June l, 1901.1 -THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
829 
The Belgian company, L'Abuna, foi merl to de- 
velop A rubber property bought from fSi nor Bal- 
livian, of IJolivia, report that thi* firoperty is 
one of the finest on tlie upper Madt^ira. Some 
2,000 istradas of trees are embrac-e<i, which will 
afford employment for 1,000 workers, with a 
possibility of gathering 7 kilograms ( = 174 pounds) 
each ner day. The season for employment is 
estimated at seven months in the yeir. Besides 
the rubber proper {He.veo,), the lands contain a 
large number of Caucho (Castilloa) trees, which 
it is proposed to work. It is intended to send at 
least 150 collectors into the forest this season, 
besides such native labour as can be secured. 
During the past season twenty men, without super- 
vision, gathered 21,560 pounds of rubber, or 1,078 
pounds evidh.— India Rubber World, April 1. 
CEYLON IN 1889 AND 1901 : 
GAMPOLA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 
fJEVISITED. 
April 29. 
(Bii an old planting correspondent ) 
We reached Gatnpola iu time for dinner and, 
after travelling from Neboda in the Kiilutara 
district from five o'clock in the morning, felt 
tired. Next morning we found our way to good 
old 
SINNAPITIYA, 
the oldest estate in Ceylon (over three 
score years and ten and still " comes up 
smiling ') everything looking as fresh as a daisy, 
the timber trees well grosvn and giving a grateful 
shade to tlie roads with fine old mango trees and jak 
and a most valuable collection of Grevilleas in 
all stages of growth. 
There is no necessity to buy timber for fire- 
wood on Sinnapitiya, it is a dense forest of valuable 
timber; and as the trees are kept well-lopped, the 
tea flushes well and good average crops of leaf are 
obtained ; only fancy, the oldest estate in Ceylon 
turning out such a valuable property. Over 
seventy years ago, the late Colonel H C Byrde 
ploughed Sinnapitiya with elephants for coffee 
planting and the coffee held its own until the 
seventies; the writer has known Sinnapitiya for 
over thirty years during the time the brother of 
the Kev. Mr. Mitchell was Superintendent, then 
Mr. Jones for a short time about 1870. The 
preseiit Superintendent, Mr. Waring, has been 
many years in charge of Sinnapitiya estate and to 
him is due the great credit of bringing the tea and 
timber to its present state of perfection. The 
bungalow is shaded by two gigantic Flamboyant 
with iheir gortreous scarlet flowers and by clusters 
of yellow bamboo and some giand old mango 
trees; the Grevilleas fifty or sixty feet in height 
protect the bungalow from wind and sun. The 
factory is a very fine one with plentiful supplies 
of timber cut and dried ready for use. 
At the back of Sinnapitiya towers the Vella- 
kanile Hill and the zigzag road leads to 
Mr Gaddam's properties, 
BUKANDE AND AMBALAWA, 
(formerly owned by the laie A C White). 
Mf. VVilkins owns a neat little estate beween 
Sinnapitiya and Gona Adika; he is trying cacao and 
cinchona in addition to tea. Mr. W. intends to 
put out 40 or 50 thousand cinchona plants of 
good quality, including Ledgeriana. This seems a 
vdse thing to do, considering the low price of tea 
prevailing in Ceylon and India. Mr Wilkiiis is 
one of the old sciiool of planters and had a varied 
experience in thi^s inland; it wa« a pleasure to have 
a conversation abom Ceylon and the planting 
enterprise with Mr Wilkins and wish him every 
success. 
Old 
GONA ADIKA 
like good old Sinnapitiya is still flourishing under 
the able management of Mr. W. Macgregor. There 
are some 360 acres of tea. The coolies call this 
place Massie Coombera and I'found it a very stiff 
climb from Sinnapitiya during a storm of rain, 
taking shelter with Mr. and Mrs. Wilkins and 
reaching Gona Adika about six o'clock, very wet 
and tired. Shank's mare is not such a com- 
fortable way of travelling in a steamy place 
like Kad'igannawa, especially some of the 
lovely " short cuts " through wet mana-grass. 
We remember the old bachelor days of this dis- 
trict. The scene is changed. When George An- 
derson was at Gona Adika — in the days of coffee — 
nearly all the planters were young bachelors except 
William Theobah' of Mount Temple. Now we 
find married men in nearly every bungalow and 
of course their houses are more comfortable and 
lives more enjoyable. Talking ot Theobald, he is 
still plodding on at Deltotte, another old and hardy 
planter, of over thirty years' experience in Ceylon, 
In Theobald's time 
MOUNT TEMPLE 
Estate was under coffee (planted by Dr Shipton 
and still called Doctor Uorai Totum); we re- 
member tea being introduced there and poor James 
Kobeitson of the Mercantile Bank made this place 
his head-quarters ; the last time we saw tlie old 
banker he was weighing his tea leaf at four o'clock. 
Arthur Calvert Hoare was stationed here and 
running the Nuwara Eliya coach. Mount Temple 
is now a, very important place and like the Phcenix 
risen out of its own ashes ! The estate has de- 
veloped into a very pretty estate with a good 
CART ROAL» TO THE BUNGALOW. 
Mr. Shelton Agar, the present proprietor, is 
planting avenues of coconut palms and these, 
added to the great quantity of ornamental- and 
usetul timber trees, will enhance the beauty of 
this property commanding one of the most com- 
prehensive views of the loiver planting districts 
with the grand old Mahaweliganga winding its 
way through the valley. Nestling under the 
shade of a palm and jak grove is the large and 
substantial factory of Mount Temple, five minutes' 
walk from the town of Gampola. Mr. Sheltoa 
Agar kindly showed me over his factory. There 
is a patent tan at the apex, oil-engine power 
driving three rolling machines : the Davidson, 
Brown and Jackson, all doing good work. Tea- 
sitting machines, tea cutter, sirocco and other 
machinery with good withering space upstairs, 
the jute hessian tats screwed to the stanchions 
with a coir rope binding to prevent the tearing 
of the jute hessian. 
Mr. Shelton Agar is a man of inventive genius 
and he conceived the idea of binding the edges 
of the jute liessian with coir rope. This scheme is 
being generally adopted, I believe, by other fac- 
tories. Mr Agar made some improvements in the 
Davidson roller but up to date received no remu- 
neration, and the least the Messrs. Davidson coul4 
