59+ 
THE TROPICM, AGRICULTURIST. [March r. 1895. 
undulating valleys, few districts have such a 
"show." Another drawback in olden days bo 
visiting Doloshage was the rain. .Many thought 
it always rained there ; but this was a fallacy. 
The honour of being "in lite m-ij /unit <>/ tin 
rains" belonged rather to its stater Yakdessa, 
and adjacent Lower Ambagainuwa —to the region 
circumambient 011 Padupola with its maximum 
of 231*54 inches of rain per annum ! Dolosbage 
proper could never boast such pre-eminence. 
Barnagalla right under Raxawa, for instance, is 
content, we believe, with 1,56 inches or very 
little above the average (153) for Nawalapitiya. 
But who is akraid of j;ain* now-a-davs? 
Is it not ratlier a recommendation in the oase 
of a tea property ''. Tropical rain is rich ir njtro- 
genous properties, and tea can scarcely have 
too much combined with the genial heat sure 
to prevail at all times in abundance from 4,000 
feet downwards in Ceylon. Coffee plantation- 
opened with much labour and expense on the 
Yakdessa side of Dolosbage in the very early 
days, had to be abandoned because they were 
in the very "heart of the rains" -there was 
little chance for blossom and none at all for 
fruit — it was a case of all leafage which the 
coffee planter caried nothing about, Mow differ- 
ent now ! Give us leafage — abundant flush — and 
tea planters care not if they never see a blossom 
or a seed ! ISo wonder, therefore. though 
Dolosbage should be one of the best and most 
popular of tea-growing divisions of any in the long 
roll of old coffee districts in Ceylon. The climate, 
too, is generally very agreeable — planters like their 
wet season as being in reality the healthiest ; and 
their convenience in labour, transport, cosy 
bungalows and all that goes to make civilized 
modern life on tropical Ceylon hills are very 
different from those enjoyed by the pioneers of 
lifty years ago. The story is told of a planter in 
those "days of old" driven from the neighbour- 
hood of the "Sentry-box" into Kandy to invest 
in "a waterproof;" but as he got to CargilFs 
store-door, the sun suddenly burst out over 
"Mutton-button" and (economical Scot, of 
course, as he must have been !) he took it as a 
sign he might return without it! "What are 
the wants of the districts '/ " used to be a com- 
mon heading in our newspaper circulars for 
planting information thirty years ago, and we 
well remember how between Nawalapitiya and 
Yatiyantota, the return often got filled up 
"Good soil and a drier climate!" Cut there is 
not much to be said against the average Dolos- 
hage soil especially for tea. There are planta- 
tions in the very heart of the district — classic 
ground dear to a Hollo, a Win. Anderson, Cuthbei t, 
Harvey (still to the fore), Win. Taylor and many 
more— which, after yielding fortunes in coffee 
to their proprietors, are going on in tea paying 
—aye up to 19 per cent per annum on the new 
capital invested. We refrain from particular- 
ising too freely, properties that have continued 
in the same hands for a long series of years — 
the Blackett and Laing families' groups ; the 
Cooroondawatta division, the more distant Naran- 
gallas, but may say that we have little doubt that 
the results we witnessed under Raxawa can be 
paralleled freely throughout the district. Dolos- 
bage in coffee days used to be famous for good 
cultivation : valleys and patanas afforded con- 
venient means of keeping stock and cattle while 
artificial manure used also to be freely applied. 
The lesson and the results are not lost in the 
tea era. Yields up to 600 lb. an acre are good 
enough to warrant liberal cultivation ; while re- 
turns from old coffee land up to 400 lb. without 
manure, swm to indicate that Dolosbage ha* 
a long life before it as a prosperous tea diwliiet. 
We found no evidence, such a* we have seen 
elsewhere in younger and higher district*, of a 
"weakening" in the tea a* regards successive 
crop* — showing the need of cultivation and sup- 
port ; but ratlier were we staggered by evidence 
of progressive advance in crops even on old 
uninanured land. We must not say that in 
our wanderings we saw nothing to improve 
in Dolosbage. The uncompleted through road 
we have specified. Details on plantations were 
no doubt waiting for the convenient season ; but 
nothing save scarcity of labour should excuse 
backwardness in pruning or attention to fine 
bushes. 
In no district in Ceylon, save Uva, have we 
been more delighted with diversified scenery — 
the outlook, even without climbing to the "Sentry- 
box" was most extensive — over Gallernudena, bt. 
Catherine's, Horagalla, Scaiorth, Windsor Korext, 
Kandaloya — or generally in that direction to- 
wards the lowcountry and the sea, on which some 
(not among the oldest inhabitants) have declared 
they saw steamers making for Colombo harlniur. 
The splendid rich slo->e* of Penylan, Cattaiem, 
Mossville, ami Stanmore Hill form another fore- 
ground to the picture while passing over the Kellie 
Group, Kelvin. Havilland, ('angwarily and further 
round Dqtejoya, Ingurugalla, Ainblankanda, 
Narangalla and Yellangowry, until the eye 
stretched away to the notable Yakdessftgala 
above Kurunegala town : or took cognisance of 
the telegraph station and a putting train on the 
side of Alagalla. The Matale Hills— old Etta 
polla and A>geriya— and the loftier Lagalla range 
stood conspicuously out against the northern 
horizon, while the Knuckles, Kangala and Meda- 
mahanuwara ranges were easily defined. Old 
Pussellawa, with false Pedro and the Pedro 
ranges, was not the least conspicuous ; and to 
one who has stood at or near the sources of 
the Mahaweliganga, the Kelaniganga, the Walawe- 
ganga — in Upper Maskeliya, Dikoya, Nuwara 
Eliya and Horton Plains — it was of some interest 
to note the sources of the Maha and Wai Oyas ; 
for Dolosbage is pre-eminently a district of 
rivers, inside as well as along its borders. Under 
Raxawa, on the estate of that name, Kabara- 
galla (famous in its day for some of the finest 
coffee) Hillside, Craighead, Paragalla, Monte 
Christo, Cholankande and Shamrock, as well as 
on Barnagalla and Alagalla, we saw c,ood — in 
some cases — splendid tea. 
We were greatly interested in the Barnagalla 
bungalow grounds and garden established by Mr. 
James stone some forty to fifty years ago and 
so well cared for and improved by the present 
occupants. Mr. and Mrs. T. Smith. Mr. Nock 
-oi Hakgalla was afterwards deeply interested in 
out* description of the Magnificent (Queensland 
flowering tree '• Jacacranda Miiuostefoda '' with 
i s widespreading acacia-like character and grand 
floral display in thick clusters of hyacinth-blue 
blossom covering the whole tree. There is 
nothing to equal it in the island we ven- 
ture to think. The Barnagalla tree is about 
eight years old. Mr. Nock is at once 
to try it at Hakgalla. and, perhaps, under 
more favourable conditions, in the Radulla 
Gardens with their genial climate. Then 
there are specimens of cupressus and piuus 
scattered over the lawn, from 4;i years or a„e 
downwards with girths of from -t feet 9 t<> 6 
feet 7 inches at two feet from the g ou id. '1 hat 
the Dolasbage climate here is admirably suite! 
I for fruit trees may be proved from the list r& 
