Miscellaneous. 



[July, 190s). 



Commercial Products.— This was a 

 very good class, the Tobacco grown by 

 a Bandarawela resident, and the Cotton 

 grown at Welimada being notable for 

 their good appearance and quality ; the 

 Coconuts sent from Udukinda were of 

 good size ; and there were very good 

 exhibits of Tea, Yams, and Sweet Pota- 

 toes, dry Chillies, and Ginger. 



Miscellaneous.— The Pottery, Brass- 

 ware, and Carpentry work showed 

 clever workmanship, and added variety 

 and interest to the Show. 



School-Boys' Exhibits.— These form- 

 ed the stand-out feature of the Show, 

 there being no less than forty-eight 

 exhibits, the bulk of which were of really 

 good class, this being proved by the fact 

 that eleven awards were made. 



Live Stock. — There was ouly one cow 

 shown, but it was worth an award. Most 

 of the bulls appeared to have a touch 

 of English or Australian in them, for 

 which they were disqualified ; the price 

 was given for a nice little native bull 

 shown harnessed to a hackery. 



Transplanting op Paddy.— On the 

 morning of the 28th five paddy-fields were 

 visited, to inspect the work commend- 

 ably initiated in the district by Mr, 

 Dambawinne, late R. M. The very supe- 

 rior condition of the portions trans- 

 planted over those sown broadcoast was 

 remarkable both as regards general 

 growth and crop prospects. As often 

 pointed out previously, this is a work 

 which should receive serious encourage- 

 ment, and I trust the Parent Society will 

 be able to see its way to help the Weli- 

 mada branch still further by making 

 some donations of manure to those who 

 have commenced transplanting ; their 

 names are ;— Mr. Dambawinne, late R. 

 M., Divitotavilla Appuhamy, Divitota- 

 villa Arachchi, and Kalubanda. Every 

 attempt should be made to get larger 

 areas transplanted each year, and care- 

 ful records should be kept Prizes were 

 awafded for each plot. 



General.— The whole Show showed 

 marked improvement over the previous 

 one, but the space was inadequate for 

 the exhibits, and next time an additional 

 building should be erected. 



J. K. Nock, 

 Curator, Hakgala Gardens. 



COMMITTEE OF AGRICULTURAL 

 EXPERIMENTS. 

 Meeting January 8th, 1909. 



Report of Progress by the Assistant 

 Director, R. B, G. 



Meeting of the Committee of Agricul- 

 tural Experiments held on January 8th, 

 1909. 



Reverting to the Minutes of the meet- 

 ing held on July 10th, 1908 :— 



Photographs of Cacao Machinery were 

 laid upon the table. (The machinery 

 illustrated is far too large for use on 

 E.S., and probably too complicated for 

 economical working anywhere in Ceylon.) 



The Still is still undergoing recon- 

 struction. The matter is at present in 

 the hands of Messrs. Bamber and Jowitt. 



Cacao. — Considerable progress has 

 been made in clearing up the plots, and 

 the boundaries have been better defined. 

 Cacao planters who were acquainted 

 with the place in its pievious state have 

 recently expressed satisfaction with 

 the present condition of the plots. 



Four acres of Porastero Cacao are being 

 planted out for treatment as half-acre 

 plots. Mr. Bamber will propose experi- 

 ments to be carried out on these. 



Planting operations of all kinds have 

 been very much handicapped by un- 

 fortunate conditions of weather, never- 

 theless. 



An acre (plot 11) of Jequie Manicobar 

 Rubber {Manihot dichotoma) has been 

 planted out successfully. 



A further L000 seeds of the same 

 variety and a like number of seeds of 

 Remanso Rubber {Manihot Piauhyensis) 

 received from Kew, have been planted 

 out in nurseries and are germwiating. 



Two-acre plots for pepper have been 

 surveyed and cleared of undergrowth, 

 but are not yet planted. 



It seems legitimate to express some 

 dissatisfaction with the fact that the 

 agricultural machinery ordered early in 

 August through the Crown Agents has 

 not yet arrived, and will have to be paid 

 for out of next year's vote. 



Thanks to Mr. Mee's personal exertions, 

 however, a large part of the young 

 coconut plot has been ploughed success- 

 fully. An acre of groundnuts, an acre 

 of Hickory King maize, half an acre of 

 Sea Island and half an acre of Egyptian 

 cotton, and quarter of an acre of tobacco 

 have been established. 



The girth of practically all the Rubber 

 trees on the Experiment Station has been 

 measured. 



The tea plots have been taken in hand 

 and thoroughly tidied up under Mr. 

 Bamber's personal supervision. 



Plants of several varieties of oil 

 grasses were very kindly presented to 

 the Experiment Station by Mr. Jowitt. 

 Small plots of the following have been 

 established : — 



Maha-p engiri. 

 Lena-batu*pen giri. 

 Cymbopogon flexuosus. 

 C. polyneuros. 



