THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. 1, 1902. 
two thousand acres of land under coffee and cinchona. 
Good old Uoebeipy has hehl its own ohiouzh all 
the«e uos and downs of tliis far-off district known 
as Hewa Eliya. Roeherry estate, once tlie pro- 
perty of poor old Richard Mant, who toiled ail 
his life in Ceylon and tried his liest to make 
his fortune out of coffee and cinchona, saik in 
the attempt like hundreds mare of good men and 
true. Had Mant lived and developed this estate 
into its prrsent valual le condiiion as a tea property 
of six huuilreii and fifty acres, he would have 
been a rich man; but "Man proposes' and God 
disposes." It is a mystery how some men lead 
isolated lives and work so hard in tropical cli- 
mates too, vvitliout winning the prize of inde- 
pendence in their old a^re. We all think we shall 
make our fortunes before we turn gray, but some- 
how sotne of us miss the mark. It is all very 
fine to say the "rolling > tone gather* no moss ; " 
but how often do we find tlie moss at a discount? 
ROEBERRY ESTATE 
is a beautiful place, shaped like a horse shoe, with 
lovely green patanas tapering down on both si le-* ; 
and from the new bungalow, locate l on a lawn-like 
flat, there is a, view of Namunukula range, Coca- 
galla, Doomoo, Galoola, Ury, Gonakelle, and 
other well-known Madulsima and Passara estates. 
Mr. John Williams is to lie congratulated on his 
comfortable buiicralo.v and its park-like snrroumi- 
ings, tennis court, kitchen garden, poultry house 
and stable, grazing ground for cattle, &c. A few 
Australian or English sheep with a few potties 
would add to the homestead-appearance of this 
healthy corner of the Uva Province. Many 
of the Madulsima and Hewa Eliya bungalows, 
though occupied by bachelors, wouhi do credit to 
married men, well-i'urnished dt awing-rooius dining- 
rooms and bath rootns close to the bedrooms. We are 
mure civilised now on estates than in days gone by 
and, with the daily Observer, are Icppt well-posted 
up in the doings of thewoild. Mr Vaughan came 
over to Roeherry from Uva estare on the next 
range and we played tennis. Mr. Vaughan kindly 
invited me to visit him at Uva and we did so, 
Mr. John Williams accompanied me to the top of 
lloeberry, where Mr. Vaughan met us to point 
out one of the most beautiful views in Ceylon. 
The elevation was neat ly 5,000 feet looking out 
on to the lowcountry Bintenne, the Rock of 
Bibile, Moneragala, Westminster Abbey, Friar's 
Hood, Horabnrawewa lake further eastward, 
with the Logaloya Valley below us and a 
grand view of Haputale, Maturata, Hawa- 
beta, the Knuckles -and the Mahaweliganga 
flowing past us in the distHuce absorbing the 
Logaloya and P.adulla-oya and on thiough the 
lowcountry to Trincomalie where the 
river empties into the sea. The view yesterday 
■was magnificent, and vve were indebted to Mr 
Vaughan for the trouble he took in ineeting us 
and poititing out the different places of interest in 
so large and comprehensive a viev,' of mountains 
and plains. The tea factory for final packing 
and despatch is called Arawa at the foot of Uva 
estate. From Ai awa Factory the old Badulla road 
passes Megaha^alla village on to Taldena 
village, then on to Badulla town. This 
old JJadulla road leads to Alutiiuwnra, to the east 
of Horaborawewa lake. There is a "Dagolia" there 
and many Siniinlese visit Aluttiuwara by this road. 
Uva estate is divided into three sections and 
beinu very steep requires a strong young planter 
like Mr Vaughan to manage it. Tlie leaf is shot 
down by wire shoots strongly shored up by heavy 
weights and made fas t by concrete. Timber ie 
lowered from the top ; the factory by the bun- 
galow is built of stone and the tea despatchtid by 
wire shoot to Arawa Factory. There is an etii;ine 
givini; power enous^h for two roll er.s and o.lier 
machinery. Eveiything is in apple pie order and 
the tea of good saiuple in the cup, nice and 
creamy and y;olden colour — the best tea in the 
cup I tasted in the district. The jac is a good 
working Assam-Hybrid and the roads and drains 
are in good order throughout the estate. Kalu- 
gala is the chief point of the range. 
Out of 1,276 acres of land tliere are 471 acres 
of tea. There is a very large quantity of valu- 
able timber grown on Uva and much cinchona 
scattered about in ravines and wind belts. We 
remember visiting Uva when Jolin Smart was in 
charge and James Reid (brother of the late 
Donald Keid of Galloola) was assistant on one of 
the divisions. The present Snpei inteiident, Mr. 
Vaughan, is a C M I, and just about to attend 
drill at NuwaraEliyi. We spent a very pleasant 
evening toirei her on Mond ty last, 18th November, 
returning via another route to Roeherry estate 
in rather heavy rain ; o i arrival at the buugalow 
a idunge bath prevented catchiniJ cold. 
The leaf of Rneberiy is shot down to the 
factory locited between Lunustla and Hibile, 
the two villages and the factory for'uing a 
triangle. Karaghawella is the name of the viiUge, 
eiijlit miles from Bioile and Luniitjala. The tea 
is then carted to Batticaloa and shipped to 
Colombo, 
There are a few acres of cardamoms on 
Roeherry. HENRY COTTAM. 
(To be continued. ) 
. ■> 
INDIA RUBBER IN NATAL. 
ITS CULTIVAI'ION AND PRODUCTION. 
[By Anthony Wilkinson in rhe Natal Agricultural 
Journal.^ 
Some years ago I tried an experiment of plant- 
ing an acre of " Mtnihot Glaziovii," or the Ceara 
rubber tree of South America. Mr Medley Wood, 
curator of the Durban Botanic Garden'--, was kind 
enough to furnish me with roots and cuttings of 
Ceara trees from trees he had growing in tne Gar- 
dens, and wisheu me to ti.y an experiment on a 
larger scale I planteil an acre of Manihot with 
cofiee plants between. The rubber trees grew 
well and seeded abundantly, and at four years 
old, when the trees got a good size, four to five 
inches in diameter, on scoring the bark to extract 
the rubber, although the rubber was of good quality 
and very elastic, the collecting or getting it was 
slow and costly. Accordingly, I came to the con- 
clusion that the experiment would not pay, un'ess 
the trees could be tapped, and the juice collected 
in quantity, as is done in 8 mth America, and 
furt ler, that Natal was not sufficiently tropical to 
make a good fl iw of sap. Coming to those con- 
clusions, I cut the trees down, but still the trees 
come up again from the seeds every year, and 
grow luxuriantly live or six feet high in the first 
year, showing the climate to be suitable to their 
t>rowth. Among my coffee I have a self-sown 
Ceara only three years old, and over20fr.. high. The 
red sandy soil of the coast such as that of the Berea, 
Durban, would be the most suitable. The seeds 
left to nature do not come up for a year 
or two. By some, filing is recommended, but this 
is a tedious process ; tapping them with a small 
hammer until they crack serves as well, and ;is 
mnch qaieker. The plftn adopted to collect the 
