and Magaztne of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— February, 1912. 189 



To prevent coagulation within the interior 

 of the tube, water from the cup may be caused 

 to trickle through the tube by the small suc- 

 tion set up in the tube. The water thus flows 

 from the cup, and somewhat thins the latex 

 and causes it to flow freely to the pump. 



To the lower or other end of the tube there 

 is connected a simple pump, for choice a 

 single barrel type, capable of being operated 

 by means of the employment of a fulcrummed 

 lever, that is to say, by the action of moving the 

 lever up and down, the plunger of the pump is 

 also operated. 



The pump is provided at its lower portion 

 with an inlet and aa outlet ; the inlet in one 

 instance being connected to the latex tube 

 and the outlet being provided with a branch 

 leading to the latex receptacle. Each is pro- 

 vided with ball valves operating in opposite 

 directions, that is to eay, when suction is 

 created in the latex tube, the ball valve of the 

 inlet portion is pulled off' its seat, against a 

 stop. Simultaneously the ball valve of the out- 

 let is pulled against its seat, and after the down- 

 ward stroke of the plunger the ball valve of the 

 inlet is seated and the ball valve of the outlet 

 unseated. 



With this arrangement of ball valves, it be- 

 comes possible to disconnect the latex tube 

 from the inlet and connect it with the outlet, for 

 the purpose of irrigating the trees the whole of 

 the latex has been extracted therefrom. In this 

 case the outlet becomes the suction by the simple 

 process of unscrewing the ball valve connections 

 and reversing them. 



It has been found in actual practice that 

 it is of great importance that the rubber trees 

 should be irrigated after the latex has been 

 extracted therefrom, and, further, it is also of 

 great value to return the un-recoverable caout- 

 chouc globules, that is to say, the latex re- 

 siduum of the tree. 



Preparatory to inserting the plug valves in 

 the tree, a portion may be punched out of the 

 bark of the tree, that is to say, a disc portion, 

 by means of a separate punch ; or the plug 

 valve itself may be provided with a knife 

 edge for punching the bark of the tree. All 

 punchings from the bark of the tree should be 

 saved and restored within the tappings. — 

 Patent No. 22,632-1910, to William Olarkson, 

 Friars Park, Lesmahagow, Scotland,— India 

 Rubber Journal. 



THE COCONUT IN THE WEST INDIES. 



We have received a pamphlet issued by 

 authority of the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 for the West Indies (Dr Francis Watts, whose 

 name has been mentioned in connection with 

 the Directorship of Agriculture in Ceylon) deal- 

 ing with coconut cultivation. At the present 

 time when there may be said to bo a boom (not 

 the violent boom such as we have had in the 

 case of rubber, but the slow and steady boom) 

 in this crop, a handy and popular treatise on 

 the subject is most welcome. The information 

 embodied is clearly and shortly put, and a few 

 useful illustrations help to explain the text. 



Dr Watts in his preface remarks on the extra- 

 ordinary fact that the coconut has not been 



cultivated on any large scale in the Lower 

 Antilles with the exception of Trinidad, and 

 that it is only comparatively lately that estates 

 of any extent have been established; and be 

 goes on to suggest the opening up of groves in 

 many suitable localities in the coastal areas. 



The subject is dealt with under the following 

 heads : — Climate, Soil, Botanical Description, 

 Seed Selection, Nurseries, Preparation of band 

 and Planting, After Treatment, Periods of Bear- 

 ing, Yield, Diseases and Pests and their Treat- 

 ment, Commercial Products. 



A few points of interest are worth noting. 

 It is recommended that on average soils plan- 

 ting should be done not lass than 25 ft. apxrt, 

 on rich soils 30 or even 35 ft. The following 

 leguminous plants are recommended for green 

 manure -.—Crotalaria striata, Phaseofus munao 

 and P lunatus, Arachis hypogoea, Lanavalia 

 ensifotmis, Tephrosioi Candida and T purpurea. 



It is advised that a spaco of 6 or 8 ft. in 

 diameter be kept free from weeds and the 

 diameter of this increased as the tree grows. 



Under Yield we read that the tree begins to 

 produce as early as the end of the 4th year, but 

 usually in the 6th or 8th, while a good crop 

 should not be looked for till the 9th or 12th 

 year— the period depending largely on soil, rain- 

 tall and treatment. 



The chapters on Insect Pests are from the 

 pen of the Entomologist (Mr H A Ballou) while 

 the section dealing with fungoid diseases is by 

 Mr F W South, the Mycologist. The sucking 

 insect pwsts mentioned (to reter to them by their 

 popular names) are Bcurbon Aspidiotus, Coco- 

 nut Snow Scale, Coconut Mealy Bug, Glassy 

 Star Scale, Black Line Scale, and White Fly ; 

 the biting insects, Bassolis nophoroe and B. 

 isthmia ; boring insects, the Palm Weevil and 

 Giant Moth Borer, 



The fungoid diseases include budrot, root 

 disease, stem bleeding disease and leat disease. 



THE SOYA BEAN. 



The latest virtue claimed for the Soy Beau is 

 that it is a cure for diabetes. .-. We see in a mail 

 paper that two medical men Drs Friedenwald 

 and Buhrah have been treating a large number of 

 diabetic cases with soy bean. The patients 

 were first placed upon an unlimited diet, then 

 upon the usual diabetic diet, and, thirdly, 

 upon the same diet plus the soy bean, which 

 latter largely replaced the gluten of wheat bread 

 and in nearly every instance there was a marked 

 diminution in the glycosuria. Soya beans con- 

 tain practically no starch, and may be taken as 

 a vegetable by soaking them for about 16 hours 

 until the skins can be removed, after which 

 they are boiled in salt water or with bacon and 

 seasoned with pepper, salt and butter. When 

 the bean is not available the gruel flour is even 

 more serviceable, the percentage of protein in it 

 being almost one-third greater than the percen- 

 tage of protein in the whole bean, being due to 

 the removal of the fibrous hulls, which contain 

 but little protein. 



