SEPfEMEKR i, I 
891.1 
rm TflOPfOAL AQRieULTURlSt, 
2C9 
exception, and the blood orange is not a favourite 
with Mr. Brien. They produce very fine fruit, but 
they are not heavy croppers in this district. One of; 
the greatest peculiarities in this orangery is a tree 
that vields fruit which has the appee-rnnce of having 
had the quarters split open when small, and over the 
whole there is the ordinary rind. This tree always 
produces some fruit thus curiously misshapen, but 
this year there are an unusual number of distorted 
oranges. The tree is large, handsome, and healthy, 
and the normal fruit is plentiful and of good size 
and flavour. 
Experts who have more or less experience of the 
Oalifornian orangeries say that irrigation is necessary 
for the successful culivation of the orange, but m 
Mr. Brein's orangery one may see large and hand- 
some trees growing heavy crops of excellent fruit, 
and yet, thev never receive any water but the ram- 
fall. Mr. Bi'ien has a great objection to irrigating 
his trees, being of opinion that the result would be 
a loss. By irrigation he says the trees would make 
a luxuriant growth, and the fruit would be coarse 
and flavourless. So far from irrigation being required, 
he points out that his best trees are in the driest 
spots. The difference is very marked in the young- 
trees Along the small water-course, which has cut 
a channel fully 10ft. deep, there is a small bank from 
which the surface falls away from the creek, and near 
this bank^the orange trees have made excellent pro- 
aress while those situated in the lower ground are 
scarcely half the size. The soil does not give the 
idea that it would hold wet sufficiently to be harm- 
ful, being a free, deep loam, but in a few of the 
lowest spots the trees are evidently decaying. This 
Mr. Brien attributes entirely to the mfiiieuce of 
damp. The orange is, apparently, a capricious tree, 
and in spot where one fades away it is almost useless 
to attempt to grow another. Mr. Brien is an en- 
thusiastic cultivator of the orange, and every year he 
takes atrip through the orange groves of Parramatta 
to keep himself posted up in all that relates to the 
advancement of the industry. 
Outside the orange grove the soil alters rapidly, 
but it is evidently well adapted for growing fruit 
trees. There is a good-seized belt of orchard on 
two sides of the orangery, and already the trees, 
though young, are producing large quantities of 
excellent fruit. The peaches grown in this orchard 
command high prices, and the sample I saw of the 
apples was highly creditable. The orchard and 
orangery are admirably cultivated, and not a weed 
is to be seen anywhere. The fruit trees are well 
cared for, but the orange trees are, as they deserve 
to be, first in Mr. Brien's thoughts. To him they are 
more than trees, and he speaks of them as living, 
sentient beings, having (iffeotions and antipathies, 
while the fruit trees though worthy of being care- 
fully tended, are merely trees. Mr. Brien has a 
good-sized holding; lie keeps a fi.ck of about 1,400 
sheep, iiud does some fiirmiug, but tie whole in- 
tere.st of the place is cntrt-d in a litUe plot of 
land BC^rcely fis largo ns miny ii Toorak property, 
whioh is probably more valiiab'e than thu reiit ot 
the farm twice told. It was a strange chunco that 
led the wanderer'a steps through forest an l sci-ub 
to this priceless gem of Und, and that lie should 
have the skill and euterprite to deveiiip i'H u'mcst 
Oftpabilities. — Atmtialasian. 
THE COILE (JOLLE— .\ FERN USED AS 
FOOD BY- TIIK CEYLON YILL.VORR. 
By the margins of ma'.y water gulJicii, tanks 
and canals in Ceylon, grows a sort of giai^eful tall 
torn, the extreme tops of which are of an oiuereld 
green tint, while lower down they become coarse, 
rank and of a bluish green or in some cases olive 
hue The whole stalk looks very like a large stalk 
of celery, and the foliage id of the sane early or 
wrinklo"d nature. It does not grow cnly on wet or 
marshy soil: but it is necessary to its well doin^- 
and growth, that its roots should literally stand in 
water. It grows very vigourously under these con- 
ditions in large tufts, like "Tussock" grass, and the 
thickest of the stalks are of the same size as a 
Malacca cane. It grows equally well in running or 
standing water, and is called by the Natives of the 
Northern part of the Eastern province, " 7'he Coile 
Golle." ^ The taste is rather plain and insipid, but 
in admixture with condiments of various kinds it 
makes a very passable curry. I once tried it plain 
boiled with pepper and salt as vegetable to accom- 
pany meat ; out did not much care to repeat the 
experiment! Made into -vvhat Tamils call "chundel" 
(a dry curry) it is not at all bad, and is said to be 
good in fevers and sometimes in stomach complaints. 
It is brought to market in prettily tied bundles — 
just as celery is tried up for the markets in England 
—and is eagerly bought up by the frequenters of 
the bazaars in town where it is a rarity, and even 
a luxury. It cannot be had nearer than 12 or 15 
miles from town, where it grows in great profusion 
on the banks of the old Dutch canal at a village 
called Vandaramulle. I believe it ia well known 
in all Sinhalese districts near the sea, such as 
Negombo and towards Puttalam, wjtiereas at Batti- 
caloa it grows on the borders of the canal, and 
the estuaries or marshes near the canal between 
Negombo and Puttalam. There are one or two Sin- 
halese men who have established themselves as 
traders or boutique-keepers in the villages of the 
Northern part of the Eastern Province, and when 
either business or inclination leads them into town 
they rarely fail to bring in a large supply of coile 
colle. The gathering of it is now and then attend- 
ed with danger, as on one occasion a poor old Sin- 
halese man was caught and dragged into the sluggish 
waters of the canal by a crocodile, and nothing 
more was ever seen or heard of him. 
Ooile colle is said to be plentiful at Bentota, 
Kalutara, Tangalla and Matara, as well ns at Eatna- 
pura; but in all my wanderiuga over the Island, I 
have seen it exposed for sale only at Batticaloa. 
EeginaijD Armour. 
—Local *' Examiner." 
CINNAMON SALES. 
Puller information, to hand by the last Mail, of 
the Quarterly Sales of Cinnamon in May, does not 
materially affect the conclusions we had drawn 
from the Telegraphic Summary which came to hand 
on the 26th ultimo. Little more than one-third of 
the moderate quantity of spice offered — 1,.-S28 bales 
against 1,582 in February, and 1,351 in May 1890 
— found buyers. The attendance of bidders was 
small, competition was slack, and prices generally 
ruled in favour of the buyers. The commoner qua- 
lities told at a slight advance, but the demand even 
for tliose was indifferent, and ali parcels offered were 
not taken up. The extent to which the finer qua- 
lities were neglected, cannot be realised without a 
careful study of the Sale Lists. Not only had 
lower prices to be accepted for them, but, as we 
surmised had been the case when we wrote on the 
s-abject last month, the demand even at these re- 
duced prices was not sufficient to clear the offerings. 
Thus, of 101 Bales of F. S. W. S., only three Bales 
found buyers at a fall of |d. to Id. Of 78 bales 
F. S K. not one found a buyer. So with J. D. S. R. 
of which there were 40 bales offered. Of 90 Bales 
S, D. A. R. Cinnamon, only 10 Bales of the coarsest 
were sold. Of 23 bale.^ P. B. Franklands, only 8 
bales were sold. No less than 305 Bales of G. De 
C. were offered, but only 31 of the coarsest" sorts 
sold. These are some of the more prominent brands, 
whose shipments were neglected. It was the same 
with other wjll-known marks whose make is of 
medium qu.ilitios. On'y a fraction found buyers, 
resulting, as we said, in little more than one-third 
of the total quantity of all grades offered at the sale 
passing the hammer. The only niiirk for which 
there was anything lilre competition, and which sold 
at or about previous prices, was the leading braud 
