Feb. ], 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
S25 
EETUHN TO CEYLON IN 1897 : PLUMBAGO AND 
PLANTING. 
Although he had sold out of the valuable Uva 
properties and some others on the Kandy side, 
Mr. Tottenham continued to hold the extensive 
Morankande and Udahena properties — situated on 
the borders of the Matale, Kandy and Kurunegala 
districts, though counted in the Estates' list of the 
last-mentioned district, — and covering some 1,,545 
acres of which some 650 acres are in cultivation with 
tea, cacao, some coffee and minor products. Through 
this property (and his agents Messrs. Whittall 
& Co.) Mr. Tottenham with a succession of 
managers who included Messrs. W. G. Rollo, 
Andrew Poison, A. J. Thomas, &o , maintained 
his connection with our planting industry from 
1873 onwards, through the worst days of coffee 
disease, making experiments with " Liberian," 
participating in the short-lived cinchona era — fiasco 
indeed, so far as the lower districts were concerned 
— cultivating cardamoms, rubber, cacao and finally 
tea. Even now, Mr. Tottenham has, on Morankande, 
large clearings in contemplation to be planted during 
next south-west monsoon. Apart from this, there is 
the important plumbago mining industry initiated 
by him on his visit to the island during the 
winter of 1897. By his engagement of an ex- 
perienced mining engineer — Capt. Tregay — who 
had previously worked for Mr. Tottenham in 
other parts of the world in connection with iron, 
copper and gold ventures, — a new departure 
altogether in connection with our one mineral of 
commercial importance, plumbago, has been taken ; 
and we trust a due measure of success will follow 
the public-spirited action in this respect of one 
who had already done much to develop the re- 
sources of Ceylon. Capt. Tregay we are glad 
to know, is well satisfied with what has been 
already achieved and still more with the pros- 
pects of the mine on the Morankande property ; 
and Mr. Tottenham's example has already been 
followed by the European owners of lowcouutry 
plantations with outcrops or evidences of plum- 
bago. In this way, Mr. Tottenham will be un- 
doubtedly the pioneer of the Colonists who 
develop plumbago on their jplantations in Ceylon. 
Mr. Tottenham's return to this island in the 
winter of 1897, which has already been fruitful 
in renewed enterprise, was primarily due to the 
need of seeking a warmer climate on account of 
his lungs which are not so strong as they wera 
in his prime. Still, no one who knew him, as 
we did thirty years ago, would see much differ- 
ence to look at Mr. Tottenham, He carries hia 
years well, looking very little older and is 
apparently as active, physically and mentally, as 
when he drew up for us, in 1872, his Estimate 
of a Railway from Nawalapitiya to Haputalo 
Pass. This reminds us, by the way, that Mr. 
Tottenham with exceptional knowledge of the 
country North of Kurunegala, has not hesitated 
to condemn Railway Extension in that direction 
which he considers folly, while the further use 
of the broad gauge in a country devoid of popu- 
lation and traffic, ho deems utter madness. Ho 
strongly supports our view that the way to servo 
North and East Ceylon is by a narrow gauge from 
Colombo via Puttalam. This by the way. 
On returning to Ceylon after an absence of 2i 
years, Mr. Tottenham of course saw very groat 
changes, notably in Colombo Harbour Works, 
Public Buildings, Sec. Still more was the change 
in the jwrsonncl of the Colonists brought homo 
to him, his mind naturally reverting to the Pioneers 
of early days among Ceyloii Colonists, so fow of 
whom remain either here or above the sod. 
Reverting to the Ceylon of the "fifties" and 
"sixties," Mr. Tottenham's memory is filled with the 
kindest recollections of such old friends as the 
Cruwells, MacLcllans, Tyndall, Corbet, Byers, John 
Brown, John Gordon, Lyon Fraser and other Erasers, 
Cattos, John Martin, Donald Bain, John Rennie, 
Chippindall, Morrison ("Bengal Tiger"), Peter 
Moir, AbercrombieSwan, Drs. Bojd Moss and Baylis, 
Dr. Kelson, Esdaile, Lambert, Scott, John 
Davidson, the Macdonalds, Forsyths, W. D. 
Gibbon and a host of others — all good men and true 
— fit to lay the foundations and ensure the success 
of any Colony ; while he would not omit to give a 
special place to his very old friends and partners, 
Adam and Bain, than whom better and truer men 
and planters never lived. One can understand how 
sad it must be to revisit the Colony and miss so 
many old friends ; but 
Good and true men still remain, 
If good and true are gone. 
And we are glad to know that Mr. Tot- 
tenham is pleased with his first trip, and so in- 
terested in his own property and its development, 
that he is likely (d. v.) to make a regular Winter 
and Spring visit to the Colony of his early choice 
for several years to come, and so avoid the trying 
part of the year in the old country. Mr. Totten- 
ham's earnest hope is that Ceylon has a long era of 
prosperity still before her and in a letter which 
now lies before us he says : — " I know our British 
" Colonies pretty well ; but to my mind none 
' ' compare favourably with Ceylon in the amenities, 
" conveniences and comforts of existence." This is 
high praise from one who has travelled so widely 
and observed so closely as Mr. Tottenham has, and 
in enrolling his name among the Planting Pro- 
neers of Ceylon, we think it is a uniquely interesting 
fact that he should return, after a quarter cen- 
tury's absence, to take a share as Estate proprietor, 
in the further Planting and Mining development 
of the Colony. There are other absent proprietor- 
pioneers of the long ago who might do worse than 
follow Mr. Tottenham's example ; for, to escape the 
severe English winter and early spring and to spend 
it with pleasure and interest if not with profit, in 
Ceylon should be a very successful way of ex- 
tending one's usefulness and improving one's health, 
if not prolonging life itself. All such returning old 
Colonists will, we feel sure, meet with the hearty 
welcome which is due to the subject of our notice and 
collotype portrait, Mr. Chables Tottenham. 
INSECT PESTS IN CALIFORNIA. 
TRIUMPHS OP PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGY. 
•' I guees yon want the bug inspector. He's right 
in there," It was thna that a polite gentleriian on 
the San Francisco preaa replied to my inquiry con- 
corning the office of Mr. Alex. Cr.iw, who ia by 
the act of the Legislatare '' clerk of the Pub- 
lishing and Quarantine Bureau cf the State Board 
of UorticnUure." I found thia officer occupying 
offices in a modest wooden building on the water 
front of the city, and more prominent than tho 
office furnitnre were enormoua large gla^s veaae'a 
containing friendly beetles feeding upon rations 
of injurious insects. When I called on another 
occasion Mr. Craw was oat, and an obligiDg 
gentleman in the office said, " He'll not be back 
for quite a time. Guesa he's gone across the bay 
to got food for hia beetles." It soon bocama 
apparent, therefore, that beetles and the food of 
beetlea constituted an interest of supreme importanca 
in tho office of tho chief officer of horticultural 
qaarantiao. One waa familiar with tho romanlig 
