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need for any apology." There is, however, a uant 

 of a pencil, or a place to hold one, which is some- 

 what noticeable. I don't know that there is any 

 need to add more on this new venture. The pub- 

 lishers seem to have somewhat lacked confidence 

 in it when tlae introductory note was being drawn 

 up, for they say " In now issuing tlie little work we 

 are conscious of many imperfections — to be re- 

 medied perhapx in a second edition should such 

 be called for." I have a great deal more faith in 

 its future than that ; for, although to Mr. li. B. 

 Arthur of Dikoya has been awarded the honour 

 of suggesting the work, I incline to dispute his 

 right as it has been a pet project of mine for a 

 long time, and early in May last year I suggested 

 in your own columns' that in the series of plant- 

 ing manuals issued by the Observer press there was 

 an unoccupied niche for " a Plantmg Moleswortli." 

 "He kens his ain groats amang other folks' kail" 

 you will be inclined to say after this httle bit of 

 purely personal matter. Peppekcoen. 



[To " Peppercorn " certainly belongs the sug^ 

 gestion of the title "Planting ^Jolesu■orth''\ and- 

 we are sorry to find we omitted to make acknow 

 lodgement for this and aid generally. — Ed.] 



Grass under Trees. — When difficulty is experienced 

 in keeping grass green under trees in optn woods, parti- 

 cularly pine woods where the shade is continuous the 

 year round, sow a little nitrate of soda occasionally 

 throughout the growing season when the weather is moist. 

 This will bring a fine crop of verdure pleasing to the 

 eye and agreeable to cattle. — Jocriml of Forcslri/. [A 

 hint for owners of coconut plantations?— Ed.] 



Liquid Manuue. — Topreja e a strong liquid manure, 

 fill a tub with water, iutj which throw fresh cow 

 manure, pigeon's or fowl's manure, guano, bone-dust, 

 &c. , either one or more of these matters may be used. 

 The vessel should not be covered, but the air should 

 have free acf-e^s to the liquid. It should also be 

 stirred up from time to time. As soon as fermentation 

 sets in, it is ready for use. It should be poured through 

 a sieve into the watering can, and applied to the plants 

 in the morning or eveuinj:. It is advisable to dilute 

 this with water if it sh( uld be too concentrated, as 

 then it is injurious. Experience and observation of its 

 effects will soon teach wbtther it is too strong or not. 

 — Rural Australian. 



P.U)DY Cultivation in the Galle Distkict, — 

 Some time ago we mentioned that Mr. William 

 Jansz obtained some seed paddy from Batticaloa 

 with the object of improving the cultivation of 

 the grain in the Southern Province. The result 

 of his experiment has just been communicated 

 to us. In November last one bushel was sown 

 in a field at Halpatotte near Baddegamraa, under 

 the supervision of Mr, L. Christie, the Superin- 

 tendent of Gordon tea estate. The land selected 

 was not very advantageou.^. A crop had been 

 taken from it scarcely sis weeks before, and there 

 was no time for it to be fallow. In addition to 

 this, there -svere other adverse circumstancea, A 

 portion of the crop was destroyed by cattle, and 

 the seed which had been sent from Batticaloa 

 had got mixed, as when a portion of the i^addy 

 had ripened, it >ya3 observed that a second and 

 more luxuriant crop was coming up. It was 

 decided not to cut the first crop with the view 

 rf preserving the second, >Yith the result that the 

 former, as also a third crop, were wasted, show- 

 ing that three kinds of seed maturing in three 

 periods had got intermixed. The second crop yielded 

 llli bushels to one bushel, while not one of the 

 neighbouring fields sown with ordinary grain gave 

 half the quantity. Mr. Jansz is now assured 



hat but iox tbe adyerse civcumstances above 



referred to, ho would have obtained 25 to 30 

 bushels to the bushel. The experiment wac 

 closely watched by the Sinhalese agriculturists 

 of the neighbourhood, who were very doubtful of 

 its success and did not therefore care to try it 

 on their own account. They have now spontaneously 

 come forward in praise of the new cultivation, 

 as several letters addressed to Mr. Jansz in Sin- 

 halese will show. We may add that the paddy 

 thus grown has no beard like the ordinary Sin- 

 halese paddy. It closely resembles the grain im- 

 ported from Rangoon and Chittagong, and its 

 increased cultivation will, no doubt, tend to benefit 

 a large section of the native population in the 

 South. Mr. Elliott, the experienced Government 

 Agent of this Province, was the first to recognize 

 the utility and encourage the adoption of Mr. 

 Jansz's scheme. He at once ordered a supply of 

 the seed to be7;distributed amongst some of the 

 District Mudaliyars, and the result of the trials 

 made by them will, no doubt, be reported in due 

 course. In the present instance Mr. Jansz was 

 careful to avoid high manuring, only the ordinary 

 methods of cultivating the grain were adopted. 



Preparation of Parchment Coffee in Europe. 

 — We quote as follows from the Singapore Free 

 Press .—38, Mincing Lane, E. C. 13th Nov. 1886.— Dear 

 Sir, — Kefm-iiug to the conversation I have had the 

 pleasure of having with you a few days ago, there are 

 two bonded wharves in L' ndon where suitable machin- 

 ery has been put up for ppeling and sizing coffee in 

 parchment, viz., " Red Lion Wharf" and "Metropo- 

 litan Wharf." I have had several opportunities of seeing 

 coffee worked at both places, and have no hesitation 

 in saying that both do their work exceedingly well. In 

 addition to the experiments I mentioned to you, where 

 E. Indian coffee has realized 4s to 5s per cwt. nett more, 

 when prepared in London, Costa Kica, New Grenada, 

 and Guatemala, from 8s to 12s per cwt more, I have 

 had a parcel of Liberian imported in parchment from 

 Johore treated at Red Lion Wharf and the result has 

 been a pale yellowish coftVe much better looking than 

 the ordinary dull brown and greenish Liberian and I 

 have sold the same in public auction at 57s 6d for the 

 large size and 5'2s 6d for the bulk, instead of 49s to 

 50s the price of ordinary Liberian. I would not, how- 

 ever, recommend sending Liberian in parchment to be 

 worked in London, as the parchment is very coarse and 

 heavy and there mu-t be a much greater loss from the 

 weight of the parchment, than with the Ceylon Libe« 

 rian, for instance. For plantation coft'ee, such as is ex- 

 hibited from the Perak Experimental Hills, smne of 

 which appears to have suffered from damp or in pre- 

 paration, I cannot help thinking that it would be of 

 great advantage to seuil the parchment to London. 

 I assume, of course, that the coffee has been picked at 

 the right time, that it has been pulped at once and 

 carefully, and that the clean parchment has been 

 properly dried ; tho^c conditions are absolutely necec' 

 sary, and, if they are observed,! h.ive little doubt that 

 the parchment will hiive been found to have preserved 

 the colour and quality of the berry in a remarkablu 

 manner, and that the result will prove to be very satis ^ 

 factory to the planter. The extra freight to be paid 

 on the parchment may perhapj be Is per cwt. whilst the 

 cofftewill probably realise oa or more in excess of 

 what it would have done ctherwise, I may add thai 

 the whole of the plantation Java crop (from 250 tu 

 300,000 bags) cornea now to Holland regularly in parch- 

 ment ; some of our Dutch friends have tried London 

 lately with a few parcels of parchment and have ex- 

 pressed themselves as highly pleased with the wiy 

 their coffee has been treated. Should you wish 'osee 

 the working of coff>'e, I shall be happy to arn n^e to 

 take you to one of the wharves on any day which may 

 suit you. I should have been glad to have sent you 

 a copy of one of my reports on coffee, but the report 

 belongs to tie Royal Commissioners and the (Society 

 of Arts, and, uutil it has been published by them, I 

 am precluded from making any use of it. I remaiy 

 <S.'c., IT, .P\gTKU«, 



Y, A, Swetteuhauj, Esc^. 



