786 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST [May i, 1888 
Botanic Gardens and his assistants, the larger 
portion of whioh (through the courtesy of the 
Government Printer) is given as a Supplement with 
this month's Tropical Agriculturist. Here we have 
accounts of the progress, position, and prospects of 
horticultural experiments under the most varied con- 
ditions of altitude and climate, from the base of the 
grand Hakgala at about 5,600 feet above sea-level, 
downwards to 2,200 feet at Badulla, 1,000 feet at 
Peradeniya, about 300 feet at Anuradhapura to only 
a little above sea-level in the case of "the 
tropical garden" at Heneratgoda. Surely we 
ought at Colombo to have gardens within the 
Municipal bounds, combining the botanical and the 
zoological, such as many smaller towns in India can 
boast of. As usual, what Dr. Trimen with his 
special knowledge of the life-history and properties 
of plants, records in the shape of fact or com- 
ment, and what he quotes from Mr. Nock (who 
has done so much to convert the precipice- 
crowned slope of Hakgala into an upland 
paradise, where flowers and ferns of all climates 
meet and mingle), are redolent of scientific and 
economic interest. We need only instance the 
elaborate notice of the until now obscure 
question of the identity of the valuable species 
of pepper known in commerce as cubebs. Like 
a true and honest scientist Dr. Trimen is as ready 
to correct his former mistakes, where materials 
for judgment were defective, as to speak decisively 
where the facts are cumulative and conclusive. 
As we tfke it for granted that all our readers 
will peruse our Supplement with care and 
interest, our own further remarks may be few End 
brief. The central gardens at Peradeniya re- 
nowned all over the world for their combina- 
tion of flower and fern beds, and drives through 
forest trees and by a noble rher bordered with 
grand groups of giant bamboos, have been im- 
proved, and can now be inspec'ed by the observant 
visitor with the aid of a Hand-book and an elaborate 
Catalogue of the piants indigenous and imported 
which are grown within its bounds. It is curious to 
notice that here, at i, 600 feet above Colombo, the 
average rainfall should be almost exactly the same 
as that of the sea-level station. The figure for 
Peradeniya is 87 - 33 inches on 1.44 days. There was 
a considerable excess in 1887, the figures being 
90 - 06 inches on 169 days. The average of four 
years at Hakgala (with an Uva climate) is not 
very different, 86-68 inches, but the. average of 
rainy days is much higher, 217. Different ideas of 
what constitutes a rainy day must surely account 
for some of the large difference, considering 
the nearness of the totals of rainfall. We have 
already noticed the oak seedlings so successfully 
grown and ready for distribution at Hakgala, as 
also the beautiful pinus longifolia, but how can we 
convey an idea of the fernery with its specimens 
varying from tall tree ferns to " maiden hair " 
of such minute leafage, that a lady of our party, 
during a recent visit, followed many others in going 
into raptures over them, only to be told that as those 
ferns were grown lower and lower down, the leaves 
increased in size. So with roses and other flowers : 
some which llourish at Hakgala are failures at 
Colombo and vice versa. One of the great delights 
of a visit to these mountain gardens, is the number 
of European forms which exiles can salute within 
their bounds. Even the emerald turf in which 
the brilliant flower-beds are set like gems is a 
Bipht of beauty. But there arfl imalifications every- 
where, and it will be seen that much damage was 
done to the gardens at the end of last year by 
the abnormal rain-floods, 33 77 inches falling in 
December, while porcupines and rats proved ser- 
i ou« plagues. We are not surprised to learn that 
the number of visitors t - this b autiful scene with 
its magnificen; view of Uva, is increasing. Nearly 
all who visit Nuwara Eliya take a trip to Hakgalla. 
The number inscribed in the book in 1887 was 1,170. 
The history of the subsidiary gardens at Anuradha- 
pura and Badulla, includes difficulties from droughts 
followed by excessive floods, such as we trust will 
not recur for many years. In the case of the 
capital of the North-Central Province there ought 
now to be a perennial supply of water. 
What Dr. Trimen writes about the Australian 
wattle acacias as fuel trees will receive special 
attention from planters. Trees 51 feet high from 
the seed in six years, with stems over 1 feet at 
the base, in the case of the silver wattle at Hak- 
gala, exceed, we suspect, anything known in the 
native habitat of the plant The silver wattle, 
acacia dealbata, — if its character as a good fuel 
were certainly established — would, probably, be the 
best to cultivate for the supply of tea estate fur- 
naces. Of blue gum as a good fuel tree we have 
already had testimony and it coppices freely. What 
we desiderate are reports of trials in the furnace of 
the wood of each of the four leading wattle-acacias 
cultivated in Ceylon. They all send up shoots from 
their spreadirg roots, but in varying proportion. 
Acacia melanoxijlon (the "blackwood," and, curiously 
enough, the " lightwood" also, of Australia,) has, 
perhaps the least tendency in this direction, al- 
though individual trees differ greatly in this respect. 
We have been advised to cultivate this species ex- 
clusively, because of the superiority of the well- 
grown trees for timber purposes. But we should 
like to know if, meantime, plenty of good fuel can 
be got from the subsidiary shoots anl from the 
lopped branches. This species is liable to be 
specially infested by the loranthus parasite, but a 
cooly with a hook or knife on a long pole could 
easily clear away the inimical growths. The 
"blackwood" must not be confounded with the 
" black wattle," acacia decurrens, which is a smaller 
species than the three others common here. Acacia 
pyenantha is a most ornamental tree, from the pro- 
fusion of golden blossoms which gives it its name 
of " golden wattlp." Plantation for fuel and timber 
might well be formed of '' blackwood," the silver 
wattle and the golden, if the latter is good for 
firewood. Trials of each of these three, if the 
fourth is not worthy of inclusion, ought to be made 
in the furnace, for it is fuel more than . timber 
which the planters want. The Grevillea robusta (not 
an acacia, we find, but belonging to the natural 
order Pkoteace^ and distinguished by its large 
coloured flowers,) is an excellent timber tree and 
grows well in our hill regions. This will be 
obvious by a look at the long row of now noble 30 
and 40 feet high trees which the late Mr. George 
Smith put down along the road-side through Lome 
and Dessford, and which, to our knowledge, cannot 
be more than seven years old. The late exceptional 
drought has forced many of these fine trees into blos- 
som. We believe these trees can be improved by the 
gradual lopping off of the side branches for fuel, but 
we must repeat the hope that some planter, (and 
all will think of Mr. Kutherford, to whom his 
brethren on estates owe so much already,) will 
institute careful trials and report the result, of the 
comparative fuel values of the timber of thel/luegum, 
of Urevillea, and of the three or four wattles chit-fly 
grown in Ceylon : A. mclanoxylon, dealbata, pyenan- 
tha; and decurrens. Wo once had an Australian Nur- 
seryman's list, in which the best fuel plants were 
spf eified, but even if we could refer to it, trials here 
would be useful, because in our hot-moist climate the 
charcteristics of the trees may possibly have been 
consideiably altered. The specimens of timber 
might be tried green and in a dried state. For 
