392 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



After deducting the farm's own requirements 

 for the following season, the seed is sent to 

 Calcutta, where it is cleaned, tested and stored 

 in rat-proof bins specially designed for keeping 

 the seed clear and dry. 



The storing was the first step. In all trans- 

 actions it was decided that local rates would be 

 charged, the Government bearing all the ex- 

 penses incurred by rent of depot and the charge 

 for running the establishment. The buyer, 

 therefore, gets all the benefit of tested seed of 

 a known variety at usual rates. 



In all 1,0735 maunds or 88,354 lb. of seeds 

 were distributed during 1907— without includ- 

 ing sugarcane cuttings. On an average a quarter 

 of a maund of sood will give sufficient seedlings 

 to transplant one acre of rice and | maund is 

 sufficient for broadcast cultivation, and we sup- 

 plied 144 maunds of seed, i.e., sufficient for 314 

 acres. The area for 1907 in Bengal under rice 

 (aman and aus) was 24,291,000 acres. Therefore 

 the field is vast enough for many private under- 

 takings. Next, 266 maunds of jute seed was 

 distributed and the area under jute in 19:J7 for 

 Bengal alone was 931,100 acres'. Now 4| seers 

 of seed are required per acre, therefore we were 

 responsible for 2,364$ acres. 



We must state here, however, that we have 

 not yet reached the humb'e raiyat himself, as 

 most of the demands came from big zemindars, 

 either Indian or European. It will take more 

 time to induce the raiyat to leave off his custom 

 of buying from mahajan at cruelly high rates 

 or of using the seed of the poorest plants of his 

 field, and still more time to prove to him that 

 there is such a thing as improvement. It is 

 only by gradually instructing him, by object- 

 lessons, in our future demonstration farms, that 

 he will venture in unknown paths. General 

 education will have come to the rescue ; not the 

 academical one which has been so fertile in 

 inundating Bengal with clerks, butthe practical 

 teaching of natural fact undertaken in a genial 

 manner. Why should there not be itinerant 

 teachers who would, like in Norway and Fin- 

 land, go from village to village assembling- 

 children and grown-up people when work in the 

 fields is slack to do this pioneer work — teachers 

 taken from among the raiyats themselves and 

 taught. 



The cost of running the seed store for 1907 

 was : _Rent Rs. 2,400 ; establishment Us. 1,362, or 

 atotal of Rs. 3,762. If pessimists see in this outlay 

 of money made by Government for agricultural 

 improvement a waste of public money let them 

 ponder over what other smaller nations have 

 done in this direction at far greater sacrifices 

 and let them hear ' he results. Sweden, with a 

 population of 5£ ynillions, gives for seed im- 

 provement and distribution to the institute of 

 Svalof alone ayearly subsidy of Rs. 24,090. Ihe 

 members of the Institute or members of the 

 Agricultural Associations give yearly subscrip- 

 tion fees amounting to Rs. 3,375. Three years 

 ago, when it was decided to erect new buildings 

 for the institute with the latest up-to-date 

 fittings, the sum of Rs. 569,455 was spent for that 

 purpose. 



Besides seeds we store at the godown a few 

 manures for the use of cultivators who may obtain 

 small quantities at the lowest market ra,tes. 



We must state here, however, that artificial 

 manures are not yet appreciated by the raiyats, 

 and except by experimental stations and a few 

 planters very little seems to be used in Bengal, 



— Bengal Agriculturist, February 1. 



CAMPHOR. 



I was pleased to read, iu the " Ceylon Direc- 

 tory " that the growth of camphor is being en- 

 couraged in your island, because there can be 

 no doubt, but much of it will be required 

 for smokeless powder, before all the wars 

 which present day prophets are predicting 

 are satisfactorily finished. But there is au- 

 other use, that, I think, the camphor tree 

 might be put to, namely, as a preventative 

 against the attack of insects on othor shrubs. 

 It is well-known that the wood is pervaded 

 with camphor and that insects will not at- 

 tack it. How would it do, therefore, to 

 plant camphor and tea, or camphor and 

 coffee alternately and trust to the for- 

 mer protecting the latter from the numerous 

 poochies that attack these to the sorrow of 

 all planters. Cabbage plants, as a rule, 

 suffer from insects, which simply ruin them, 

 but if those are put in alternately with 

 lettuce plants, they are left severely alone, 

 as the laudanum iu the lettuce is not to the 

 taste of the cabbage fly.— Cosmopolite. 



CAMPHOR CULTIVATION. 



April 8th. 



Sir, — I have noticed a few branches dying 

 back on some of my old camphor trees and 

 have seen some 5-year-old bushes that have 

 snuffed out ui a jcountably. There may be some 

 local cause iu the soil or through adjacent 

 poisonous roots ; but later on, the Peradeniya 

 Staff should look into the matter aud make 

 an investigation. — Yours truly, 



PLANTER. 



PLANTATION VESRUS WILD PARA. 



M. G. Lamy-Torrilhon, of the great French 

 india rubber manufacturing firm, gives in the 

 " Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale" his opinions 

 regarding the vexed question of cultivated v. 

 wild Para rubber. 



His conclusions do not differ markedly from 

 those which have been reached by every im- 

 partial observer. After pointing to the pre- 

 ference given by manufacturers, apart from the 

 question of loss on washing, to the wild Para 

 rubber, he attributes the deficiencies of the 

 plantation product (1) to the non-observance of 

 the South American system of curing, and (2) to 

 the comparatively young age of the Eastern trees. 



When these two defects are remedied— the 

 first by the introduction of Brazilian methods 

 (in so far as they are good) and the second by 

 the natural efflux of time, he thinks that culti- 

 vated rubber will have a very strong position. 



M. Lamy-Torrilhon does not seem to be struck 

 with the wet block process, but advocates the 

 simultaneous smoking and coagulation of the 

 latex. — India Rubber Journal, March 23. 



