March 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
627 
UVA DISTRICT REVISITED. 
AFTER AN INTERVAL OF TWENTY YEARS. 
{By an »ld Planting Correfipondent.) 
{Concluded from page 46S.) 
The Park Group including Melrose and 
Pai'sloes is scattered over one thousand and 
twenty acres of land under the management 
of Mr. Ifred, Hall for Messrs. B. Fanshaweand 
J. C. Lawrie. The fields of tea look well and 
give a good yield per acre and the transport 
of tea is easy from the factory located by 
the cart road to Batticaloa. There are two 
hundred and sixty-nine acres of tea in 
bearing on The Park and a good show of 
timber trees— especially around the bungalow 
where neai-ly every Ceylon fruit tree is 
thriving, including fine mangoes and Austral- 
ian guavas. Kew pines are doing well in 
large numbers, and hedges of Madras thorn 
extend to the cart road. There is a great 
number of rubber trees in various stages of 
growth and some fine old jak or artocarpus 
xntegrifolia and breadfruit. The fields on 
the Park are in places rather hilly and not 
exactly park-like though surrounded by ex- 
tensive grazing grounds or patanas, and it 
is very difficult to keep stray cattle and 
buffaloes out of the tea fields. Cattle and goats 
from the cart road are a great nuisance on 
this estate as the Superintendent, Mr. Fred. 
Hall, well knows. Leaving The Ptu'k early 
one fine morning and walking to the top 
of the hill, we descended into quite ;i new 
region or into a deep valley between Lunu- 
g.ala and Bibile with the hill of Monara- 
gala on the right. This is a place few Ceylon 
planters have seen, and is called 
COCOAWATTE 
opened up by Mr. Philby some years ago 
in cacao, rubber and tea. There are no 
less than 45 zigzags from the ridge to the 
factory, the bungalow being at about the 
42nd zigzag. We were agreeably surprised 
to see a very fine field of aliout 100 acres 
of tea, much better than we expected to see 
in this hot valley. Mr. Worth was good 
enough to show nie round the Southern end 
fields of Cocoawatte. Birkiu and Pallikerewe 
comprise 662 acres, of which 250 are under 
tea with a large area of rubber trees growing 
very well and seeding freely, If ti-ansport 
was not so difficult, this estate called Cocoa- 
watte might become a very valuable pro- 
perty ; as it is, improvements in cultivation 
and some new machinery in the fp.;"tory will, 
no doubt, lie money well spent by the pre 
sent proprietors- The scenery avoinul is 
wild and picturesque. Returning tiie same 
way by the cork screw paths to the ridge, 
and after a pleasant walk in the early 
morning along the lower ridge of a patana, 
we entered a very line tea property called 
Deysbrook of 250 acres of tea, worked with 
Kehehvatte (Clifton) of 342 acres. Some of the 
tea fields here give a good yield of tea ; for 
instance, the bungalow field, 30 acres, gives 
800 lb. of made tea to the acre and the top field 
700 lb. The large river is now spanned by a 
very fine substantial covered bridge, and the 
factory is an imposing building, with machi- 
nery, the best and latest improved, woi'ked 
by a turbine. Patent fans to hasten the 
withering of the green leaf were working. 
Mr. John Darley would be very much sur- 
prised if he saw his old place transformed 
into so fine a property. We believe J. D.* 
with his brother-in-law, Mr. Duncan, are doing 
well in New Zealand. Hopton including Bolla- 
galla or Letchimee Totuni is a fine estate with 
beautiful shade trees along the cart road 
and scattered over the tea fields ; we did not 
call at the two bungalows or at the fine large 
factory belo\v the cart road (four stories 
high). We also passed old Yapame, 460 
acres in extent with 211 acres under tea, 
the property of Mrs. Isham. Hopton con- 
tinues its tea fields below the Lunugala cart 
road. The extent of Hopton is some 776 
acres with about 400 under tea. The next 
group is the property of Messrs- W. Stewart 
Taylor, G. W. Suhren and M. Bremer — 
total acreage 1,793 with 506 cultivated and 
500 under tea. 
Mr. W. S. Taylor is managing 
GONAKKLLE GROUP 
including Passara estate .and Mortlake : 
total 1,752 acres— 1,036 cultivated with 
847 acres of tea, 31 coffee and 158 
timber and grass. The Gonakelle bun- 
galow is a perfect museum of lumting tro- 
phies — elephants' heads, feet, trunk, tusks, 
&c., and elk horns — mostly the trophies of Mr. 
J.J. Robinson now on leave and expected back 
to Ceylon in June or July next. The beauti- 
fully kept lawn, with a piece of ornamental 
water surrounded by ferns with a small 
fountain in the centre rockery, is very 
pretty and two whistling teal swim round 
and shelter themselves under the foliage 
planted round the banks. There is a dense 
shade of albizzia moluccana round the lawn 
and below the bungalow and a flag-staff. 
We omitted to mention fi'om Madulsima 
and Hewa Eliya (or Badulla North) 
" Swinton " with 220 total acres (tea 1(33) 
the property of Mrs. Shephard and Mr. L B 
Moss; the El Teb Group of 1,724 acres, 600 
cultivated including 537 under tea, 63timberiind 
grass, the property of CJaptain E H H Gordon— 
my old place, Deyanawatte, of 167 acres 
included. 
We returned to 
DAMMERIA GROUP 
including Mahatenne, Vellongalla and Tilly- 
cairn, 1,190 total: 659 acres cultivated, with 604 
acres of tea, 30 acres cacao and 25 acres 
of timber. Mr. J B Cotton has managed 
thesje places for a quarter of a century; 
he is still strong and active and we 
hope good for another long spell of hard 
work. The bungalow is large _ and wel- 
situated, commanding a fine view of the low- 
country and there is a croquet ground and 
tennis court — every comfort, but rather warm. 
Our mind was made up to pay a visit to 
MonaragaJa or Peacock-Rock, and we have 
done it, and walked fifty miles there and 
back exclusive of r.ambles on the hill when 
* Is tliis nob the Mr. Darley, who is in Mexico 
and sends usoccasional reports on cacao and rubber? 
—Ed. T.A, 
