Miscellaneous. 



338 



[October, 1910, 



the roots were dipped into a tub of mud 

 made from a rich clay loam. They near- 

 ly all died. The farmer blamed me. I 

 said, " Tell me how you planted them." 

 He replied, " With great care." "Give 

 me the details " I then said. "Why, I 

 dug large holes for them, spread out 

 the roots, then threw into the holes 

 upon the roots a large forkful of old cow 

 manure and filled the hole with earth." 

 Then I said to him, " If you had chopp- 

 ed off the ten toes of your three-year 

 old son, would you have given him a 

 pint of brandy and put him out on the 

 ground to sleep? That's what you have 

 done to your trees." I have seen roosters, 

 after drinking high vines from the tank 

 of a distillery, act precisely like a 

 drunken man, first loquacious, then 

 staggering and then going to sleep. It 

 would seem that the excessive consump- 

 tion of stimulants produces the same 

 effect upon plants, animals and mankind. 



PERADENIYA EXPERIMENT 

 STATION 



Minutes of a meeting of t he Committee 

 of Agricultural Experiments held at the 

 Experiment Station, Peiadeniya, on 

 September 8th, 1910, 



Present:— Dr. Willis, Chairman, the 

 Entomologist,the Mycologist, the Govern- 

 ment Chemist, the Hon'ble the Govern- 

 ment Agent, C P., the Hon'ble Mr. Edgar 

 Turner, the Assistant Director, Messrs. 

 Rosliug, Jowitt, Anderson, Vander- 

 straaten, and the Secretary. 



The Secretary i ead the Progress Report 

 since the previous meeting. 



The following resolutions were pas- 

 sed : — 



I. That fresh water Attaps should be 

 obtained from Buitenzorg for experi- 

 mental growing. 



II. That the abandoned cacao be 

 cleared when labour is available, 



III. That Mr. Golledge be approached 

 to ascertain if he is willing to act on the 

 Committee. 



IV. That in future Circulars, when 

 yields are calculated to a standard, the 

 actual yields per plot be given in 

 addition. 



V. That a letter of condolence be sent 

 to Mrs. J. B. Carruthers on the death of 

 her husband. 



J. A. Holmes, 

 Secretary, C. A. E., and 

 Superintendent, E. S. P. 



Progress Reports on Experiment 

 Station from 21st July to 8th 

 September, 1910. 



Tea.— The Indigoferain plot 142 (plant- 

 ed in March, 1909)appears to be dying out, 

 the plants have become very weedy and 

 some difficulty may be anticipated in up- 

 rooting them. (Total yield 8,738 lb.) 



The Crotalaria striata in plots 147-148 

 is also disappearing gradually, plot 147 

 has only been twice cut since sowing, 

 yielding 1,668 lbs.; plot 148 cut four times 

 gave 5,750 lbs.; both these plots were 

 sown in October, 1909. 



The Crotalaria in plot 151, which is 

 being grown with a view to choking 

 Cyperus rotundus, has come up well ; an 

 effort is also being made to smother the 

 weed by thatching affected patches 

 with cadjans. 



Cacao.— The cacao in the half acre, 

 which was sown with a mixture of 

 Crotalaria and Iudigofera, has nearly all 

 died. The outlook for the next crop is 

 not very promising. Spraying has had 

 to be postponed owing to the wet 

 weather. 



Coconuts.— The last 500 of the 2,000 

 nuts set aside for oil expression experi- 

 ments are now ready for the chekkumill, 

 but rain has prevented the working of 

 the latter. 



In fresh and one month old nuts none 

 were rotten, but a small increasing num- 

 ber of bad ones appeared in those kept 

 for 2 aud 3 months. 



Rubber.— Para. Plot 78 was manured 

 with the following mixture :— 



150 lbs. Ammonium Sulphate. 



100 ,, Concentrated Superphosphate. 



100 ,, Sulphate of Potash. 



applied at the rate of If lbs. per tree 

 3 feet from the tree. 



Tappiug statistics are appended. 



Ceara.— The following are the results 

 of Ceara tapping for July and August :— 



Full herring bone cut to wood . . 2174 grs, (26 cuts ) 

 Do Knife & pricker . 5l'67 „ (22 ,, ) 



Spiral vertical cuts pricked 33'61 „ (22 tappings) 



Do Do 48 03 „ ( !1 ., ) 



i spiral right to left cut & pricked ... 47-68 „ (26 cuts) 



Three trees have been attacked by 

 borer and two more bad yielders have 

 been cut down. 



Manihot dichotoma.— The above me- 

 thods on the three-year-old M. dichotoma 

 yielded an average of about 13 grammes 

 per tree in July (17 tappings). The yields 

 in August (11 tappings) were infinitesi- 

 mal. The two-y eats-old trees yielded 

 about 10 grammes each in August (14 

 tappings), and about 3 each in September 

 (11 tappings). 



