448 Agricultur etc. — Personalnachrichten. 



notable features in Ceylon agricultural progress for the year, and 

 eighteen Supplements dealing in detail with the work of the separate 

 divisions oi the Ceylon botanical department. The iollowing notes 

 taken from Dr. Willis 's own resume will serve to indicate the chief 

 lines of work, but the füll reports should be consulted for details. 



Plant diseases have been kept well in hand, and an important 

 outcome ofthe work of the past few years has been the appointment of a 

 Sanitary Legislation Commission to frame suggestions for dealing with 

 outbreaks of pests and diseases by compulsory legislation. 



The garden at Badulla has been closed, and that at Henerat- 

 goda is to be transformed graduaily into an Experiment Station. Green 

 manuring, with Leguminosae etc. among tea, cacao, coconuts and other 

 crops has attracted great interest from the planters, owing to the work 

 at the experiinent stations, and is likely to become an important feature 

 in Ceylon agriculture. 



The experimental cultivation of ground-nuts having been successful 

 a large number of planters are trying the crop, and also natives under 

 the auspices of the local agricultural society. 



Cacao spraying as a preventive of canker on pods has been very 

 successful at the Peradeniya Experiment Station. In 1902 when taken 

 over, 96 per cent of the trees were cankered and the crop only about 

 V« cwt. per acre. Formerly it was 3 cwt. As the result of vigorous 

 measures the cankered trees have been reduced to 5 per cent., and the 

 crop increased to over 2 cwt. per acre. A new experiment Station has 

 been opened in the „dry"^ zone, and is the first Clearing by Europeans 

 in the north central part of the Island. Cotton has been given most 

 attention, and sea Island cotton has proved the most successful. Rubber 

 and other products are also being tried with good prospects of success. 



The care of rubber plantations affected with canker, and planting 

 of Sandbanks at the march of one of the rivers are amongst the more 

 important pieces of external work undertaken by the department. In 

 generale 1904 was a prosperous year for Ceylon agriculture, in spiie 

 of some depression in tea. Rubber is the most profitable crop and ex- 

 tension in rubber planting is going on rapidly. The area in rubber is 

 now probably about 25000 acres. Samples of Castilloa rubber have ob- 

 tained very high valuations and it is considered likely to succeed in 

 some districts. Casnarina montana has done well at Hakgala (6000 feet) 

 and is recommended for fuel, light, shade and timber at similar situations. 

 The export of black tea (152, 534, 503 Pd.) was by far the largest on 

 record. The area under tea however is not extending, and some has 

 been interplanted with rubber, and the production seems unlikely to in- 

 crease much further although more scientific cultivation and manuring 

 may augment the crop in some localities. W. 0. Freeman. 



An Stelle des verstorbenen Herrn Prof. Dr. L. Errera 

 wurde zu einem der Präsidenten des Organisations-Comites für 

 den Internationalen botanischen Congress, welcher in 1910 in 

 Brüssel tagen wird, Graf Ch. de Kerchove de Deuterghem er- 

 nannt. Der andere Präsident ist Herr Dr. Th. Durand, Director 

 des Botanischen Gartens in Brüssel. 



Ausgögeben: 31. Oktober i905. 



Commissions -Verlag: E. J. Brill in Leiden (Holland). 

 Druck von Gebrüder GottheUt, Kgl. Hofbuchdrucker in Cassel. 



