September i. 1891.] 
IHC TrtOPIOAL AQRIOUUTURI8T, 
exception, and the blood orange U not a tavourito 
with Mr. Brien. They produce very fine fruit, but 
thoy are not heavy croppers in this district. One of 
the greatest peculiarities in this orangery is a tree 
that yields fruit which has the uppearnnoe of having 
had the quarters split open when small, and over the 
whole there is the ordinary rind. This tree always 
produces some fruit thus curiously misahauen, but 
this year there are an unusual number of distorted 
oranges. The tree is large, handsome, and healthy, 
and the normal fruit is plentifui and of good size 
and flavour. 
Experts who have more or leas exporieuee of the 
Californian orangeries say that irrigation is necessary 
for the guccesaful oulivation of the orange, but in 
Mr. Brein’a orangery one may see large and hand- 
some trees growing heavy crops of excellent friut, 
and yet, they never receive any water but the rain- 
fall. Mr. Brien has a great objection to irrigating 
his trees, being of opinion that the result would be 
a loss. By ii-rigation he says the trees would make 
a luxuriant growth, and the fruit would be coarse 
and flavourless. So far from irrigation being required, 
he points out that his beat trees are in the driest 
spots. Tlie drffereuoe is very marked in the young 
trees Along the siiuill water-course, wliich has cut 
a channel fully 10ft. deep, there is a small bank from 
which the surface falls away from the creek, and near 
this baiikltlie orange trees have made excellent pro- 
gress, while those situated in the lower ground arc 
scarcely half the size. The soil does not give the 
idea that it would hold wet sufficiently to be hai-m- 
ful, being a free, deep loam, but in a few of^ the 
lowest spots the trees are evidently decaying, 'I’his 
Mr. Brien attributes entirely to the intiuenco of 
damp. The orange is, apparoiitly, a capricious tree, 
and in spot where one fades away it is almost useless 
to attempt to grow another. Mr. Brien is an en- 
thusiastic cultivator of tlie orange, and every year ho 
takes a trip through the orange groves of I’atramatta 
to keep himself posted up in all that relates to the 
advancomont of the industry. 
Outside the orange grove the soil alters rapidly, 
hut it is evidently well adapted for growing fruit 
trees. There is a good-seized belt of orchard on 
two sides of the orangery, and already the trees, 
tliough young, are produeing largo quantities of 
oxcellent fruit. 'J’he poaches grown in this orchard 
command high prices, and the sample I saw of the 
apples wa.s highly creditable. The orchard and 
orangery are admirabiy cultivated, and not a weed 
is to be aeon aiiy'where. The fruit trees are well 
cared for, hut the orange trees are, as they deserve 
to be, first in Mr.Brien's thoughts. To him they arc 
more than trees, and ho speaks of tliem as living, 
sentient beings, liaviiig nffoctions and antipatliies, 
wiiile the fruit trees, ttiougli worthy of lieiiig care- 
fully tended, are merely trees. Mr. Brien has a 
good-sized lioidiugi I'O keeps a flock of about 1,401) 
sheep, nod dooB some forming, but the whole iu- 
tcrest of the place is centred in a little plot of 
laud scarcely as largo as many a Toorak property, 
which is probably more vsluab'o than tlio r st of 
the farm twice toid. It was ii strange clninoo that 
led the wanderer's steps through forest and scrub 
to this priceless gem of laud, and that he rhouhl 
have the skill and enterprite to develop iis uBuost 
oapabilities. — Anstralafitin. 
THE COIEK (lOlriiE— A EKRX reHB AS 
FOOD BY Tlll'l CKVEOX VI 1,1,10 KK. 
By the margins of many water gullie s tanks 
and canals in Ceylon, grows a sort of gi acel'nl tall 
fern, the extreme tops of which are of an mnerold 
green tint, while lower down they hec.nne coarse, 
rank and of a bluish green or in some cases olive 
hue The whole stalk looks very like a large stalk 
ol celery, and the foliage i.i of Iho aa-.ie cnvlv or 
wrinkled nature. It does not grow t nly on wet or 
marshy soil: but it is necessary to its woil doing 
and growth, that its roots shonld litorni'y stand in 
water. It grows very vigonroualy under these con- 
ditions in largo tufts, like “Tussock” grass, and the 
thickest of tno stalks are of the same size as a 
Malacca cane. It grows equally well in running or 
standing water, and is called by the Natives of the 
Northern part of the Eiiateni province, “ The CoiU 
OoUe." The taste is rather plain and insipid, hut 
In admixture with condiments of various kinds it 
makes a very passable curry. I once tried it plain 
boiled with pepper and salt as vegetable to accom- 
pany meat ; but did not much care to repeat the 
experiment I Made into what Tamils call "chundel" 
(a dry curry) it is not at all bad, and is said to be 
ood in fevers and soinetimes in stomach cdmplainta. 
t is brought to market in prettily tied bundles — 
just as celery Is tried up for the markets in England 
— and la eagerly bought up by the frequenters of 
the bazaars in town where ft is a rarity, and even 
a luxury. It cannot he had nearer than 12 or 1.4 
miles from town, whore it grows in great profusion 
on the banks of the old Butch canal at a village 
called Vandaramnlle. I believe it is well known 
in all Sinhalese districts near the sea, sneh as 
Negombo and towards Puttalani, whereas at Batti- 
ealoa it grows on the borders of the canal, and 
the estuaries or marshes near the canal between 
Negombo and Puttalani. There are one or two Sin- 
halese men who have establislied themselves as 
traders or boutique-keepers in tlie villages of the 
Nortlierii part of the Eastern Province, and when 
either business or incliuatiuu leads them into town 
they rarely fail to bring in a large supply of coile 
colic. The gathering of it is now and tnen attend- 
ed witli danger, as on one occasion a poor old Sin- 
halese man was caught and dragged into tlie sluggish 
waters of the canal by a croeodi'e, and nothing 
more was over seen or hea.rd of him. 
Ooilo collo is said to be plentiful at Bentota, 
Kalutara, Tangslla and Matara, us well ss at llatua- 
lura; hut in all my wanderings over the Island, I 
lavo seen it exposed for sale only at Batticaloa. 
Keoinai.ii Ahmouh. 
—Local “Examiner.” 
^ 
(,TN.VAiIO.\ SALE.S. 
Fuller information, to baud by the last Mail, of 
the (Quarterly Sales of Cinnamon in Slay, does not 
materially affect the concluBious wo had drawn 
from the Telegraphic Summary which came to hand 
on the 26th ultimo. I,ittle more than one-third of 
the moderate quantity of spice offered — 1,S2H bales 
against 1,582 in February, and 1,.'I51 in Stay IHSIO 
—found buyers. The attendance of bidders was 
small, ooiiipetitioii was slack, and prices generally 
niled in favour of the buyers. The commoner qua- 
lities sold at a sligiit advance, but the demand even 
for those was indifferent, and all parcels offered were 
not taken up. The extent to whicli the liner qua- 
lities were neglected, cannot bo realised without a 
careful study of the Sale l-isls. Not only had 
lower prices to be accepted for them, but, as we 
Ktinnised had been the case when we wrote on the 
subject last month, tlie demand even at these re- 
duced prices was not snfflcieiit to clear the offerings. 
Thus, of 101 Bales of F, S. W. S.. only three Bales 
found buyers at a fall of ^d. to Iff. Of 78 liales 
F. S K. not one found a buyer. So with .1. I>. S. B. 
of which there were -10 hales offered. Of ill> Bales 
S, 1). A, R. Cinnamon, only 10 Bales of the coarsest 
were sold. Of 2.8 bale.i k’'. B Franklauds, only 8 
liales were sold. No loss than .805 Bales of O. lie 
C. were olh'rcd. but only 111 of the coarsest^ sorts 
sold. These are sotiio of the more prominent hriiuds, 
wlioso sliipments were neglected. It was the sumo 
with other wAI-kiiown marks, whose make is of 
mcdiuui qualities. Oifly a fraction found buyers, 
I'csiilting, a-, we said, in little more tlian one-tliird 
of the tut;il imaiitity of all grades offered at the sale 
passing tlio hammer. Tlio only mark for which 
tliei'o was anything like competition, and which sold 
at or about previous prices, was tlie loading brand 
