462 



[December, 1912. 



THE WORK OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE FOR 1911. 



The report of Prof. Wyndham Dunstan, Director of the Imperial 

 Institute, for the year 1911, is chiefly occupied with a summary of investi- 

 gations made by the Scientific and Technical Department. 



The work of the Institute may be said to be carried on under four 

 principal divisions :— (1) The Colonial and Indian collections. (2) The Re- 

 search work laboratories. (3) The Reference Library, and (4) The Bulle- 

 tin of the Institute. 



A course of instruction in tropical agriculture is now provided for 

 candidates selected by the Colonial Office for administrative appointments 

 in the African colonies. 



The Court devoted to Ceylon products has recently been extended and 

 improved and a large number of important exhibits have been supplied 

 by the local Government, so that it is now a most satisfactory representa- 

 tion of the present position and resources of the Island. At the instance 

 of the Government and the Planters' Association a pavilion or Rest House 

 is being erected as an annexe to the Court. 



Under the head of Fibres a series of samples of cotton forwarded by 

 the Ceylon Agricultural Society are reported on. The remarks on Mitaffi, 

 Caravonica and Cambodia specimens are encouraging. Sun hemp from 

 the Northern Province was valued at £19-10 to £20 per ton (January, lyll). 



Under Rubber, reference is made to specimens of Para rubber received 

 from Heneratgoda in which the percentage of caoutchouc was found to be 

 uniformly high, ranging from 95*4 to 96*7 in the dry material : while those 

 from Gangaruwa gave 92'7 and 94 per cent. A sample of Manihot dichotoma 

 rubber (probably from Maha-iluppalama) was found of very fair quality 

 though rather deficient in strength, / 



Reference is also made to Me oil (Bassia longifolia) from the Central 

 Province and to tobacco grown at Jaffna and near Anuradhapuia. Tuxillo 

 Coca leaves from Ampitiya near Kandy were valued at Sd. per lb. 



The work of the Institute in developing the resources of the British 

 Colonies is of the utmost importance to the Empire, and we would here 

 take the opportunity of stating that the Society will gladly undertake to 

 forward specimens of tropical products to the Imperial Institute whether 

 sent for exhibition in the Ceylon Courts or for purposes of investigation. 



MAIZE IN AUSTRALIA. 



The Agricidtural Gazette of New South Wales (1911, 12, 1034) contains 

 an article on maize growing in New South Wales. It is stated that in 

 Australia the importance of the crop, and the uses to which it may be 

 put, have not yet been realised. Australia in 1909-10 produced 9,000,000 

 bushels of maize, of which New South Wales contributed 7,000,000 which 

 is used solely as a feeding-stuff for horses. In the same year the United 

 States produced 2,668,651,000 bushels, or 77 per cent, of the world's crop, 

 one of the chief uses of the grain in that country being to feed cattle and 

 swine,— Imperial Institute Bulletin, 



