528 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. i, 1894. 
interested in the deTelopment of tbe ocuotr; will find 
it coave lent to attend. 
A. Sharpe, E'q., H. M. Vice Ooneal, has kindly 
grIiDlcd the une of hi8 large room for the occasion. 
JoHM Buchanan, Aliohirn, Oct. 16tli, 1893. 
The mail bIso brings us from bis relative in East 
Africa a copy of a photograph of the late " Mr, 
Alexander Brown," so long identified nith the 
Oeylon Planters' Association, and a true Planting 
Pionper of the early days. It is sent to be included in 
the Portrait Gallery of the Tropical A(jricultw i»t, 
In this connection, we have to acknowledge the 
receipt from Mr. Wm. Smith of Belgravia of a 
copy of Buchanan's " Sbire Highlands," and he 
is good enough to write as follows : — 
" Among your many eervices for the public good 
contemplated articles on Africa a« a fiKld for plsulers 
cannot fail to be valuable. East Africa baa loog 
had a grent charm for me. I am sending you to''ay 
Buobaoan's, Shire Highlands incase you have not got 
it as it cootaioB a deal of information ou the 
country, and coffee &c. I gave a r ading cf 
the same book, which <1ecidcd h'n going to Africa. 
That much roughing (and pussibly a eaorifice of 
BOme Iiv£»), may be required-, to develope this nrxl 
great British ooffpo growing country, is quite likely; 
but as rute as ail tbe other elements of sdoccbs are 
there, the men ore lo be found and Ceylon BboulJ 
supply a large contingent. I wiih I could turn tlif 
dial back 30 years and I would gladly It^nd a b«u<l.'' 
We shall be glad to refer once again to this book 
for all that bears on the planting enterprise in coo- 
neotion with the latest published aud perEonal infor- 
mation that may be available to us It is something 
for young men of the right stamp to have the encoursgp- 
ment of veleran oo£fpc plantrra like the patriarchs of 
Dimbula, in looking to East Africa as a field for 
their enterprise. 
^ 
OF CACAO. 
{Communicated hij a Cacao Planter.) 
The great increase which the railway shows of 
otoao carried in 181i3 as compared with 1892 is apt to 
mislead. It is very much brought about by the fact 
that the 1892 crop was late and the 1893 carlj, so 
tl at both went to 6wel] the total. 
Tbe 1893 crop is about wiudiug up cow, aud it 
hat not been a bad one on tbe whole. Tbe drought 
however did, I think, affect tbe size of tbe podf, and 
we would all have done better hut for tbe dry season. 
What we mourn now are the low prices. Even i^e 
Mrorman is choked R£f, and rubbish which last ye r 
he was prepared to risk the loss of his soul for, today 
he won't look at, and if he does offer for it ; there 
is a sad absence of the specolative spirit, which be 
has all along manifested when dealing with this 
product. The truth is he wants it for nothing. 
We are all lookirg to the new year to put some 
vitality into prices. The report from home by last 
mail is that cocoa value J at lOas to lOGs was withheld 
as, — so queer was the market, — it wai doubtful if 
even 98t could be got for it. Samples had been sent 
to tbe United States aud South America without 
resulting in a single order. The demnnd for the 
Slates is dead for the present, and no orders are 
expected from that quarter till tbe tariff question is 
settled one way or another. We may look for a 
revival soon ; auybow those who ship ara I think better 
placed than those who sell locally. 
DAYS OF OLD : A* LEAF FROM 
THE FAR EAST. 
Through the good ofiSoes of Mr. Wm. Watson 
of Dunedin, we have received the following in- 
teresting oriticism on an editorial note on " Gtorg^ 
Bird,'' which appeared in the Observer of 9th 
September last. The writer, Mr. J. C. White ol 
Parling PownSi Qaeensland, it mW be observed, 
go°B back wellnigh sixty years in his rerollectima of 
Ofylon. It is a pity that no portrait of the first of 
Oevlon Coffee planters (Mr. Geo. Bird) is available 
for our Tropical Agriciiltuntt Portrait Gallery. Mr. 
White's paper is as follows : — 
Geobge Bias— GoFiEK Plantbhai Uamfoui, C >loh. 
I wa« for a considerable period on Coinoel Bied'a 
plsn'atinn wi'h hi< brother Georgn, aud I 1 ft tha 
service after Geori;e Bird was married. Ther>- ^^ora 
only two coffee pUnta'ions in Ceylon at that tim — 
Bird's KtCi&mpols and one bel'inviiig 'oQeD<'ial B r e*, 
the Govf'roor, at Peradeniya. We bal elephants at 
work, but each animal was (Jriren by a man atttiof 
on b'B neck armed with a goad calW a I'intfOt, I 
be'ie'e. I Eever hea'd of an ehphaot mad 'to work 
by worl of moutb. This go«d is lite a boat book 
with sharp steel points— the straight one to urge 
•bem on nod the oth<>r8 to rtstrain or (tnilthem up. 
Georse Bird was a fine vperinifn of human ly, 
8tai.diug about U ft- 2 in., very powerfal, but tne 
story of bis ctiuoleractine tbe force of itn elephant 
and pulling him back with tl e handles of th)* piough 
is evidently a fictitious >arn got up hy (be Kan^'yaos, 
to show tbe invinri>ile power of tbe Bu^ ich lu'aders 
who raptured th? Kingdom of Kandy «ft4-r f*<e Btitich 
had been corquerors of tbe Dutch PoFsefsiona uo tbe 
Coast of Ceylun. 
Ihc plantation was cleared and stompe<t, thet] 
ploughed, and planted with yonng trees crown in 
boxps from tbe berrv. Along the rows of c< (fee trera, 
bnnanas were grown as a shade, but found rot to 
ai s«er. Tbe trees near (he bananae tiore a jelow 
ti'ige of leaf 9ra''ually assuming a frtfttttt tir^e as 
th»y stood Kway fr<>m tbe banana which imprver'sbel 
tlie soil. The CO' t of an elephsnt in tho>e <<aT* wii 
KXJ Kix-dollu'B=i;7 10s.— Tbe capture of Ka-dv was 
a very tame affair. J. C. White. 
Darling Downs, Queensland, 8th November 1893. 
DR. TRIMEN'S " FLORA OF CEYLG.N." 
From the " Journal of Botany" for Df cember, 
we append a general and appreciative notice of 
Dr. Trimen's "Flora." The Editor seems to have 
failed to get any Indian specialist to criiioiz? the 
bjok, which is to doubt what Dr. Trimen would 
best like. — We learn that Dr. Ttimen is now at 
work on Part 3 of the " Flora." We quote as 
follows : — 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Handhouk to lie Flora of C/ylon: containing des- 
criptions of all the species of flowering plants 
indigenous to the Island, aud notes on their history, 
distribution, and uses. By Henry Trimen, m.b. 
(Lend.), r.ii s., Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Ceylou. With an Atlas of Pla'es, illu-trating some 
of the more interesting species. Part I liannnculacese 
— Anacardiacea3 : with plates i — isv. ir'ublished under 
the authority of the Government of Ceylon. London ; 
Dulau A- Co. [8vo, pp. xvi, 327 : plates, 4to, i — xsv.l 
It is to be regretted that a notice of ihis important 
work has not been undertaken by some one who, 
from his acquaintance with the flora to wnich it 
relates, would be able to discuss it from a botanical 
standpoint. But as our attempts to secure such a 
reviewer have been unsuccessful, and as the book 
presents noteworthy features apart from its technical 
value, it seems desirable to call attention to these, 
leaving for some future occasion aud abler critic a 
moro detailed notice. 
Dr. Trimen's name, since he left this country for 
Ceylon in 1879, has ceased to be familiar to British 
botanists. It may well be that later generations are 
unaware how completely the Floia of Jliddlestx, 
published in ls-69, revolutionized tbe method on 
which local floras were constructed. It is not too 
much to say that that book has infloenced every 
subsequent local flora worthy of the name ; and it 
has always been understood that its execatioa was 
mainly due to Dr. Trimen, although angthei name 
