THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. I, 1897. 
4 10 
Bome miles of patana, here and there, with a 
sprinkling of trees, mostly wild hgs and ‘kshaata,’ 
often miscalled the ‘ patana oak.’ The soil, e^peoially 
on wind-blown ridges, seems poor and gritty, and 
the periodical ficiug of the grass probably makes it 
annually worse. It seems a pity that th® natives 
sh.Duld be allowed to devastate such an enormous area 
as they do ‘ to improve the pasturage.’ If they 
raised cattle in proportion to the acreige burnt olf, 
we should be able to export frozen meat instead of 
relying on Australia to supply us. Besides the 
large area fired each year for the benefit of the 
owners of cattle, a good deal of promiscuous firing 
is doubtless done with the object of driving game 
into convenient places for shooting and trap- 
ping. 
GREVILLEAS AND PARA RUBBER. 
Here and there ®n the patanas one comes across 
a paddy-field or a kurakkan ohena defended from wild 
beas's and cattle by wails of loose stone, and cannot 
help wishing that the cultivation was more exten- 
sively carried on so as to remove more stones from 
the road. In the patana hollows too, below the most 
w'estsrly of the Kalupahaui estates, there are ex- 
g'nsive nurseries of tea and grevilleas. About a mile 
or more from Haldummulla, a small plantation of 
grevilleas had attracted notice. They had apparently 
been planted in scrub and patana land and were 
growing very well with scarcely any vacancies? It 
seems curious that the Forest Department should, for 
so many years, have neglected its vast opportunities 
of redeeming the sterile grass lands of Uva by plant- 
ing them up with grevilleas and other suitable timber 
trees, instead of trespassing on the right of private 
owners by starting extensive plantations of para rub- 
ber. Many planters were called upon, some ten years 
ago, by a circular issued in the Central Province, to 
give information as to the growth in their districts of 
some three or four dozen kinds of trees for timber 
and fuel, including some which were useless for either 
purpose, but rubber cultivation (with a view to the 
preliminary expenses being ail wiped out by the sale 
of seed) was not then suggested. 
The Government Blue-book for 1892 reported over 
825,000 acres of 
PASTURE LANDS 
available in the colony ; since then Mr. Vincent’s 
examination of the country has probably added to this 
a large area, and the total of course does not include all 
paddy and dry grain fields, which are available for 
crazing purposes as soon as the crops are reaped. 
Even if these figures are above the mark, there is 
surely ample scope for considerable work in the 
patana hills i f Uva alone. IVith a Government rail- 
way clamouring for fuel, to say nothing of estate 
requirements, why is this work so long delayed. It 
may be said in answer that experimental planting 
some years ago in Dimbula was disappointing : trees 
grew to a great height and then died out, ap- 
parently killed by the same boring beetle which 
has recently devastated our cacao trees. But is. 
the Forest Department expected to squat, like a 
sedent Buddha, in contemplation ? _As regards the 
boring beetle, it has long been known to attack 
only trees in an unhealthy condition. Specimens of 
it were sent, with other insect pests, to the Planters’ 
Association some fifteen years ago. The actual cause 
of the decay of the gums and grevilleas was most 
likely the prolonged visitation of cockchafer grubs. 
A great many of the large bi’ov-.n chafers have 
been flying about on the patanas in the evening 
lately, so that there would probably be a large 
number of grub ready to interfere with any ex- 
perimental planting. But the aeration of the soil by 
draining and forking would soon put a check to 
their ravages, while a careful analysis of the patana 
soil would show iu what chemical constituent, if any, 
it was deficient. 
After leaving the patanas, 
THE ROAD IMPROVES 
considerably and winds up, at a very steep gradient, 
through some very fine tea fields and then through 
jungle till it joins the bridle road leading from 
Haldummulla to the Plains. Here tree ferns and 
rhododendron trees begin to get numerous, and in 
the early part of the year, when the latter are 
in flower and the varied jungle trees put on their 
new foliage, the scenery must be enchanting. Many 
of the wild flowers on either side of the road re- 
mi od one strongly of those at home. On reaching 
the Plains, the road becomes easy : a mile and a 
quarter of comparatively level walking, through the 
grass land gay with crimson orchids, brings one to 
the restheuse. 
It has been said that the finest scenery in the 
world is improved by 
A GOOD HOTEL 
in the foreground, but its attractions are distinctly 
increased w'hen it is found near the vanishing-point. 
Tlie garden surrounding the resthouseis bright with 
flowers, periwinkles, gladioli, caunas and hydrangeas, 
and the delicious air is filled with the perfume of 
borders of mignonette, but after a climb of four 
thousand feet sssthetic aspirations, unless very intense, 
are apt to be overcome for a time by considera- 
tions of the practical measures necessary to restore 
lost energy. The fresh air of the plains 
is certainly bracing but one cannot drink in 
much of it at once, and the suggestion of 
a draught of the liquid which is popularly 
supposed to be obtained from fermented grain is 
irresistible. 
But the fine weather may not last all day, and if 
one of the great attractions of the plains, the view of 
THE “ world’s end,” 
is to be seen, it must be done quickly : a farther 
walk of two miles. Packets of sandwiches, which at 
starting seemed more than sufficient, disappear in a 
galloping consumption : the air makes one feel as 
hollow as a spectre, bat breakfast must be postponed. 
About a mile from the resthouse, at the side of the 
road, with ihe juiig e growth carefully clearsd on all 
sides, appears a small log hut. The door has no hinges 
but is raised some two feet from the ground by a 
rope tied to a pole fixed horizontally above. The in- 
terior is uninviting; the uneven earthen floor is littered 
with brushwood, and at the farther end a small part of 
the space is fenced off. The guide explains that it 
is not a summer-house, but a cheetah trap : no one 
but a cheetah could feel sure of it. One wonders 
why no provision has been made for the animal’s com- 
fort ; there is no dry straw to lie on nor any feed- 
ing-trough. There are many break-neck places in 
Ceylon, but the “World’s End” is probably the 
finest known. Leaving the road at a point where it 
emerges from the jungle and dips into a sa '.die, one 
has only a few feet to step down the grassy tlope to 
obtain a splendid view of the panorama spread out 
beneath. Oautious movements are necessary : there 
is no railing to support one and the stunted vegeta- 
tion growing on the brink would be of little use. 
With a fresh breeze blowing behind one it is advis- 
able to plant one’s feet firmly : the slightest move- 
ment to save a blow'u-away bat might laud one-fifteen 
hundred feet in the valley below. Ihe sunlight 
gradually fades and the air gets colder, and though 
the thermometer in the resthouse porch marks only 
62° the ample fire-place in the dining- room is at- 
tractive. After breakfast a tour round the garden was 
very enjoyable. It is seldom that one finds a garden 
iu which the splendours of Western floriculture 
are to be seen grafted, as it were, on Oriental luxury, 
many of the flower-beds are raised on banks of 
empty beer bottles. The effect is striking and pro- 
bably also beneficial from a practical point of view: few 
visitors can conscientiously say farewell to the Hor- 
ton Plains without making an effort to promote 
the cultivation of flowers in such an artistic way. 
GIPSY JOHN, 
