Miscellaneous, 



858 



[October, 1010. 



Paddy. 



The remaining experiments suggested 

 for the coming year all relate to paddy, 

 which is the most important crop in the 

 District, but it is often very badly culti- 

 vated. If the outturn per acre could be 

 increased by even 10 per cent, this 

 would, Mr. Francis points out, be a 

 profit to the ryots as a body, of several 

 lakhs of rupees. First, Mr. Francis 

 suggests the uses of new varieties, and 

 of these he particularly mentions Jeera- 

 kasal and Banku. The former from the 

 Wynaad, grown by Mr. Gopal Menon at 

 Parol, in Walluvanad Taluq, on high 

 level land, probably gave more grain 

 and straw than any other plot of equal 

 size in the District. Banku paddy has 

 also been a success. The next ex- 

 periment advised is the treatment of 

 seed-beds, the present tendency being 

 to omit manuring and to sow much too 

 thickly, with the result that the seed- 

 lings are wretchedly thin plants and do 

 not grow well when transplanted. Eco- 

 nomic paddy-planting is another experi- 

 ment suggested, and it is pointed out 

 that where this has not succeeded, the 

 chief reason was because the seedlings 

 were too weak as the result of bad 

 treatment. 



Manuring. 



Another paddy experiment suggested 

 is with reference to manuring. Mr. 

 Chandu Nambiar, the Tahsildar of 

 Ponani, has collected a quantity of 

 Vatta-thakarai seeds and is going to have 

 experiments tried with it. Last year, 

 fish manure suceeeded wonderfully on 

 the Kavalapara Farm, ordinary dried 

 fish being merely broken up and applied 

 broadcast at a cost of about Rs. 6 per 

 acre. Mr. Francis suggests further 

 trials with fish manure. He also advises 

 a trial being given to the singular but 

 valuable South Canara system of loose- 

 box storage of cattle manure. Finally, 

 when the crop is reaped, selection of 

 seed for the next year should be made, 

 the best ears being picked out and sepa- 

 rately threshed, and the grain from them 

 stored for the next year's crop. 



The Honorary Secretaries have been 

 instructed to ascertain and report as to 

 which of the above experiments their 

 members are prepared to undertake. 

 Last year, there was delay in sending 

 up these lists in consequence of which 

 they had to go round to inspect the ex- 

 periments. 



Reviews. 



A Handbook of Tropical Gardening 

 and Planting— by H. F. Macmillan, p.l.s., 

 Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Peradeniya. 



Review. 



To say that Mr. Macmillan's book 

 supplies a long felt want is only using a 

 well-worn phrase to express an unmis- 

 takable truth. This handbook will be 

 found indispensable by every lover of a 

 garden, not only in Ceylon but in every 

 tropical country, whilst readers who 

 have never seen the Tropics will find a 

 great deal to interest them in the lucid 

 description of known and unknown 

 plants, and in the wealth of admirable 

 illustrations with which the book 

 abounds. 



In the first place a word of commen- 

 dation is due to the arrangement of the 

 book and the system of sub-headings. 

 These together, with a good index, will 

 enable the reader to turn up in a 

 moment any subject of which he may 

 be in search. 



The first 20 pages are occupied by a 

 brief introductory account of the nature 



of plants and their conditions of growth, 

 whilst the next hundred deal in a 

 general way with the practical process 

 of cultivation. And here if we may 

 venture upon our first criticism, it seems 

 to us that the space given to the general 

 operations of gardening is rather meagre 

 in proportion to the size of the book as 

 a whole. On the other hand the descrip- 

 tions of practical methods are clear and 

 concise as all such directions should be. 



The largest part of the book, from 

 page 119 to page 380 and comprising the 

 author's Sections 2 and 3, deals in con- 

 siderable detail with fruits, vegetables, 

 spices and with ornamental plants and 

 trees. The section errs if anything on 

 the side of an excess cf matter ; a very 

 large amount of information being here 

 compressed by the constant use of tables. 

 In perusing these the beginner at least 

 will feel somewhat lost among the wealth 

 of material offered to his choice, but the 

 fault— if it is a fault— is doubtless on the 

 right side. To refer to a point of detail, 

 we hope that Mr. Macmillan will in a 

 future edition give us a rather larger 

 illustration of some of the less familiar 



