148 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Sept i, 1893. 
Pioneers of Planting in Ouvah. Our predecessors 
there in the planting line, fand they were only just 
commencing,) were Major Rogers, Dr. Galland, Sir 
W. Reid and Dr. Sortain. That was in December 
1840. The three first have been long dead. One 
fell by the lightning stroke in the midst of bis 
lietiv.e. and useful career. Another, wasting under 
consuniption, sought in vain to prolong life in the 
climate' of Teiasv "The sea, the blue lone sea" is 
.tbe 'resting place of the third. The fourth is living 
J(and long' may he live,) although we believe he has 
Sieased to have any interest in Ouvah or its Coffee. 
Our*" individual task was to report upon, cut the 
boundaries of and plant Nurseries in an immense 
tract of Forest, extending from Wey welhena and 
iCtowrakella at the foot of Namanakoola Kande. on 
'tWroUgTi Cannavarella and Nahavilla to the extreme end 
the range where Hindugalla looks down on the 
hillock-dotted plain.-) of AVellasse. There were 3,700 
acres ■ in this' one block, and, including another 
Apiece of land near the Fort of Himbliatawella, up 
to the way towards Newera Eilia, we have the 
Vatisfaction oi believing that we launched into 
Ranting existence some 4,000 acres of as fine coffee 
jland as can be found in Ceylon. We left in June 
M41, just as the nursery plants were peeping above 
grbund, and we have not seen Badulla since then, 
'bxcepting as a feature in the grand and varied view 
from the top of the Newera Ellia Pass. We trust 
wme ■ day to revisit scenes which we remember 
^th pleMure. 
Jn jEi .humorons and descriptive piece of verse 
.written ,a few years later, he niatle further 
^^l^rences. worth giving :•— 
THE SONG OF UVA.» 
Ye hills and vales of Badulla, 
When we were first acquaint; 
Ye were but rarely visited, 
Your riches little kent ; 
But now, from Nam'nacooly's base 
To Hapootelle'a crown, — 
The Coffee shrub is springing up, 
The forest going down. 
Auld Willie Reid and douce Sortain 
'First "prospected" thegither; 
I followed, — and the pleasant cracks 
We had wi' ane anither 1 
Now Rbgers, Galland, Reid have gone 
The path tha;t all must go; 
While we life's battles still must fight, 
Sottain, my worthy jo 1 
^*a3t ane an' twenty busy years, 
An' lot the wondrous change; 
'" ''''Jllhose Hills ale now the white men's homes, 
Which were the wild beasts' range ; 
Anfl, mixihg with the torrent's roar, 
The steam-pipe's puff is heard; 
■While rattling round the pulper goes, 
' As merry as a bird. 
iA.nd good and true men live and work, 
If 'good and true are gone : — 
There's Wood and Brown and Norman Stewart 
And clever Henry Don. 
There's Byere with harmoniums twain, 
For light or sacred song; 
And Criiwell of the thunder tones, 
' Ai pliaht as they're strong. 
There's Herjea Franjee of Bombay, 
John Oliver of Lews ; 
Canadian Irvine, who can tell 
Of sleigh drives and snow shoes. 
And, to repress those crimes which vrith 
"(^i')irv Prosperity increase, 
M V;' There's H. 0. Bury, grave and stern— 
\ The Justice of the Peace i 
* Written by A. M. Ferguson, Esc[, o.M.e., in 1862. 
There's Pineo with the foreign name. 
And Jenkins born in Wales; 
While Scottish Oeits stride o er those hilla 
MacColls, and eke MacPhails; 
And Dr. Kelson roams around. 
With potion and with pill, 
To keep the sturdy Planters all 
From ever getting ill. 
We've Dawson, Kirkton, Linton, Smith, 
Imlah, and Atwelle (two); 
With Johnstone, Geddes, Bayley. Bikes, 
Roaming our forests through. 
There's Commins ("not the Crown Court Seer), 
And Handyside mg friend ; 
And more, whose names if I should write, 
My song would never end. 
There's Russell with the treble voice, 
But masculine of mind ; 
A better man to fill liis post 
You might go far to find. 
There s A. Y. Adams, who a« Judge, 
Has everj'body's praise; 
And last (not least; there's "Billy Hall." 
The man who mends our ways! 
And Ouvah s crops are bumper crops — 
The quality is prime ; 
The climate all that could be wish'd. 
Good roads will come in time; 
No doubt the Planters have their griefs, 
Their grievances and fears; 
But if they knew what vt endured— 
Old Ouvah's P(Onebrs! 
For. few and scant our comforts were 
The leaders of that band— 
■Whose cosie cottages now rise. 
Brieht homesteads oer the land; 
So while for all that s still to do, 
Ye strive with high resolve — 
Let grateful thoughts too, hare their play, 
As ye THE PAST revolve. 
Ye Hills and Vales of Badulla, 
When we were first acquaint ; 
Ye were but rarely visited, 
Yoor riches little kent. 
But soon from utmost Ouvah's height 
To Ratnapoora town. 
The Road 1— will help the Rice Carts i<p— 
The Coffee Bandies dovn I 
[Of all named in these verses, only Messrs. Bvers 
MacPhail, Jenkins, Pineo. Sikes, Atwell, Geddes' 
A. Y. Adams and perhaps Dr. Kelson, remain in 
the land of the living.— Ed. T. a.'\ 
In the " seventies ' Mr. Ferguson threw himself 
with great ardour as proprietor of Ahbotaford into 
all that concerned practical coffee cultivation— 
and especially into the combat and Btruggle 
against " coffee leaf disease" (hemileia vmtatrix J, 
witlng a full account of the sa7ne in pamphlet 
form. Jso one again did more to pioneer cin- 
chona cultivation and to introduce fresh and 
valuable seed or to arrive at a right under- 
standing of the best mode of cultivating and 
harvesting, together with the mos.sing and other 
processes. And finally Mr. A. M. Ferguson 
was, equally, a pioneer with tea culture in 
our hill districts, as he was in the low- 
country with Libertan coffee and cacao. With 
each of these products he experimented, and 
at the same time wrote in the Observer and 
Tropical Agriculturist very fully on every depart- 
ment of their cultivation, preparation, &c. For 
no one was ever more ready to impart the 
results of his experience than the subject of 
this notice, whUe he took a special interest 
in the work and success of his planting neighbours. 
Peace to the memory of a man of worth ! 
