Nov. ], 1898.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUUISr. 
305 
la 1861 Mr. Bowilen Siaith paid liis first visit 
to tlie Dikoya district. Only tliree coffee estates 
had then been opened there, viz , Dikoya, of 
wliicli old Squatter Davidson was inanaa;er and A'itli 
•whom lie stayed ; Darrawella and a small jjait 
of Dunbar. The first 50-acre clearing of Halton 
had just been felled. All the rest of the district 
was dense forest : no road beyond Dickoya estate 
and only the old pilgrims' foot-path through 
Maskeliya to Adam's Peak. There were numbers 
of elephants in these forests, and some of them 
used to come out on the estates in the evening 
and feed on the grass in the ravines. It was unsafe 
to travel on foot along the road between Watawala 
and Dikoya after 4 p.m., about, which hour, 
elephants usually come out to feed. On his 
return journey from Dikoya lie stayed a night at 
W. Grant's bunglow, Agiawatta, and started the 
following morning intending to ride on to 
Pussellawa through Ambagamuwa and Kotmale ; 
but he got benighted on the Tyspane patanas 
owing to his watch having stopped and missed the 
track. It was pitch dark and raining hard and he 
had to spend the eight out, wet through and 
covered with leeches. He did ot reach the 
Kothschild ferry till daylight the ing morning 
and for some years after suffered from frequent 
attacks of fever and ague. Mr. Bowden Smith 
had several other rough experiences of travelling 
in tiie olden days, but the night on the Tyspane 
patanas was the worst. In 1861 , Mr. Bowden Smitii 
went to reside on his own estate, New Forest, on 
the borders between Pussellawa and Nilambe, 10 
acres ot which he had cleared and planted the 
previous year. During this and the next two 
years, he cleared and planted another 400 acres 
for himself and others and was also given the 
general management of four neighbouring estates : 
so he had liis hands full. After the planting season 
was over in 1862, he paid his first visit to Badulla 
where he stayed three weeks with F. Kelson 
who was at that time residing on Kottagodda. 
Mr. Bowden Smith was greatly struck with 
the wonderful proiluctiveness of the coffee trees 
in the Badulla district as compared with the coffee 
on the Western side of the Island, the trees, in 
spite of weeds and neglect, being completely 
covered with berries. Bread was then an unknown 
luxury in Uva and biscuits or "rotties" were 
used instead. Here Mr. Bowden Smith first met 
E. C. Byers and John Brown, two of the well- 
known pioneers of coffee planting in Badulla. 
In November 1863 Mr. Bowden Smith paid 
his first visit to England ; and on his return to 
Ceylon went to reside in Kandy with one of 
his brothers, who had been looking after his 
work during his absence. The two brothers 
commenced business as Estate Agents and soon 
secured tlie general management and visiting of 
a considerable number of properties. But as the 
work and the climate did not suit his brother, he 
returned to England and Mr. Wm. Bowden Smith 
carried on the business alone and went lo live 
with his old friend, It. Beauchamp Downall, at 
I'eradeniya. Mr. Bowden Smith's work at this time, 
took him to every coffee district in the island, in- 
cluding Madulsima anc' the iNIorowaklcorale which 
had then been recently opened ; so he obtained 
a thorough knowledge of all tlie planting districts, 
and during the last two years that he remained in 
Kandy had over 80 estates to visit and inspect. On 
the occasion of one of his visits to Doomoogaha- 
lande estate in Madulsima in 1869, he received a 
note from Keith McLellan, who happened to be 
visiting the adjoining property, Grtiloola, which 
belonged to him, saying that tlie leaves of 
a few of his coffee trees were attacked by 
some kind of blight and he wanted to know if 
Mr. Bowden Smith had seen anything like it. Mr. 
Bowden Smith went over and, after examining the 
leaves, told him the disease was quite new to 
him. This is believed to have been the first ap- 
pearance of the terrible blight, afterw'ards known 
as "leaf disease" and which ruined so many 
planters. The following year Hantanne and 
some of the other old estates near Kandy,* as 
well as one or two of the young estates in 
the Morowakkorale, were severely attacked by 
" leaf disease, ' wliereas the intermediate dis- 
tricts were comparatively free from it till later 
on. There arc many who assert that "leaf 
disease" was produced by over-cultivation. 
But as the fungus first ap|)eared in young coffee 
giving its maiden crop in the isolated and new 
district of Madulsima and in the following year 
on young coffee in the Morowakkorale, that had 
only just come into bearing, it would appear 
quite clear that over-cultivation could not be the 
origin of the disease. On the other hand, un- 
doubtedly after the blight once made its appearance, 
the coffee trees on old estates that had been highly 
cultivated for years and had a great deal taken 
out of them, succumbed much more rapidly than 
the younger and stronger cofi'ee trees on estates 
more recently planted. As there was no railway 
at this lime beyond Kandy and cart loads were 
not nearly so numerous as they are now, the 
visiting of estates was much rougher and harder 
work than it is now and Mr. Bowden Smith, at 
this time, was obliged to keep four or live horses 
to enable him to get through his work. 
During Sir Henry \\ ard's rule the three large 
bridges over tiie Maiiawe'iganga, at Katugastota, 
• Mr, Keith llcLellnn lived on Amblamana (Hantane) 
and may have Ciivried the fungus on hia tweed suit 
of clothed fioLU Mtidulaima to this esUte. — Eo. T. A. 
