THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1890 
150 
EARLY RLANTING DAYS IN UVA. 
The following was written by a Badulla corre- 
spondent some seven years ago, the MS. getting 
mislaid. We have put some notes correcting what 
is out of date as far as possible : — 
The first estate opened in Badulla district was Ridi- 
pane* by Major Rogers, and it still goes by the name of 
“ Major Totum.” It is on the old Batticaloa road 
and only a couple of miles away from town. It after- 
wards passed into the hands of George Boyd Tytler, 
the brother of our good friend the late R. B. T. 
He died in Badulla, and his remains awaited his 
brother’s arrival from Kandy nearly three days before 
they were buried. He came up by the Lower Badulla 
Road. There was only one European beside the 
brother of the deceased at the funeral, Mr. Mercer, 
the Assistant Government Agent. This estate is now 
the property of the big native firm of Annamalay Chetty 
who own several other estates in the district. Mary- 
land and Ooduwerre were opened by Mr. Galland the 
Swiss doctor,! ^ho was induced to it, by the success 
of Major Rogers in coffee planting. The former is now 
called Kottagodde ; much of it is abandoned. These 
were afterwards taken up by Mr. Anthony Bertlin, 
who is still hale and hearty in the old country. 
Ooduwerre keeps up to the front. It is admirably 
situated, having the facility of transport, as the Ratna- 
pura-Batticaloa road passes through it. Wewesse and 
Debedde were opened by Dr. Sortain. These estates 
at one time seemed to have been neglected, but 
coming under the able management of Mr. George 
Morice, the “ Patriarch of Uva,” they became very 
valuable, and some years ago fetched a large 
sum. They have come back again to the Parsees and 
Mr. Morice. With Spring Valley the name of Sir 
William Reid is connected, and afterwards v;ith Mr. 
Bannatyne who would not proceed further than Nuwara 
Eliya, when he came to see his property, thereby very 
nearly causing a split between himself and his very in- 
dependent manager, the late Mr. Thos. Wood. Of Naha- 
vills and Gourakelle, much need not be said: the name 
* The following are the present proprietors of the 
estates mentioned by our correspondent, as given 
in the “Ceylon Handbook and Directory, 1890-91:” — 
Redipane 
Oodoowere 
Wewesse 1 
Debedde J 
Spring Valley 
Nahavilla 
Gourakelle 
Gonakelle 7 
Pallagolla ) 
Glen Alpine 
Graham’s Land 
Ballagalla 
Narangalla 
Hindugalla 
Unugallla 
Keenakelle 
Koskelle 
Haputale I 
Sherwood j 
Gongaltenne 
.Anamaley Chetty 
„F. R Sabonadiere & Heirs A. Bertlin 
.Mrs. Cowasjee Eduljee 
..Spring Valley Coffee Company, Ld. 
..Hormusjee Bhomanjee Jeejeebhoy 
..G. S. Duff & Mrs. Ogilvie 
Colonel J. R. Dawson & G, S 
•• Duff 
(now Serendib) f 
1 
I 
}-,.,Onvah Coffee Company, Ld. 
( 
...E. P. Thornton 
...Baring Bros. 
...E. C. Byers 
...Haputale Coffee Company, Ld. 
P. F. Hadow.— Ed.Z. R. 
f Staff Assistant Surgeon Galland was not a Swiss, 
but a Maltese, who, when Sir Walter Scott visited 
Malta, in his la.st and vain pursuit of health, acted 
as interpreter between the great writer and some Arab 
chiefs. Our authority was l)r. Galland himself, who 
was in medical charge of the detachment of Ceylon 
Rifles stationed at Badulla, when, in December 1840, 
the senior editor of the Ohnerxtr first visited Uva, 
examining forest and cutting boundaries until May 
1841. Capt. Rogers, tbe great elephant hnnter, was 
Con matidant. with Lii ut. Dodges as second in com- 
mand. Dr. Calland's brother-in-law, Mr. Bertlin, was 
o ng in charge of the estates. — Eii. T. 
of your senior is associated with the former, and tho 
names of Mr. William Walker Shand and Mr. John 
Reid Shand are also connected with them. The 
waterfall on Nahavilla is still there. Gonakelle, or 
rather Pallagalla, was opened by Geo ge Bogue, a brother 
of John Morris Bogue, a partner of tbe late firm of 
Brodie, Bogue & Co. The names of Bertlin, Byers, 
Linton, Morice, Wood, Irvine, and Knowles come up 
later on when Glenalpin, the remainder of Spring 
Valley, Ballagalle, Grabamsland, Kenakelle, Narangalle, 
Hindegalle, Unagalle, Koskelle, Gongaltenne and others 
were opened. There is rather a rich story told of Major 
Rogers. He urged on Government that a road should 
be cut from Ratnapura by way of Haputale to con- 
nect with Badulla, but the Government declined on,the 
plea that the Major would be the principal bene- 
ficiary as he had two estates on the Pass, viz., Haputale 
and Sherwood. It was reserved to Sir Hercules Robin- 
son to make this line on to Batticaloa, thus connecting 
the west with the east. The produce of Badulla in 
some instances was conveyed to Harabantota to be 
shipped to Colombo. * 
In the account of the building of the Badulla church, 
it was Rambukpotta Disava who brought out tbe idea 
of a Christian place of worship in memory of the late 
Major Rogers. He and his fellow chiefs — all Buddhists 
— the Ratemahatmayas of Udukanda, Bintenna, Wiya- 
luwa, Kaiidapolla, Kandukare, and Wellassa contributed 
each a month’s salary towards the object, and the 
minor headmen also according to their means. The 
Disava, besides his subscription, gave nearly all the 
timber for the building. Pakeer Tamby constable, as 
the head of the Muhammadans, got large subscriptions 
from that community, and the chetties also followed 
suit liberally. The foundation stone was laid in 1846, 
and in the bottle was put in a coin of the date of 1750 
by the late Mr. Solomons. The various ofiBcials who 
were connected with the building of the church were 
Messrs. Mercer, Braybrooke and Bailey. The first 
cliurchwarden elected was Mr. G. H. Orlofif. It was 
distinctly understood that the church was to be 
open to all Protestant denominations, but how it went 
over to the Episcopal Church this deponent sayeth not, 
and it was convenient that no questions should be put. 
The contributions to the church being principally 
heathen, it is rather rough on them to be told that 
“thus far shalt thou go, and no further” into tbe 
church, if they intended to pay their last respects 
to the dead.f 
♦ 
INDIAN TEA COMPANIES: THEIR PRO- 
DUCTION AND EARNINOS. 
Messrs. Barry & Co. have compiled a “ Summary 
of Audited Accounts of Joint Stock Tea Companies 
registered in Calcutta ; Seasons 1885 to 1889.” A 
note explains that 
Expenditure includes cost to grow ard fetch to 
market, account sale charges, interest on the season’s 
outlay when incurred, depreciation on machinery and 
buildings when charged. But commissions on profits, 
income-tax, and interest on debenture capital are ex- 
cluded. Income is given gross, i-e., the auction-room 
price. Debenture Capital is not included in the 
Capital column. 
The Assam Companies rose from 18 in 1885 to 
23 in 1889, and tbe paid-up capital from E5, 568, 000 
to E10,248,000. The crops began at 2,740,000 lb. 
and rose to 6,406,000. The realized gross average 
per lb. went down from annas 10'9 to 9-2. The 
cost per lb. also diminished from 8-7 to 7’10. 
The profit per lb. went down from 2-2 to 1-3. 
* Tbe late Mr. Alex. Brown took an active part in 
this operation.— Ed. T. A. 
t Allusion is made to a rule that non-Christians 
were not to enter the church. — Ed. T. A. 
