Miscellaneous. 



570 



[June 1903 



be of lasting benefit to the island. (Hear, 

 hear.) What we have to do is considerable, 

 and mind you in this matter there must be 

 no cast-iron hurry. That would be a mis- 

 take. We must gradually bring home to our 

 vernacular speaking peasantry the advant- 

 ages of scientific agriculture, and open a door 

 for their advancement in this particular and 

 in the general conditions of life. If in the 

 few years that I am here any progress can 

 be made in this direction, I shall not think 

 that I have altogether been unsuccessful at 

 all events in one branch of my administra- 

 tion. With these few remarks I beg to put 

 to the meeting the proposal which has been 

 moved and seconded that the Report be 

 adopted. 



His Excellency called on Dr. Willis to 

 read a ' ' Memorandum on Alkali and Water- 

 logging in Irrigated Lands." 



Dr. Willis explained that Mr. Smith 

 had written the paper at his req\iest in con- 

 sequence of representations made to him 

 by rice cultivators in the Hambantota Dis- 

 trict of their crops suffering from the causes 

 pointed out. 



(The paper appears on page 549 of this 

 number.) 



Dr. J. C. Willis offered a few remarks 

 about the neutralisation of salts. Plants 

 which would not stand common salt only, 

 would if the salt were mixed with others 

 do better. 



Mr. M. Kelway Bamber remarked that 

 it would be well worth investigating these 

 salts to find what they actually were. 

 Travelling about in the North, thought the 

 area suitable for cultivation was not very 

 large as far as he had seen. It was only on 

 lands near the sea they were likely to get 

 these salts. 



Mr. F. M. Mackwood : — Mr. Willis in his 

 remarks said that alfalfa was the English 

 lucerne. I thought it was a Mexican plant. 

 If it is the English lucerne, it will not be of 

 any use to us in Ceylon. 



Dr. Willis : — Alfalfa will not do well 

 below 5,000 feet. Above 5,000 feet you get 

 it as a fodder plant at Nuwara Eliya. It 

 must be often weeded. But we have local 

 plants which might be used instead of it. 



Mr. Mackwood : — How does it come to 

 have the name alfalfa ? 



Dr. Willis : — In England it is known as 

 the lucerne. There it is hardly cultivated. 

 In America where it is cultivated in large 

 quantities it is known as alfalfa. 



Mr. Bambeb remarked that if tobacco 

 was to be tried in the neighbourhood of any 

 of those lands they might grow dadaps as 

 73 



well which would come in useful. In Su- 

 matra they grew a large quantity of dadaps 

 on land where they tried tobacco. 



Hon. Mr. Ferguson said he thought they 

 were indebted to Mr. Macmillan for a paper 

 [reproduced in full in this issue] of special 

 interest to the community at large. The only 

 omission he noticed was Erythrina indica 

 which grew freely in certain Colombo Gar- 

 dens, Dr. Willis could doubtless tell them 

 why it was omitted. 



Dr. Willis said it would not make a 

 good shade tree owing to its large brittle 

 wood, which constituted a danger to passing 

 horses. He mentioned an instance of an un- 

 suitable shade tree which had been planted 

 in another Colony. Owing to its large fruits 

 it constituted a danger to traffic, and so all 

 the trees had to be cut down. 



H.E. the Governor said he was sure 

 they all felt indebted to the writers of the 

 papers — one a professional and one a layman 

 — and that cordial thanks were due to them. 



Hon. Mr. Ferguson moved a vote of thanks 

 to His Excellency for presiding — carried by 

 acclamation. 



H.E.'S REPLY. 



H.E. the Governor :— I think I am con- 

 veying the opinion of the meeting when I 

 thank the two gentlemen who prepared the 

 papers for our discussion to-day very much 

 indeed. The papers were extremely interest- 

 ing and were of the nature which I alluded 

 to just now, one from an expert and the 

 other by a layman. I should very much 

 like to see this followed in all papei's which 

 are read at the Society. 



THE CULTIVATION AND CURING OF 

 TOBACCO AS FOLLOWED NEAR DIN- 

 DIGUL, MADURA DISTRICT. 



By C. Benson, m.r.a.c, 

 Deputy Director of Agriculture. 



The land chosen for tobacco cultivation is 

 a light loam, either red or ash-coloured, 

 resting on a gravelly sub-soil. It is therefore 

 naturally well drained. Great stress is laid 

 on the quality of the well water and a pecu- 

 liar brackish character is specially desired, 

 and great differences in the quality of the 

 produce of otherwise similar gardens are 

 almost universally attributed to the quality 

 of the water. As the ryots endeavour to 

 get as much produce out of their land as 

 possible, a grain crop is usually harvested 

 during September, and when this is cut, the 

 tobacco crop follows ; and in some cases two 

 grain crops even are taken yearly besides 



