Sept. i, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



161 



AGEICULTUR.IL CHEMLSTEY. 



The following is the simple result of a comparison 

 of a large number of analyses of soils— good and 

 bad — and plants grown on different soils, to deter- 

 mine what was necessary for ordinary field crops. 



All the fertile soils contain the following : — 



First Silica, or sand. 



Second — Alumina or clay. 



Third— Oae oxide, either of iron or of magnesia. 



Fourth — One alkaline earth, either lime or magnesia. 



Fifth— Oua alkali, either pota«h or soda. 



Sia-th — One mineral acid, either muriatic or sul- 

 phuric, or phosphoric. 



/S'eufnf/;— Vegetable acid.j or decomposed [vegetable 

 matter. 



And in all fertile soils, the fourth and fifth were 

 in such quantities as to neutralize the sixth and 

 seventh. The poor soils either wanted some of the 

 necessary ingredients, or had an excess of acid or 

 alkali. And in all such cases there was an excess 

 of acid, except in one soil there was anjexces3 of 

 soda. — Nilfjin Express. 



♦ 



AGEICULTURAL NOTES IN THE CEYLON 

 LOWCOUNTEY. 



You correctly interpreted my feelings when 

 announcing that the worthy Director of Public 

 Instruction had anticipated my suggestion that Agri- 

 cultural instruction be imparted to the villagers. 

 I was very glad at the announcement, and hereby 

 presume, on behalf of the poor goiija:!, to tender 

 to Mr._ Green my best thanks for the interest he 

 takes in a body of men in whom his brother 

 officials in the Revenue line interest themselves 

 only to exact taxes in good and bad years alike. 

 If all officials take as great an interest in the 

 natives of this country as Mr. Green, it will be a 

 happy day for Ceylon. 



I would humbly suggest to him that his scheme 

 can be made more comprehensive without any extra 

 expenditure. An Agricultural Instructor will have his 

 time haug very heavy on his hands in directing the 

 cultivation of four acres of land in any one spot. 

 Besides, the efficient cultivation of four acres of land 

 by the senior boys of any school will be a task that 

 it will not be wise to attempt, for failure will have 

 a very pernicious effect on a people so conservative 

 as the (joipas admittedly are, and who cling so tena- 

 ciously to time-honoured customs. My suggestion is 

 that three schools be selected round each centre, 

 and within, say, a day's reach of it, and that to each 

 school be attached about one acre of land. An acre 

 of land will be within the resources of any one village 

 school to cultivate with its senior boys, while the 

 juH'or boys can be detailed to do the weeding — a 

 very npcessary operation in the successful cultivation 

 of paddy. The. Instructor can move about from school 

 to school with his Agricultural implpraeuts, and im- 

 part the neces-ary practical inst-uotion. It it be 

 not possible to cultivate all four plots in one sea- 

 son, two can be cultivated fov the Yalla and two 

 for the '^faha crop. By this system Mr. Green will 

 be able to impart the blessings of the proper cul- 

 tivation of thp soil more speedily through the island 

 than by seiectiug onlv six schools at a time. I hope 

 Mr. Green will see fit to consider this sugeestion. 

 Any information we may want as to the mechanical 

 improvement of our soils, or the use of suitable 

 manure to add to their fertility can be more cheaply 

 and readily purchased of an Agricultural Chemist. 

 Agriculture in Europe and Agriculture in this Island 

 are widely different. The main branch of Agriculture 

 there is the cultivation of cereals; here perennials. 

 In Europe all the available p'ant food in the soil 

 is taken up in turns by a rotation of crops; no 

 such thing is possible here. The rearing of stock 

 for breefHng and for the butcher, and for dairy 

 purposes is one of the principal sources of income 

 for the British farmer. There is no macket for it 

 here. The acquirement of all knowledge is en- 

 «1 



nobliug and useful, but in this utilitarian age, when a 

 j money value is placed on it, one may fairly ask 

 whether any branch of knowledge that does not yield 

 adequate results is not de<vrly bought.— Local 

 " Examiner." 



DEUGS AND DEUG SALES. 

 Whatever may be the results of the Colonial and 

 Indian Exhibition in developing the natural resources 

 of the British possessions, the fact of such resources 

 being brought under the very eyes of the English 

 public must result in some good. In scanning over 

 the trade reports of the London drug sales this is 

 brought forcibly to our mind, when we perchance read 

 that a certain drug is scarce in the market, and all the 

 time we know that the plant furnishing it is very 

 abundant in many of our colonies, and we cannot for 

 the life of us see why such and such a drug should 

 be scarce. Take, for instance, the article Cassia Fistula 

 which was reported in the middle of May to be of 

 " somewhat lean quality," and " very scarce," whea 

 only a few days previously we had seen quantities of 

 the finest, fattest pods imaginable in almost every 

 ^Yest Indian Colony at the " Colinderies," and more- 

 over, there are few trees having a wider range of 

 distribution over the tropics, either naturally or by 

 cultivation than the Cassia Fistula, for on account of 

 its handsome appearance, and its freedom in flowering, 

 it is much grown as an ornamental plant. Bentley 

 and Trimen, in their " Medicinal Plants," say of this 

 tree that "it is truly indigenous as well as much 

 planted in many parts of Peninsular India, Ceylon, 

 .Tava, and the Philippines, growing especially on the 

 lower hills, and ascending to 4,000 feet. In tropical 

 and sub-tropicle Africa it is now found apparently 

 wild in many places, and is possibly indigenous, though 

 usually a planted tree; it is frequent under such 

 circumstances in Egypt. In the New World it has no 

 doubt been introduced, and the beauty and fragrance 

 of its flowers has caused it to be a favourite tree for 

 planting in the West Indian Islands, especially Jamaica, 

 in Central America, and Brazil. The showy flowers 

 appear in May and June, and the large pods are 

 ripe in the following February or March." Considering 

 all thi<!, and considering the ease with which the 

 pods can be shipped, there should be no scarcity of 

 such an article. Again, under Anatto we read that 

 there was at the same drug sales as that quoted above, 

 a fair supply of Ceylon seeds and paste, but that the 

 latter had an "odour anythinar but fresh, which would 

 not render its use in cheese and butter-making 

 advisable." There was, however, at the sale a quantity 

 of good bright West Indian seed of new import. Here 

 again the exhibits at South Kensington, especially in 

 the West Indian Court, a'-e for the most part remark- 

 ably fine and bright, and if it be possible to send such 

 samples for exhibition, it should not only be possible, 

 but planters should consider it a necessity for their 

 own reputation, as well as for that of commerce 

 generally, not forgetting consumers in this countr'-, 

 to cultivate the very best products, and to prepar- 

 and pack them with the utmost care. — Burgoyne, cj-c, 

 Prices Current. 



[Ceylon could supply any quantity of Cassia fstvia 

 pods and anatto seeds, were there only a remunerative 

 market. Cassia fistula the Indip.n laburnum, now 

 becoming pretty common in Colombo flourishes on 

 the east side of our island and is particularly abundant 

 on the lower ranges of Haputale running down to the 

 Hambanto*^a terai and on the road from HaldamuUa 

 to Bilhool Oya. It is difficult to preserve this tree 

 and Alstonia scholuris, as the natives strip the bark 

 off both for medicine. — Ed.1 



Liverpool imported 4,800 tons of Para rubber in 

 1885, against 4,610 tons in 1884. The total ex- 

 ports of Para in 1885 to all parts of the world 

 amounted to 12,500 tons. The produce of Manihot 

 Glaziovii impored into Liverpool was only 85 tons 

 of most satisfacttory qiiality. — Nilgiri Express. 



