m 
THE TROPICAL 
AaRICULTURIST. 
[Jak. 1, 1902. 
Starting from Passara tluough over live hiin Ired 
acres of tea on El Teb Group, anJ throu;;!i over 
eight hundred acres of the Mahadova Group, in- 
c'u ling; If) my Wrfll-kaown ol I c 'ffee estates 
converted into tea plantations, enterinj,' the cenire 
of G ill >ola and winding round D ionioo into 
B i!^'-i>v itte. fornii ;g a horse-shoe I nu id i lie centie 
at F r-si-Hill and descending ilir ui;^li W.;vebedde 
t > Dan 'din and Cocagnlla Group. Tlie Madul- 
sinia- Pas^:ira cart-road is eightef"!! niih-s in 
le ith a 'd enables tlie visitor to thi^ distiict to 
gee a in iri o, >nii,rehen-'ivf! view lif en,oli estate 
without the fatigue of (diinUing up short cuts as 
in tlie old days of coffei planiing. 
We arrived in this district at a good time when 
the planters could meet and playar t'^nnis on (he 
Galioola Court, the nnu 'I ho'ilay of Ramasaniis 
"TEEVALI," 
taking place on S t^n U .y a-t and accordingly 
g;ive th". pi inters a little tiiw^ to tliem-elves, 
Teevali festival, however, seemed to me r^ither 
a quieter one than those we knew ia the days 
of coffee. Ramasami did not seem so cheerful 
as usual and we ware able to sleep through the 
nights which we expected to be disturbed by 
the beating of tom-toms. We heard no singing 
and saw no dancing. The old stick-dance 
seems to have gone out of fashion. Ramasami 
see'ns somewhat depressed and no doubt imlirectly 
feels the general depression eauseil by the low 
prices of tea during the past year or two. We 
o%r\ remember when our old friend from the 
M labar Coast of India sang his cheerful song when 
pulping his master's coffee and a hundred bushels 
of good cherry coffee pu ped into tirty bu-hels of 
No 1 Pirchnient coffee was worth as much as 
four thousand p )Uiids of gieen tea leaf made 
into one thousand pounds of " m ide tea.' The 
coffee pi inter could call lii-i soul his own in 
tho.se go -d old days of coffre. 
but now he trerables waea looking over 
the p ice lists and tea sales and is often 
disgusted to find that although he has been 
plucking fine and reduced his crop of leaf 
con-iderably, his piices are no higher and some- 
time-t his tea fetches less per pound than his 
neighb iur who has not taken the same precaution 
of pluckinsr fine. 
If he gets better prices, his crop will turn out 
short of the original estimate ; so it is as broad as 
it i-i long, whereas in the palmy days of old king 
colfee, crops would sometimes be pu'chis^d at 
one pounil sterling per bushel before the crop 
was h irvested. With regard to general cultiva- 
tion, estates in Ceylon seem to be comparatively 
clean ; it is an exception to rule to fi;i(i a weedy 
estfttf. Tea, undoubtedly, covers the ground 
better than coffee and the shade trees dropping 
their leaves p irtioularly the grevillea, ke^^p the 
grouml th itchid and prevent weeds growing 
amongst the tea bushes. 
Then, again, the estates are older and cannot 
grow the luxui iant weeds we had to h ick down 
and bury and buiii in the ilays of coffee. The 
old coff 'e planters made the roads and drains 
and put up the store-, bungtlows, lines etc. 
Many old Coff'ee .stores have been co iverted'into 
tea f (.ctories — in some cases into Crystnl Palaces — 
light being a great factor in the nunufaciure 
of ten. Tlie niMcliinery fir ihe tea fiictury is 
more costly than ih^ coffee-curing ni'icliinery of 
old and many turbities are now ustd. There 
is a turbine at Galioola estate I saw working 
yesterday. Galioola looks better now under tea 
than when I saw it last under coffee. It is now 
a valuable property, although I believe in 
1869 the coffee le if disease first made it 
appearance in a fidd ju-t in front of th 
bungalow. I remember Marshall Ward, tli 
CiypDogaiiiist f oui Kew, coming to s^e 
THE HOME OF HhMtLEXA A ASTATRIX 
and coniil siiggi-c no r^'medy for roiubating 
the disease excepn burying the wei'ds and 
le ives of the coffee and keeping the trrouml awept 
clean f all piu iingsand ruid)i,'-li. Bo h Galioola 
and Verel ipatana are planted with high jat Assam 
Hybrid tea and both estates are very promising 
for both quandty and quality. Galioola estate 
has four hundred acres <if ^ood tea well shaded 
by grevilleas and other u eful timht-r tiees. Mr. 
Niiftall has returned to his ciiargf and is a very 
popular man in the district, as also Mr. Mason 
of V erelapatana, who is living in a tine new 
biingabiW commanding a g-and view. Tne new 
V P bungalow, is above the old V P bun- 
galow where the great Garioch once presided 
in Madiilsiraa. 
Sir Hercules and Lady Robinson once paid 
him a visit at 
UVAKELLIE 
and planted two grevilleas in front of the 
bungalow. There was an odd plant sent to 
Verelapatana and it is now growing on the 
site of the old bungalow, more than three feet 
in circumference. The grevillea was then almost a 
new ii;troduction from Australia and was naturally 
tliougbt a great deal of in those days. Now 
you find the grevillea all over Ceylon, grown 
for fuel more than for its grateful shade and 
fat leaves manuring the grounds. I am a great 
believer in the grevillea and notice it does not 
prevent tea from ^rowing underneath it as so tne 
trees do, for instance the Casuarina or She-Oak 
of Australia and Noka Noke of the Somli Sea 
Islands, f he five hundred acres of V^erelapatana 
are in fine order and there is a steam engine 
driving the best tea machinery. Patent fans are 
to be added immediafely, to facilitate withering, 
the roofs being of ce ling-cloth. 
A large withering-hou«e iias been erected above 
the facrory and four thousand pounds of green 
leaf can be converted into one thousand pounds 
of " made tea without overcrowding." 
The moonsoon is now on and over two inches of 
rain per day have been registered on some days 
duriuir November both on Verelapatana. Galioola 
and Battawatte estates, there is a good flash on 
the trees or tea bushes just now. 
DOONHISDA 
117 .acres of tea, is included in the Dooraoo 
Estates Company or worked with them by 
the saiTie Superintendents. All the old coffee 
estates down in the Logaloya Valley, Guelten- 
gawii, Deyanawa'te and Allagillawatte are out 
of cultivation, thouah the two latter named 
places have been purchased and may be brought) 
under cultivation again si.nie day. The land 
is suited for tea, though the climate is unhealthy 
for coolies Battawatte and Forest Hill of the 
Esnates Company of Uva, Ltd., 750 acres with 
592 euliivate t, of which 587 are u .der tea, with 
a new factory and withering h )use at the foot 
of the estate below the cart-road, are siill 
flmri-hing u"der the supervision of Mr. A. V. 
Ryall. I acc)mpanied that gentleman through 
Forest Hill this morning and saw the site of tlie 
old bungalow and the gap leading over to 
Uyakellie — another large Estate in the district 
