and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— April, 1912. 367 



WATER TESTS FOR CROPS. 



Many experiments have been made upon dif- 

 ferent kinds of crops and the amount of water 

 required to produce a pound of dry matter varies 

 greatly. These tests indicate that 200 lb. of 

 water will be necessary to produce a pound of 

 dry matter, while in other cases as high as 800 

 lb. or 900 lb. will be necessary. Such a variation 

 is due to the climatic conditions, locality, kind 

 of crop, and kind of soil. In the humid regions 

 less water is required than in the arid country, 

 and this fact partly explains why a greater 

 amount of water must be held in the soil in our 

 irrigated districts of the west. Wheat, in all 

 probability, will require less water, per pound 

 of dry matter, than oats ; and alfalfa requires 

 more than oats. If we assume that an average 

 crop requires 400 lb. of water to produce lib. 

 of dry matter, and iu the case of alfalfa, which 

 produced 4 tons per acre for the season, will re- 

 quire for the above average about 51,200 cubic 

 feet of water, or a depth of a little over 14in, over 

 the entire acre. This amount of water must be 

 hold in the soilparticles as free water available 

 for the plant growth. A good soil must be of 

 such a nature as to act as a reservoir and at the 

 same time supply the necessary chemical con- 

 stituents to the plant.— Western Mail, March 16. 



INTER-PLANTING RUBBER AND TEA. 



THE SYSTEM DYING OUT. 

 Interview with Mr. James Westland. 



An Observer representative spent a few days 

 of March as the guest of Mr. James Westland 

 at Gammadua, and in talking over planting 

 matters, Mr. Westland conducted the writer 

 over part of the above estate. While this section 

 of the country grows comparatively little rub- 

 ber, it is the opinion of Mr. Westland that the 

 day of interplanting rubber with tea, ir. waning, 

 and that another decade will see an end of the 

 present system. 



" While there are a number of features con- 

 nected with interplanting that might be good, 

 I don't believe it is conducive to the best pro- 

 duction of either rubber or tea, to interplant 

 them, especially in this district," said Mr. West- 

 land. 



Development and Labour. 



Mr. Westland called attention to the fast that 

 where the rubber was interplanted with tea one 

 or the other suffered more or less in develop- 

 ment, and it also made a great deal more work 

 and trouble to handle the two products in tap- 

 ping and plucking. 



" I am certain that tea in this part of the 

 country at least, would do much better without 

 any rubber planted amongst it," continued 

 Mr, Westland, and he went on to say that 

 it was very difficult to get enough labour to 

 take off thecrops when matured, and that when 

 the rubber was ready for tapping, and the 

 tea bushes matured for plucking, it was often 

 difficult to get sufficient coolies in the fields 



to handle both promptly. As a result the crops 

 were not what they should be when taken off. 

 Trees a Protection. 



What system may take the place of the old, 

 Mr. Westland does not prophesy, but he is cer- 

 tain the old is doomed, even in the extensive 

 rubber-growing districts. Of course, it is an 

 admitted fact that in high country like the 

 Matale district, where the monsoon tears across 

 the hills in gales at certain times of the year, 

 and often strips the tea bushes, that either rub- 

 ber trees or other effective shade trees, planted 

 among the tea, protects it from storms and 

 excessive rains. On the other hand, interplant- 

 ing is looked upon by a number of planters in 

 Ceylon with the same prejudice as Mr. Westland. 

 A Better System. 



While this view of interplanting may cause 

 surprise in some quarters, it is not the first time 

 complaints have been made that it is not the 

 most effective way of developing tea and rubber, 

 and more than one planter has been cudgeling 

 his brain to devise a newer and better systom of 

 development for his tea and rubber lands. 



AN AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT 

 FOR MAURITIUS 



The project of a Department of Scientific 

 and Experimental Agriculture, properly equip- 

 ped and manned, to assist and encourage not 

 only the sugar industry, bub also the develop- 

 ment of other products in Mauritius, appears to 

 be rapidly approaching realisation, according to 

 our Mauritius exchanges of Feb. 29th. The Gov- 

 ernor takes a personal interest in the project 

 and has drafted the details of the organisation of 

 the new Department, with the concurrence of the 

 two bodies at present concerned with the Agri- 

 cultural endeavours of the Colony, namely, the 

 Chamber of Agriculture and the Agronomic 

 Institute. The plan drawn up by the Governor 

 provides for a Director — whose nomination is to 

 be left to the Secretary of State for the Colonies 

 — an Agricultural Chemist and an Entomologist, 

 with a staff of four experienced officers to attend 

 to clerical and statistical work and to control ex- 

 perimental plantations. Nominations to fill up 

 all the posts except that of the Director have 

 already been made and these have met with the 

 approval of the planting community of the 

 Colony. The creation of the Department of 

 Agriculture entails the absorption of the follow- 

 ing existing departments, viz.: — The Agronomic 

 Station, the Statistics Department of the Cham- 

 ber of Agriculture, the Gardens of Curepipe, Le 

 Reduit and Paraplemousses ; but the Governor 

 safeguards the interest of such officers as the 

 creation of the new Department may affect and 

 provides for them on the staff of the new De- 

 partment. The revenue which will be available 

 to meet its upkeep will be a duty of two cents on 

 sugar and the present budget for the two Gar- 

 dens, plus tts. 6,000 to come from general reve- 

 nue, the whole amounting to Els. 60,000. The 

 Governor's project is expected to be submitted 

 forthwith for the approval of the Secretary for 

 the Colonies, and it is hoped he will adopt it. 



