March  i,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRlCULTUPlST. 
589 
the  harbour  full  of  steamships,  and  Colombo  full 
of  visitors,  instead  of  the  solitary  Military  Officer, 
who  probably  came  out  to  fill  a death  vacancy  in  one 
or  other  of  the  Regiments  then  stationed  in  Ceylon. 
It  is  worth  noticing  the  mighty  change  that  has  taken 
place  in  the  distant  Colony  of  Ceylon  which  has  in 
these  latter  days  been  brought  so  near  to  the  mother 
country. 
My  uncle  had  a big  horse — one  of  the  Delft  stud 
which  had  been  sold  off  by  order  of  the  Home  Go- 
vernment, when  Sir  Edward  Barnes  was  Governor. 
My  uncle  drove  me  as  far  as  Ambepussa  the  first 
day  and  what  astonished  me  more  than  anything  I 
can  remember  was  that  the  Afghan  horsekeeper  ran 
the  whole  distance  of  36  miles  holding  on  by  the 
back  of  the  buggy.  This  was  marvellous  to  an  Eng- 
lishman, just  arriving  in  the  Island  and  would  pro- 
bably be  marvellous  even  in  Ceylon  at  the  present 
time,  though  many  such  wonders  have  been  wrought  in 
Ceylon  since  that  da.y. 
ORIOINAX.  COFFEE  PLANTING  AND  PUEPAUATION. 
My  first  visit  was  to  the  old  Gampola  estate,  Sinnapi- 
itiya,  the  trees  on  this  property  as  well  as  at  Peradeniya 
the  Government  plantation,  and  on  Ganga  Orowa,  were 
grown  in  the  noti'ye  fashion,  no  other  then  being  known. 
The  preparation  was  equally  original — the  tJampola 
Store  was  a four-sided  building  enclosing  an  open  space 
used  for  drying  ground.  The  coffee  in  husk  was, 
at  this  time,  dried  ready  for  grinding ; this  was  done 
by  grooved  rubbers  sloping  to  one  side,  and  fixed  on 
3 legs  with  a hopper  on  top.  This  contrivance  (an 
invention  of  my  uncle's)  ground  off  the  husk,  and  the 
whole  was  then  winnowed  by  a corn-winnower  and 
finally  prepared  for  shipment  and  bagged  on  the  estate. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  up  to  about  this  time, 
the  sale  price  of  Ceylon  in  the  London  market  was 
about  28s  or  30s  per  cwt.  This  was  caused  by  the 
excessive  duty  of  9d  per  lb.  on  all  coffee  shipped 
eastward  of  the  Cape,  while  West  Indies’  coffees  were 
admitted  at  6d.  This  unjust  difference  was  equal 
to  about  28s  per  cwt.,  but  for  this,  Ceylon  coffee 
might,  in  the  early  stages,  have  sold  for  56s  instead 
of  28s.  The  duty  was  however  equalized  and  levied 
at  6d..  after  some  strong  representations  to  the  Home 
Government,  but  the  earliest  plauters  had  this 
terrible  “odds”  to  contend  with,  and  rejoiced  when  the 
duties  wereequalized.  I need  hardly  mention  that  at 
this  time  all  the  cultivation  of  coffee  was  in  the 
native  fashion,  and  required  a great  amount  of  man- 
ure  to  maintain  ; this  was  the  case  on  the  3 plan- 
tations then  known  : — Gampola,  Peradeniya,  and 
Gangarowa,  and  subsequently  on  Major  Forbes’s  at 
Matale. 
Some  mention  is  due  of  Hangurariketa — this  was 
the  site  of  a former  palace  of  the  King  of  Kandy 
and  of  a Buddhist  Temple,  at  one  time  of  some 
eminence.  About  this  palace  and  temple  were  coffee 
trees  grown,  of  course,  in  the  native  fashion 
and  rising  above  was  a mountain  side  of 
coSee  jungle.  The  Kandyan  legend  of  this,  is  that 
before  coffee  was  known  as  a beverage,  some  pil- 
grims brought  the  seeds  (coffee  in  husk)  from 
Arabia  to  grow  flowers  for  offerings  to  the  Temple, 
and  that  the  coffee  beans  had  been  distributed 
in  course  of  years  throughout  the  adjoining  forest 
by  the  small  green  parrots  which  abound  in  that 
district. 
On  the  failure  of  the  Gampola  plantation, 
partly  in  consequence  of  my  father’s.  Colonel 
Byrde’s  death  of  cholera  in  1829,  as  he  had 
provided  the  necessary  funds, — Mr.  George  Bird 
applied  to  the  Governor  to  have  the  Old 
Palace  at  Hanguranketta  coffee  jungle  sold  and 
it  was  put  up  for  sale  by  auction,  the  limit  of  T6C0 
was  prescribed  by  Messrs.  Acland  and  Boyd  was 
exceeded  by  Mr.  De  Soysa,  who  became  the  purchaser 
at  £630,  and  thus  formed  the  nucleus  of  his  sub- 
sequent fortunes,  which  grew  rapidly  as  arrack 
renter. 
The  Governor,  after  this,  made  Mr.  George 
Bird  a grant  of  600  acres  of  land  at  Kondasally, 
where  he  renewed  his  cultivation  of  coffee  in  part- 
nership with  Messrs.  Acland  Boyd  & Co.  of 
Colombo.  On  my  first  arrival  in  the  Kiudyan 
country  I was  taken  to  visit  this  new  venture, 
the  coffee  planted  was  with  stumps  and  it  was 
affirmed  that  the  greater  the  number  of  shoots 
the  better,  nothing  like  a good  bushy  tree,  it  was 
said  (again  native  fashion).  This  was,  however,  sont 
altered;  for,  in  1837,  our  good  trusty  friend,  o Eober 
Boyd  Tytler,  made  his  appearance  with  the  knowledge 
he  had  gained  by  a residence  for  instruction  on  the  Blue 
Mountains  of  Jamaica,  and  the  great  change  was 
partly  brought  about  by  an  old  copy  of  The  Coffee 
Planter  of  St.  Domingo  by  M.  Laborie  which  Mr. 
William  Boyd  had  picked  up  on  a second  hand  book- 
stall in  London.  All  was  now  changed.  Trees  were  to 
be  grown  on  one  stem.  The  plants  to  be  reared  from 
seed,  the  trees  topped  at  certain  heights.  M. 
Laborie  gave  even  plans  of  the  “ grater  mill”  as  it 
was  called — Harbacues  for  drying  ihe  parchment 
coffee  and  the  jieeling  mill  for  grinding  the  coffee  when 
dry,  with!  divers  instructions  for  the  cultivation.  This 
book  and  our  friend  Tytler’s  knowledge  and  guidance 
caused  a stir  and  a revolution  that  after-eomers 
could  hardly  realize,  who  flocked  to  Ceylon  to 
find  matters  so  settled,  as  if  there  had  been  no 
change,  albeit  one  improvement  after  another 
was  carried  out  m improved  cultivation  and  pre- 
paration, which  produced  the  fortunes  of  many, 
until  the  climax  of  leaf-disease  prostrated  the 
enterprize  of  coffee  cultivation  almost  entirely, 
I wonld  next  notice  the  remarkable  success  of  the 
coffee  planting  experiment 
AT  BLACK  FOREST. 
M.  Laborie  in  his  St.  Domingo  Coffee  Planter,  lays 
it  down  as  a rule  that  the  soil  for  the  successful  culti- 
vation of  coffee  should  be  loose,  friable  and  if  poss- 
ible on  virgin  eleared  forest  land.  Our  friend  Tytler 
visited  Gampola  with  me  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion 
that  the  soil  was  too  co?repac<  for  the  successful  growth 
of.  coffee  which  grew  splendidly  under  the  old 
“ jak  ” trees  where  it  was  nourished  by  the  leaves, 
and  the  soil  kept  moist  and  loose.  I mention  this 
peculiarity,  as  it  equally  applies  to  Peradeniya  and 
Ganga  Orowa  where  the  soil  was  of  the  same  character, 
and  the  coffee  trees  equally  impeded  in  their  growth. 
My  attention  was  therefore  directed  to  the  forest 
called  “the  Black  Forest  of  Pussellawa  ” which  for 
magnificent  trees  was  the  finest  forest  in  the 
Central  Province,  many  of  the  “ Doon  ” trees 
measuring  lOOfeet  without  a branch.  I was 
so  enamoured  of  this  forest  land  that  I deter- 
mined to  try  the  experiment  of  planting  coffee— 
although  this  was  the  very  first  idea  of  planting  coffee 
in  forest  land  at  such  an  elevation,  of  over  3,000  feet. 
It  was  easy  then  to  obtain  land ; the  Governor  gave 
immediate  possession  of  10  acres  on  which  to  form  a 
nursery  and  put  up  100  acres  for  sale  at  the  upset  price 
of  5s.  an  acre  including  survey  fees  payable  in  12 
months,  and  I obtained  100  acres  on  these  terms — ■ 
I had  prepared  a nursery  of  young  plants,  and  my  first 
cultivation  was  of  8 acres  and  was  certainly  conducted 
in  the  most  thorough  manner. 
I had  only  3 or  4 of  our  old  Kandyan  labourers  from 
Gampola.  With  the  aid  of  an  elephant  I had  all  the 
land  '‘stocked  up”  and  the  roots  buried  and  the 
ashes  distributed  over  the  surface  ; the  elephatn 
pushed  down  all  the  small  trees  with  his  head,  and 
pulled  up  the  roots  with  his  trunk.  The  large 
timber  trees  being  left,  the  surface  of  the  ground 
was,  I hear,  reduced  to  a fine  pulverized  bed,  like  a 
garden — such  as  in  future  experience  never  was  found 
necessary.  The  coffee  trees  were  allowed  to  grow  to 
the  height  of  5 feet;  no  roads  or  drains  were  necessary  as 
all  I'hs  rain  that  fell  was  quickly  absorbed 
by  the  loose  earth,  I had  a small  picking  of  coffee 
in  the  second  year  which  I sold  in  the  island. 
FIRST  PREPARATION  OF  COFFEE  IN  PARCHMENT 
IN  THE  ISLAND, 
Instructions  in  M.  Laborie’s  old  Treatise  I could 
not  obtain.  What  he  designates  as  a grater  mill 
I had  at  Gampola,  two  groove  1 cast  icon  cylinders  of 
only  6 or  7 in  diameter.  I fitted  these  to  work  to- 
gether and  crushed  out  the  cherry  beaus  between 
them,  and  had  a caned  (rattened)  sies’e  suspended 
below  worked  by  a coolie.  When  the  parchment 
