MONTHLY. 
Vol. XVII . 1 COLOMBO, JULY ist, 1897. [No. 1 . 
“PIONEERS OF THE PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN CEYLON.” 
{Second Series.) 
SA M TJ B L BUTIvBR, 
PLANTER AND MERCHANT: 1837-1893. 
[E late Samuel Butler was one 
of the founders of the well- 
known firm of Messrs. Darley, 
Butler & Co., of Colombo, 
He left Ceylon in the year 
1858, though continuing to 
bo a working partner in 
his old firm. Few or perhaps 
none of those tvho knew him in Ceylon remain, 
and very few even in England. Mr. Butler, a 
Worcestershire man, came to Ceylon in 1837 (a 
year which also saw the advent of the late K, 
B. Tytler and A. M. Ferguson) in the earliest 
days of Coffee Planting, and when opinions 
were unsettled about soils and climates suitable 
for the growth of the coffee shrub— especially 
in reference to climate as influenced by ele- 
vation. At that early time large clearings had 
been made and coft'ee planted at Udagama on 
the Gindura river in the Galle District, which 
ultimately had to be abandoned. Mr. Butler, 
if not the first, was one of the earliest to 
demonstrate practically that an elevation not 
under 1,500 to 2,000 feet was necessary for success- 
ful cultivation, by opening land in Sabaragamuwa 
near Balangoda with success. It may be observed 
that in later years, preference was given to an 
ever-increasing elevation, as more and more 
forest was cleared,— experience showing that the 
quality of the berry improved in proportion to the 
elevation within limits. After his Sabaragamuwa 
experience of jungle life, Mr. Butler became the 
planting partner in the firm of Acland, Boyd 
& Co., who were engaged in the largest plant- 
ing operations of that decade in Ceylon. When 
it may be said that, besides the high roads to 
Galle, Kandy, Pussellawa, Matale, Kurunegala 
and a very few more, no other roads worthy 
the name existed in the planting districts, the 
physical endurance and perseverance of Mr. Butler 
and the enterprising pioneers who penetrated the 
remoter forests and selected lands for cultivation, 
may be, in some degree, estimated. Mr. Butler 
possessed the qualities we describe, in a high de- 
gree, and the result of his labours remain to this 
day in fine properties on the Knuckles range, — 
where he was about the earliest (o select land — in 
Dumbara and in Dolosbage, which he selected and 
brought into cultivation with the aid of a small 
army of young men under his direction. It may 
be added here, that a number of the men who 
passed their early days in this valuable school, 
became successful planters and proprietors in 
later years. Roads to the new properties were 
a first necessity, and Mr. Butler was their 
pioneer. Some, like the Knuckles road, he traced 
himself ; others were traced under his direction, 
which though improved and added to afterwards, 
