Miscellaneous. 



578 



rDECEMBER, 1908. 



gen and phosphoric is required, a liberal 

 supply of potash is most essential for 

 good quality fruit; but avoid the 

 chloride, as chorine is found to have a 

 very bad effect on pines. Phosphoric 

 acid is preferably given as bone-meal or 

 steamed bone dust, and not as super. 

 Nitrogen is best as an organic manure, 

 An average fertilizer should contain 

 5 % nitrogen, 4 % phosphoric acid and 

 10 % potash. 



G.— The "devils' grass" of the West 

 Indies is Cynodon dactylon, the "dhoob" 

 of India and " Arugam pillu " of the Cey- 

 lon Tamils — one of the most valuable 

 of our natural fodder grasses and very 

 suitable for lawn making. It is impos- 

 sible to say how it came to be called by 

 such a hard name in the West ! 



F. P. — Argenione mexicanais the name 

 of the weed which is more commonly 

 known as Mexican poppy- It is not 

 spreading to any great extent, as far 

 as I know. It is said to be one of the 

 few weeds without any redeeming 

 feature, so it must not be spread. 



P>. — It is very unusual for the bread- 

 fruit— -the edible species— to fruit with 

 seeds, but there are quite a number 

 (about twenty) of trees, bearing fruits 

 with seeds in the Weragoda Experi- 

 mental Garden. 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Minutes of 43rd Meeting. 



The 43rd meeting of the Board of 

 Agriculture was held at the Council 

 Chamber on Thursday the 3rd December, 

 1908. 



His Excellency the Governor presided. 



There were present the Hon'ble Mr. 

 H. L« Crawford, the Hon'ble Mr. Bernard 

 Senior, Dr. Willis, Dr, H. M. Fernando, 

 Messrs. J. Harward, C. J. C. Mee, Tudor 

 Rajapakse (Mudaliyar), H. J. Peiris, G, 

 W. Sturgess, W. A. de Silva, J. D. Van- 

 derstraaten, L. W. A. De Soysa, and 

 Secretary. 



As Visitors, Capt. Curling, Messrs' 

 J. S. McCall, Albo Guy, F. C. Roles, and 

 Alex. Perera. 



Business. 



1. Minutes of the meeting held on the 

 5th of October were read and confirmed, 



2. Progress Report No. 42 was adopted. 



3. Statements of Expenditure for 

 October and November were tabled. 



4. Mr. W. A. de Silva read a paper on 

 "Native Agriculture and how it might 



be improved," which was commented on 

 by His Excellency the Governor, Dr. 

 Willis, Mr. McCall and Mr. Roles. 



5. Papers by Mudaliyar Dissanaike on 

 " Loans to Paddy Cultivators" and by the 

 Secretary on "Recent researches regard- 

 ing the germination of the coconut and 

 the deterioriation of its products " were 

 taken as read, and, on the invitation of 

 His Excellency the Governor, Mr. J. D. 

 Vanderstraaten read a note on "The 

 Relation of Weather to Crops in the 

 Coconut Palm " 



This terminated the proceedings. 



C. DRIEBERG, 



Secretary, C. A. S. 



CEYLON AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Progress Report XLII. 



Membership.— Since the last meeting 

 of the Board the following members 

 have been enrolled : — R. C. Proctor, V. 

 M. Muttukumaru, S. Namasivayam, S. 

 Subramaniam, J. C. Mitchell, H. C. 

 Paterson, Edward Kynaston, V. Muda- 

 liyar Chittampalam, Chinnatambiar 

 Chelliahpillai, G. C. Ganapathipillai, V. 

 Valayetham Pillai, andS. N. Veluppillai. 



Branch Societies. —The Wanni Hat- 

 pattu Branch reports a scarcity of seed 

 paddy owing to drought, and endeavours 

 are being made to get suitable varieties 

 from the North-Central Province. A 

 meeting of this branch was held on 

 November 1, when it was decided to 

 hold a Show at Balalla next June. 



The Wellaboda Pattu Branch held a 

 Committee meeting on November 11, 

 when it was resolved that a general 

 meeting be held on November 27, to 

 consider a set of rules prepared with 

 a view to starting a Co-operative Credit 

 Bank. The annual Show and Fair at 

 Ambalangoda was fixed for December 

 19 at 2 p. Mi 



Wellaboda Pattu Co-perative Credit 

 Bank.— The objects of the Bank are 

 stated to be— to lend money for agricul- 

 tural purposes, e.g., supply of manure, 

 cattle or poultry, implements, seed 

 paddy, vegetable and other seeds, or 

 plants required by those engaged in 

 cultivation on easy terms, and to faci- 

 litate sale of agricultural produce. The 

 capital is to be Rs, 4,000, made up of 

 Rs. 10 shares. 



