February, 1910.] 



161 



Miscellaneous. 



Meston plough improved at Sivagiri, 

 Mr. Lonsdale thinks the improved 

 Meston is more rigid and steady. They 

 both cost the same, i.e., Rs. 6," 



Cotton. 



The half ton of Sea Island cotton seed 

 received from the British Cotton Growing 

 Association was all sold, and a late 

 application for sowing 120 acres could 

 not have been met. 



Mr. Arno Schmidt, representing the 

 interests of the British Cotton Growing 

 Association, was here in the middle of 

 January, and looked into the question 

 of resuming ginning operations in 

 Colombo. It is probable that the ginnery 

 in Darley Lane will soon be again 

 working. 



A correspondent reports that a crop of 

 cotton raised in the Province of Uva, 

 consisting of 9,000 lb. seed cotton, gave 

 only 2,500 lb. of lint, the rest being seed 

 and waste. The cotton has been well 

 reported on, but is, of course, of too 

 small a quantity to command a ready 

 sale. The writer states that he has 

 " any amount" of seed, for which he will 

 be glad to get a sale. 



Plants, Sbed, &c. 

 A hundredweight of seed ginger has 

 been received from the Agricultural 

 Department of Madras, and is available 

 to members at 35 cents per lb. The 

 following note on preserving the 

 Rhizomes will be of interest to growers :— 



" A pit big enough to hold the quantity 

 to be preserved is dug in the ground 

 very near the wall of the house, not in a 

 perpendicular way, but slanting towards 

 the wall. The pit should not be exposed 

 to the sun and rain. After the pit is 

 dug the quantity of ginger is put into it, 

 not at one time. Put one-fourth of the 

 quantity at first, and then sprinkle some 

 loose mud on it. Only a very thin layer 

 of mud should be put. Then put another 

 one-fourth and put mud as before, and 

 repeat the process till the whole is thus 

 put into the pit. This is, they say, for 

 preventing the excess of heat. Then 

 cover the pit with planks of wood and 

 thoroughly cover it with mud. The pit 

 should so closely be covered as not to 

 allow ants and other insects to enter 

 into the pits The pit may be dug very 

 near the bottom of a high levelled place, 

 but it is becter to have it very near the 

 house, in which case the roof will prevent 

 it from being exposed to the rain and 

 excessive heat. The seed is to be pre- 

 served very soon after harvest, which 

 means that it should not be allowed to 

 get dry." 



21 



A consignment of seeds has just come 

 to hand from the Sivagiri Home Farm, 

 consisting of one bag (50 Madras 

 measures) of Budshabog seed paddy, one 

 bag of Tephrosia purpurea seed, one bag 

 Kuderavali (Panicum frumentaceum), 

 and an interesting collection of paddy 

 samples, with a note on the time of 

 sowing, harvesting, yield, &c. 



A permanent collection of the agri- 

 cultural products of the Eastern Tropics 

 has been gradually worked up during 

 the last year or two, and already a very 

 interesting lot of local specimens sent 

 by Agricultural Instructors has been 

 secured. With the samples now being 

 obtained from India, the Society will 

 soon have the necessary materials for an 

 Agricultural Museum, of which there is 

 now the nucleus at the Government 

 Stock Garden. A selection of these 

 exhibits will be a feature of future 

 Agricultural Shows. 



The Director of Agriculture, Bengal, 

 has forwarded a fairly large collection 

 of cereals, oil seeds, dyes, tans, spices, 

 drugs, and fibres of that Province. 

 A useful catalogue accompanies the 

 collection. 



Sericulture. 



Another communication has come to 

 hand from a foreign firm interested in 

 Eri silk. They write : " We duly received 

 at the time your small shipment of Eri 

 cocoons, but the quality was not so good 

 as the first sample we received from 

 you, and we were obliged to select the 

 200 lb. in two parts to work separately 

 the white and brown cocoons. The 

 brown cocoons are not worth so much as 

 the white ones. We are spinning now 

 two qualities separately, but we could 

 not give you any results till now, for it 

 takes a long time to make these trials. 

 When we have yarn, we will have to 

 make trials in dyeing and see what we 

 can do with it. But we will not wait 

 any longer, and will settle with you the 

 200 lb. received. We will pay for them 

 fr. 3 per kilo, that is, kilos 90 at fr. 

 3=frs. 270 = 25-25=£10-14, which amount 

 will be paid to you through the Colombo 

 Branch of the Hong Kong and Shanghai 

 Banking Corporation. We make a large 

 difference in the value of the white and 

 brown cocoons, and the two qualities 

 might be kept separately. We cannot 

 tell to-day if for the future we can pay 

 fr. 3 per kilo for the two qualities as our 

 trials are not finished yet, and we do 

 not kuow the results we shall have with 

 the 5'arn. We shall inform you as soon 

 as possible of the definitive results." 



The Indian Imperial Entomologist 

 writes ;— " A trial on a large scale is in 



