July r, i8y7.] THE TROPICAL 
work. A wire fence to prevent cattle trespass is also 
a necessity. This garden was originally opened as a 
nursery for Para rubber, and an immense number 
of plants of this species are now cultivated in (Jeyion 
and the Bast, the progeney of the original trees 
still at Henaratgoda. Many other cultivations have 
been added to this, and the garden now contains a 
tine collection of useful and ornamental plants, and 
deserves to be more visited than it is, considering 
its easy accessibility from Colombo and elsewhere. 
The process of rubber-tapping may be seen early 
every Saturday morning, and there are many objects 
of interest, including a few acres of original jungle. 
Anubadhapura. — This little garden of 15 acres, 
employing about 6 coolies and a native conductor, is very 
pretty and well stocked with plants, but often suffers 
from floods or drought. The extreme apathy to im- 
provement of the surrounding native population renders 
the garden of less use than need be, but an improvement 
in this respect may be hoped with the opening up of the 
country and extension of irrigation works. Itisthe only 
garden we possess in the extensive dry country (| of 
Ceylon), and I am strongly opposed to its abandonment, 
even though at present its success seems but little. 
Many plants grow well at Anuradhapura that do badly 
in the wet region, and we may yet hope to see many 
important cultivations in this at present thinly in- 
habited country. 
B.adulla. — This garden occupies 11 acres, employing 
a conductor and about 6 coolies. It was opened in 
1886, and so is yet very young. It was thickly planted 
with every kind of plant likely to grow well, and now 
requires thinning. Many plants thrive well here, and 
it is hoped that the garden may prove of much uae in 
the Province of Uva. The climate of the eastern side 
of the mountainous district is so different from that of 
the western that experience gained in one district is 
not always applicable to the other, Some details of 
interest with regard to the growth of trees, &o., are given 
in the detailed report below. 
Speaking generally of the last three gardens, their 
most urgent wants are increased labour (the staff of 
coolies at present is barely enough to keep them in 
tidy condition), wire fences (except at Badulla), cooly 
lines (except at Henaratgoda), and a new visitors’ 
shed, &c., at Heneratgoda.* 
3. — the work of the gardens. 
Under this heading fall to be considered some a.spects 
of the work carried on in this Department other than 
mere routine. The chief are (1) the introduction into 
Ceylon of economically important plants, and the 
carrying out of experiments upon their cultivation; 
(2) other scientific work upon the Ceylon flora, 
diseases of plants, their physiology, &c. ; (3) the sale 
of plants to the public. 
(1) Introduction into Ceylon op new and impor- 
tant Economic Plants : Experiments in Cultiva- 
tion, &c.— This is one of the chief objects kept in 
view in the working of the Department, and 
every effort is made to carry it out in spite 
of all hindrances. Much has been done in the 
past and is being done in the present, but it is de- 
sirable that the usefulness of the Botanic Gardens 
in this direction should be increased continually, and 
it will be well, therefore, to consider the chief 
obstacles to this increase, which are the want of skilled 
labour and of suitable areas of good land. 
The available labour force is chiefly consumed in 
keeping the Gardens in good order— weeding, watering, 
grass-cutting, sweeping, road-making repairing build- 
ings, culverts &c. propagating and planting out, and so 
on” Properly to carry out extensive cultural experi- 
ments would require an increased labour supply, 
especially of a skilled kind. As explained above, most 
of our native gardeners are not capable of attending 
to such skilled work as selection of parents, propagation 
from choice shoots or seed, hybridization, cross- fertiliza- 
tion, and so on. So long as all work of this kind 
* The votes for labour, &o., have been increased 
for 1897 from E2,200 to R3,000 at Henaratgoda, from 
El, 200 to E2,000 at Anuradhapm-a, and from 111,500 
to E2,000 at Badulla; and a special vote has been 
sanctioned, for wire fences. 
AGRICULTURIST. 45 
must be personally done by the Director or Curator, 
it will be impossible for the gardens to do very much 
in the advancement of skilled scientific horticulture 
or planting in the Colony. lu this connection I would 
again draw attention to the needless waste of much 
of our skilled labour involved in propagating and sell- 
ing common garden or verandah plants. ^If this 
were given up, much more could be done in useful 
cultivations. To cultivate and experiment upon an 
economic plant upon a scale sufficiotit to give 
really reliable results requires that a large 
area shall be devoted to it ; thus over 4 acres of 
good land have been given up to Para 
rubber for nearly twenty years, and it is intended 
to plant another acre for experiment in 1897. The 
good land in these Gardens, suitable for such work, 
is very limited in area, amounting to, perhaps, 48 or 
50 acres in all the Gardens together. It is evident, 
therefore, that the amount of land given to each of 
the numerous useful plants at present cultivated or 
on trial must be very small. At Peradeniya in 
particular there is very little good land available, 
perhaps 15 acres in all, much of which is occupied by 
nurseries, vegetables, fruits, &c. 
An annual vote of R500 is allowed for the purchase 
of plants and seeds, chiefly of course from abroad. 
Much of this at present has to be spent in keeping up 
the supply of roses, &o., for sale to the public, for 
such plants so soon deteriorate in Ceylon. If this 
trade were abandoned, much more might be spent on 
useful seeds, (fee, 
It will be of interest to give here a list of the chief 
cultural experiments at present in progress upon 
any important scale : — 
(1) Indiabubber. — The Gardens contain a large 
collection of rubber trees of all kinds. About 3J acres 
at Henaratgoda are devoted to experimental plots 
of Para rubber {Hevea brasiliensis) of various ages. 
There are many hundreds of thousands of trees now 
in cultivation in Ceylon and elsewhere, but none 
are yet ready for harvesting. In anticipation 
of the time when this will be the case I have com- 
menced an important series of experiments at Hena'- 
ratgoda, with a view to solving, if possible, the fol- 
lowing among other questions ; (a) How often should 
a tree be tapped ? (6) What are the best times of 
year and of day to tap ? (c) What is the best 
method of tapping ? (d) What is the best 
way of curing the rubber for the market ? (e) 
What is the effect of ms.nure and other circumstances 
on the yield of rubber ? (/) Can rubber be profitably 
obtained from the leaves, and if so, how best ? ((/) 
What is the labour-cost per pound yield? and soon. 
These experiments will probably continue over several 
years, and results will be published from time to time. 
They are again referred to below under economic 
plants. 
(2) Coffee. — Several plots of various kinds of coffee 
are being cultivated at Peradeniya and Henaratgoda 
with the view of determining the kinds best suited to 
cultivation in Ceylon, where disease is so prevalent. 
It is eminently desirable that a larger area be devoted 
to each, and that careful breeding, selection, judi- 
cious hybridization, &c., bo carried on to obtain, 
if possible, hardy varieties suited in Ceylon. This, 
however, is inpossible without more skilled labour. 
(3) Cacao. — A number of plots of different kinds 
are on trial. The remarks made in the last paragraph 
are equally applicable here. 
Other plots are devoted to (4) Sisal Hemp; (5) 
Gamhier ; {%) Camphor ; {!) Coca ; (8) Vanilla ;{%) Nut - 
me(js ; (10) Pineapples ; (11) various shade and 
timber trees. 
(12) ^ Garden Vegetables. — A good deal of land 
is given to native and foreign vegetables. It is 
very desirable that experiments in the breeding of 
improved forma of tropical vegetables should be 
instituted, but the work requires skilled labour, space, 
and much manure. 
(13) Fruits. — Many European fruits are on trial 
at Hakgala, and tropical fruits in the other Gardens, 
The remarks made on_ vegetables apply here also. 
Cultivation is rendered very difficult by constant theft 
of the fruit. 
