258 ' THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1903, 
PLANTING AND ADVENTURES IN 
B, C, APEICA. 
f Mr. J. B. Ferrier, formerly of Bogawantalawa, 
writes in good spirits over prospects in Mlanje, as 
his publislied letter reeemly sho»ed. In 
another letter he sends some interesting notes as 
follows ; — 
" Tiie drought has been severe here as you 
no doubt know, but next year we hope to have 
a good season. Cotton grows like a weed up here, 
and tlie tobacco, if carefully attended to, comes on 
splendidly. Tea is flushing here in .spite of the 
drou{?ht. Mr, Storey mentioned that the output 
of tea was so small that we could demand the 
price we get ; but the yield will iucrease year by 
year, and the valuation from Jjondon of for 
bulk, I think compares favourably with medium 
elevation tea of Ceylon. 
" I am near the Mlanje Mountain, just at the 
bottom, and often go up for a day or two. jKarly 
morning one wakes up and see thick Jack Frost oa 
the ground. It is really just like taking a trip 
to England, Spring-bok and pigs are plentiful 
here. 
"I went up 'The Peak' (9,000 odd feet) with 
two other planters, some time back. At first we 
laughed and said it was a ridiculously easy climb 
but when we found that we had to climb over great 
boulders, crawl under caves and cut our way 
through busii, it changed our speech altogether. 
To cap all we arrived at the top after an eight- 
hours' climb, a matter of a little over 2,000 feet 
from where we started from. We started back 
at 4 p. m. and got ourselves into a worse pickle 
than before, had to use our climbing rope and 
jump great bottomless chasms, some quite 12 
feet wide — a slip of the foot and away we would 
go. Well we struggled on until dark, getting 
into worse difficulties until we fouad a piecipice 
of about 40 feet facing us ; then our hearts sank 
and we gave it up. It was madness to go on any 
further. As luck would have it we struck a cave 
only, both sides open, so in we went, without 
blanket, but one solitary tin of sariiines. I shall 
never forget the night, bitteily cold, nearly up 
top of the mountain. We shivered all night, but 
thank goudnesd all the ill-effect 1 felt was a little 
tever." 
LEASE OP CROWN LAND FOR 
EXPERIMENTAL CULTIVATION. 
MR. H. STOREY APPLIES FOR 650 ACRES IN THE 
NORTH CENTRAL PROVINCE CEYLON. 
The following notice recently appeared in 
the Gazette : — 
Application having been made by Mr H Storey of 
Warakamure Estate, Matale, to the Governmeut 
Agent of the North-Central Proviuee for the lease of 
NadativQ, an island in the Mabaweli-ganga in the Me- 
dapatta of the District of Tamankaduwa of the North- 
Central Province, in extent about 650 acres, and 
bounded on the north, south, and west by the Ealu- 
g&nga, and on the west by the Mahaweli-gauga, for the 
purpose of experimental cultivation of coconuts, 
rubber, and fruit, and it being considered desirable to 
encourage such experimental cultivation, which if 
foaud to be successful, is likely to lead to the opening 
np for cultivation of similar nuirrigable land in the 
district hitherto lying waste, it is hereby notified 
under Begalation No 52 of Land Sale Regulations, 
published in Gazette dated 20th February, 1903, 
that the said land will be leased to the said applicant 
yinder the following conditions ;— 1.— Ihe rent to be 
fifty cents per acre per annum. 2. — The lease of the 
land to be for six years, with the option of pur- 
chase at RIO per acre at the end of that pe- 
riod. 3. — Coconuts, rubber, and fiuit only can be 
planted on the land leased. 4. — No timber above 
two feet in circamference to be felled, and 
any valuable timber under that size felled to be 
paid for at Government rates. 5 — The land to 
be forfeited to, and vest in, the Grown, if at any 
time such laud or any building thereon be applied, 
without the written consent of the Governor, toother 
purposes than those specified in the grant or lease, 
or if within a reasonable time the necessary steps 
have not been taken to apply the land to the pnrpose 
for which it was granted, 6. — No permanant buildings 
to be erected on the land without the written consent 
of the Governmeno Agent, 
ENGLISH AND AUSTRALIAN FRUIT 
CULTURE AT NUWARA ELIYA. 
This year the cooking pear and red heart plnm 
crops totally failed. It was suggested at the time 
that the failure was due to the peculiarity of the 
two monsoons, which, however, favoured the 
production in fair quantities of apples in Mr 
Cotton's orchard and at the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
known as the Ridgeway Park at Nuwara Eliya. 
Here plants which were imported from Australia 
barely six months old bore plentifully towards 
the end of last year. This year so far there is 
but one single apple in Mr Cotton's orchard, out 
of the many trees he has there. At the Park there 
are none. It is more than probable that the 
cooking pear and red-heart crops early next year 
will be a record one, as at every turn pear trees 
may be noticed covered over with a phenomenal 
crop of blossoms everywtiere. At Mr Cotton's 
orchard the blossoms un the red-heart plums are 
very plentiful. Recently the writer's attention 
was called by Mr Cotton to the Australian Fig 
plants of the two varieties imported by Mr Cotton 
towards the middle of 1901, which are doing very 
well. Mr Cotton mentioned that the trees gave 
him a good crop of fruit since their introduction, 
and he is of decided opinion that the Fig plants 
would prove a great success with anybody 
who cared to grow them up here. The 
Lacont eating pear has one single fruit set. 
Last year there were two. Mr Cotton hopes 
next year to see the tree laden with a fair supply 
of fruit. Last year's importations of orange plants 
from Australia are all striking up fast — and 
should soon be in fruit. Visitors to Nnwara Eliya 
could do no better than visit the Orchard which 
is open to all who care to go round for fancy 
sake, Those who are interested in Horticulture 
can glean useful information from Mr. Cotton 
whose many years of wide experience and con- 
tinual experimenting entitles him to be aptly 
called the doyen producer of English and Austra- 
lian fruit in Ceylon,— Cor. 
GUTTA-PERCHA AND RUBBER IN THE 
PHILIPPINES. 
In Mindanao Dr. bherman was surprised at the 
extent of country over which Gutta-percha exists. 
The natives say that all of the mountain region of 
southern Mindanao contains Gutta-percha. Much 
of the country, of course, has not been explored by 
Americans, or even by gutta collecting natives, but 
so far as any one has gone, the trees hilve beea 
^vunil, a>a(l IB none of the to>yQ3 visited ^t. 
