Jeb.  l,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
5-i  S 
ME.  JOHN  BROWN’S  VIEWS  ON  THE  CEYLON 
TEA  INDUSTRY. 
London,  Deo.  9th  1892 
During  a long  chat  with  Mr  John  Brown  this 
week— whom  I then  met  for  the  first  time  since 
his  recent  return  from  Ceylon — he  obliged  me 
wilh  many  remarks  upon  what  he  observed  during 
his  last  visit  to  yeur  island.  He  had  little  to 
tell  me  but  wbat  was  hopeful,  and  in  high 
praise  of  the  energy  and  skill  of  the  present 
generation  of  your  planters.  At  tbe  same  time 
he  felt,  he  s&id,  somewhat  doubtful  as  to  tea 
remaining  a remunerative  planting  industry  if 
prices  were  continued  at  their  lat9  low  level.  He 
remarked  that  the  oost  of  bringing  land  into 
cultivation  with  tea  was  very  heavyj  and  that 
there  wei'9  often  to  bo  seen  instances  of  too 
early  planting-out  that  he  thought  would  be 
sure  to  produoe  bad  results.  He  told  me  that 
this  planting-out  was  often  done  when  the 
seedling  was  but  a twelvemonth  old,  and  that 
he  believed  it  would  be  far  wiser  to  delay  this 
until  the  plants  were  fully  double  the  age.  He 
was  of  opinion  that  bushes  planted  out  at  so 
tender  a period  of  growth  would  have  but  a 
weakly  maturity.  Then  he  observed  that  a very 
large  area  of  inferior  land,  with  but  little 
depth  of  soil,  was  now  being  taken  up  for  tea 
planting.  He  feared  very  bad  results  from  this  : 
— “If,"  he  said,  “ we  get  large  acres  of  weak 
trees,  I oan  imagine  no  condition  of  things 
more  likely  to  bring  upon  ua  the  visitation  of 
some  pest  or  other,  such  as  worked  such 
havoc  with  us  in  the  old  coffee  days.”  Mr. 
Brown  further  said  that  tea  growing  on  soma 
exceptional  estates  must  be  still  very  re- 
munerative even  at  the  present  low  prioes, 
but  that  suoh  instances  must  not  be  taken  as 
forming  a general  m'e.  He  asserted  that  it  re- 
quired a strong  capital  to  properly  plant  out  a 
tea  estate  and  to  wait  for  its  profitable  maturing. 
If  baste  were  made  to  foroe  young  trees  into 
bearing  by  planting  out  too  early,  ho  believed 
there  would  be  but  a short  life  before  the  tree?, 
and  that  nothing  could  be  more  dangeroue 
for  the  future  of  the  whole  industry  than  the 
presence  of  any  considerable  area  of  weakly  growth. 
Mr.  Brown  tells  me  he  has  now  no  Bymptom 
left  of  the  malarial  fever  that  hastened  hia  de- 
parture from  Ceylon.  Sleep  and  appetite  returned 
to  him,  indeed,  the  very  first  night  he  passed 
on  board  ship ; but  he  is  troubled  with  a bron- 
chial delioacy  which  may  be  the  result  of  the 
feverish  attaok. — London  Cor. 
THE  HON.  ALFRED  DEAKIN  OF  VICTORIA 
ON  IRRIGATION  IN  CEYLON. 
[From  his  forthcoming  loch.) 
IRRIGATION  IN  CEYLON  : PAST 
AND  PRESENT. 
Irrigation  has  been  practised  in  Ceylon  for  many 
hundreds  of  years,  and  upon  a scale  that,  consider- 
ing the  size  of  the  island  and  the  difficulties  which 
it  presents  is  truly  surprising.  “Excepting  the  ex- 
aggerated dimensions  of  Lake  Moaris  in  Central 
Egypt,  and  the  mysterious  basin  of  Al-aram,  the 
bursting  of  whose  embankment  devastated  the  Arabian 
city  of  Mareb,  no  similar  constructions  formed  by 
any  race,  whether  ancient  or  modern,  exceed  in 
colossal  magnitude  the  stupendous  tanks  of  Ceylon,” 
says  Sir  Emerson  Tennent.  One  or  two  illustrations 
will  convey  an  idea  of  the  extent  ofi  these  ancient  oper- 
ations. 
THE  PADIVIL  DAM. 
is  11  miles  long,  200  feet  wide  at  the  base, 
3O  feet  wide  at  tne  crest,  and  in  place*  70  feet 
high.  It  was  faced  along  its  whole  length  with 
steps  of  large  squared  stone,  and  at  the  rates  for  native 
labour  is  estimated  to  have  cost  £1,300,000. 
THE  KALAWEWA  TANK. 
was  40  miles,  in  circumference,  with  an  area 
of  6,000  acres,  and  contained  over  3,000,000,000 
cubic  feet,  or  three  times  as  much  as  the  YanYean.* 
The  work  requisite  to  retain  this  quantity  was  much 
more  than  three  times  that  required  on  the  Plenty. 
The  dam  had  a length  of  12  miles,  ave  aging  50  to  60 
feet  in  height,  and  was  20  feet  broad  at  the  crest. 
Anuradhapura,  the  former  capital  city,  was  supplied 
from  this  site  by  means  of  a channel  40  feet  wide  and 
53  miles  long.  In  addition  to  this  it  fed  innumerable 
tanks  of  varying  capacity  and  constituted  in  itself  a 
storage  of  no  mean  order.  Two  schemes  in  the  north 
are  of  such  dimensions  that  their  restoration  at  the 
present  time  would  absorb  £200,000.  They  are  now 
recommended  to  be  carried  out  upon  the  old  lines, 
which  are  still  discernible.  The  Ambanganga  River 
was  dammed  by  a solid  work  of  masonry  99  feet  in  top 
width,  and  rising  40  feet  above  the  ordinary  high  level  of 
the  stream.  An  embankment  was  carried  thence,  from 
40  feet  to  90  feet  in  height,  for  24  miles,  forming  a 
series  of  navigable  lagoons,  and  then  further  prolonged 
by  a canal  for  57  miles  more.  Even  allowing  for  the 
despotic  authority  exercised  by  the  kings  over  their 
subjects,  who  were  required  in  many  cases 
to  give  their  labour,  the  boldness  of  these  designs 
and  their  massive  execution  are  still  the  wonder  of 
the  modern  engineer. 
IRRIGATION  IN  THE  TIME  OP  THE  SINHALESE  MONARCHS. 
A report  of  a committee  of  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil in  1867  states  that  “ the  Sinhalese  monarchs  vied 
with  each  other  in  the  construction  of  irrigation 
works  and  in  giving  every  possible  encouragement 
to  agricultural  enterprise.  Vast  tracts  of  country, 
now  covered  with  the  vegetation  of  centuries,  once 
abounded  in  grain.”  The  truth  of  this  statement 
may  be  supported  by  the  record  of  one  of  the  kings, 
Prakrama  Bahu  I.,  who  flourished  about  the  middle 
of  the  twelfth  century  of  the  present  era.  This 
king  constructed  1,470  tanks  and  534  canals,  and  re- 
paired 1,395  large  with  960  smaller  tanks  and  3,621 
canals.  Some  of  the  older  works  which  he  put  into 
working  order  are  believed  to  date  back  to  500  b.c., 
their  original  constructor  being  the  son  of  a chief 
of  the  Ganges  valley,  well  acquainted  with  irrigation 
in  his  own  country,  who  landed  with  a small  body 
of  followers  and  made  himself  master  of  Ceylon. 
The  feature  of  the  Sinhalese  system  of  supply, 
however,  is  akin  to  that  of  Southern  Madras,  and 
differs  entirely  from  that  of  Bengal,  since  it  relies 
very  largely  upon  storage.  There  are  today  more 
than  5,000  reservoirs  in  the  island,  from  which  the 
cultivators  derive  their  streams  for  irrigation,  and 
almost  the  whole  of  these  are  situated  upon  the 
sites  of  former  works  constructed  ages  since.  Its 
monarehs  of  that  far  time  were  faithful  Buddhists 
who  sought  to  give  those  practical  proofs  of  their 
religious  zeal  which  the  great  founder  of  their 
creed  required  of  his  followers.  They  decided,  and 
wisely,  that  to  a vegetarian  race  there  was  no- 
thing so  important  as  the  assurance  of  certain  and 
abundant  harvests,  and  consequently  put  their  whole 
strength  into  an  irrigation  policy.  The  works  remain 
monuments  to  their  piety  and  wisdom,  combined  per- 
haps with  a natural  proportion  of  personal  pride  in 
leaving  such  memorials  behind  them.  Even  British 
Governors  and  engineers  in  modern  times  have 
nourished  a similar  and  not  ignoble  ambition. 
BRITISH  TIMES. 
Irrigation  has  been  a chief  article  in  the  programmes 
of  successive  Governors,  and  their  provincial 
officers  have  pushed  it  enthusiastically.  There  are 
six  honorary  titles  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown  which  are 
much  prized  among  native  notabilities,  and  by  their 
means  it  is  said  that  irrigation  enterprise  is  rewarded 
and  schemes  are  encouraged.  The  planters  are  in- 
clined to  complain  that  the  paternal  solicitude  of  the 
Utate  is  devoted  too  much  to  this  one  branch  of  in- 
* The  great  water  reservoir  for  Melbourne.— Ed.  2 '.A, 
