THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEISt [Sept. 1, 1899. 
garden of 30 or 40 acres. There is, more- 
Over, quite a group of .Sinhalese villages 
with thousands of population scattered 
throughout the neighbourhood, who have 
benefited greatly by the money spent in 
planting coconuts; although more than half 
the perniii-nent workers — perhaps two-thirds — 
are immigrant Tamils. 
The pioneer of Rajakadaluwa was the late 
Mr. G. D. Miller, who originally came to Ceylon 
under the auspices of the Eastern Produce and 
Estates, or rather of the then Ceylon Co., 
Ld., and had experience as a coffee planter 
in Matale, before (while visiting Horrekelly) 
he became interested in the country North 
of the Deduruoya for ciiconuts. He got his 
land on the roadside nt upset price and 
made a. gO(jd start, thou<ih he v.'as inclined, 
perhaps, to take too much out of the soil in 
plantains, and though he made a big 
mistake by planting his first clearing too 
close, the palms being four to six feet too 
near each other. What a difference this 
makes (the coiiinion practice in nearly all 
native gardens) was never better illustrated 
than in neighbouring fields— c'ose and wide 
planted — on Mr. Miller's place : the trees 
are well grown on both, but the bearing 
qualities of the palms are vastly different. 
We first heard of Mr. Miller's pioneering 
work in 1887 ; and looking out at the 
time for a Coconut investment for relatives 
in England, we allowed him to purchase 
two lots, aggregating 1G6 acres, adjoining his 
own Rajakadaluwa which, with fees, &c., 
cost R2,125. This was called by one of the 
lady proprietois 
TOYNBEE 
(after the Avell-known philanthropist who 
gavethenametoToynbeeHall, in Whitechapel) 
and for its size and age (after a good many 
vicisssitudes) it is now one of the show coco- 
nut places in the district. Mr, Miller did good 
work in opening and planting Toynbee — 
though taking too much out in plantains 
for our taste— for two or three years ; then 
he lost his health — a great deal of fever 
prevailing at times, especially while the soil 
was being turned and opened for planting — 
and during the last period of illness and our 
absence on furlough in England, the Toynbee 
fields got terribly neglected ; and after poor 
Miller's sudden death from fever in Colombo 
hospital, there had to be a large expenditure 
to meet, in order to retrieve the mischief 
done, while the plantain contractor had 
bolted, leaving some R1,5(X) unpaid for fruit 
harvested by him ! The first operation was 
to clear out all the plantains, make trenches 
and bury the stems, which, no doubt, both as 
an act of cultivation and means of nutrition, 
did nuich to benefit the young palms ; but the 
number of supplies required was disheartening; 
and not till 1895 was there nmch pleasure 
in looking at Toynbee. Unfortunately "iluk " 
grass had been allowed to get in at one or 
two corners ; and poor Miller's place lie- 
came so neglected after liis death, that 
some i)arts became a breeding-gi'ound for 
beetles which swarmed over to adjacent plan- 
tatioiis. Weeding, clearingstumps and logs and 
burning, and beetle hunting were, however, 
vigorously pui'sued, as well as careful sup- 
plying and the change wrought during 1895 
{lad aucceeding yeat's md^v tUe ctueful 
direction of an experienced Negombo planter, 
w hn put conductors on the place and super- 
vised them by periftdical visits, was wonder- 
ful to see. Better or more economical work 
no property has ever had done for it. 
One thing for v.'hich credit may well be taken 
wasthenuniber of trees, supposed to be fatally 
mjured by beetles which were saved by the 
complete c;uiterizing and scooping out of 
the part attacked, and then tarring the in- 
side—so that now there are palms to be 
found with a full crop of nuts, whose 
hearts, for two or three feet, are all gone 
—whose sides in fact look as if someone 
h;ui, for pleasure, cut out the figure of a 
canoe, leaving but a shell in half the stem. 
Nevertheles.:;, this shell is found sufficient to 
sustain a vigorous growth and mature a 
good crop of nuts, and now there is not a 
beetle (or beetle's work) to be seen, unless a 
stray one should come over the high fence 
from where there may still be neglect and 
decay. Less success has attended tlie eradi- 
cation of the "iluk": it is a most persistent, 
detestable weed and has cost from first fcn 
last an extraordinary outlay : but there is 
good hope that 1899— after a seven years' 
campaigji— will see the last of it. 
Mr. Jardine visited Toynbee duiyng the 
first year and again two years after : his 
report ^vas all that could be desired as regarded 
the inmiediate prospects and he made it 
clear th;it the place had a wonderful pre- 
servative against drought, in the brackish 
damp subsoil, which seemed to indicate that 
this region is the old site of a backwater, 
the land rising between it and the sea. This 
has been proved to be connect by experience ; 
for the palms never droop even in the most 
prolonged drought. But Mr. Jardine— we 
may now mention— in 1888 and 1890— 
doubted 
THE " STAYING " QUALITY 
of the soil,— in other words, if it had subs- 
tance enough to cai-ry the palms to a healthy 
full maturity and give crops for many years. 
So far as it went, in its mixture of humus 
and brackish sand, ic was perfection for 
young coconuts ; but " How long would its 
sustaining powers continue?" was his question. 
Undoubtedly cultivation and the digging in 
of an extensive area of plantains, must have 
.mproved and strengthened the soil; for 
lanother "coconut" veteran, Mr. W. H. Wright ' 
in visiting and reporting at the end of 1895, 
though by no means prejudiced in favour 
of the district, after a very careful inspection 
and examination of the soil in the different 
fields of Toynbee, gave a most hopeful 
report on the prospects of the trees and 
plantation, if only justice were done in 
careful cultivation and, by-and-bye, in judi- 
cious manm-ing— which, of course, was also 
Mr. Jardme's panacea for the deficiency 
he feared. 
No product— as old W. B. Lamont has 
well said, laying down the law 30 years ago, 
—no product in Ceylon responds to, or 
repays, so well for 
MANURING, AS THE COCONUT PAL3I ; 
but few proprietors, we should say, will care 
to incur a cent of outlay in manure, artificial 
or otherwise, so long as there is no crop 
of nuts. Let something first be haryested, 
in tUe shape of crop, and surely then it is 
