276 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. r, 1894. 
the Government mi^ht have to buy patt of it tack 
for the Eailwuy Extension, tbe igituion for wh : cb 
had just been commenced, Now tuat the railway ia 
an accomplished fart, Government ought to have a'l 
the land available fur cultivation under tbe railway 
put up for gale in blocks suitable for small cupi »>- 
ists. _ That Government mecn to h<)|> tie plan- 
ters is very ev.dtut, once it is o!e rly under- 
stood what ia required, end if their request ia 
reasonable or likely to bo b-neficial to them. 
The recent grant of hMf the estimated c is) 
of construction of the road from West Hapu'ule ! 
estates to the Obiya Station is one instance, and 1 1 
think were capitalists here to repres* nt to Govern- 1 
ment the mutual benefit tbe sale of these lands 
would be, thev would bo put up lor salo at au early I 
date. Tue c offee it) Haputsle, from the 4tb to the I 
8lh inst. was a graud sight, a full rich blossom 
almost on every tree uot sin ady loaded with crop. 
I had seen nothing like it sir.ee 1885. Thai it set 
well there can be no doubt, as the heaviest of tbe 
rain was not so badastodoany serious damage. TLe 
topics of the day were the Bandarawella extension, 
the breakfast party, and the blossom— eich very 
important, but all seemed to lack some leading 
feature. At the opening ceremony and the breikfast 
tbe genial presence of His Eicell uey was wantin/, 
while at the Pass one 1. okid in vaiu for 
something commemora'ing tbe memory i f the great 
advocaUs for the liaputalti Extension. It is not too 
late is it for all Uva to oomn forward and erect a 
water fountain or something useful at the Pass or 
Bautiarawella to commemorate tbe names of the 
Editors of the Observer and of tbeir 16 years' per- 
sistent advooaoy for Railway Extension to "Out- 
cast Uva" ? 
The coffee laoked giving tbe old certainty one had in 
es ioaating the crop from tbe tine looking l>luns' m 
then on the trees. There it was in all ita besuti ul 
fulness, rich an I pure like in tbe days i f old, sur- 
roui.ded with a wonderfully healthy lolisge, yet few 
could with any certainty tell what ho would gat! er 
from it in spriDg. 
The coffee ou almost every estate I passed 
through looked as if it ha 1 taken a new lease 
of life, and meant to respond to fair treatmet t 
Fields wbich had been manured had tha trees 
loaded with, crop and giving such retarea es to 
make the manager feel urn asy about th ir fa'.ure. 
Cocoa seemed to be doing well on an old est te a'ong 
the Lemas. Road, and as there are u u- available 
for the cultivation of this product, Hipa&le will 
soon be as famou- for its cocoa as it is for its fine 
colony coffeo. After 18 years' lesideica in H pu- 
tale without the privilege of railway communication 
as they have it now, I felt a deep sens^ of gr«titudo 
at being able to stand oa the site of the Barren 
Pass aud look around and watch the train puff ! 
puff !! puffing !! ! through that fi'io sheet of ooffee 
covered with blossom, more than fulfillicg my must 
sanguine expectations. The line of railway and the 
commodious Hotel at Bandarawella have so often 
been desoribed, that I need say nothing bsyond 
adding my quota of praise and admiration of the 
administrative ability of the Engineering staff of 
the Eailway Exten-ion. 
HAPUTALE AND GRAZING FARMS. 
Sept. 18. 
Here at 4,400 feet abov^ eea level, perched on the toP 
of the mountains, I can look over a lar s e stretch of 
what is called the 
BINTENNA COUNTBY. 
It presents an ever-moving panorama of what I may 
oali oloud-land. At limes you seem to gaze on a 
vast unbounded ocean in which tiny isles uprear 
their conic-l tops, and anon it is a paintel ocean, 
without a ripple and oi the softest blue, as I have 
seen it for weeks together on ;he tropical line, when 
the ship rocked like a eradte on the ocean and whan 
the rising sua spread out a broad and golden fabric 
from its mighty orb to the ship's side, of heaven's 
own de ign, invit ng you to a golden (brine to wor- 
i hip and :o aJoration. Alas! that mot nf tbe va t 
strct h of land of this Eintenua oouoiry sbonld be 
bo steeped for months together with noxious ex- 
halations and foul 
MALARIA, 
as to mnke it until for even the na ive* of Ceylon 
to live in j and so potent is the malaria from these 
extensive low-lying lane's stretching to tl* salt hashes 
and the ocean that even here at this altitude, we 
experience its malign ii.uu.-nc s at times; and when 
southerly wiuds reach us, doubtless the malaria is 
mollified by mountain winds, and is not of a 
viroient or dangtrooa type, at the e'.evain.n from 
which I write you; but to the delicate and 
to invalids such winds are injurious and depressing. 
The other day a youn; fread of mine, who bad 
been travelling on the "new Bxtentioa" from 
NANOOYA TO UAKOAHAWELA 
was expatiating on tte beanty ol the asenery. the 
velvety green of the p&'ian t and of the little chapel 
built by Mr. S. Lingd'in with it« window panes of 
semi-t anaparent talc, shedding a "dim-rtligioas light," 
and said tbe 
1JAPPY VALLEY STATION 
could be seen from the railway and that there was 
a unuil ttati n v-ithina mile if Air. Laut^on's house, 
and Farm aid Beboal and Ho-pnal, ipd 1 w r. . 
whether tre Farm La i tucceede.1. I »*• aware tLat 
grazing farms, with dairies ht inched to them, bad in 
several instances been a fa lure, chiefly 'hn.ogh the 
want of euitsb'c faim labour- re. I ku-w that a class 
of plantirs in old liuiea »uuld have only been too 
glad to establish 
GIUZIN FABMS 
coull th(.y have oh ained thriity and al< ady working 
men to miiid tbe cattla and see after the poo I try - 
yarJ, <tc; bnt this has r>lwa;s bet n tbe difficulty, 
nnd remains so to the present time as I can testily 
from bitter ixpirieuce. At the bvse cf tbe bills of 
some cf the t a districts there is grass and 
na'er and timber, and farms could be established, 
but the Smb II i villager is a rogue, takes 
littie interest in live stock of any kind and 
it is iupissible to induce Tamils to remain 
for any length of time on isolated t states 
where there are few labourers employed. Then 
again the 
BfFFALOEB 
from the Sinhalese villages al times make dread- 
lul havoc with a farm boniest ad and any patches 
ot Guii.ea or Mauiitius grass planted for protection 
near tbe bungalow, and fenced round abon'. Some- 
times a in;'. ' 1 herd of bnlf-a-doz -n w ou d be beard rush- 
ing through tbe paddy held battering dowu your fences, 
and devouring tbe vegetable garden and this in the 
middle of the night. 
'I hen again 
WILD BOABS 
are also very destructive, and will, as also will buf- 
faloes, march for miles to find ons where a patch of 
sweet potatoes are planted: such is their love tor the 
sweit tuberous plant. And the 
POECOPISE 
dearly loves a cocoa yam cr aweet potato, and ia 
a most cunoiDg fellow ; and you must be clever to trap 
him. Yat wilh all these drawbacks, grazing farms 
might I think he profitably worked in Ceylon if suit- 
able fsrrn labourers could be ob ained. Tbe sale of 
milk, poultry and oattle would suffice to make the 
farm a paying concern and if — ah! there's the rub 
— if a valuable kind of 
SHEEP 
ccu'.d be introduced into Ceylon, that would thrive 
and yield good mutton, why, a grazing farm would 
bs an assured success ; but. alas ! eh<rep do not tbr.ve 
in Ceylon. Ceylon, almost as iarje as Ireland, can- 
not boast of or e flock of helthy sheep nor of a sheep 
market, and must dpead for all time I suppose on 
importati >ns of wholesome Ihree-jear old muttons 
from Australian ports. 
