July, 1909.] 



61 



Miscellaneous. 



Cymbopogon Martini most unfortun- 

 ately failed, owing to a misguided 

 effort to get too many sets out of a small 

 plant. 



A series of small show plots has beeu 

 laid out near the office at Mr. Bamber's 

 suggestion. 



I cannot help remarking in conclusion 

 that, although there has not yet beeu 

 time or opportunity for carrying out 

 quite all the resolutions of the last two 

 meetings, still the Committee may very 

 properly congratulate itself on the 

 great improvement in general appear- 

 ance, and" still more upon the real pro- 

 gress in experimental work which has 

 been made during 1908. For this pro- 

 gress the greatest credit is due to the, 

 Superintendent and staff of the Experi- 

 ment Station. 



R. H. LOCK, 

 Assistant Director, R. B. G. 



PROGRESS REPORT ON EXPERI- 

 MENT STATION, PERADENIYA. 



Submitted to the Committee of Agri- 

 cultural Experiments on March 11th, 

 1909, by Mr. Kelway Bamber, Govern- 

 ment Chemist. 



Since the last meeting January 8th, 

 1909, I took over charge of the experi- 

 ments on Gangraoowa 1 rom Mr. Lock. 



Practically all the suggestions of the 

 minutes have been carried out, or the 

 work commenced as far as climate and 

 conditions allowed. 



Tea.— Plot 141 has been forked up alter- 

 nate lines and mulched with compost of 

 jungle material 



The plot to be manured artificially will 

 be done after the pruning, which is soon 

 due. 



Plots 113 and 117 have had the alternate 

 lines forked and crotalaria cut and 

 heaped for the second time ; 3,609 lbs- 

 and 1,755 lbs. being obtained respectively. 

 The plots were not forked at the first 

 cutting and the material was more or 

 less lost. 



Plot 148 will be sown with crotalaria 

 and slag and potash just before pruning. 



Plots 151 to 154 have been supplied with 

 Para stumps from old trees and young 

 trees and will be re-supplied. 



The Hon'ble Mr. Turner suggests one 

 plot should have prunings buried and 

 the other forked and heaped for com- 

 parison using Basic slag aud Potash 

 only. 



Cocoa. —All the experiment plots have 

 been manured ; those receiving siugle 

 constituents have had the amount 

 doubled so as to get a more marked 

 effect. 



All the supplies in the plots have beeu 

 forked and mulched with mana grass. 



Experiments are being conducted to 

 train shoots to form lateral branches 

 where needed, with promising results. 



The cocoa plots from seeds of special 

 trees have been manured with a soluble 

 mixture, forked and mulched with al- 

 ready marked results. 



Five acres of cocoa from No. 2 tree of 

 Forastero from Plot 1 have been planted 

 15x15' and Dadap stumps put in as 

 suggested for shad»and manurial pur- 

 poses. 



Mixed crotalarias and Iudigofera have 

 been sown on one plot. 



This cocoa was put out in baskets, 

 shaded, the ground forked and mulched 

 with Micania scandens, &c, and hardly 

 a vacancy is to be seen notwithstanding 

 the drought. 



Plots.— The acreage has been divided 

 into 10 half-acre plots. 



Plot No. 119 has been forked and 

 mulched as suggested. A little canker 

 appeared here and there through the 

 cocoa, but this has been carefully re- 

 moved. The unmanured plots above the 

 paddy and near the river had 40 to 50 

 trees and the manured plots 5 or only. 

 All the trees have been measured in 

 every plot. 



Rubber.— Para : Plot 78 has been 

 manured with ammonium sulphate 

 150 lbs., Concentrated superphosphate 

 100 lbs., Sulphate of potash 100 lbs.— 

 350 lbs. in rings rouud the trees, forked 

 and mulched. 



Plot 73 liis bseu drilled with Crotalaria 18)' apart 

 81 ,, ,, Indigofera 18' apart 



both without manure as yet. 



Plot 80 has had one row mulched with 

 Lemon grass. All have been weeded 

 clean and all the trees measured. 



Ceara. — Experimental tapping has 

 beeu commenced on these. 



Dichotoma.— The clearing 20 x 20' plant- 

 ed October, 1907, has been kept clean 

 weeded. The clearing 12 x12' has been 

 established with hardly a vacancy not- 

 withstanding the drought. 



350 A new clearing 6 x6' has beeu 

 lined and is being planted. 



A fallen tree of the first clearing was 

 cut into 18" lengths, and supplied 56 cut- 

 tings all of which are growing. 



Seed from the young trees have beeu 

 collected and are germinating well. 



Piauhyensis.— There are very few 

 plants of this variety, so a plot has not 

 yet been made. 



Castilloa. — Experimental tapping 

 has been commenced on the lower row 

 of Plot 129. 



Coconuts.— A census has been taken 

 giving 927 trees available for experiments 



