TrlE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1895. 
but at our feet some three thousand feet below 
lay in a hollow of the hills, 
NONPAREIL 
coffee, cinchona and tea plantation belonging 
to Capt. Bayley — an estate all by itself, coun- 
ted as in Haputale, but far from any other 
Haputale estate —with rich soil and many ad- 
vantages, thongh not very come-at-able, accord- 
ing to present day experiences, ('apt. Bayley 
when resident at Gallu did some splendid work 
as a 
PIONKKK I'l.AM'Ki;. 
He was one of the lirst to open land iu 
Morowakorale, and with his "Nonpareil" plan- 
tation below Hortons Plains and his " Pedro " 
estate below the highest mountain range of the 
ame name, he held three large interests bet • 
ween Galle aid Nuwera Kliya. It is still a 
matter of importance to him to make communi- 
cation as convenient as possible between Non- 
pareil and Pedro, and very likely Capt. Bayley 
will adopt the Ohiya route, if he can induce 
Government Agent Wace to construct a proper path 
at any rate for the 2h miles or so across the 
Plains between Ohiya summit and the Rest- 
house, and perhaps eventually to cut a zigzag 
bridle-path down to the railway station. 
"World's end" is a very appropriate name 
from the point of view of the Morton Plains 
Visitor to the vantage-point which indicates the 
limit of the plateau and the commencement of 
the low-country. 
Meantime, the "planter" of the party was 
busy 'with his cangany and ooolies giving di- 
rections which involved several days' work on the 
" AIHSOTSFORD " BLOCK, 
In clearing and preparations for planting when 
the rains aet in. The block operated on is 
finely situated opposite the river and is one 
Of some 
41 LOTS 
from 3 to 21 acres each aggregating 4o0 acres, sold 
by Government at the llatnapura Kachcheri so 
far back as 1872. We purchased one of these, 
some years afterwards, from a llatnapura notary, 
covering 8^. acres and afterwards resold is to the 
proprietor of Ahbotsford. One of the largest blocks 
(17 acres) belongs to Sir Walter Sendall, the present 
Governor of Cyprus, another of 20 acres to 
Capt. Bayley, 22 acres to Capt. Blyht, 2 lots, 
25 acres, to' Mr. E. B. Creasy, ohe of 15 acres 
to the Messrs. de Sarain, and several more 
to planters in or out of the Colony ; but no one 
Single proprietor of the forty has as yet, begun 
to build or cultivate 1 The resthouse is the sole 
building now, as thirty years ago, within the Plains, 
and save as a " shooting box," Ave do not see 
What inducement even now there can be to erect 
any building in this, the highest region of our 
hill country. 
Wellnigli seventy years have elapsed since two 
young officers— Lieut. Fisher (father of the present 
Government Agent of Uva) and Lieut. Watson 
(still alive in Randy in his 92nd year!) 
FIRST DISCOVERED THE HORTON PLAINS 
and afterwards called them by the name of the 
then new Governor of Ceylon, Sir Robert Wil- 
mot Horton. From time to time great expec- 
tations have been formed as to the utilisation 
of the Plains ; and we ourselves have been ac- 
customed to anticipate that the railway running 
so near as Ambewela and Ohiya must lead to 
a great change in the occupation of this lonely, 
but beautiful, and in some respects rich, region, 
Mr. Burrows, too, in his Guide to Nuwara Kliya, 
has ventured to write as follow* of Hoi ton 
Plains : — 
These grand Plains are nearly 1,000 feet bjgher 
than Nuwara Eliya. but their isolated position has 
up to the pre.ent pi evented then being made use 
of iu tin same way as the Nuwara Kliya l'lains. 
But there can be no doulit that they have a gleat 
future before them, now that the railway to H'Mji'.tale 
is completed. They present a series of rolling ecu \i<. 
diversified with clumps of jungle, and gaudy with 
rhododendrons and wild flowers of cvciy l<iu i : and 
command pret'pitious views over the low. .n,mr\ 
which certainly Nuwaia Eliya cannot equil. Now 
that the colony is emerging once more, as 11 is . .imdiy 
doing, into an era of prosperity, and the long- 
promised railway is constructed, and the flow of 
visitors from all parts to this fair island of oars is 
sure to be larger than at present, a rival Nuwaia 
Eliya will certainly spring up here, and peihaps 
eclipse the present Sanatorium. 
Now that we have revisited this region and 
fully considered the climate, advantages and 
ilisad vantages, we have reluctantly come to the 
conclusion that Horton Plains, at any rate for a 
long period to come, can only be considered its 
DEVOTED TO SPORTSMEN 
whose "shooting-boxes"' may yet diversify the 
landscape, 
AND TO VISITORS 
for whom the trip of a couple of days will 
always have attractions. All but the 450 
acres alienated for building lots, is, of course, 
Crown land and not to be sold according 
to the 
ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF STATU 
which draws the line at 5,000 feet above sea- 
level. A question has been raised as to whether 
this Order applies to any but forest land, the 
ostensible object being to keep the source-- and 
courses of streams covered and generally to pre 
vent the too rapid disappearance of the rainfall 
into the lower districts. These are, undoubtedly, 
commendable objects. But it may be forcibly 
argued that the cultivation of patana, or even 
scrub land with tea, or vegetables, and much 
more with timber trees, would answer the 
purpose of the Secretary of State far better than 
to leave such land in its present condition. 
This is an argument which we will be inclined 
to press very strongly in reference to the country 
lower down between the Totapolla range and 
Nuwara Eliya, as also Upper Uva in the 
neighbourhood of Ohiya and New Galway ; but 
we doubt if "the game is worth the candle" 
on Horton Plains, so far as cultivation is con- 
cerned, although it might be of interest to put 
in an acre or so of tea, to see how it prospered 
on the black soil and at an elevation of over 
7,000 feet. 
THE LIEUT. -GOVERNOR SIR EDWARD WALKER 
accompanied by Major Knollys visited Horton 
Plains in January last climbing by the Ohiya 
route of which His Excellency makes a some- 
what unfavourable record in the Resthousebook- 
Sir Edward states in efi'ect that the roughness 
of the Ohiya route almost destroys any ad. 
vantage from its less length of five miles, as 
compared with eight miles by the Ambewela 
route. We quite agree with the Lieutenant- 
Governor as to the absolute need of a proper 
path along the patanas with bridges over the 
stream if the Ohiya route is to be freely 
availed of ; but even as matters stand, his 
estimate of distance must be, we think, ex- 
aggerated, From Ohiya Railway station to the 
