692 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [A? ril i, t88g. 
THE REPORT FOR 1888 ON THE 
BOTANICAL GARDENS OF CEYLON. 
ECONOMIC PRODUCTS '. — COTTON, TOBACCO, LIBERUN 
COFFEE, INDIiRUBBER, PEPPER, &C. 
As usual the principal portions of Dr. Trimen's 
report are circulated as a Supplement with this 
number of the Tropical Agriculturist. The report is 
specially interesting on this occasion as dealing fully 
with the two " new products " which are at present 
engaging special attention : tobacco and cotton. 
It will be seen that Dr. Trimen quite supports 
our views as to the exhausting nature of the first, 
while as regards the second he points out, that, 
if objections as to damage from monsoon rains 
and insects oan be obviated and good crops ob- 
tained realizing profitable prices, the area over which 
cotton oan be cultivated in Ceylon is very wide 
indeed, embracing vast tracts in our hot lowlands, 
while Mr. Blackett's experiments have shown how 
well suited the medium hill zones are for the 
culture of the better species of gossypium. The 
•xtension and success of the cotton enterprise 
amongst Europeans as well as natives, we have 
all good reason earnestly to desire, for the danger is 
imminent now that before new markets for tea can 
be opened up, that product will be almost as much 
overdone in Ceylon as cinchona has been. There 
are so many varieties of cotton scattered over 
Ceylon, while seed of the best kinds is being 
introduced, that we cannot doubt the fulfilment 
of Dr. Trimen's hope that a kind or kinds suitable 
specially for our climate as affected by monsoons 
may be discovered and widely cultivated. The 
early working in our midst of a spinning and weav- 
ing factory places the cotton enterprise in Ceylon 
on a very different and a much more favourable 
footing than ever before, and we are now sanguine 
of success in the case of a product, the permanent 
establishment of which will prevent that exclusive 
devotion to one culture which, having been our 
bane in the past, is likely to be our peril in the 
future. Such being the state of the case, Dr. 
Trimen's utterances on cotton, tobacco, tea and 
other cultures will be read, as they deserve, with 
special attention. The good doctor's surprise, 
however, that Liberian coffee is not more grown 
would probably disappear if he had the trying ex- 
perience of many of us regarding the refusal of a 
large portion of the fruits of this coffee to ripen, 
the enormous proportion of waste matter and the 
difficulty of pulping it off, and finally the liability 
of the gigantic leaves to leaf disease in proportion 
to their size. The market for vanilla is not large 
and could be easily overdone. The culture seems 
to suit our neighbours in Mauritius and Reunion. 
A very interesting account of an experiment with 
large indiarubber trees is given, from which the 
conclusion is drawn that forests of Ilevea rubber 
trees may yet be sources of great profit in Ceylon. 
The want of success in previous experiments was 
duo largely to the immaturity of the trees and 
probably to wrong modes of obtaining the gum. 
Dr. Trimen recommends gutta percha and rubber 
cultivation to the attention of the ForeBt Depart- 
ment, and he might well have added the Australian 
eucalypta and acacias. Planters who have preserved 
their rubber trees will now wait till they are 
well-grown. The prospects of ordinary pepper are 
good, but the officinal variety or species called 
cubebs has not yet been introduced into Ceylon. 
The cultivation of ipecacuanha, the great remedy 
for dysentery promises to be successful. 
Both Peradeniya and Hakgala gardens have been 
greatly improved and beautified, and it is now likely 
that in the latter a large number of other European 
fruits in addition to superior grafted plums, already 
established, will be successfully cultivated. It is 
curious that both at Peradeniya and Hakgala the 
great want is a perennial water supply. Last year 
there was deficient rainfall at Peradeniya and 
a period of fifty -five days' drought at Hakgala. We 
commend to the notice of our readers the des- 
cription of the new form of cheap conservatory 
for ferns and foliage plants, so successful at 
Peradeniya, the roof being not glass, but coconut 
netting over wire. The only disadvantage is that 
such a conservatory will not afford shelter to 
persons desiring to escape from rain. For such a pur- 
pose there is a glass-roofed conservatory. Our only 
regret in reading this Report is that all the botanical 
gardens of Ceylon are so far away from the 
capital. Pains should be taken to supply Victoria 
Park with all possible ornamental trees and 
flowers : and we are glad to learn there is a 
chance of seeing the Victoria Regia in the 
basin of Sir Arthur Gordon's fountain in the Fort. 
Dr. Trimen suggests the provision of a Govern- 
ment resthouse at Henaratgoda for the conveni- 
ence of visitors, the train arrangements involving 
so much delay. Anuradhapura and Badulla gar- 
dens both suffered from want of rain, but the 
former can now receive the benefits of irrigation 
from tanks filled by the Yodaela with water from 
the grand lake of Kalawewa. White-ants are a 
great pest at all the gardens except Hakgala, which 
is too elevated for the termites. " White " ants is a 
name now scarcely appropriate as a black variety of 
termites exists in the island : " black white-ants " ! 
The interchange of seeds and plants goes briskly 
on ; the herbarium has been very greatly im- 
proved ; there is the nucleus of a good library 
and careful drawings of plants are being constantly 
added to the already large collection. Finally 
there is a new and important departure in the 
provision at Peradeniya of a botanical laboratory, 
in which Mr. Potter, m.a., f.l.s., of Cambridge, 
is at work, we cannot doubt with great prospective 
advantage to the science of vegetable physiology 
THE BOTANIC GARDENS AND CINCHONA 
PLANTATION OF NORTHERN AND 
SOUTHERN INDIA. 
The Reports for 1887-88 have, with many other 
documents, been waiting for a convenient season 
which we must now make. The contents are of 
considerable interest, for the importance of the 
great febrifuge-yielding plants to humanity has 
increased instead of decreasing with the fall 
in price which has told so disastrously on the 
enterprise in Ceylon. The interest of the 
report ef our good friend Mr. Gammie on the 
Sikkim Cinchona Plantations oentres in the pro- 
gress made, first in the preparation from the bark, 
where it is grown, of a useful febrifuge of mixed 
alkaloids, and then the discovery of a cheap and 
effectual mode of separating pure sulphate of 
quinine. The whole narrative of the toiumpb of 
