700 EXPEKIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the chairman, H. J. Webber, and dealt at length with methods of pedigree breed- 

 ing recommended for use in breeding cotton. 



Several other connnittee reports were read by title. 



Dry Farming' Congress. — The Trans-Missouri Dry Farming Congress was or- 

 ganized at Denver, January 24, with an attendance of about .300 delegates and 

 over 700 visitors. A two-day session had been planned, but the interest mani- 

 fested was such as to prolong the convention an additional day. Addresses were 

 delivered by representatives of this Department and a number of the western 

 agricultui'al colleges and experiment stations, Governor Buchtel of Colorado, 

 and many others, on various aspects of dry farming, such as cultural metBods. 

 irrigation, stock raising, and related problems. Resolutions were adopted advo- 

 cating the establishment of experimental and demonstration farms, and the dis- 

 tribution of accurate information by the National and State governments. 

 Fisher Harris, of Utah, was elected president, and it was decided to hold the 

 next convention at Salt Lake. 



Botany and Agriculture in Ceylon. — The development of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens at Ceylon, their work for agriculture, and the establishment of experi- 

 ment stations are described by Dr. J. C. Willis, director of the gardens, in a 

 recent issue of Science Progress (1006, No. 2. pp. 30S-.324). 



These gardens were established as early as ISIO. and along with their system- 

 atic studies did a good deal of economic work under their early directors upon 

 such plants as cinchona, tea, coffee, rubber, and cacao. During the last 10 years, 

 the writer says, they " have grown entirely beyond the conception of botanic gar- 

 dens, and have become practically a department of agriculture, though the name 

 of 'botanic gardens' is still retained, and the work of purely botanic gardens 

 is still carried on among many new lines of work." An entomologist was 

 attached to the gardens in 1899, and a mycologist two years later. More i"e- 

 centl,y a chemist has been appointed and laboratories provided. 



The work of these specialists has bi-ought about a complete change of attitude 

 on the part of British planters, who had previously followed the plan of con- 

 cealing any outbreak upon their plantations. " So far has opinion turned in 

 the opposite direction from that which it formerly occupied, that the newspapers 

 of Ceylon are now among the first to draw attention to any slight outbreak of 

 disease, and to call for the help of the mycologist or the entomologist." 



Two experiment stations have also been established where culture experi- 

 ments are conducted on a larger scale, one in connection with the gardens at 

 Peradeniya and the other at Maha-iluppalama. The former is in the " wet " 

 zone of Ceylon and in the European planting districts. Its experiments are 

 mainly with cacao, rubber, tea, citronella, and groimd nuts, and with lemon 

 grass as a possibly paying new product. It has 20 acres in tea, 15 acres in 

 lemon grass, and other crops in proportion. The station at Maha-iluppalatna 

 *' lies in the almost uninhabited ' dry ' zone of Ceylon," and the experiments have 

 been mainly with cotton, which they indicate may be made a crop of considei*- 

 able value to Ceylon. 



The work of the stations also extends to the mantenance of soil fertility, 

 methods of harvesting various crops, preparation for market, etc. " Much 

 valuable work has been done upon the different ways of preparing the best 

 quality of marketable I'ubber, upon the best ways of distilling oil of citronella 

 or of lemon grass, upon the best ways of fermenting and drying cacao, and 

 similar problems." From being looked upon somewhat askance, the stations 

 are now appreciated and looked to for aid, and " ai'e beginning to foster that 

 most desirable spirit among the plantei's. the experimental habit of mind." 



o 



