mid Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



181 



sure of this, that the average Ceylon tea soil 

 which is deficient both in organic vegetable 

 matter and phosphate of lime is not the kind of 

 soil upon which basic slag gives the best results. 

 I should like to see experiments made with 

 Basic superphosphatic — equal money value — 

 against Basic slag and a careful report made on 

 same. There is not, in my opinion, much at 

 llothamstead that could apply to Ceylon." 



APPARATUS TO EXTRACT CAMPHOR. 



A Burmese Invention. 



Bassein, June '26. — It is not generally known 

 that after many years of quiet experimenting, 

 Maung Thein Maung, at present Township 

 Judge of Ngathainggyaung in this district has 

 at last invented au apparatus for extracting 

 "ngai camphor" from Blumea balsauiiferu, 

 which grows luxuriantly everywhere in 

 Burma and is locally known as " ponmathein." 

 The inventor claims that by a process of con- 

 densing in this apparatus, camphor or a sub- 

 stance with all the qualities of camphor, can 

 be produced at a minimum of cost and labour ; 

 and he has now filed a specification with the 

 Government of India of his invention under 

 the Patents Act, wherein he describes the in- 

 vention as follows :— The lower vessel or boiler, 

 which is made of tin or galvanised sheet iron, 

 has a neck and a false perforated bottom. There 

 are two pipes which run to an inch of the 

 bottom of the boiler. The tops of these pipes 

 are funnel-shaped. The top vessel, which is 

 called the condenser, is slipped into the neck 

 of the boiler. The condenser has an inner vessel 

 called the collector, with pipes. The outer shell 

 of the condenser holds water which runs down 

 the pipe, and the heated water is drained away 

 by another pipe. Taps are attached to the con- 

 denser and the boiler respectively, for drawing 

 away their contents. The method of extracting 

 the camphor is as follows : — The boiler is filled 

 with water in which is placed the plant Blumea 

 balsamifera. The condenser is then tilled with 

 cold water, and heat is applied to the .boiler. 

 When the water begins to boil, the steam 

 draws the camphor in the plant and car- 

 ries it up to the collector. The condensed 

 steam which more or loss contains dissolved 

 camphor, runs down by the pipe back into the 

 boiler ; consequently the camphor is carried up 

 again by the steam to the collector. The dis- 

 tillation is thus carried on until the plant is 

 found to contain no more camphor. The 

 novelty of the invention lies in the fact that, 

 unlike an ordinary still, the extraction of the 

 camphor is "perpetual and automatic. The 

 specification is illustrated with diagrams ex- 

 plaining the process of condensing, Maung 

 Thein Maung is confident of the success of 

 his apparatus, and has already manufactured 

 a considerable amount of camphor by it, samples 

 of which he has sent to China, the Straits and 

 elsewhere for opinion as to its quality and in 

 order to ascertain whether this camphor will 

 have a good market there. It is his intention to 

 ask Government to permit him to manufacture 

 camphor without prejudice to his appointment 

 ao a public servant, — Rangoon Gazette, July 'o. 



LIMA BEANS. 



Just now the following extract from 

 an American bulletin ou beans may be of 

 interest : — 



Under the name of Lima beans two distinct 

 types are now recognised : Pole Limas and 

 dwarf, or bush, Limas. These types are made up 

 from two distinct species, known to botanists 

 as Phaseolus tmuitus, which includes tli8 8ieva, 

 or Carolina, type of Lima beans, aud Phaseoln* 

 lunatus, variety macrocarpus, the true Limas of 

 the Amerigan garden, which includes both types 

 of this bean, i.e., the fiat, or large-seeded, Lima 

 and the Potato Lima, The pole Lima beans, 

 then, are made up from the Hieva, or Carolina, 

 Limas, the true Limas, the flat, large-seeded 

 Limas, and the Potato Limas. The dwarf Limas 

 are represented in the Sieva type by Hender- 

 son's Dwarf Lima, in the Potato Limas by 

 Kumerle's and Deer's Dwarf Lima, and in the 

 true Limas by Burpee's Dwarf Lima. It will be 

 seen, therefore, that botanically the pole Lima 

 and the Dwarf Lima cannot be separated— that 

 varietal differences alone make the distinctions 

 which characterise these two groups. 



Lima beans are of very great commercial value, 

 but are not sufficiently appreciated as a table 

 food because it is not generally known that in a 

 dry state they can be used in practically the same 

 manner as are the common beans. In reality they 

 are richer and more delicate in flavour than the 

 common beans, and can be used in as many 

 different ways. The virtues of these types as 

 green beans need only a passing mention, and 

 their value as an accompaniment of corn in 

 succotash is well known to every consumer of 

 canned goods. 



THE DANGER OF OLD STUMPS. 



{By F. A. S., — in the Journal of Board of 



Agriculture, British Guiana.) 



Considerable areas of forest land in the colony 

 are being taken up and cleared for the culti- 

 vation of such crops as rubber, cacao and limes. 

 It is thought desirable to warn cultivators that 

 the logs and the stumps of trees that have been 

 felled may constitute a danger to the cultivation, 

 and that certain precautions should be taken. 

 It has repeatedly been noticed that plants 

 planted in very close proximity to a frdlen log 

 or old stump may sooner or later die. This has 

 been held to be due to " poisonous juices" from 

 the rotting of the log or stump, and on account 

 of this a large number of planters will rarely 

 put in a young plant near to either a log or a 

 stump. As the stumps or logs commence to rot, 

 it has been observed that fungi are invariably 

 present, and instead of the "poisonous juices" 

 causing the death of the seedlings, it is the 

 fungi spreading from these rotting logs to the 

 roots of the plants that destroy them. On 

 several occasions fungal threads have been 

 traced directly from a rotting stump to the roots 

 of young lime plants, and it is concluded that 

 the fungus ou account of increabed growth in 00 



