July 1, 1903,] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
51) 
TEA AND CINCHONA PLANTING ON 
DIYAGAMA. DIMBULA, 
{I'onc'uded from page ^7.) 
A good deal has been done in planting 
CINCHONA 
of late years— tO.OOO plants having been 
put out amongst young tea (cinchona will noh 
grow amongst olrl tea with its many roots) 
and some in virgin forest-land. The plants 
were raised from seed, costing RlOO an 
ounce, with a certificate of high percentage 
of quinine got from the parent trees, 
chiefly from Java. Here, as everywhere, 
much has been done in planting timber 
trees, not only among the tea, 20 feet 
apart, hut in separate clearings on virgin 
soil, which have already afforded a great 
quantity of firewood from the thinning out 
of gums, acacias, grevilleas, the original 
forest being drasvn on for a certain pro- 
portion. 
nAYS OF OLD, 
On the fiat, near the centre of the property 
(on which is now placed the Factory and 
many other buildings,) great herds of ele- 
phants and elk used to assemble and enjoy 
the waters of the river, before the while 
man and Tamil cooly had taken up their 
abode, in this region, Snipe, too, were 
common in some marshy portions, now 
devoted to grass-fields and the red gum. 
On one well-drained portion of the fiat, tea 
has given as much as 1,100 lb. per acre. 
THE DIYAGAMA FACTORY 
is one of the largest, l)est equipped and 
most convenient in all its arrangements, we 
have ever entered. Altogether with its 
contents and adjuncts, it has not cost less 
than K28.5,(X)0 = say £19,000, and in this as 
in extent and busy activity, it may be 
compared with one of the great Manchester 
Cotton Factories. It is picturesquely situated 
in the valley, about the centre of the 
pi-operty, with a cart-road to the door, 
estate roads converging from all sides, and 
two grand wire-shoots leading up to the 
top of the ranges to bring down firewood. 
A main building, with two flanking parallel 
wings, beside an engine room on one side 
and a cooling chamber on the other, may 
be said to sum up, roughly, the plan of 
the buildings. Bat the rriain structure is 
divided in the centre and connected only 
by an iron bridge ; so that if fire broke 
out, however severely, there would be a 
good chmce of catting it off from one of 
the main portions and dependent wings. A 
row of buildings of one story, for stoi-e, 
workshops and lodgings with one or two 
detached bungalows, supplement one side, 
just as the water-race for turbitie and 
piping for Pelton wheel approach the Factory 
on the other. Enormous piles of firewood 
are conveniently placed, a good deal under 
shelter. Inside, on the long range of upper 
storeys, provision is made to take in from 
50,000 to 80,0001b, of leaf at a time, there 
being spread some 4.5,0U0 squai'e feet of 
Jute Hessian, of which several bales are in 
steady demand for repairs ! The water-wherd 
driven by a stream from the Agra-oy.a is 
one of the largest ever constructed by 
Abernethy's of Aberdeen, being 30 feet in 
diameter by 5 in width of buckets and 
capable at its best of developing 40 horse- 
power. But in addition there is a Pelton 
wheel equal to 50 horse-power, so steep is 
the fall of the water conveyed by piping to 
this compact, easy-running motor. In addi- 
tion, to provide for all emergencies, there 
is a steam engine of 50 horse power. Tiie 
machinery is all admirably arranged— ten 
Rollers, all .Jackson s, being driven from 
the continuous shafting, provision beint; 
made for the tea to get four rolls ; while 
the Driers include two Paragons (Jack- 
son's latest improved), the automatic 
working of which in regard to the operations 
usually done by hand, is most satisfactory. 
Each of the Paragons as installed costs R7,000. 
(There are also one Bi'itannic and two 
Victoria driers). As to the variety _ of 
other machinery in roll breivking, sifting, 
and packing machines, we need only say that 
the whole, on the day of our visit, were 
working most satisfactorily. The latest im- 
provement has been an Electric Light In- 
stallation supplied and erected by Messrs. 
Boustead Brothers at a total cost of 
H8,000, lighting up the exterior, as well 
as the interior, of the Factory, much 
to the astonislinient .md admiration of the 
coolie.'^. We greatly admired the covering of 
£icus repens (the tiny ivy-like creeper) which 
covers the Factory walls all round to some 
height. A little plant introduced in 1888 
from Mauritius— the first of the kind 
brought to Ceylon? — was the beginning of 
all this growth, and noV a cooly's time is 
pretty well taken up in attending to the 
clipping of this attractive, dense and quick- 
growing wall creeper, which adapts itself, and 
prospers almost as well, to buildings in Colombo 
as m Diyagama, Hakgalla and Nuwara Eliya ! 
We were interested in the "cooling-house" 
(for the oxidisation or fermenting of the 
rolled leaf) which is- thrown out from the 
main building, — jute-hessian over the iron- 
roof and a constant flow of water down 
both sides from a central perforated pipe, 
keeping the temperature wonderfully cool 
and equable. A table covered with large 
polished slates on which to lay the leaf, added 
to the equipment. Successful withering in 
unfavourable weather is ensured as far as 
possible, by a series of fans, attached to the 
different storeys.— The rapidity with which 
a couple of coolies put together the 
"VENESTA CHESTS," 
almost entirely used on Diyagama, was very 
noticeable. The lowest offer of a Sinhalese 
contracting carpenter to do the work was 
10 cents each chest ; but the coolies, after some 
practice, now do them for 3 cents each and 
make high wages ! Several advantages are 
claimed for the " Venestas " and they prob- 
ably come near to the " Imperial " chests 
— the improved Glasgow Acmes which com- 
bine steel and veneering— in giving the most 
correct tares, as also in their " uubreak.ible- 
ness" and in the value of the chests af^er 
being onc<=; used. T'here i>i no doubt that 
tea proprietjrs have' a good deal to g.iin by 
establishing a reputation for such careful 
