October r, 1888,] THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
219 
What a queer position the island would be in 
if, through the working of some occult cause, 
every existing copy of the Directory were to dis- 
appear, and we were loft without this vade-mecum 
to refer to ? We all depend upon it a great deal 
more than we think, and if a reference to its 
pages results in a barren return, the compilers and 
publishers are only too pleased to learn where the 
work has failed so as to meet the want in 
future volumes. The new volume which is just 
being issued is as sturdy as the facts it holds and 
is divided into three parts : — The Planting and 
Agricultural Review, the Handbook and Com- 
pendium of useful knowledge, and the Directories. 
In the first division of the work, all the Ceylon 
products, major and minor, have due attention paid 
to them. It is a history of the past as well as of the 
present, and it is pleasing to notice how well the in- 
formation is brought up to date. The articles on Tea 
and Cinchona are especially full. They contain a 
store of information, which it would be hard to 
get elsewhere, and to which p'anters and others 
may want to refer from time to time. As to the 
statistics, well if the Directory is not strong on 
that point, it is strong nowhere. Men fond of 
figures — I am not one of them — here can revel 
to their heart's content, and having gone away 
saturated, may return again and again for renewed 
feasting. If the Planting and Agricultural Review 
were published in a small volume by itself, it 
would make a valuable and handy book, and 
might lind a public outside of the island, which 
is not likely to be reached through the dearer 
Directory. 
In the middle portion of the work, the " Hand- 
book and Compendium of Useful Information," the 
labour of the compiler and the statistician here 
assumes its fullest proportions, and this part is 
perhaps the most valuable to the local public, or 
the outsider who desires to be fully informed in re- 
ference to Ceylon affairs. It is not like the directories. 
In the nature of things, some names are out of 
date in that section before the book has even seen 
the light. Their owners may be dead ; have changed 
their residence, or occupation ; or it may be, left 
the country : bo rapidly does the directory public 
of Ceylon alter-in a short space of time. But what 
has been written in the " Compendium " has an 
enduring interest for almost every class of tho 
community. It is dillicult to dip into any part 
of it, without having the horizon of your know- 
ledge enlarged, and the vaguo informaiion which 
tloats about in the minds of many is there crysta- 
lized and condensed into handy figures. The 
ground it covers i3 co-extensive with the whole 
interests of tho colony ; and the fulness and com- 
pleteness of the information offered, has but to be 
studied to be properly appreciated. 
As to the " Directories," they are as full aa 
ever, and the many subdivisions make a 
special reference easy enough. The details given 
in oonneotion with the different estates aro re- 
plete *ith interest, and tho tabulated informa- 
tion gathered therefrom, is the most accurate 
Bource one can go to who desires to learn aught 
that is trustworthy regarding the position of tho 
agricultural interests of the colony. The labour 
entailod in getting together this widely soattered 
knowledge must have been very considerable, and 
called for patienoo, tact, and perseverance. 
Of course a voluminous work of this kind is 
hardly to bo expected to be free from misprints 
and other minor mistakes. But the wonder is not 
that they arc there, but that thoir numbers should 
bo so few. 
The editors and compilers of I'enjiuon'n Handbook 
and Directory, 1887-s, are ontitled to Icol consider- 
able pride in their work, and the general public 
may be congratulated that they have such a book 
to refer to. It is a worthy successor to the Direc- 
tories which in former years have been edited by 
the same hands and issued from the same press, 
and in saying so I feel that a higher compliment 
to the volume can hardly be paid. 
PlCPI'ERCORN. 
As " Peppercorn" has started the ball, we are 
templed to dispose of a few more complimentary 
references lying by us in regard to the big volume. 
His Excellency the Governor, in acknowledging 
his copy, was good enough to express the opi- 
nion after a first glance, that it was fuller in 
information than any of its predecessors. 
The Lieut-Governor and Colonial Secretary has 
very considerately favoured us with the following 
communication in acknowledgement of an early 
copy :— 
4th August 1888. 
Dear Sir, — I thank you for the advance copy 
of your " Handbook and Directory for 1887-88." I 
can well appreciate the amount of labour and 
time it has cost you, and I congratulate you on 
having reached its publication. My official ne- 
cessities and daily search for information in my 
strangeness to everything here perhaps consti- 
tute me a good judge of the practical value and 
use of your publication, and I rarely turn to it 
for assistance without success. I can pay it no 
better tribute than in saying so. The earlier 
issue was the first book on Ceylon which I ob- 
tained at homo on my appointment here. I shall 
bo glad to be enrolled as a registered subscriber 
to the publication, not so much in a commercial 
spirit as in the desire to record my appreciation 
of a useful and most meritorious public service, 
and I shall always be pleased if I can in any 
way in my official capacity or personally assist 
you in further prosecuting the work. — Yonrs faith- 
fully, E. NOEL WALKER. 
Other gentlemen who received early copies— old 
and leading members of the planting community — 
write as follows : — 
" Your Handbook and Directory for 1887-88 
keeps up its reputation for thoroughness and in- 
dispensability, and, if it be possible, exceeds its 
predecessors in usefulness and finish. It keeps 
its possessor up to and abreast with the times ; 
and, judging from its bulk and index, omits 
absolutely nothing worth recording. On the con- 
trary, all Ceylon matterB, — political, legal, religious, 
agricultural, sanitary, &C, &c, — are exhaustively 
dealt with ; while the Directories of properties 
and institutions, and of persons — everybody who 
is anybody being included with name and addreBS, — 
make it the only roliable guide to find ' who 'a 
who,' and where and wiiat ' who' is." 
" Many thanks for new Directory just received 
Ceylon is certainly the first Crown ColoQy yet, and 
in spite of our losses in coffee we may yet hope for 
much good. I take your new Directory as atupieium 
meliorio itvi. 
Kandy, 2Sth Auguat 1888. 
Messrs. A. M. Si J. Ferguaon,,CVy/o/< Observer, Colombo. 
Sirs, — I duly received the copy of your valuable Hand- 
book and Directory, and at the recent general meet- 
ing of the Association, the Chairman, in inviting special 
attention to it moved that au expression of the 
cordial thanks of tho Association bo couveyod to you 
for the volume. On behalf of the Planters' Associa- 
tion I bug to transmit this acknowledgment of your 
courtesy aud need hardly add that motion was carried 
uuaniiuously. — 1 am, sirs, yours faithfully, 
A. Piiii.li-, Secy. 
On the other hand it was not to be expeoted in 
BO voluminous a work dealing with ho great a 
