3°4 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1888. 
The adjoining shed contained workers in silver and 
brass, also lacquer workers, ornamenting walkiug-sticks, 
their chief substance being Waterlow & Sons' wax. 
The weaving of clith was done in a very primitive 
fashion by villagers from Laggala side. 
On Saturday I observed ihe Hon. W. W. Mitchell 
and Mr. Holmes going carefully through the Show, 
and found quite a point of much interest in a beauti- 
ful sample of Fiji cotton, grown by Mr. Wejekoon, 
Matale. 
One of the chief exhibits of interest came from Mr. 
P. C. Braine, Woodslee, illustrating sericulture. 
Your correspondent who reported the proceedings 
on the opening day must have been a stranger in 
Matale. 
By a Colombo Visitor. 
It is in accordance with the views of intelligent geu- 
tlemen expressed through the public press that Agri- 
cultural Shows are becoming fashionable. Kandy, Kuru- 
negala and Kegalla have been to the front, and suc- 
cess has invariably been the result. Matale followed 
suit, and from all that appeared in the papers about 
last year's Show, Matale does not appear to have been 
behind-hand in any respect. When the present Show, 
just over, was announced, great was the attraction 
which drew not merely sight-seers and holiday-makers 
but even practical men. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that the attraction was far in excess of the actual 
interest attaching to the Exhibition and the summary 
of its results- This remark applies chiefly to the ex- 
hibits of " native products," which were of the poorest. 
It does not in the least affect the credit due to the 
indefatigable exertions of the Assistant Government 
Agent, Mr. Burrows; but if it does prove anything, it 
proves how feebly his efforts are seconded by his native 
lieuteuants and the leading agriculturists of the dis- 
trict — always excepting Mr. Charles De Soysa. To the 
credit of that gentleman and his superintendents, it 
must be said that he scarcely misses a single Show, but 
is always to the front with the products of his estates ; 
and he cares more for the influence of his example than 
for gold or silver medals. If others of the landed 
gentry of Matale, who pride themselves over the many 
broad acres they own, were to imitate his example, there 
would be no occasion for Sir Arthur Gordon to ex- 
press, as he did, his regret at the poor show of 
native products. But that the natives do not either 
enter into the spirit which promotes these Shows, 
or do not quite understand their object, would ap- 
pear from the greater eagerness and interest with 
which they press forward and crowd themselves to 
suffocation in order to witness the wild, grotesque 
and uglv performances of some Kandyan dancers 
than to examine the exhibits of the products of their 
own cultivation. The result is just what might have 
been expected. Of six gold medals only two were WGn 
by natives, viz : — For paddy by Mr. T. B. Aluwihara 
and another for tea by Mr. Soysa. Of silver medals 
only one was won by Mr. H. Alwis for a table bouquet, 
whilst not a single native would appear to have won 
any medal at all for what may be regarded as strictly 
" native products," viz. — tobacco, cardamons, pepper, 
tomatoes, annatto, poultry, butter, &c. In strong con- 
trast to the apathy or something worse of the natives, 
the Europeans of the district and conspicuously so the 
planters have mustered in full force, and to their zeal 
and energy is due the success of the Exhibition such 
as it was. Prominent amougst these was the laird of 
Baudarapolla, Mr. H. Fraser, who seems to have 
worked with a will and energy not inferior to the 
Assistant Government Agent, whilst contributing no 
mean share in the products exhibited. Mr. Gordon 
Beeves comes next, and the well-known Mr. A. G. K. 
Borron would yield the palm to none in exhibits of 
general estates products perhaps beginning with areca- 
init and ending with vanilla. 
The Liberian coffee exhibited was the best I have 
ever peel], and the cardamoms were of the purest white 
and full flavored. 
I visited the Exhibition a day if not two days 
alter tbo fair; uud yet it was the flower and feru 
department which lent a charm to the Exhibition and 
made it almost a fairy scene. On returning to take the 
train late in the evening, I found to my surprise 
that so far as flowers were concerned the station 
grounds might as well have been referred to as the 
best exhibition of them, and if names do not mislead 
me, I believe the stationmasfer himself was the 
largest exhibitor of flowers, and it would be well if 
other stationmasters followed his example. But tastes 
differ. On my return journey I observed that one 
stationmaster has a partiality for the lantana weed; 
another prefers cholan or maize; a third, more 
frugal, grows peas, beans, and other vegetables to 
meet the daily demands of the housewife, whilst 
the last I observed was apparently one who cannot 
bother himself with these trifles. He goes in for 
stately trees— a jak here, a jak there, with plantain 
interspersed. 
A hideous picture — the production of a native artist — 
was pointed out as a likeness of the last King of 
Matale — a picture by no means complimentary to his 
late Blajesty. My friend naively remarked that the 
subjects of so ugly-looking a specimen of royalty 
cannot be very good specimens of physical formation. 
But the appearance of some Kandyan ladies in their 
graceful native costume made us considerably 
modify our opinion. Perhaps the race has improved 
since his Majesty ceased to reign. But whatever the 
physical features of some few females, the general 
appearance of the majority of the population, male 
and female, remiuds one that Matale borders on the 
Vanni, and that the people have to sustain existence 
on very scanty fare. Unfortunately there are not 
the vital statistics to refer to, but it would be inter- 
esting to note if the rate of mortality bears out this 
view of the population. 
The Volunteer Band from Kandy went in the same 
train in which I travelled, and when they were seen 
in the Exhibition grounds, there was quite a rush to 
see them, many in the crowd exclaiming " Oh 1 that 
will be better than anything we have yet seen." The 
entrance fee to the Exhibition on the 3rd day was 
121 cents ; but the young chap who presided over 
the ticket department said, that if we left the grounds 
the same fee would be paid over again: rather 
an inconvenience this, as the refreshment room had 
become a snare if not a delusion on the 3rd day ; 
the constable who mounted guard over it assuring us 
that if we once got in, he would on no account 
allow us to go out without a ticket from the Secretary, 
and, as we prized personal liberty more than creature 
comforts, we did n't care to make this bargain. Un- 
fortunately neither Mr. Daniel Joseph nor his ex- 
hibits of capsicum were to be seen anywhere within 
the grounds. 
♦ 
A noteworthy feature of the year, as regards the 
effect on the British carrying trade in tea, was the 
falling-off in shipments by the Suez route, the 
greater portion of this decrease amounting to about 
4,000,000 lb. (or say 6,000 tons of 40 cubic feet 
measurement), being carried across the Pacific Ocean 
by steamers running in connection with the Canadian 
Pacific Bailroad. — L. <£■ G. Express. 
Tea in Ceyion. — A correspondent writes: — It is an 
interesting fact, that wherever the experiment of tea 
cultivation has been ventured upon in the Galle district, 
it has answered the planters best expectations, and 
the growth of the bushes on some of the estates here 
has been pronounced to be equally good as in places 
better favored with conditions of soil and climate. 
At the local sales of tea in the Colombo market, last 
month, I was shown the account sales rendered by the 
firm of Messrs. Forbes & Walker, from which it appears 
that a single native proprietor in Galle had placed in 
the market 4,295 lb- of made tea. Nothing surprised 
me more than to be assured by this Sinhalese gentle- 
man that the present entire cost of his manufacture 
does not exceed an average of 18 cents the lb. on the 
estate ; and as some of these teas realized as much as 
G'8 cents per lb., at the sale in question, it must surely 
leave a large margin of profit, clear of all expenses. — 
Indian Agriculturist. 
