consistent management.

With an able man as superintendent at a good salary, the beautiful
gardens at Peredenia are rendered next to useless for want of a fund at
his disposal. Instead of being conducted as an experimental farm, they
are little more than ordinary pleasure-grounds, filled with the
beautiful foliage of the tropics and kept in perfect order. What
benefit have they been to the colony? Have the soils of various
districts been tested? have new fibres been manufactured from the
countless indigenous fibrous plants? have new oils been extracted? have
medicinal drugs been produced? have dyes been extracted? have
improvements been suggested in the cultivation of any of the staple
articles of Ceylon export? In fact, has ANYTHING ever been done by
government for the interest of the private settler?

This is not the fault of the manager of the gardens; he has the will,
but no funds. My idea of the object of a botanical garden is, that
agricultural theories should be reduced to facts, upon which private
enterprise may speculate, and by such success the government should
ultimately benefit.

It is well known to the commonest school-boy that soil which may be
favorable to one plant is not adapted to another; therefore, where
there is a diversity of soils it stands to reason that there should be
a corresponding variety of crops to suit those soils, so as to make the
whole surface of the land yield its proportion.

In Ceylon, where the chief article of production is coffee, land (upon
an estate) which is not suitable to this cultivation is usually
considered waste. Thus the government and the private proprietor are
alike losers in possessing an amount of unprofitable soil.

Now, surely it is the common sense object in the establishment of a
botanical garden to discover for each description of soil a
remunerating crop, so that an estate should be cultivated to its
uttermost, and the word "waste" be unknown upon the property.

Under the present system of management this is impossible; the sum
allowed per annum is but just sufficient to keep the gardens in proper
condition, and the abilities of the botanist in charge are sacrificed.
Many a valuable plant now lies screened in the shades of remote
jungles, which the enterprising botanist would bring to light were he
enabled by government to make periodical journeys through the interior.
These journeys should form a part of his duties; his botanical
specimens should