration of which it may be 
* And we may add that there is an experimental 
garden in the mountains at Mussoorie in connection 
with Siiiiarunpore ; another at Darjeeling, partly 
pleasure and partly practical ; and an important experi- 
mental garden at Mongpo (Sikkim), under Mr. 
J. Gammie : the two last offshoots of Calcutta. 
' f We must pass on to what Mr. Warburg has to 
say concerning the conditions and functions of the 
botanical gardens and their adjuncts. 
