April 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
691 
&f Botany , of which he himself was editor from 
1870 to 1880, were frequently enriched by Tri- 
men's contributions on Ceylon Botany, and 
" no less than fifty papers " stand under his 
name at the Royal Society, of which he was a 
distinguished Fellow. His magniom opus is, how- 
ever, his Flora of Ceylon, whicli, unfortunately 
tor the Colony, be did not live to finisli. The com- 
pletion of this work has, happily, been undertaken 
by the veteran Sir Joseph Hooker of Kew, Dr. 
Triraen having completed the first three volumes, 
with an atlas of plates, which bring the book as 
far down as Balanophoraceie in the order of Ben- 
tham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum. Sir 
Joseph has creditably accomplished his task, the 
filth and last volume being now finished. The 
plan of Trimen's Flora is acknowledged to be a model 
of what such floras should be, it being, as far as 
completed by him, characterised by the critical 
insight and terse lucidity which always dis- 
tinguished the author. — Yours truly, X. Y. 
NO. VI. 
Dear Sir, — Though the real value of Dr. 
Trimen's "Flora " cannot well be estimated, more 
especially as Thwaites' " Enumeratio"— though 
superseding preceding works — is of use to botanists 
only, an idea of its merit may be inferred from 
the fact that " one principal object of the work 
is to enable observers to ascertain the name ot 
any plant they may find growing wild ; " after- 
wards learning " all that may have been written 
about it, appreciating its relationship with other 
plants, tracing its geographical limits, and intelli- 
gently investigating its properties and uses." In 
1896, shortly before his death, Dr. Trimen con- 
tributed to the "Journal of Botany," Vol. XXXIV, 
A Preliminary List of Maldive Plants, with 
notes, based on a collection of plants sent him 
from the Maldive Islands, it being his intention 
to write later a Flora of these islands. Tri- 
men's name is perpetuated in Ficus Trimeni and 
others; a tree of thelast-named species forms ahand- 
some object in Peradeniya Gardens. Vol. XXXIV 
of the '' Journal of Botany " is dedicated to this 
savant and the same volume contains a memoir 
and a portrait of him. 
In any account of the Botany of Ceylon it 
would be unjustifiable not to make reference to 
the compilations of Mr. J Ferguson, F.E.C.i., &c. 
the capable and esteemed multi-editor of 38 years' 
standing. In 1881 he started the Jropical Agri- 
culturist, a monthly magazine devoted to the 
interests of tropical agriculture and inevitably 
touching botany and horticulture ; whilst amongst 
his other labours are his compilations on the 
Cocomit Palm (coeos nucifera) second edition in , 
1898; All About Tobacco, 1890; All Abotd Spices 
and Fibres, 1888 ; Arecanut (areea catechu) 1897 ; 
Tobacco, 1889 ; Coffee Planters' Mayiual (latest 
edition), All About Rubber, 1899, &c. 
With reference to the economic aspects of 
Botany in Ceylon, it is worth mentioning the 
unparalleled rapidity with which both the Cin- 
chona bark and Tea industries developed in the 
island. The yearly export of the former (now but 
a few hundred thousand pounds) reached from 
50 lb. in 1869 to nearly 16 million pounds in 
1887; whilst that of tea rose from 23 lb. in 1873 
to almost 130 millions in 1899, the estimate of ex- 
port for 1900 being 140 millions. 
Ceylon Tea 
Who conld estimate the virtues of that drink, 
■Which made not one, but many thousands think, 
And write such works as made the vulgar stare, 
And filled the world with disputations rare. 
Befere concluding this brief and incomplete 
bibliography of Ceylon Botany it is imperative to 
refer to the notable Sinhalese family of Naciiial 
History Artists, the de Alwises, who by their 
hereditary talent for drawing and painting con- 
nect the present day with practically the iiicepiion 
of Botanic Gardens in Ceylon. Tlie late Mi. H 
de Alwis, Madaliyar, served as writer under 
Moon in 1818 at Kalutara, being, after the re- 
moval of the Gardens to Peradeniya, appointed 
Botanical Draftsman, a post which he held for 
.S8 years. In 1839 his services were solicited and 
secured by Dr. Wight for three months at Madi as 
to assist in the botanical drawings for the great 
work leones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis. In 
1861 Mr. de Alwis retired on pension which he 
enjoyed for the record number of 33 years. The 
orchids Alwisia temiis and Tasniophylhim Alwisii 
have been named after him by Dr. Lindley. Mr. 
de Alwis was succeeded in 1865 by Iiiis son 
William (made Muhandiram in 1896) who, being 
still in oliice and with the gift of his father 
admirably developed, has added largely to the 
series of botanical drawings started by his father 
almost at the beginning of the century. He has 
painted from nature the Lepidopterous Insects of 
Ceylon, which with a few additions were published 
in 1880-87 in three 4to volumes by F W Mooie, 
F.Z.S., who supplied the text and in mistake put 
his own name to the plates. Mr. Alwis's drawings 
were of such high character that pecuniary assist- 
ance from the Ceylon Government was given 
for this work. The Kev. M J Berkeley, f.l s. 
and C E Broome, F.L.S., in their Fungi of Ceylon 
(published in Journal of the Linnsean Society, 
vols. xi. xiv, and xv) accord their appreciation 
f'f Mr. W de Alwis's " exquisite drawings of the 
fleshy fungi of Ceylon" by naming after him 
the fungus Hygrophorus Ahvisii. 
The selection in 1896 of Mr. J O Willis, m.a., 
F.L.S., as head of the Ceylon Botanical Depart- 
ment and so succeeding the line of illustrious 
Directors preceding him, has been fully justified' 
in the result. Mr. Willis has given the 
results of his investigation in the remarkable 
family of Podostomaceoo in a paper belore the 
British Association at Dover in 1899. Since his 
appointment he has energetically carried on the 
extension of his department on scientific and 
practical principles, securing the establishment 
in the Gardens of a new Research Laboiatory, 
and the appointments on his staff of an expert 
Entomologist and a professional Mycologist. 
X. Y. 
EXPERIMENTS IN MANURING TEA IN 
CEYLON. 
Dear Sib, — I see you take notice of Messrs.- 
Tarrant, Henderson &Co.'s Circular, especially 
as regards the results of manuring, which 
the compilers show. The results are poor, 
and it does not require a manuring expert 
to advise the proprietor of No. 2 field to 
abandon that field. 
The proprietor of field No. 3 must have 
had the cockles of his heart warmed when 
his manuring brought forth 4261b instead of 
250; but he must have felt less jubilant 
when he found a second dose of manure re- 
duced his bearing to 3721b. Perhaps 
the third manuring will land him at the 
original amount— 2o01b. 
I ^ have read hurriedly Mr. Kelway Bam- 
ber's report on tea soils , and as in scavenging 
carts in cities you have often a man in front 
ringing a large bell, I think our well- 
