270 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



OUR NORTH CENTRAL PROVINCE 

 EXPERIMENTS STATION. 



The Agricultural Experiment s Station at 

 Mahailuppalama is from its situation difficult of 

 access to visitors. It is about 12 miles from 

 Talawa Railway Station, and there are no hired 

 conveyances available at the latter place. From 

 Anuradhapura it is 21 miles distant. If the in- 

 tending visitor started by cart from the latter 

 place, it would take him 6 or 7 hours to reach 

 the Experiment Station. If he goes from Talawa 

 (assuming that a cart is available) the journey 

 would occupy him about i hours. So that to 

 go and return on the same day is out of the 

 question while it is not possible to stay over 

 a night — since there is no resthouse at Mahailup- 

 palama. Further, the cost of a cart journey 

 to and fro, in addition to train fare, is not 

 within the means of everyone. It thus happens 

 that, in spite of the good work being done at 

 the Experiment Station, it has only been seen 

 by a very few people who have special facilities 

 for visiting the place. The object of such 

 agricultural stations is to demonstrate to those 

 interested in agriculture the best and latest 

 methods and appliances in the cultivation of 

 land ; but if the work carried on by them is 

 neither seen nor understood by the agricultural 

 classes, they serve very little purpose. 



These, no doubt, are the considerations which 

 led the Secretary of the Ceylon Agricultural 

 Society to organise a trip to Mahaillupalama 

 last week, so as to take as large a party of those 

 interested in agriculture as possible to the scene 

 of the experiments. 



Such excursions- form part of the course of 

 agricultural students in England and Am- 

 erica, and are considered to be of the utmost 

 importance in their training. There every faci- 

 lity is given for arranging such excursions, by 

 Railway Companies and others who allow free 

 passes, &c. In the present instance the cost of 

 the excursion was borne by each individual con- 

 tributing his share in order to meet the neces- 

 sary expenditure that had to be incurred. The 

 difficulties in arranging the trip must have been 

 considerable, for there was at first no way of 

 arranging for suitable conveyances while in the 

 end some who were to go were prevented 

 from joining. That the excursion came off under 

 these circumstances is a matter for surprise. 



We have no doubt that the party learnt a 

 great deal on the occasion of their visit. At 

 Mahally they were met by Dr. Willis, Messrs. 

 Bambor, Cowan and Harbord, all of whom 

 placed every facility in the way of the visitors, 

 so that they might see all there was to be seen 

 on the station and follow the methods being 

 adopted, and the machinery and appliances 

 used, in the cultivation of tobacco, cotton, rub- 

 ber, Para,Ceara and the new manihots, coconuts, 

 sisal hemp, paddy, &c. 



Among the party were some extensive land- 

 owners with capital to invest, and we should 

 fancy that the operations being carried on at 

 the Experiment Station have furnished them 

 with much food for thought. For one thing a 

 number of intelligent persons with agricultural 



instincts have been induced to visit the sta- 

 tion, and that is a matter for congratulation, 

 seeing that they would probably never have 

 done so on their own initiative. 



As a matter of course the visitors will have a 

 great deal to say about what they saw at Maha- 

 illupalama, and of discussing the nature of that 

 work as well as the possibilities of the North- 

 Central Province for such cultivation as is 

 now being experimentally carried on. This will 

 probably lead to other visits being organised, 

 and ultimately we trust also to capital being 

 invested in the acquisition of some of the richest 

 lands in the island awaiting the advent of the 

 capitalist. 



What has been done at Mahaillupalama 

 should be possible in other parts of the North- 

 Central Province— given, of course, the same ad- 

 vantages of site, soil and water, supply. There 

 are indeed extensive tracts of such laud, and we 

 can only hope that the enterprise which has so 

 long been wanting on the part of local capitalist 

 will be engendered by the excursion just orga- 

 nised and achieved. It is a significant fact that 

 Mr Drieberg was able to carry his project 

 through, and if, however remotely, it lead to the 

 development of the agricultural resources of the 

 North-Central Province, it must be considered 

 a notable event 



THE PINEAPPE DISEASE OF 

 SUGAR-CANE. 



The following account of the " Pineapple Dis- 

 ease'* in sugar-cane by Prof. Edgerton of Louis- 

 iana is interesting as it is caused by the same 

 fungus which, according to Mr. Petch, is respon- 

 sible for the stem bleeding disease in coconuts, 

 viz : Thielaviopsis Ethaceticus : — 



The pineapple disease is perhaps the most ser- 

 ious of all the sugar-cane diseases. The trouble 

 is widely distributed in all the sugar-growing 

 countries of the tropics and in all cases does a 

 large amount of damage. Previous to this, how- 

 ever, we have not had the disease to contend 

 with in Louisiana, as it has now just appeared 

 in the state. It i j not known to occur in any 

 other state and is only known to be present in 

 one parish in Louisiana. Some seed cane sent in 

 from St. Mary parish in April contained a small 

 amount of this disease. However, from the 

 limited amount of the disease found in the cane 

 received, it is probable that it has not become 

 firmly established even in that parish as yet. But 

 there is a strong likelihood of it developing 

 rapidly and spreading to other parts of the state. 

 The presence of this disease in the state is iu- 

 deed a very serious matter. Of coure, there is a 

 small chance that the fungus will not be able to 

 stand our winters and therefore will be of little 

 economic importance, but such good luck as this 

 can hardly be hoped for. The wisest course for 

 the Louisiana sugar planter is to be prepared to 

 take such measures as are possible for the con- 

 trol of the trouble and for preventing its spread. 



The disease is caused by a small fungus known 

 to botanists as Thielaviopsis ethaceticus. The 

 fungus is an extremely rapid growing one and 

 forms spores in abundance, so there is a splendid 



