Feb. 1, 1900.] 
THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
523 
thus causing an increased secretion of these juices 
ill the esophagus and greatly improving the diges- 
tion. 
Banda Nutmeg has a most beneficial effect on the 
circulation of the blood, imperatively necessary 
for a good digestion, thus fitting the frame for a 
perfect absorption in the blood of the nutritious 
substances in the food. 
Nutmeg-paste, — Inferior nuts damaged and 
broken are carefully excluded from export. 
Stamped, steamed and pressed on the estate, they 
produce a solid fat, which is cut in bars and sold 
as nutmeg paste, which makes a delicious oint- 
menc in the xjharmacopceia. 
^ . 
AN ENGLISH STATION FOR BOTANICAL 
RESEARCH IN THE TROPICS (CEYi^ON). 
The Royal Botanic Gardens of Ueylon, under the 
direction of Thwaites and Trimen, to go no further 
back, have long been known as one of the most 
important centres of scientific work in systematic 
and economic botany. Thanks to the Brtish Associ- 
ation for the Advancement of Science, a small room 
next to the director's office was fitted up as a 
laboratory, in which have worked many botanists, 
chiefly EngHsh. Among those who have worked in 
Ceylon during the last decade may be mentioned 
Profs. Bower, Farmer, Goebel and Potter, and 
lilessrs. Freeman, Keeble, Pearson, Parkin, and 
others. During the last two years the laboratory 
has been very much overcrowded, being used by the 
staff of the gardens as well as by visiting botanists. 
With the commencemsnt this year of a new research 
laboratory, now being erected by the Department of 
Public Works, and to be completed probably before 
the end of the year, this difficulty will be overcome, 
and there will be ample room for several workers from 
abroad in addition to the members of the staff. This 
being so, it may not be amiss to give at this time 
an account of the facilities now available in Ceylon 
for research in the tropics. While the laboratory 
is primarily intended for botanical research, there 
is no intention of excluding workers in other lines 
80 long as there is room for them, though of coarse 
money cannot be spent in providing special apparatus 
for their work. 
The Boyal Botanic Gardens form a department of 
the public service in Ceylon, under a director. The 
headquarters of the department are at Peradeniya, 
near Kandy, where the principal garden was estab- 
lished in 1821 by iiloon. There are now smaller branch 
gardens in four other places in different climatic 
regions of the island. A brief account of these may 
be of interest. 
The original Peradeniya garden lies within the 
Municipality of Kandy, obont four miles from the 
centre of the town. It may be reached by driving 
in a carriage or rickshaw, or by trains which run 
at intervals to a station near the garden. The roada 
here, as almost everywhere in the island, are ex- 
cellent for cycling. The garden has an area of about 
150 acres, and lies in a very beautiful situation, 
in a loop of the Mahaweli river, and in very moun- 
tainous country. Its eleiation above sea is about 1,550 
feet, so that it has a much more Ipleasant climate than 
the low country. During the day the difference is but 
little, but the nights are very much colder than in 
Colombo, so that refreshing sleep can always be had ; 
indeed, during most of the year a blanket is necessary. 
The mean annual temperature is 76° F., that of the 
hottest months (March and April) being 79°, that of 
the coldest (January and June) 74-75°. The highest 
shadtj temperatures ever reached are not excessive, 
rarely exceeding S0°, and in the present laboratory 
the highest in the last two years has been 82°, the 
lowest 65°. Work can thus be carried on with as 
little discomfort as in any European laboratory. The 
annual rainfall is about 90 inches, but owing to the 
great violence of tropical rain the number of 
rainy hours or days is very much less than iu 
England. The number of days with raiu averages 
170 per annum, and it rarely rains more than four 
hours on any one day. Rain in the morning is also 
rare. The weather of the year depends on the 
monsoons. In the end of May the south-west monsoon 
be:,'ins to blov/, and there is much wind and rain, the 
weather gradually becoming finer through the months 
of June and July. August and September and the 
first half of October are delighttul mouths. In 
October the north-east monsoou begins, and until 
Christmas it is very wet. In January begins the " dry 
season," and during the next two or three montha 
there is less rain than at any other time of year, and 
the weather becomes gradually very hot, though until 
April the nights are cold. March and Apri. are the 
only really unpleasantly warm months in the year. 
The best time on the whole to visit Peradeniya is 
from October to March, but from July onwards ia 
very nice, the objection to travelling at this time 
from Europe being the beat in the Red Sea, which, 
however, is much less formidable than is usually 
supposed in these days of swift boats and ice chambers. 
The garden contains a splendid collection of tropical 
plants, and, being arranged like an English park, 
with wide spaces of lawn, the specimens are easily 
seen and photographed. In the centre lie the build- 
ings of the museum, library, herbarium and laboratory, 
close together. The museum is chiefly devoted to 
the economic products of Ceylon, and contains a very 
good and interesting collection. The herbarium 
consists primarily of Ceylon plants ; but there is also 
a general tropical herbarium, and a herbarium of the 
plants contained in the gardens. In the same 
building is the library, which contains about two 
thousand books and papers. There is an excellent 
collection of books relating to economic and sys- 
tematic botany, and recently a large number of works 
on the other branches of botany have been added; 
a considerable number of journals is also received 
regularly, including such periodicals as the Annals 
of Botany, Botanical Gazette, Botanische Zeitung, 
Flora, &c. 
The laboratory lies a few yards to the north 
of the herbarium. It consists of a one 
story bungalow of brick on a stone found- 
ation, and with cement floor and tiled roof. The 
length of the building runs approximately east and 
west, and on the north and south sides there are 
no verandahs. At the east end is a verandah 8 feet 
wide, the ends of which are built up so as to form — 
one a lavatory, the other a dark room for photo- 
graphic work, fitted with eink, &c. At the west end 
is also a verandah of the same size, not built np 
in any way. 
The building has six entrances, provided with 
French windows, two at each end and two on the 
south side. The other windows stand above the 
ground, and open outwards. There are doors leading 
from each room into all the adjacent rooms, so that 
free ventilation can be obtained, and at the same 
time any room can be completely shut up if required 
to prevent draughts without interference with the 
accessiblity of the others. 
The principal room, the general microscopic and 
morphological laboratory, lies to the north-west, and 
is 36 feet lung 18 feet wide. It has four working 
windows facing north, each with table, shelves, sink, 
(fee, and two other windows facing into the west 
verandah, which can also be used as microscoping 
windows if required. The central part of the room 
will contain larger tables for microtome and other 
apparatus, and writing table. 
To the east of ihis room is the smaller room 
devoted to physiological and pharmacological investi- 
gations. Leading out of this room is a P',. iich 
window, which gives access tn the iiftie t:a,sii;iu 
verandah, which may be used for cultivation ex- 
periments, &c. This room has two good workinff 
windows facing north, besides the French window. 
It is provided wiih three sinks and an annual tem- 
perature of 61° F. Frost never occurs, though it ia 
