and Magazine of the Oeylon Agricultural Society, — August, 1910. 



179 



THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS 

 IN 1909. 



MR. LOCK'S REPORT. 



The report of the working of the Botanical 

 Department for 1909 is from the pen of Mr. R 

 H Lock, who acted for Dr. Willis during prac- 

 tically the whole year — a year which, the writer 

 states, was (in the absence of the permanent 

 head) one of quiet progress rather than of 

 startling innovations. We will reproduce the 

 chief portions very shortly, but meanwhile will 

 review briefly its more significant features. 



The importance of the Peradeniya gardens as 

 a centre which offers facilities for the study 

 of Tropical Agriculture and Botany, has been 

 proved by the number of foreign scientific visi- 

 tors that have sojourned there; but this fact 

 has lately been emphasized by the selection of 

 Peradeniya for the training of officers appointed 

 to Agricultural posts in the British African 

 Colonies, e.g. Nyasaland, Sierra Leone, South- 

 ern Nigeria and Uganda. Apart from the work 

 that is being carried on at the Botanic Gardens 

 and experimental stations under the Depart- 

 ment, Peradeniya offers a specially suitable 

 vantage ground for the Tropical student who 

 wishes to learn the cultivation of tea, rubber, 

 cocoa, etc., as carried on by Ceylon planters. 



The Botanical and Horticultural work of the 

 Department has advanced considerably under 

 Mr H F MacMillan, Curator at Peradeniya, and 

 Mr J Knighton Nock (now — alas ! — no more) 

 Superintendent of Hakgala. The striking im- 

 pression, which the visitor carries away of these 

 two gardens, must be credited to the skill and 

 hard work of the two officers named. 



At the Experimental Gangaroowa Station, the 

 results of the special treatment of tea, coconuts 

 cocoa, pepper, otc, will atld to the useful data 

 that are being collected regarding these crops. 



At Maha-lllupalama, Mr C J C Mee, who did 

 excellent pioneer work and was associated 

 with the station from its inception, has been 

 succeeded by Mr G Harbord. Here much 

 valuable experience is being gained regarding 

 the growth of coconuts, rubber, cotton, sisal 

 hemp, &c, under the conditions which obtain 

 in the dry areas of the North-Central Province, 

 on the lands lying under the tanks. 



The Heneratgoda Gardens are generally asso- 

 ciated with experiments in the treatment and 

 tapping of rubber; but we would like to see 

 more made of these gardens, which are the most 

 accessible to Colombo, and where visitors will 

 find tropical flora under the most typical con- 

 ditions of heat and moisture. 



On the Scientific side we have interesting re- 

 ports from Mr, M. Kelway Bamber (Chemist), 

 Mr. E. E. Green (Entomologist) and Mr. T. 

 Petch (Mycologist.) Mr. Bamber writes of the 

 fertilisation of our chief crops, the value of 

 leguminous green manures, cover crops, the 

 fermentation of cocoa, and such subjects as fall 

 under his notice as chemist : but as Acting 

 Assistant Director, he has also much to say about 

 the experimental work going on at Gangaroowa. 

 Mr Groen gives full and valuable information. 



regarding the more important crop pests that 

 threaten the planting industry of the Island, 

 to wit, "shot-hole borer," the green bug on tea, 

 slug on rubber, helopeltis on cocoa, etc. It is 

 interesting to note that the Para rubber tree 

 is practically immune against insect attack, 

 the latex itself acting as its coat-of-mail. 

 Mr Petch has a good year's record of work to 

 show as the result of his study of tropical fun- 

 goid life. He has had much to occupy him in 

 canker, "Pinkdisease" and "Die-back" of rubber, 

 beside the diseases of cocoa and coconuts, and 

 the parasites and saprophytes on plants of less 

 importance. 



Mr Drieberg reports on the progress made 

 with School Gardens, of which there are now 

 over 200, scattered over the island. The 

 value of these gardens as training-grounds for 

 the rising generation in the villages, where 

 the childreu of the cultivator are brought 

 up to appreciate and make the most of their 

 rural surroundings, cannot be denied ; and in- 

 deed there is no more popular educational 

 movement at the present time than that asso- 

 ciated with school gardening and nature study. 



Altogether the report under review indicates 

 that a considerable amount of work of a complex 

 character is being carried on for the benefit of 

 agricultural population of the Colony, and it is 

 satisfactory to fiud that progress is apparent in 

 every phase of it. Some hold that, before very 

 long, with the increasing interest in agri- 

 culture, it will become necessary to create a 

 special Department to deal with this important 

 branch in the Colony's administration, which 

 so largely contributes to her revenue. The ele- 

 ments of such a Department we already have; 

 it is only necessary to co-ordinate all the parts 

 —including the Agricultural Society— into one 

 complete piece of machinery. But with more 

 attention on the part of the Government Agents 

 to the stimulation and improvement of Agri- 

 culture among the permanent population, and 

 increased activity from the Agricultural Society 

 aided by expert advice from Peradeniya, the 

 necessity for a pukka, Department, will be more 

 apparent than real. 



UNITED P. A. OF SOUTH INDIA. 



Mr Anstkad, who was cheered on rising, spoke 

 as follows ; — The most interesting problems to 

 be solved in the future of rubber-planting are 

 those in connection with improved methods of 

 coagulating the latex and curing the rubber, 

 and those bearing upon the possible relation of 

 fertilisers to latex yield. The former are pro- 

 blems which must be solved in the laboratory, 

 the latter in the yield. It has been stated that 

 nitrate of soda, applied at the rate of £ to \ lb. 

 per tree a few weeks before tapping is begun, 

 increase the yield of latex in Ceara, and I have 

 already arranged some field experiments on a 

 small scale to test this point. It is too early in 

 the season for any results to be available, 

 but they will be late before you through the 

 medium of the Planters Chronicle, as boon as 

 they are obtained. Another point of interest is 

 the possibility of obtaining a 



