and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



85 



If the former, and always provided all known 

 infected areas are carefully watched, and the 

 branches topped off and burned, no serious 

 damage should ensue. If the latter, the spores 

 will be carried from estate to estate and the 

 whole area rapidly affected. Having had 

 no opportunity of meeting Mr Gallagher, the 

 Government Mycologist, I am unable to ascer- 

 tain for certain as to the possible danger of 

 this disease becoming universal. From those 

 whom I discussed the question with, very little 

 information could be obtained. It appears that 

 in most instances this branch disease has been 

 confounded with the "fomes semito3tus._" There 

 is no doubt, however, that unless taken in time, 

 this disease rapidly spreads. I understand 

 that the disease is not uncommon in Ceylon. 

 Lalang, Passion Flower, etc. 



What about Lalang, Passion Flower, &c? 



1 was agreeably surprised to find that prac- 

 tically all the places I visited were free of 

 weeds, especially lalang, the curse of Rubber 

 estates. That lalang can be easily and effec- 

 tively dealt with, I have no hesitation in saying; 

 but the initial cost of eradicating it is heavy, 

 but when once done, with proper care and 

 supervision it should never give any further 

 trouble. Many thousands of pounds have 

 been wasted over a want of organisation or 

 rather a want of grasp of the situation. 

 It is whispered that Ceylon men, without 

 much knowledge of this pest, men who have 

 not heen long in the F.M.S., have been the 

 worst sinners ; this is as it may be. Holing 18" 

 all over— and shortly afterwards, taking out all 

 " points " and roots and continuing at frequent 

 intervals — is the only effective method and 

 will in a few months overcome any lalang, but 

 everything depends on labour and frequent 

 weeding at the commencement. Let a little 

 lalang get a footing in a clean estate even, 

 and it spreads with incredible rapidity. Much 

 passion flower is growing over large areas ; 

 crotalaria also finds favour on somo estates. 

 Both these should be avoided if possible ; or at 

 any rate crotalaria, if planted, should not be 

 allowed to grow to the extraordinary height to 

 be seen on some estates. It stands to reason 

 that overgrown crotalaria is so dense that no one 

 can move about the fields ; hence considerable 

 damage is done by 'foraes semitostus and pos- 

 sibly white ants, before it is discovered. Crota- 

 laria is not a weed-destroyer although it keeps 

 down weeds when it entirely covers the ground. 

 Passion flower on the other hand does effectively 

 kill out lalang and other growths, but is 

 generally a sign of want of sufficient labour. 

 It occurred to me that much expense could be 

 saved by sowing passion flower directly the clea- 

 ring is burnt off and sufficiently cool— not wait- 

 ing, as is generally done, until lalang appears. 

 This would enable the work of planting up to be 

 carried on without great anxiety about weeds. 



A Comparison. 



How do you compare Ceylon with the F M S 

 and Sumatra, and what are your general im- 

 pressions of the future of rubber prospects ? 



The general feeling is that Ceylon is behind 

 both places in quickness of growth, with the 

 possible exception of some parts of Kalutara, 



My own idea is that for the first two years or so 

 there is not a vast difference as compared with 

 the most favoured Ceylon districts, but after 

 three to four years the growth in Malaya is far 

 ahead. In the F.M.S. there are many blocks of 

 four years old rubber with a large percentage 

 of well-grown, tappable trees— many being 30" 

 and upwards in girth. 



Rubber Prospects. 

 As to the future, I think that there is an 

 immense fortune to be made out of rubber, 

 almost at any price ; and there is no knowing 

 which quantity per acre can be obtained when 

 the rubber is a bit older. I don't fear labour, 

 root disease, or white ants, but am apt to be a 

 little pessimistic ; with the huge areas opened 

 up, there is always a possibility of nature step- 

 ping in and disseminating some virulent disease 

 by the aid of spores— more especially as little 

 sunlight can get through well-grown rubber, 

 if at all closely planted and this alone would 

 tend to foster and encourage fungoid disease. 



MANURING IN CEYLON. 



USEFUL INFORMATION. 



" Profitable Manuring in Ceylon " is the 

 title of a handy, exceedingly useful, and attrac- 

 tively got up little booklet issued by the Colombo 

 Commercial Company. After a short sketch of 

 the development of agricultural science as 

 applied to manuring, mention is made of the 

 three substances, Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid 

 and Potash, which the plant finds a scarcity of 

 in the soil. Lime, it is mentioned, is more for 

 the purpose of improving the mechanical or 

 physical condition of the soil than for use as a 

 plant food. All soils contain large supplies of 

 these plant foods in solid form but a plant 

 does not absorb solid matter, and, therefore, 

 the foods must b9 brought into solution 

 which is brought about partly by moisture 

 in the soil, but to a greater extent by the 

 juices, or sap, secreted by the roots. These 

 secretions are faintly' acid and only materials 

 which are readily attacked by this weak acid 

 solution are available as plant foods, the fer- 

 tility of the soil depending on the proportion of 

 the plant food it contains which is soluble in 

 this weak acid. This proportion is limited and 

 as crops are grown year after year the supply 

 diminishes. The objest of agricultural science, 

 therefore, is to increase the stock of available 

 plant food in the soil, and this increase is 

 brought about by tillage and manuring. In 

 Ceylon, farmyard manure is scarce and the 

 plauter has to rely on artificial manure. Ana- 

 lysis, however, proves these "artificial" manures 

 to be perfectly "natural" ones, when their 

 origin is considered. 



The whole question is then dealt with under 

 three headings: "Manuring for Nitrogen," 

 "Manuring for Phosphoric Acid," and " Manu- 

 ring for Potash." In each the particular uses 

 of the substance are exhaustively explained 

 and the best form in which they can be applied 

 to the soil discussed. 



In the section devoted to nitrogen it is stated 

 that green manuring is the practical applica- 

 tion of the theory that leguminous plants hava 



