396 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1881. 
Government cannot undertake any of the expenses in the matter. The cost therefore 
of freight, &c, will he taken into account in estimating the amounts to he charged to the 
applicants. 
Neither the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, nor the Royal Gardens, Kew, can 
take any direct part in the above scheme, which should relieve them of a strain they are 
not constituted to hear. 
Whilst admitting that the coffee interest has suffered very serious discouragement of 
late years, and that, in consequence, some of the older'and more exhausted of the lands have 
been abandoned, the Commissioners would nevertheless demur to the opinion expressed 
in Mr. Dyer's letter of 12th January, 1881 , to the effect that coffee in Ceylon has seen 
its best days, and also to his statement that estates of 800 acres had been left uncultivated, 
which the Commissioners believe to be unfounded in fact. 
W. H. RAVENSCROFT. 
R. BEAUCHAMP DOWNALL. 
HENRY TR1MEN. 
GEORGE WALL. 
Colombo, 11th July, 1881. 
APPENDIX TO REPORT. 
MEMORANDUM ON THE PART TAKEN BY THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS 
IN THE INTRODUCTION OF USEFUL PLANTS INTO CEYLON. 
The following notes on plants of economic value introduced into the Botanic Gardens during 
the past 35 years have been put together at the request of the Commission. They shew that the 
introduction of foreign plants of a useful character has been kept steadily in view by the Superin- 
tendeuts and Directors as a part of their duty, and actively prosecuted by them, and that the public 
utility of this Department of the Government service has in this respect, as well as in others, been 
fully vindicated. 
In drawing up this Memorandum, I have been mainly guided by the existing contents of the 
Gardens, and by the (unfortunately brief and scanty) notices in the annual reports, so far as I have 
been able to consult them. Previously to 1844, the date of Dr. Gardner's arrival as Superintend- 
ent, I have no records whatever, and but very few during his short but active incumbency. This,, 
however, is less to be regretted, as it is certain that, for the previous 20 years, next to nothing was 
done at the Gardens, which languished under the rule of a succession of mere gardeners. In the 
period, however, from 1817-25, when the establishment was under the care of Mr. Moon, there can 
be no doubt that much more activity was shewn, and many valuable plants introduced. I have 
however no present means of ascertaining these, though a list of them could perhaps be compiled 
from Moon's " Catalogue of Indigenous and Exotic Plants growing in Ceylon," published in English 
:uid Sinhalese at Colombo in 1824, I may remark that here, as in all similar establishments, 
scientific knowledge and sound utility have gone hand in hand, and a "practical" head of the 
Gardens has meant stagnation of enterprise and the decline of influence and ability to be of public 
usefulness. 
Food Plants. 
Coffee. — I am not aware what, if any, share the Gardens took in the early attempts at the 
svstematic culture of this staple (which was introduced long ago by the Dutch); but I find that in 
1845, at the height of the coffee mania, Peradeniya was largely supplying the rapidly increasing 
estates with plants ready for planting out at the then cheap rate of 6s. (Rs. 3) per 1,000. 
Of Liberian Coffee, now so much grown, the first plants were received at the Gardens in 
1 873 from Mr. Bull. These died. The same year arrived plants of the very closely allied Cape 
i oas/ Coffer from Kew. In 1874 Mr. Bull sent 12 more plants of Liberian coffee, and in 1875 a 
s| i ><■]< from Kew was received. The cultivation was greatly helped forward by the Director, in 1876, 
