927 
September i, 1890.] Supplement tp the Tf epical AgvicultuHsV^ 
WATEKrLIFTS. II. 
By Aba. 
The single mhote or inclined plane water lift 
which is well known throughout India has been 
described as follows : — 
“ The water is lifted from the well in a skin 
bucket (B.) (those used in the Sydapet Farm are 
iron ones') ; to the bucket is attached a rope which 
is fastened to the yoke of a pair of cattle; a 
roller or pulley (P.) is fixed about 4 or 5 feet 
higher than the discharging trough (T,), over this 
roller or pulley the rope travels as the bucket 
ascends or descends. The bullock path (b.) is an 
incline. When raising the bucket the cattle walk 
down the slope imtil the bucket reaches the full 
height and discharges its contents ; the cattle 
are then backed up the slope and the bucket sink- 
ing into the water, to be again raised by the for- 
ward motions of the cattle, and then the process 
is again and again repeated. This arrangement is 
certainly very simple, it is however equally cer- 
tain that the cost of raising the water by it is very 
great. With this machine a pair of cattle while 
raising only 6,900 gallons of water in a day are 
exceedingly hard worked in doing it ; whilst back- 
ing up an incline with a slope of about 46 degrees, 
about 40 times per hour, is a most effective way of 
rendering cattle worthless.” 
1 am not aware of this water-lift being in use 
anywhere in Ceylon. The above illustration is 
from a set of models presented to the School 
Mu-seum by Mr. C. Krishna Menon of the Madras 
Agricultural College. 
NOTES FBOM A TRAVELLER’S DIARY. 
I lately had the pleasure and advantage of 
visiting, in company with an Agriculturist of 
some repute, the successful estate known as 
“ Crystal Hill ” situated about four miles from 
Matale on the Rattota road. The estate is about 
320 acres in extent, and represents nearly all the 
products grown in the island. The fir.st thing 
that strikes the eye of the visitor is the pictur- 
esque grove of areea-nut palms in full bearing, 
which covers about 30 acres. Annatto and cocoa 
are among the principal products, while several 
varieties of cotton have also been grown — the 
Egyptian having been foimd to be the best suited 
to the district. A large quantity of annatto is 
prepared for export, while the cultivation of the 
plant among the villagers is also encouraged by 
the estate buying up all the seed. Much credit 
is due to the energetic superintendent, Mr. A. 
Van Starrex, for the economical and successful 
manner in which he is working the estate, and the 
natives of the surrounding villages have an 
admirable example to copy, for on this estate they 
see how a variety of minor products may be 
remuneratively cultivated if they go about it in 
the right way. 
I also touched at a place called Laggala, about 
.30 miles east of Matale. A part of the journey 
thither was made through splendid tea land, 
which at one time possessed some of the finest 
stretches of coffee in the island. The forests through 
which 1 had to pass were as grand as they were 
interesting from a botanical point of view, but as 
my journeys need to be expeditious (for I do not 
travel from mere love of travel) I could not make 
more than a few cursory observations. 
Termi*i*iHa chebula (Sin. Aralu), Terminalia 
Belerica (Sin. Bulu), and Phyllanthus Emblica 
(Sin. Nelli) which are so much used in native 
medicine were plentiful here, while ebony and 
other timber trees were also common. The in- 
habitants of the district are comparatively ignorant 
and uncivilized. Kurakkan is their chief food, 
though paddy is also cultivated after a primitive 
fashion. Much damage I was told is often done 
to crops by wild elephants. The ubiquitous 
