828 
THE TROPICAL 
AGiaCULTUlUST. 
[June i, 1899. 
Arti/iiis liavo aii^o it:l,uvi;etl to woik, but uie 
a more than a tiifie listless and needless to say 
stoiiy-hroke. 
ACREAOi;. 
There will not be much added to tlie acreage 
under tea in tliis portion of the province this mon- 
noon, small cleavings at Elpitija and JS.uldegama 
beiiiij; the only ones mentioned ; while a few acies 
of moist and will go into Para llul)l)er. Of -•■'lur.-e 
one must not for<,'et (he whole half acie the en- 
tcrprisinf; directors of the Talfjaswella Company 
liave decided to put into Vanilla, a.s mentioned 
recently in the Obficrrer. 
THE TEA CROP. 
So far the tea crop on most places is lar}'er than 
for the same four months of last year, except on 
some of the estates near Mapalagama M'liere it 
is said to be short ; but the drought there w.as more 
severe tl 13,11 <i t Baddegama and Elititij'a and the 
celebrated "lake" on Tal;^as\vella is reported, 
thougii ]irobably an exaggeration, to have eva- 
porated down to a chunk of mud before the rains 
restored it. 
SUGAR. 
It is a current idea upcountry tliat the only 
place that sngar-cane is grown and siigar manu- 
factured at in Ce.ylon, is B.addegama estate. A trip 
by Loat u]3 the Gingaiiga river from Galle would 
dissipate this notion; for miles up one Fees llour- 
ishing cane fields on both banks. The (ieltls are 
not contiimoii,'-, but show up constantly behind 
the fringe of coconut trees, wiiii every mile, or 
tM'o mile where sugar and treacle arc made. 
What becomes of all tiiis sugar ': 
SNIPE. 
Two good bngs of snipe were madi^ during the 
past week in the Karandeniya iields bj- a local 
planter, but these will be about the l«st of the 
season, and it is a little surprising it should 
M ind up so well, as birds have not been jiarticu- 
]ar]y pleniiful in tlie Kaiandeniya-Elpitiya liekls 
this year. 
-« 
KELANI \ALLEV. 
Xl<:«' FAt^TOJtY FOR THE KELAX; VAIXEY TKA 
ASSOCIATION, LTD. (\VE]{K.\GOr.I.A ESTATE). 
This has been ovectcil on land specially 
r!r((iiirocT for the site and to ]>rt)vide Iw the 
(levylopment of tlie water power, on tlie 
opposite side of tlie Weoya river to the 
original factory and esiats. 
It will now serve for the manufacture of 
tea from Paruseila estate also, and which is 
about two miles distant by cart-road direct. 
A substantial suspension bridge is being 
erected over the river in place of the ordinary 
ferry-boat, so that all communication and 
leaf transport will be independent of tioods. 
The factory is of iron, 45 feet by 120 feet, 
Avith teak v^^indows and weather boarding. 
There are two iipper floors for withering 
purposes, with a special entrance for green 
Jeaf from tht; outside. The ground floor is 
lofty, well-lighted and A-entilated. 
Power is transmitted to the various ma- 
chines by a. line-shaft extending the full 
length of the building and ]:assing into 
the power-liovise which adjoins the 
main building at its end and in which 
is stationed the engine and boiler and also 
the coiinter-shaft connected with the tui'bine. 
The titvbinc is of the vortex type (.SOh.p.) 
and stands just below the level of the ])ower- 
iiouse and ueav the river. Water is obtyiue4 
at a point about Miii_--tiiiiil ol a mile abuve 
the Factory by building iuukoui'V acruii»* 
the river, the siipjjly \\f'.un it-Kulated liy 
means of a hliiit-e. and coii\ eyed tluou^^h pij-H-h 
and ojX'U .-J touting to a >.eltliiig I Uik. wiiidi 
connects by pipe wiili the liu-lniie diivct. 
The construct i<in of ihe tiauj has b^eii ji 
veiy diUicult w »rk, arjd in the iipjwr \mv- 
tions ol tlio walcifimise uiaiiy louK uf ixjck 
lia\-e Ik-cii i-eniox cd by bla.'-t iiijiC. 
Work was commenced at tin- uiidille of 
IMandi last year .-Mid tli<' Cai-tory wa.^ i-unuing' 
imder slcani powiT by Di-.-ciuIk-i-, tlie>\at<'r 
])f>\ver being conipletecl .Miil «t-irt-<-d on the 
20th iiisl. vMl ibe niuchiiit'i'V available fi-ont 
the two lactories ha.- been ihoi-oiiglily put in 
order and they with the new <jiu-s itdihvl 
jn-ovide ample manidacliuing eap.-u-it)'. 
The .Superintendent. Mr. A. li. XVyueiis. Ijax 
had a very arduou> t.isk in <-oi)iU'r- 
tion with the «laiii and w.-itercourse 
and it is satisfactory to kii<t\v tUal 
a hea\>' flood iniuiediat<*ly following jIk 
com])letion ha.s not <iainaKed it in any 
way. 'J'he iionwork i»f the Factory vvat* 
su]ii)lied by Messrs. ^lain. the wtxMUvork 
and coniplele erection by Mesisr.^. W'llker 
Sons iz Co.. Colou'bo, thu \\at<T powei- ln-iug 
devised and genera[l>- carried ciul under the 
sujiervision of Mr. Holland Porter <if the 
latter firm. The Directors have now a 
conunodifiu.s factory, v. ell-situated for trans- 
port, and supplied with duiilicati' power, 
wati-r-power iM'Uig available turoughout tlie 
year, and it is hoped they may in-tp the 
beneflts arising therefrom to the full. 
CENTIiAJ. TlJAVANCOKE TLAMEUS' 
AfiSOCIATIUN 
From tiie ixpoit of the Sacretavy of this A^ttociatiou 
for (he past year we extract tho ftllowlug : — 
l'"iN.*NCi;. — Our expcnditiu'u for tin- year r.'iionnted 
to I\'2 8SvJ-l-l inclusive of our donation of ]{] o, o to 
the American Maiket Fiiud. p.s well as R'iOO !or the 
expenses of our dr-lc-gato to Trevandrum, item 
■niiieh dees nut often pi-cur. The year clused v.ith a 
crcrlit of bali'.nceof lliT OO. 
Mei'ICAL Fcno. — Oning to the depression from 
which car iiidiistry is sufl jrinfr, we found Ourielves 
unable to uiaiut;iiii so ccslly a Fund : the Fund was 
accordingly wound up, the Travancore Tea Estates 
ViO. taking ever the dispensaries and whj inaka a 
eiiaigo forioftdicines, etc., to outsiders making nse of 
the dispensaries. II. If. Govcrcnient was approached 
on the subject of appointing a ftilly qualified medical 
mail to the District and acceded to our request by 
appointing Dr. Joseph, to v.hom we j^uarantee a sura 
of not less than lUaO per mouth, in addition to hia 
grade pay as remuneration for t)ie extra work 
entailed on hiui iu visiting members of this Associa- 
tion. 
KoADS AND Bridges.— This is a subject which e-g^j^ea 
no small amount of our atteuiion every year. I think 
we must all agree, hovrover, that roads have of late 
improved, but much still remains to be done. At the 
same time I fail to understand v,hy large quantities 
of metal have been bi-okeu if it is not to be spi-ead. For 
mouths past it has been almost impossible. I may 
even say dangerous, for a horse to pass a cart or for two 
carts to pass coe another on certain roads, more espe- 
cially on the Carady Goody Hill, a road none too wide 
in itself to admit of any portion of its width being 
blocked by heaps of broken metal. With regard to 
the bridges in the District, I do not think that I have 
ever seen them iu a more dilapidated and unsafe con- 
dition than they are at present, and I trust the Chief 
Ei5giueer will lose no time in putting them iu thorouglj 
ofdev before the approach of the woubOos, ' 
