October, 1908.] 



377 



Miscellaneous. 



Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Secre- 

 tary, Oeylon Agricultural Society, who 

 were present, took advantage of the 

 occasion to speak to the people. The 

 value of holding Shows where the actual 

 cultivators come to the front— instead 

 of being kept in the background as is 

 generally the case at town shows — can- 

 not be over-estimated ; these village 

 exhibitions, small as they are, are well 

 calculated to encourage the cultivator 

 to put forth his best efforts in showing 

 what he is capable of producing in the 

 way of agricultural and garden produce. 

 The Kegalla Shorv, which was fixed for 

 September 25 and 26, was postponed at 

 the last moment owing to the failure of 

 the monsoon rains. It is intended to 

 hold the Show in June or July next 

 year. 



Kandy Agri-Horticultural Show.— 

 This show lias been fixed for August, 

 1909, during the time of the annual 

 Perahera. At a meeting held on 

 September 1st, a representative Show 

 Committee was elected, with His Ex- 

 cellency the Governor as President, and 

 the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, the 

 General Commanding the Forces, the 

 Planting Representative, and the Chair- 

 man of the Ceylon Planters ' Association 

 as Vice-Presidents. 



Nutvara Eliya Show has been fixed 

 for Easter Monday. 



Indian Shows. — Exhibits of arecanuts, 

 cardamoms, tobacco, and jaggery were 

 sent by the Branch Societies at Dumbara 

 and Jaffna, Mudaliyar Wirasingha of 

 Rayigam korale, and Mr. J. J. Van 

 Starrex of Matale, to the Mysore 

 Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition 

 which was to open at the end of 

 September. 



The Nagpur Exhibition (Central Pro- 

 vinces and Berar) — The Secretary of the 

 above exhibition has written asking for 

 the Society's co-operation, and arrange- 

 ments are being made to get together a 

 small collection of exhibits to be sent 

 thither. Exhibits will be received up to 

 October 30, and the Exhibition will be 

 opened during November and December. 

 Intending exhibitors who are prepared 

 to send in exhibits of tea, rubber, tap- 

 ping implements, vanilla, pepper, carda- 

 moms, coir, fibre, or desiccated coconuts 

 are requested to communicate with the 

 Secretary, Ceylon Agricultural Society, 

 without delay. 



Paddy Cultivation and Manuring in 

 the North.— The Society's Agricultural 

 Instructor has undertaken an experi- 

 ment in the manuring of paddy on 

 behalf of the local Society, while several 

 landowners are trying Freudenberg's 

 48 



special mixture on their fields. On land 

 hitherto used purely for dry gram culti- 

 vation experiments are being tried with 

 hill paddy. 



Importation of Vegetable Seeds. — A 

 supply of vegetable seed has been 

 received from England, and is being dis- 

 tributed among the several applicants 

 who have booked in advance. 



Orange and Mango Grafts. — Grafted 

 orange and mango plants — balance out- 

 standing from a previous order sent to 

 India — were received in September and 

 distributed. 



Manure for Oranges. — Messrs. Freu- 

 denberg & Co. are recommending the 

 following mixture : — 2 lb. groundnut 

 cake, 2 lb. bone meal, 21b. steamed bones, 

 2 lb. potash — 8 lb. per tree, together 

 with cattle manure. 



Manure for Tobacco. — The following 

 manure mixture is recommended for 

 tobacco: — 4001b. groundnut cake, 100 lb. 

 nitrate of soda, 100 lb, ordinary super, 

 phosphate, 100 lb. nitrate of potash, 

 100 lb. slaked lime — 800 lb. per acre. 



Messrs. Freudenberg & Co. report :— 

 "The mixture cannot be termed a cheap 

 oneatRs. 117, less 5 per cent, per ton f. o,r., 

 Colombo, but as quality plays an impor 

 tant role in tobacco growing we cannot- 

 make a modification in the composition 

 of the ingredients- If the manuring 

 should be undertaken with a view of 

 obtaining only quantity aind not quality 

 at lowest possible cost we can recom- 

 mend :— - 200 lb. fish, 300 lb. groundnut 

 cake, 100 lb. ordinary basic slag, 200 lb. 

 kainit. The cost is Rs. 73*50, less 5 per 

 cent." 



Dindigul* Tobacco Seed. — A supply of 

 this variety was imported from India, 

 and is being tried at Jaffna, Ulapane, 

 Dumbara, and the North- Western Pro- 

 vince. 



Cotton Seed — Messrs. Nieland & Wil- 

 son have been good enough to supply 

 Sea Island cotton seed for growing in 

 the Jaffna District. 



Well Boring.— Messrs. Brown & Co. 

 furnishes the following information 

 regarding tube wells : — "The wells con- 

 sist of a tube, having the bottom portion 

 perforated round the sides with small 

 holes through which the water perco- 

 lates and rises in the tube. At the bot- 

 tom of the tube, in order to facilitate 

 its being driven, a point is fitted at the 

 extreme end of the tube, and a suitable 

 head is fitted to the top to enable the 

 tube to be dx-iven into the ground with- 

 out injury. The necessary force is 

 applied by means of a driving apparatus, 

 one of which can of course be used for 

 any number of wells, and as each length 



