466 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[January i, 1891. 
of Mortgages of Tea and other Estates and so to 
secure the consignment of the crops to tbe Corpor- 
ation for sale, and it is anticipated that the mortgage 
interest and the commission on the sale of the 
produce will enable the Corporation to earn substantial 
dividends. As evidence of the profitable nature of Tea 
Crrowiug in Oavlon, it may be mentioned that the 
Oi-ylou Tea Plantations Company, Limited, which 
was incorporated in December, 1886, has, for each 
of the three years since its formation, declared 
dividends amounting to 15 per cent, per annum. 
There is then referenoe made to Mr. Huntley 
Thring’s local experience and high character as 
affording a valuable guarantee for the success of 
the Corporation, and in every word of praise of 
the Managing Director we most fully concur ; for 
no one is esteemed more highly among the Ceylon 
planting community, while he will have experienced 
and shrewd coadjutors in Messrs E. G. Harding, 
A. J. Denison, and 0. Murray Robertson. We wish 
the new Corporation all sueoess. 
HILL-COUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
A VISIT TO THE KOTAGALOYA VAELEY—TEA A EUC- 
CE6S ON ABANDONED COFFEE ESTATES — HEDGES 
OF TEA. 
Nanuoya, Nov. 19th. 
With reference to my visit to the Kotagal- 
oya valley (the name is derived from the resem- 
blance of the “Duke’s Nose” mountain, seen in 
profile, to a leopard couchant), 1 cannot help 
repeating my conviction that tea will be here as 
great a success as coffee was generally a failure. 
Passing through “ Chrystler’s Farm” en route to 
the station, we were struck with tbe splendid jat 
(indigenous, or as near it as possible) of young tsa 
and its luxuriant growth. A really great work in 
the shape of a watercourse tapping the distant 
river was also remarkable. Factories are being 
erected in all directions, and the larger proportion 
of abandoned coffee estates are being redeemed. 
On an estate nearer the station, fine hedges of tea, 
topped at over 4 feet, which lined both sides of the 
road, formed striking features in the landscape. I 
thoroughly believe in the system. The bushes on 
the lower side of the path get the benefit 
of the heaped soil, while those on the upper 
side catch and are benefited by all debris of 
earth, leaves and prunings from above. Yester- 
day I went up the railway line to the third 
mile, and found that Mr, Wijenayeke had made 
considerable progress in blasting away the re- 
markable bed of rook at that point, Ha had 
obtained miners from the plumbago pits of the 
Kurunegala district, and had sixty at work boring 
holes and blasting. Ton of these, for the sake of 
extra pay, which they receive each day in ready 
cash, do a second task in the evenings of each day. 
The day-task, averaging 7 feet (one exceptional 
minor accomplishes 15 feet) is completed about 
5 p.m.. After refreshment, the evening task, 
averaging about 5 feet, is performed between 4 and 
7 to 8 p.m. The work hero takes more time 
and more dynamite and blasting powder, and is 
therefore more expensive than would be the 
case were the rock more granitic than it is. 
But it is true gneiss, in laminfc of about 2 
feet thick, so that the holes bored in each stratum 
affect only tbe thickness of that particular layer. 
Home more or less decomposed matter intervenes 
between the hard strata. This rook obstacle to 
progress has its advantages. An enormous dopAS 
of broken stone has been liero formed, wliioh, when 
trollies or trucks are able to run, can be conveyed 
along the lino to whore metal for ballasting is 
scarce. The feeling amongst the contractors is 
that delay at the lower end cf the line is more 
likely to occur from paucity of metal for ballast 
than from any other cause. A gentleman who has 
a contract of two miles of rooky precipices near 
the Haputale end was much impressed with the 
almost exclusively earth formations at our end, 
especially in Mr.' A. H. Thomas’s great cutting 
on Abbotsford; which is now fast advancing 
to completion. The only rock here is in the 
.shape of isolated boulders embedded in the earth. 
'We were present at the undermining and loosening 
of one of those boulders from a position half- 
way up the 80 feet slope of f in 1, and we 
felt real alarm at the recklessness of the coolies. 
One man ivould stand on the mass (about 3 tons 
in weight), while several would go under it, to 
undermine it with their alavangus. It was held 
in position by a sharp neck which went well into 
the bank, and which at length broke and released 
the boulder, enabling it to crash down harmlessly. 
The only accident on this big work, although 
operations have gone on in the night hours as 
well as by day, has been the fracture of the leg 
of a man who would stand on a mass of moving 
earth and got carried down with it. But of 
people 'aggregated in numbers some will die from 
disease, and one grave after another appears as 
time advances along the service road. Yesterday 
morning I saw a newly formed mound near Mr. 
Wijenayeke’s contract, on which a bit of tin with 
pieces of charcoal had been placed, while marigolds 
had been planted around it. Such little atten- 
tions (although I fear the charcoal meant the 
conciliation of some god or demon,) shew the best 
side of human nature. Bat its weak side is shown 
by the grave of a little child close to our great 
cutting. The child died six miles up the line, but 
the body was brought down for burial by the parents 
avowedly for the purpose of being placed “ where 
passengers by the railway might see the grave ” 1 
It is a curious fact that, no matter what the 
religious profession of the people, they very 
generally place a cross over the graves of their dead. 
USEFUL TREES — BIRDS IN NUIYARA ELIYA. 
Nanuoya Nov. :21st. 
Populnea Bucklandia (a grand relative of the 
Suriya tree) promises to be a great acquisition with 
us. We measured a couple of thick leathery leaves 
from young specimens which were a foot each way. 
The point projects from an almost perfect circle. 
The behaviour of different iJircafypti in our climate 
is curious. Most of our young plants have grown 
luxuriantly and did not seem to feal the recent 
south-west monsoon, while others have now practi- 
cally to renew the whole of their foliage. Those 
trees grow under such different circumstances of 
climate in their native habitats, that it is only sur- 
prising how well most of them do here. 
It would ssem as if taal had not found their 
way up to Nuwara Eliya, after all. The specimen 
I received at Nuwara Eliya I saw only as a plucked 
bird, and all who spoke to me about the birds 
which had been so ruthlessly shot, called them teal. 
But last evening I received the following note from 
Mr. W. Tringham : — 
“ I hope the Local Bo^rd Ordinance will contain 
a clause giving tbe Boards power to pass bylaws 
for the protection of wild birds. The teal or widgeon 
are breeding on the lake. A little one was caught 
last evening the size of a frog, and I have sent it 
to Mr. LoIVlesurier this morning. Another nest was 
di.scov(Ted, but the eggs were riddled with shot as 
the bird was killed as it rose from the nest. It is 
a groat pity, but the report that a couple of teal were 
seen near the lake brings down the sportsmen in flocks,” 
Enclosed came a note from Mr, Le Mesurier to 
the following effect;-" 
