July, 1909.] 



63 



Miscellaneous 



All Pomelo trees with parasites re- 

 moved from along the main drive. 



Grass.— The contract has been taken 

 from Mr. Alwis and the grass is being 

 sold daily at 3 cents a bundle, about 

 120 bundles per day. 



Loss of Soil.— The silt was weighed 

 on the 27th April after some heavy rains, 

 with the following results :— 



Plotl. Desmodium triilorum 282 lbs. 



2. Crotalaria up the slope 543^ ,, 



3. Dadaps ... 1,685 ,, 



4. Blank - 1-653^ ,, 



5. Albizzias ... 661 

 The three last plots had some self- 

 sown crotalaria about them, which 

 saved a little wash, but the dadaps and 

 albizzias are not yet affording auy 

 protection. 



Green Manures.— New plots have 

 been made of 



Boga medeloa from India. 

 Tephrosia hookeriana from Sarawak. 

 Indigofera hirsuta. 

 Tephrosia villosa from Maha-illup- 

 palama. 



Tephrosia purpurea, var pumila ,, 

 Coconuts — The manuring experiments 

 have not yet been commenced beyond 

 marking out the trees in lots of about 

 70 or 1 acre owing to want of labour. 



Paddy. — Various beans were sown in 

 small plots for green manuring purposes 

 and grew fairly well, but were all taken 

 by the Sinhalese and coolies. 



The one acre plot of Indian corn 

 Hickory King was reaped in 2£ days by 

 18 coolies at 34 cents avei'age. 



4,433 plants weighing 4,553| lbs. 

 yielded 3,824 cobs „ 2,05U „ 



gave 1,219| lbs of dry seed. 

 Fibre and cob covers 785 lbs. 



Still.— A small still has been repaired 

 and erected for distillation of the small 

 plots of pure grasses. About two acres 

 of land have been cleaned and prepared 

 tor the citronella oils. 



A Kubber-smoking apparatus has been 

 received from Mr. Wickham of Brazil, 

 and can be seen working after the 

 meeting. 



NOTES AND QUERIES- 



J. A. G. J —It is not necessary to plant 

 a grafted plant up to the point of 

 grafting. Where the point is low on the 

 stock this might be done ; but where 

 it is high it would not be desirable to do 

 so, as the roots will then be smothered. 

 A well grafted plant should not die 

 down if carefully handled and protected 

 from injury. 



Black Hamburgh.— I would hesitat 

 to advise your tryiug to grow grapes in 

 the Western Province, which is far too 

 wet, though 1 have known exceptional 

 cases of productive vines in Colombo, 

 and there are still some in Matale which 

 is a wet district. Besides the dry 

 North where the Black Hamburgh 

 variety is now being tried, the Eastern, 

 North-Eastern and Uva Provinces, 

 Chilaw, Puttalam, Hambantota and 

 Hanguranketa districts are likely to 

 suit the grape. The Continental and 

 Australian system of low pruning 

 does not suit our conditions of climate 

 in Ceylon where there can be no 

 "wintering," Mr. C. Zanetti, Irrigation 

 Engineer in charge of Giant's Tank, is 

 perhaps the best local authority on the 

 subject of grape cultivation. 



P. D. W. — The Queensland Agricul- 

 tural Journal for November last refers 

 to the packing of mangoes for transport 

 and recommends the Safety Export 

 Fruit Case. It is described as a basket 

 box 20j" long, 9f" wide and 6|" deep. 

 Inside this a set of cardboard " pockets " 

 is placed in which the fruit is packed, 

 each fruit thus having a ventilated 

 compartment to itself. After the 

 packing of the bottom layer a flat piece 

 of cardboard is placed on the top along 

 which a second layer is packed, and 

 then the lid is nailed on. The cardboard 

 " pocket " or " filler " is a strip of card- 

 board just a fraction less than the inside 

 measurement of the case. For a basket 

 such as that described the size would be 

 20"x9"x2|. This is cut at regular dis- 

 tances, and another strip of cardboard 

 also slit horizontally, is placed trans- 

 versely across it. The slits dovetail, and 

 thus by placing several pieces in position 

 the box is divided into neat and regular 

 compartments. The above is the regula- 

 tion size, but it is quite easy to modify 

 the size of the compartments to suit the 

 fruit; it only means cutting the slits in 

 the cardboard at the people intervals. I 

 ought to mention that the Safety Ex- 

 port Fruit Case is protected by patent. 



I lately received a case of fine mangoes 

 from Bangalore, carefully packed in 

 straw in a sealed case ; but, though the 

 journey took but three days, the fruit 

 reached me quite spoilt. 



C. S. — Thanks for your recipe for the 

 preparation of slime-apple confection 

 which I am sure many will be glad to 

 have, and I am therefore giving it 

 below : — 



"Scrape out the pulp and, after 

 thinning it with water, strain away the 

 seeds and fibre. Havinsr poured the 

 resulting paste into boiling syrup the 

 mixture should be vigorously stirred 

 with a ladle until it thickens to the 



