February, 1910.] 



149 



Miscellaneous, 



quality, and if its cultivation is to be a 

 suc3ess here we will have to grow the 

 variety that suits our local conditions 

 best. 



Rubber is also being largely experi- 

 mented with, and the following varieties 

 are being tested : - 



PARA.— So far this is proving most 

 satisfactory, and many millions of trees 

 of this variety are being planted through- 

 out the island. 



Funtumia elastica : West African 

 rubber, is not doing too well, the plants 

 being liable to the attack of a leaf-eating 

 insect which completely defoliates them, 

 and in some cases kills the tree outright. 



Castilloa is doing well as far as growth 

 is concerned, but is found hard to tap. 



A new species of rubber, known as 

 Manicobar (Manihot dichotoma), a native 

 of Brazil, is showing considerable pro- 

 mise. It is said to stand dry weather 

 better than Para, and on the poor land 

 on which it was growing it was making 

 good progress. 'The oldest plants at the 

 nursery were only eighteen months old, 

 but were already 10 ft. high, and had set 

 a small crop of seed. A young plantation 

 of this variety has been set out 12 ft. by 

 12 ft. and 12 ft. by 6 ft. This is a variety 

 of rubber that should be tested in this 

 State, as if it proves to be able to stand 

 dry weather better than Para, it will be 

 a more suitable variety to grow. 



Tea, one of the staple industries of 

 Ceylon, receives considerable attention, 

 and many experiments are being con- 

 ducted in manuring and pruning. The 

 most satisfactory manure is to green 

 manure with a species of Crotalaria. 

 Lemon grass, citrouella grass (two 

 species), cocaine, eroton oil, tobacco, and 

 many other tropical plants are being 

 tested and experimented with on com- 

 mercial lines ; in brief, the work that is 

 being carried out at Peradeniya is some 

 of the most important and interesting 

 that I saw; and the results obtained by 

 the experiments that are carried out 

 there will be of considerable value to us. 



Most of the fruits that are grown in 

 the Federated Malay States are grown 

 in Ceylon ; bananas, coconuts, and 

 papaws being very plentiful. Rice is 

 the staple food crop of the natives, and 

 is grown from the flat swampy country 

 near the coast to hillsides at a consider- 

 able elevation. The hillside cultivation 

 is simply marvellous, as the whole face 

 of the hill is terraced, the terraoes, often 

 only a few feet in width, following the 

 contour Hirea of the hill. The whole is 



irrigated, the water entering at the top 

 and passing from terrace to terrace till 

 the whole hillside is flooded, a feat in 

 irrigation engineering that it would be 

 hard to beat in any part of the world. 

 I thought I had seen a little irrigation 

 in California and other mrts, but I have 

 to admit that the Sinhalese coolie 

 eultivatoi^s opened my eyes by the 

 manner in which they irrigated a steep 

 hillside from top to bottom. 



Ceylon produces a few citrus fruits, 

 but they are of inferior quality, and I 

 think it possible that a small market for 

 really first-class fruit could be obtained. 

 However, we are in a bad position with 

 regard to Ceylon, as to get there our 

 fruit has to go all round the Southern 

 coasts of Australia, whereas we can ship 

 practically direct to Singapore, so that 

 1 consider that the latter is the best 

 market for us to go for. 



I left Ceylon on 2lst December and 

 reached Brisbane on 14th January of 

 this year. 



GREEN DRESSINGS AND THEIR 

 APPLICATION. 



II, The Eppct on the Soil. 



(From the Agricultural News, Vol. VIII., 

 No, 190, p. 241, August, 1909.) 



In cases where the plants which are 

 intended to provide green dressiugs are 

 to be turned into the soil on which they 

 are raised, as is the common practice, 

 the first effect which has to be considered 

 is that arising from the circumstance 

 that they have been grown on that soil. 



Under favourable conditions, the burial 

 of plants of any kind will add humus to 

 the soil, thus improving the tilth, with 

 the well-known additional benefit, in 

 the case of legumes, of the increase of its 

 nitrogenous content. There are in=> 

 stances, however, where the special 

 circumstances surrounding the raising 

 of the crop prevent the acquisition of 

 these benefits. In a light, open soil 

 having a small water-holding capacity 

 and liable to suffer from drought, the 

 lowering of the water-content may act 

 so disastrously on the succeeding crop aa 

 to make it impossible for it to attain a 

 condition in which it may benefit by the 

 presence of the additional plant food 

 which has been provided for it. Then, 

 too, repeated raising and ploughing-iu 

 of green mauures on the same soil, 

 as the sole attempt to keep it in 

 condition, will lead to the temporary 



