to8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Auo. i, 1894. 
SINGULAR VARIATION OF RAINFALL 
ON CEYLON ESTATES. 
A striking instanoo was shown of the vatiation 
ol rainfall lately. Two estates in the pa mo district 
and within a few miles only of each other, measured 
respectively in Jane, inches 44-43 and 21-22, there 
being no apparent reason why one estate should 
be so much wetter than the other. — Cor. [Was 
there no hill or ridge between the estates ? On 
the Wilson's Bungalow and Haldummulla roads, the 
traveller sometimes passes from pouring rain to 
a dry, dusty roadway within a few yards during 
the South-west monsoon ; and in Laggala and 
Hantane we have seen rain falling heavily on 
one Bide of a ridge and the Bun shining out on 
the other.— Ed. T.A.] 
COFFEE AND TEA IN UVA. 
A correspondent in Haputale writes ; — Last 
weesk I had a ramble down to Badulla, round 
by Passara, over the bill by Tonacombe down 
to Demodera and baok by ooach to this. The 
weather was most propitious, and somewhat dry, only 
a few flying showers having fallen about Passara, 
and one heavy. shower after my return here. The S. 
W^ never very severe on this side, has been a failure 
this year and notwithstanding, tea and coffee bushes 
were looking in exoellent health, especially old King 
coffee with any amount of crop, from 2 to 5 cwt. an 
acre, in good heart and very free of leaf-disease or 
green bag. Even such coffee as I passed at the 
Debedde Gap, part of Wewesse estate, allowed to 
grow at its own sweet will into clusters of suckers 
and all kinds of gormandizers, the luoky Parsee pro 
prittor told me, had given him last year 8 cwts per 
aore of sound good ooffee. This does not look as if 
the "old King" was dying or defunct. On East 
Gourakelle and Namanacully, I saw ooffee looking 
and bearing as good a crop as it ever did in the 
past — and I speak as you know with some knowledge 
of coffee, after 38 years' experience in Uva and never 
a day out of the Island. Everywhere the rapid 
strides of progress in tea cultivation strikes one, 
new clearings, new roads, new tea factories, spring 
ing op like mushrooms on the hillsides, and what 
were called by a facetious writer as "the bleak and 
barren patanas of Uva." Floreat Uva and long live 
the old King Ooffee and young Prince Tea and Mr 
Fisher as Rajah of Uva ! 
ment to far haa done nothing to remedy this dis 
graceful state of affairs, all attempts to make it fulfil 
its bargain having been met by ahifty an-i evasive 
answers wbioh would do credit to a pettifogging at- 
torney, but wbioh are highly discreditable to any 
Government. If this is how the employment of 
British capital and enterprise in the dir<-o>iun indi- 
cated is to be met aud encouraged it is tmall wonder 
that progress is so slow throughout the Island. Not 
that the experience is novel. Far from it. It is the 
same old story which we have bad to repeat wbeu- 
evtr Europeans have attempted to improve the 
condition cf the native agrioulture of the country. 
Mr. F. Blatherwiok hal to abandon the attempt 
to grow paddy in the Southern Province b<-low 
Tiesa owing to his inability to obtain water from 
the irrigation work " restored " at great public- 
expense ; aod a few years later Mr. Thomas Njrth 
Christie's experiment bekw the ELabera Channel met 
with the same fate. Mr- Pole-Oarew, however, wai 
bold enough two years ago to disregard these warn- 
ings of the Government meets out to European* who 
wish to invest British capital in native agrioultnre ; 
but be has met with no better success thau they did. 
—Local " Times." 
HOW THE CEYLON GOVERNMENT EN 
COURAGES PADDY CULTIVATION. 
It is now about two years since our columns oon 
tained a notice to the effect that Mr. Pole- Care w, of 
Hatton, had purchased a large block of land at 
Hambantota for the purpose of cultivating paddy 
thereon. The land was about 800aoresin extent, and 
was sold as fit for paddy cultivation and under 
new irrigation work. That was, as we have stated, two 
years ago. Our readers will perhaps hardly believe it 
but, in spite of prolonged efforts on the part of 
Mr. Pole-Oarew, and much correspondence between 
him and Government, not one drop of water 
has been oarried to those parts of the land referred to 
as suitable for paddy cultivation. The land in ques 
tion is, or, we should rather fay, ought to be, irrigated 
from the Welawaya ganga by an anient and channel, 
but the latter, it was discovered after the purchase 
was not cut as far as the land ! Unable to get this 
work done by the authorities Mr. Pole-Carew asked to 
be allowed to out the channel himself, Government 
paying him for the work, as he thought he could do it 
for considerably less than it would oost Government. 
This was permitted, and he has been paid for the 
work, but still no water reaches his land, be- 
cause it is diverted on its journey by claimants 
to the land through which it ruua! Govera- 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA : 
NYASS ALAND. 
INTERVIEW WITH C0MMIB6I0NBB JOHNSTON. 
ENC0CBAGINO NEWS FOR INTENDING PLANTEBB. 
In the .St. James's Budget there is a report of 
an interview with Mr. Johnston, some parts of 
wbioh will be of interest to " £5,000 " and others 
of our correspondents. Referring to tbc recent 
defeat and final oollapse of a Native Obi if who, 
from time to time, gave a good deal of trouble, 
Mr. Johnston mentioned, — 
He also cut off the invaluable labour supp'y which 
comes down periodically from the west coast of the 
Lake to work in the coffee plantations of the tthirl 
Highlands. It is true that some of these men 
could be brought down by steamer ; but in tens 
rather than in hundreds and thousands ; and 
this method of transport is expensive. Makanjira 
used also to drive away from the south-west 
of the Lake numbers of labourers who had 
their homes there, and who, at no cost to the white 
planter, used to tramp to the Shire settlements and 
do six months' work. The custom of the Nyassaland 
natives is to work for six months in the coffee planta- 
tions, return for three months' rest, and for the 
other three months cultivate their own crops." 
" Is there an abundant labour supply 1 " 
" Yes, that is the great factor in the future of 
Nyassaland — an abundant and willing labour supply." 
" What is their race ? " 
Some of the best of Africans— Zulu hybrids, 
Angoni. 
Then as regards Nyassaland, its colonist?, coffee, 
minerals and transport service, we have the follow- 
ing interesting information : — 
"Now, Mr. Johnston, what is the practical use of 
Nyassaland to the British race ?" 
"Inasmuch as the soil seems to be remarkably 
adapted to the cultivation of coffee, why should not 
the British grow their own coffee on their own terri- 
tory, under their own laws, rather than get it from 
Brazil? As regards climate there is not much 
difference between Nyassaland and Brazil ; that is 
to say, if a European can support the climate of 
Brazil he can equally well support the climate of 
Nyassaland. As Nyassaland becomes opened up it 
will probably be much healthier than Brazil. The 
only serious disease with which one has to contend 
is malarial fever. The risk in going to Africa is no 
more than that of going to tropical South America, 
to Singapore, or the Malay Archipelago ; and there 
is no yellow fever in Africa as there sometimes is in 
tropical South America. The present ratio of deaths 
among Europeans La Central Africa- is 6'5 per cent. 
