862 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Juke 1, 1S99 
" ROBERT FORTUNE, PLANT COLLECTOR," 
Is the title given to a short notice of a very 
remarkable man in one of the liome maga- 
zines by this mail. Robert Fortune, born 
in Berwickshire, bt^gan life as a gardener's 
apprentice, but he rose to a responsible pose 
in the service of the Horticultural Society 
of London and by its Directors he was sent 
out in 1812 to China as a botanical collector- 
Subsequently he made two further voyages 
to the Far East in the service of the' East 
India Company. He travelled all along the 
coast of China and at some jjoints pene- 
terated into the interior at the risk of his 
life. Still narrower were his several escapes 
from pirates in visiting Chusan, the Philip- 
pines and Japan 40 to 50 years ago. But 
Fdrtune never spared himself in the cause 
df science and commercial enterprise. He was 
the first to introduce the China tea plant into 
India (hence the Assam-Hybrid) and to arrange 
for the manufacture of the leaf. He brought 
altogether as many as 200 species and varieties 
df new plants to Europe from the Far Bast, 
most ot which are now such established 
favourites in English and Indian gardens 
that their origin is overlooked. Under the 
dripping rocks of tlie ravines in the rocky 
ii\et of Hongkong, Fortune found C/iirefta 
sinensis with its elegant foxglove lilac Howers ; 
on the hills he came across the yellow 
orchid Spatlwglottis fovtu.nei. From Chusan 
he got the beautiful Wistaria sinensis ; 
and from Shanghai for the first tiu)e 
he sent home Cniptomcria Japonica 
or Japan cedar, so well-known now 
in some of our higher districts in Ceyloui 
Another gre.at find at Shanghai was Anemone 
Japonica which he discovered in full flower. 
From Soochow he took aWay a fine new 
double yellow rose and Gardenia florida 
forhinei With large white blossoms like a 
camellia. In January 1815, Mr. Fortune 
visited the Philippines and got a large sup- 
ply of the beautiful orchid Phalaenopsis 
amabilis. In 1848, while .after tea (as de- 
scribed in his "Tea Districts of China and 
India") Mr. Fortune discovered the beautiful 
Weeping cypress tree (Cupresyis funcbris), 
and the charming Berber is japonica. His 
visit to Japan in 1860 was productive of a 
pfreat gathering of new plants : — the glorious 
Thujopsis dolabrafa, the handsome evergreen 
Asmanthus aquifolius, the queen of prim- 
roses, Primula ja2wnica, the fine oak Qxercus 
sinensis, the lovely Lilinm auratuni, etc., 
etc. One specimen of Wistaria seen in Japan 
measured 7 feet in circumference at 3 feet 
from the gromid, and covered a space of ti'ellis- 
work 60 by 102 feet. One of the racemes of 
blooms was 42 inches in length with thou- 
sands of long drooping lilac racemes ! But we 
must stop. There is no man who has left a 
broader mark on English gardening than 
Robert Fortune. He lived in the neighbour- 
hood of London till 1880, so that he saw the 
Indian tea industry well established, though 
that of Ceylon had only entered on a very 
elementary stage. Nevertheless, here as iii 
India, the name of Robert Fortune, "the 
plant collector," should always be regarded 
with respect and admiration. 
GAME AND ITS PRESERVATION IN 
CEYLON. 
THE WORKING OF Till!: ORDINAKCE. 
Tiie fiucRlioii of j.';(iiie and i!ie woikiui; of llie 
Gallic (irdniaiKe is one wliid. liae laiely Ueon imuli 
.etorc Uie puijiic, and numerous remedies, more or 
less wild, have been fcii-Kc-ied. I do not for a 
inoment admit liial g.iiiie is any scarcer now than 
It was ten or twenty years afjo. Of course with 
tlic advance of cultivation game is diiven furtlier 
and further into the forests, and sportsmen have 
to go further afield in search of game : hut the 
natural lei.roduction keeps pace with the slauifljter 
and 1 entertain no fear of the "extermination" 
that 18 60 inudi talked of. In my opinion the 
lomedy for " in.liscriminate slaughter " U a 
simple one ; and the existing law gives tnfficicut 
protection. I do not consider that the Game 
Ordinance lequnos any amendment, nor do I susj: 
pest such drastic lemetlies as an annual tax on 
pun-j or special taxes on foreigners. I think the 
pnncij.le of the new Foic>*t Department arrange- 
nipnts may be followed, and the remedy should 
he found in the Forest Ordinance No. lu of 1885 
following the principle of the new forest arranire- 
ments, 1 would divide the Island into reserves 
(winch in the case of game would become prcscvfa) 
and non-reserves, and the divisions unuht be 
made coterminous with the foresf circles Thus 
the Rieat yala divi.^ion of the Hambantjta Di-triet 
would be one i)ieserve coire^punding with the 
South-east Circle of the Porest Department. 
1 he reserved forests of the Balticaloa District 
won d form a second preserve, anl the west and 
south of the Trineonialee District with a lartre 
slice out of the North-Central Province corres- 
ponding with the North-ei^t Circle of the ForeH 
Dai)artment, would be another jireserve, and so 
on. Another would be formed in the hill districts 
to include the forests and palanas of the Horton 
Plains, the Elk Plains, and the Pedro range. 
Ihe hrst step to be taken would be to get theoe 
areas proclaimed as " reserved forests " under the 
Ordinance No. 10 of 1895, and as soon as they hare 
been proclaimed special rules can be framed bvthe 
Government Agent under clause 26 (d). All fands 
outside these reserves would be treated as ooin- 
paratively valueless .and would be worked under 
the existing O.ime Law, while the reserves would 
be worked under the special rules. As regards 
the special rules, I divide them into two classes 
one for the hill reserves and the other for low-' 
country. In tlie former I would prohibit all 
shooting, in the latter all hunting with d<v's • 
and the following rough draft might be adopted 
as a basis for the rules: — 
Hill Beservis.—a) No parson shall within the 
reserved forests named in the schedule aunexed carry 
a gQU under any pretext whatever. Any person found 
carrying a gun shall be liable to a fiae of R50, and 
the gun shdll bs confiscated. 
(2) No person shall take any dog, or allow any 
dog to be taken or to stray, within the reserved forests 
named in the schedule annexed, and it shall be lawful 
for any Forest Gifieer or ranger forthwith to destroy 
any dog which he may find straying in such reserved 
forest, and the owner, if he can be found, shall be 
liable to a fine of R50. 
Provided that it shall be lawful for the Government 
Agent or Assistant Government Agent to issue 
hcenses for any registered pack of hounds to hunt 
within the said reserved forests oti pivment o f » 
sum of R250 for a pack not esceeding^tJa couples 
and a farther sum of R20 for each additional ooaplo! 
