July r, 1896.3 
Supplement to the ^'•Tvopical Jgvicnliimst.'^ 
69 
objection than was anticipated. The Sinlialese 
villager, whether chena cultivator or not, requires 
“quick returns and small profits,” and to this must 
he attributed his failure to at once appreciate 
dholl at its real worth, and our consequent failure 
as yet to introduce its cultivation on any extensive 
scale. A patch of it has now thrived with very 
little care, for three successive years in the 
garden, and it is still hoped that gradually pi'ofit 
will overcome prejudice, and that dholl may 
hereafter become one of the principal garden 
products of the district. 
Shortly after dholl was sown, it was found 
expedient, partly from a desire to extend the 
usefulness of the garden, and partly from the 
necessity of finding continous employment for 
the coolie in charge, to plant a small part of the 
garden with a few common vegetables. A few 
brinjals, bandakas and chillies were sown. These 
thrived so well that some common English vege- 
tables were than tried. Lettuces, radishes and 
beetroot were all successfully cultivated, so that 
early in 1888 it became apparent that if further 
expierimental cultivation was to be carried on, an 
extension of the garden was necessary, The 
quarter of an acre was thus extended to half an 
acre, and very shortly afterwards when cotton 
cultivation was proposed, the extent had again to 
be doubled. 
While both Dholl and Cotton were thri^•ing■, 
vegetables, both native and English, continued to 
flourish, so much so, that early in the following- 
year it was decided to enclose the whole of the 
remaining avilable space, a triangle in extent 
about 2 acres bounded on one side by a backwater 
of the rh’er, and on the other two by the high road. 
A portion of this bordering the river being low 
swampy ground has to be raised three or four feet 
to be made fit for continuous cultivation. Sweepings 
and scavengers’ collections deposited here have 
already reclaimed a large portion of this, and in 
another year it is hoped the whole extent of the 
garden will be available for cultivation. 
The expenditure in the garden has been merely 
nominal, as the labour of four prisoners has 
almost uninterruptedly been supplied free. An 
orerseer at ElO a month and a garden coolie at 
E7'60, with the cost of seeds and tools have been 
the principal items of expenditure, which have 
been almost met by the sale of produce. The 
vegetables which have been found to grow best 
are tomatoes, lettuce, radishes and beetroot, 
while celery, cabbages, and carrots, though they 
grew fairly well, cannot be said lo have been a 
success. 
In 1889, Cotton and Dholl had both passed the 
experimental stage of cultivation, vegetables, 
both native and English, had been siiccessfully 
tried, fruit trees had been kindly presented by 
the Director of tlie Eoyal Botanic Gardens at 
Peradeniya, and all that appeared necessary was 
to make the garden more attractive to -visitors. 
This was attempted by the introduction of 
English tlower.s. Some of these, notably Zinias, 
Balsams, and Mignonette were grown most 
successfully, and tlie garden is now almost con- 
tinually gaily coloured with row.s of flowers 
edging each wallc. 
During the present year it lias been found neces- 
sary to employ an additional coolie, and the 
growing importance of the garden has shown that 
it will shortly be necessary to appoint some 
superior oflicer to take charge of the whole, 
With this view, a gardener’s cottage in place of the 
miserable shanty in which t he coolie has hitherto 
lived, is now being built. It is a. substantial 
building of .stone, and will, it is hoped las in time, 
in trimness and pictuiesqueness the very model of 
what a gardener’s cottage should be. 
With a garden already in a flourishing con- 
dition, and a gardener's house ]iro\ided, it is 
hoped that ere long the Director of the Royal 
Botanic Gardens may be able to extend his sphere 
of usefulness in lowcountry cultivation by 
taking over this as a Government Garden, or by 
securing for it some small portion of the Govern- 
ment Grant voted for Botanical and Experimental 
Gardens in the Island generally. Out of five gardens 
now in his charge, there appear to be only two in 
the lowcountry, namely at Anuradhapura and 
Henaratgoda, so that it is not much to a.=k that the 
mere pay of a gardener for another lowcountry 
garden, and that in a district noted for its 
fertility, should be granted. The Head Gai’dener's 
attention and power to do good would not lie 
confined to this garden alone ; there are in the 
district four other gardens, at present in the 
charge of Mudaliyars or some subordinate liead- 
men, in which cotton and dholl are still being 
tried, and which with occasional v isits from a 
qualified gardener could be vastly improved. 
A combination of this enterprise with that of 
Poultry farming would not seem imjiracticable, 
and if a suitable man can be found for the post, 
it is proposed to construct a spacious poultry 
yard, enclosed by wire netting, at the back of 
the gardener’s cottage. In both schemes there is 
no doubt room for profit as well as philanthropy, 
♦ 
NOTES FROM A TEAVELLER’S DIARY, 
I profoundly regret that I was unable to send 
my instalment of notes for the June number, and 
that my promise in my May notes should have so 
soon illustrated the proverbial untruthfulness of 
Travellers. The fact is that I was much engaged 
last month at Nikaweratiya, and when 1 found 
leisure at Wariyapola, I also found that I was too 
late for the June issue, and that the Magazine 
must have already been in the hands of the printer. 
I find that the weeding of paddy-land in the 
Kandyan Districts, is confined only to certain 
areas. It seems to be nowhere carried on in the 
Province of Uv^a, and but to a limited extent in 
the Central Province. But I have never seen 
weeding more carefully done than in Kadugan- 
nawa District. 
At Tulpegoda, a village in Lower Hewaheta, 
about twelve miles distant from Kandy, 1 was 
shown a liedda of paddy in the midst of a large 
tract of jiaddy-land, where the difference in tiie 
jilants from those in the surrounding fields was 
i|uite striking. The plants in this liedda were 
hardv and erect, and the ears on them were well 
set with iiliimp grain. The exjilanatinii gi-i en nn' 
bv the owner was that these jihmts had been 
transplant(‘il iido their ]ire.sent situation. 'I'his 
owner seemed (|uite jiroud of his successi'iil e\- 
jieriment which he intends repeating on a larger 
scale. 
