Aug.  r,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
87 
HANTANE,  OLD  AND  NEW. 
The  cUfSti’icfc  of  Haatane,  bhongh  nob  the  oldest) 
hu'gest,  nor  most  important  of  planting  disti'icts) 
must  alw.ays  have  a peculiar  interest  attaclicd 
to  it.  It  contains  the  beautiful  capitiil  of  the 
Central  Province,  and  every  estate  lias  its  history 
and  associations  more  or  less  interesting  to  all 
old  Ceylon  men.  A].t,ut  from  tiiis  it  is  one  of 
the  healthiest  of  localities,  and  what  is  more  was 
on  the  whole  ever  a paying  district  in  coll'ee  as 
it  promises  to  be  in  tea.  Things  are  not  always 
what  they  seem,  and  Hantane  is  better  tban  it 
looks,  which  is  more  than  we  can  say  of  most 
jilaces  or  some  men.  Looking  up  from  Kandy 
the  cursory  observer,  seeing  the  sparsely  covered 
ridges,  would  not  be  prepared  to  hear  that  the 
returns  per  acre  have  e\er  been  fully  equal  to 
those  of  the  more  sheltereil  it|iland  valleys.  Yet 
such  is  the  case,  while  the  proximity  to  Kamly 
adds  a certain  value  to  all  the  landed  pro|)crty 
in  the  vicinity.  Even  supposing  there  was  no 
tea  there  are  other  strings  wliich  one  could 
stretch — if  nee<l  be— for  a li^■elihood. 
Walking  down  the  Windmill  brae  of  Aberdeen 
one  day  with  a w'ell-known  ])ropiietdr  whose 
estates  lay  within  easy  access  of  the  mountain 
capital,  I observed  him  lifting  his  hat  to  a poor 
old  woman  who  w.as  cho[)ping  up  firewood 
for  sale.  “Who’s  your  laily  friend?”  I 
asked.  “Don’t  know,”  was  the  reply,  “but 
we  are  Iiotb  in  the  .same  line  of  business”  ! 
It  was  during  the  dark  days  of  coll'ee  when 
this  means  of  tiding  over  the  bad  time  suggested 
itself,  and  brought  him  in  a fexv  humlreds  a year. 
And  there  are  many  other  items  wdiicli  could 
here  be  turned  to  account  though  not  necessary 
to  enumerate  while  tea  is  tea. 
It  would  be  dillicult  perhajis  to  (ind  another 
estate  in  the  Island  that  has  given  better  re- 
turns in  its  day  than  old  Hantanne  itself.  Opened 
in  1888  by  Alessrs.  Atchison  and  Jelferson  it 
w'as  the  lirst  systematically  cultivated  and  clean 
weeded  of  coltee  estates,  and  for  many  years 
this  estate  veil  repaid  all  the  care  bestowed  upon 
it,  The  collapse  of  coffee  came  upon  the  just 
and  unjust,  but  even  then  Hantanne  was  not 
worked  at  a loss,  while  now  .again  its  prospects 
are  of  the  very  brightest. 
.After  .the  retirement  of  goo.d  old  Jamie  Martin 
from  the  management  of  this  estate  in  IS5S,  a 
strange  series  of  disaster.!  befel  its  superinlend- 
ents— one  w.as  supposed  to  have  been  poisoned, 
.another  w.as  certainly  shot  de.ad,  white  a third 
went  stark  mad.  Since  then  matters  seem  to 
have  got  into  a smooth  groove  again,  and  tea 
is  doing  very  well. 
A better  known  estate  was  perhaps  Odewelle 
adjoining.  This  lino  jiroperty  m.ay  be  said  to 
have  been  the  Liiipekelle  of  old,  realizing  in  lSf-3 
the  recoi'd  price  of  the  day  (Cl.'), 000), — a fact 
whicli  led  to  the  mad  rush  and  ultimate  collap.se’ 
No.  I.  ^Vhcn  iirst  we  passed  ibrongh  Oilcwelle, 
giiod  old  ‘Know  best’ — really  Iben  at  his  best  — 
w.is  superintendent  glorying  in  his  line  herd  of 
cattle— all  of  which  he  knew  by  hip  .and  horn, 
and  all  knew  and  lo\cd  him.  .V  hospitable  host 
was  Willie,  and  many  a good  Willie  waucht  <lid 
the  thirsty  traveller  enjoy  at  his  bungalow. 
After  him'  came  a Willie  of  a different  jnt,  but 
the  estate  went  on  prospering  apd  giving  good 
returns  till  Colla|)se  No.  2 of  the  early  80s.  In 
tea  Odewelle  has  not  yet  (piite  come  up  to  the 
])Osition  it  hehl  in  coll'ee.  Tea  takes  time  to 
.accommodate  itself  to  the  Ite.st  of  ohl  coffee  land, 
but  it  promises  well. 
Let  us  now'  o!ice  more  pass  through  the  ga)) 
to  Kitoolmoola  where  lirst  wo  met  that  typical 
idanter  of  the  middle  ages  A.  C.  Mortimer,  the 
trusted  and  eminently  trustworthy  manager  for 
Sir  John  Cheajie.  Kitoolmoola  and  Gallaha  w'ere 
model  estates  carefully  cultivated  and  gave  spendid 
returns  to  the  luck3'  projndetor  at  home;  but  alas 
the  days  of  even  careful  A.  C.  Mortimer  drew  to  an 
end.  ilest.ayed  theyear  too  longon  the  much  loved 
totnm,  and  died  at  Southampton  while  en  route  for 
the  dear  anld  hame.  He  w.as  succeeded,  however,  by 
a most  capable  man,  whose  hard  and  shaggy  head 
contained,  and.  still  cont.ains  lam  gl.ad  to  ,say, 
brains  enough  to  .accomplish  anything  he  cared 
to  undertake.  Under  his  m.anagement  the  proper- 
ties continued  to  improve  till  sold  to  the  pre- 
scut  proprietors.  The  tea  here  is  now  giving" 
most  s.atisf'actory  returns,  and  the  s[)lenilidly 
equipijcd  and  well  managed  factory  on  Gallaha 
is  one  of  the  .sights  of  the  island. 
l*'ain  would  I jmsli  further  down  to  where  I 
first  called  ni»on  T.  Gray,  now'  of  iJunyan  fame, 
or  round  the  corner  to  Nilambe  where  the  far- 
seeing  “eye-glass”  iecei\'ed  me  so  w'ell,  and  on 
to  Warri.agalle  where  the  hospitable  Henderson 
reigned,  or  down  where  I w'as  w'out  to  spend  the 
evenings  with  the  most  congenial  of  Davidsons;  but 
this  must  suffice  for  today.  And  we  must  now 
return  northward  passing  over  the  ridge  from 
Odewelle  into  Hopewell,  of  w'hich  it  used  to  be 
remarked  in  3f  Craven  St.  that  it  formed  “the 
most  comfortable  of  accounts” — always  on  the 
right  side.  It  now  belongs  to  Mr.  S.  Agar, 
its  former  superintendent,  but  as  j'et  only 
a small  portion  has  been  planted  in  tea. 
Mount  Pleasant,  adjoining,  still  belongs  to  the 
old  ow'iier,  and  though  the  best  portions  are  still 
to  plant  tea  is  doing  reimarkably  w'ell.  It  will 
however  take  a long  time  to  come  up  to  the  splendid 
returns  of  old  coll'ee  d.ays,  w'hen  £8,000  sterling 
was  netted  from  400  acres  ! And  be  it  remem- 
bered had  the  rupee  been  then  at  Is  2d  the  profits 
would  have  been  nearer  ,£14,000  per  .annum. 
Tea  h.as  indeed  a big  margin  to  make  up  before  it 
beats  the  old  king. 
1 shall  now'  onl^'  notice,  on  the  w'ay  down  to  Pera- 
deni,ya,  the  (luoml.am  anil  favourite  abode  of  clever, 
capable,  fs.andy  Browm,  Bellevue,  .as  he  delighted  to 
(•.all  it,  but  now'  known  by  the  le.ss  appropriate  name 
of  Augusta.  Would  that  Sandy  was  here  tod.ay  to 
w'itness  tlie  change  ! The  neighbourhood  presents 
few'  more  satisfactory  transformations  than  this.  xAs 
a coh’ee  estate  it  was  one  of  the  very  poorest  and  least 
remunerative  in  the  district,  its  q’uartzy  ridges  eat- 
ing up  all  the  manure  that  K.andy  or  Getambe  could 
supply,  witii  the  result  of  only  a few  additional 
leaves.  Now  see  it  closely  clothed  in  luxuri.ant  tea 
of  the  best  jut,  wliile  that  grandest  of  exotics,  the 
( Irevillciv,  ad'is  yearly  to  the  improving  soil.  Truly 
lea  is  a hardy  though  eccentric  plant,  often  grow'- 
ing  best  where  least  expecteil  and  sometimes — as 
we  will  see  in  my  next— refusing  to  take  root  in 
the  ricJiest  soil. 
Yes:  1 could  wish  Sandy  had  lived  to  share  in 
the  ))ros))eri(_y  of  this  now  vcr.y  inolitable  jiroperty. 
I have  always  tbomrhl  his  fate  one  of  the  saddest 
i)i  Geylon.  Worried  and  bled  by  relatives  at  home, 
disfrusled  b.y  his  old  friends  in  Ceylon,  many  of 
whom  he  had  helped  to  make — he  passetl  awaj'  ne- 
gle  -ted,  erushed,  and  starved,  when,  as  usual,  the 
friends  came  forward,  and  gave  him  a stone.  — Cor. 
CULTiVA'i'iON  OF  PuKA. — The  Government  of 
India,  it  is  st.ated,  is  likelj'  to  take  steps  to  investi- 
gate the  cultivation  of  the  rheapl.ant.  An  enor- 
mous demand  for  the  fibre  has  sprung  up  in  Eng- 
land. By  a new  process  of  mamp'acture,  excel- 
lent fabrics  can  be  woven  from  rhea  and  the  indus- 
try seems  to  have  a great  future  before  it. 
