Aug. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST, 
99 
HORTICULTURE AND EXPERIMENTAL 
GARDENS. 
{From Administration "Report for North -Cent red Province.) 
In this Proviuce there is practically no horticulture. 
There are the experiment il girdens, but these beiig 
watered from Tissa t>nk scarcely afford a fair test 
ot advptability of new introductions. They might, 
however be easily worked into a valuable institution, 
though at present they may be characterized as small, 
well laid oat and pretty wlieu not eateu down by 
the cittlel usually s;e iu them. 
Eucalyptus alba promisee wall, aud as it has bal- 
samic qualities ought t> be largely planted round 
the batuin^, drinking, and washing tanks, and in 
similar damp and unhealthy spots iu the town as a 
protection against malaria. 
Cacao exists here precariously without being watered, 
but only in favourable places, and can scarcely over 
be ol economio value except in Tamaukaduwa, whore I 
believe a lar^e area is suitable for some ot" its varieties. 
Coconut is proved to thrive here by the one coco- 
nut grove of the Proviace — a plantation made in 
Anuradhapura by the enlightened enterprise of 
Godage Mudjliyar. Coconut irees exist in most villages, 
arid afford enough young nuts for the hospitality 
exercised by the villagers to their visitors, and very 
little more. 
Jak Trees exist in the moister villages below bunds 
of tanks. The experimental garden ought to be supplied 
with seeds of many varieties, and specimen plants 
established there, whilst the others are distributed 
ns widely as possible. Seeds procured fromthediier 
Malay States might afford a race of j ik that would 
suit the coudiiious of this Province better than the 
Ceylon varieties, but all those als) should be intro- 
duced aud tried. The Peradeniya Gardens have done 
almost nothing for village gardeus as yet, and 
the Anuradhapura branch might easily be made 
to redeem this one deficiency in the record of 
that invaluable institution. I rayeelf observed 
that the jak of Perak is a fruit very 
superior in flavour wheu ripe to tbo best 
I have eaten io Ceylon. It may possess ether 
qualities dilF> ring from the trees grown here. A s a 
vegetable, cooked while half ripe with a little 
coconut juics, the jalt ia a* wholesome and important 
to the Sinlialote peasant as the potato is to the 
peasants in England. 
Bkeadfbuit. — This grows here and there as a 
single tree. Two closely allied varieties are found 
in Ceylon, intreduced long ago from the Maldives, 
and probably prior to European rule. The e are 
a great number of disiinot varieties iu the 
South Sea Islands, and several in the Malay Archi- 
pelago. A German official from Samoa, who tast-;d 
the Ceylon fiuit, assured me that it was one 
of the wjrst varieties ho knew. As there issteim 
commnncation between Samoa and Sidney it 
would be no great task to introduce new varieties 
some of which might prove ade.ptableto the villages 
here where the Maldive variety tails to thrive. 
Vines.— As grapes grow well at Kalpitiya, Trinco- 
malee, and Jaffna, they certainly would thrive here. 
The experimental gardens ought to make a special 
features of viticulture and introduce new varieties. 
The grape grown at Jaffna, &c, is of a most inferior 
quality, and it is probablo that selected vinos from 
Persia aud Syria would succeed better than the variety 
now grown, and afford a good quality of fruit. The 
grape at present grown appears to be identical with 
the outdoor grape of England, formerly grown iu 
vineyards there aud is presumably the variety least 
likely to succeed in Mm 1 h Ceylon. Vine cultun is 
well adopted to native habits, and the villagers would 
soon learn how to train, prune and cultivate the fini 
and thin the fruit, if an example wero made ret the 
gardens. Those who elsewhere grow a viue or two 
gain a considerable prolit from it, and tho care 
required is a wholesome and educational effort. 
Flos would probably grow very well here, though 
at Ga.Uo aud Uolombo the fruit is poor. I do not hoc 
a siuglo tig plaut iu tho gardom. 'JJhig. tree, if a 
13 
variety could be selected that adapted itself here, 
would bo a pleasant addition to the vil- 
lager's little compound, which at present has only 
its pomegranate iree, and its bilimbi bush, ami p< r- 
haps a guava of the oil and inferior variety, or an 
orange tree. 
To sum up. The Gardens here, if to be of airy use 
(0 the Province, elwuld introduce and tost the verie- 
ties of well-known fruit trees and vegetables grown 
elsewhere or in CeyloD, as well as introduce now 
kinds. Little nurseries should be made of trees use- 
ful for food or affording, by profit or luxury, an 
incentive to careful home-eulture by the peasantry. 
Sonrsop^, pomegranates of better quality than now 
exi^t, orange?, limes, even country damsons, uguressa 
plums, West Indian papaws, aud all such fruits 
could be sown in small plo's of rrouEd fordistribut on 
to the village s. 
Mahogany, eucalyptus, and ether such trees might 
be experimentally iutrcduced for ornauieutal plautmg 
in the district with advantage. Vegetables suited for 
village growth, such as improved varieties of bcan» 
egg-plant, chilly, bandecai, gourd, jams, &c, should 
be systematically grown to stimulate the peaeaut'8 
curiosity and emulation. 
At present none of these economical I.rauches a^e 
taken up, and yet the Director compiling that no 
local interest is takon in tho gardens ! A few scor- 
ched s"!ag'ne"a? and sun-bleached foliage plants, 
five gardenia bushes, a score or so of trees of botunicni 
interest, and some cow-browsed palm plants, adfed 
to a thriving row of mandarin oraogo trees, is m y 
own present impression of the Anuradhapura Gardens. 
Agricultuee. 
The usual rice cultivation exists here, and chenas 
are sown with kurakkan or gingelly. One or two 
Tamils have small plots of tobacco iu the Province. 
I believe cotton might be grown with grsat success 
somewhat on the Egyptian system, over a large area 
in Tamankaduwa, but at present no cotton is produ- 
ced here. 
In regard to chenas tho policy was initia'ed in 
189i of diminishing this wasteful and unsatisfactory 
system, so far as Crown lands are concerned. Oivim? 
however, to the exceptional distress of the yen- and 
uncertainty in regard to the expected rains, it was 
thought best to allow cl euas in 1893, car fully restrict- 
ing them to scrub jungle under teay.ar,' growth. 
BJREA&S OF 
TEA: AND ENTOMOLOGIST 
FOR CEYLOX. 
. London, June 15 
Mr. Francis Long, of Messrs. J. S. Lon * & Co 
Tea Brokers, of 10 and 11 Mincing Lane,' whose 
interview with myself on tho eu'jeot of the sale of 
SMALL BREAKS OP TEA 
was mentioned in a former letter of rniua, has 
written me taking exception to some points iu 'my 
report of that interview. Mr. Long thinks that 
in some respects I unintentionally misrepresented 
the meaning of what he said to me. Of course 
under such circumstances, I can do nothing less 
than reproduce here his written remarks to myseif 
as to the points on which he conadera me to have 
misrepresented him. His attention was called to the 
extract of my letter given in the Overland Observer 
of tho mail before las', (see page 828 of Vol. XIII ) 
by Mr. Leake, as Secretary to the Ceylon Associa- 
tion in London. The last mentioned gentleman 
thinks that what I reported Mr. Long to have 
paid reflects upon the rroocdure of the Tea Com- 
mittee of the Asfooiation, as well upon himself in 
bis capacity of Secretary. If you refer to my 
letter of April 20th you will, however, see that I 
wes careful to stale to Mr. Long— oonjoiutly with 
Mr. Robert's, who was present—that we both knew 
that communication had been made by Mr. Leake 
of tho result to tho Comnhuou's consideration of 
tho Brokera' proposal. Mr. Laake's letter to Mr 
Long reads in part Tho statements imputed 
