Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 73.djvu/198

194 interested in the world of nature or in his fellow man. There are broad lowlands with cocoanut trees and fields of rice, alternating with patches of deep jungle in which the natives have cleared bits of ground and built their huts. In the higher altitudes tea fields and chocolate plantations are the rule. But here also are stretches of uncleared forest with trees of all heights and sizes, frequently some with handsome

red or violet colored flowers standing out boldly amid a mass of dark green.

The garden at Peradeniya is only one of a number on the island. It is, however, the largest and most important. Here are the offices of the director of the gardens, whose duties correspond to those of a government secretary of agriculture. Other gardens and experiment