280b 



[March, 1909. 



transit, and the cause of the disease is 

 lost in the crowd. It is only in rare 

 cases that the specimen arrives in such a 

 condition that a correct diaguosis is 

 possible; and even then the disease 

 has to be one already known to us. I 

 would suggest that Burmah correspon- 

 dents, should send their specimens to the 

 local Department of Agriculture-— T. 

 Petch.] 



CURVATURE IN PARA SEEDLINGS. 



Tavoy, Burmah, 30th June, 1907. 

 Sir,— Out of a con- 

 signment of Para seed 

 from Ceylon, received last 

 October, about 10 per cent, 

 have come up with roots 

 bent more or less like the 

 accompanying diagram, — 

 some not so bad, some 

 worse. Can you account for 

 this? The nurseries were 

 well dug over before being 

 made up into beds and 

 the seed sown side down- 

 wards, so my managing maqramreferrta to. 

 partner assures me. In the 

 sample sent one can possibly under- 

 stand the first turn, but not the second. 



In no publication on rubber have I 

 yet seen it stated how seed should be 

 sown — I mean in what position ; and, as 

 a beginner at the game, I shall be glad for 

 information. 



BURMAH. 



[Curvature of the seedling stem is of 

 fairly frequent occurrence in Ceylon nur- 

 series of Hevea. In some cases the stem 

 makes three or four complete turns 

 before assuming a vertical position, and 

 the loops afterwards fuse into a solid 

 mass. Such plants should of course be 

 discarded. All the cases submitted have 

 been discovered only when the plants 

 are wanted for planting out, and some 

 of the specimens were 12 feet high. The 

 early growth does not seem therefore 

 to be much affected, but the plants can- 

 not be expected to make vigorous trees. 

 The cause of this curvature must be 

 sought when the seedlings first appear 

 above ground, and since in all cases up 

 to the present it has not been noticed 

 until the plants were more than a year 

 old, no reason can be assigned. Of 

 course no matter how the seed is 

 planted, the young stem (plumula) has 



to curve out of the seed. But whether 

 these cases represent a persistence of 

 this original, necessary curvature, or 

 whether there are other external causes 

 has yet to be ascertained. The com- 

 mon explanation — that the seed is plant- 

 ed the wrong way— is quite at variance 

 with botanical theory.— T. Petch.] 



THE LIMA BEAN. 



Kandy, 14th January, 1909. 

 Sir,— I write to draw the attention 

 of the Society to the desirability of 

 inducing the residents of Kandy and 

 the villagers of the neighbourhood to 

 cultivate the "Lima bean " (Fhaseolus 

 lunatus) for the Kandy market instead 

 of the insipid French bean of which tons 

 are to be seen daily coming into Kandy, 

 and with which the residents have to be 

 content as, practically their only staple 

 vegetable. What is wanted is a variety 

 of vegetables. As the Lima bean is an 

 excellent vegetable, there would be 

 certain to be as good a market for it as 

 there is now for the French bean, if not 

 much better. The very reason the 

 latter is so much cultivated is appa- 

 rently because it grows very quickly. 

 There are several varieties of dambala 

 or berry, and you could let us know 

 which are best worth cultivating. I 

 annex a list of those I have seen in the 

 neighbourhood of Kandy. They all 

 grow well there. If the Kandy and 

 Dumbata Agricultural Societies could 

 obtain a supply of tne seed of the Lima 

 bean, something might be done. 



J. P. LEWIS. 



Awara dambala, large pods, a bush, not 

 a creeper. 



El dambala, small pods, 5 inches long, 

 both pods and berries eaten. 



Kos-eta dambala (Kos-eta=Jdk seed), 

 small pods, 2 to 3k inches long, 

 berries eaten. (? Lima beans.) 



Ratu damala, pods 4 to 5 inches long, 

 with reddish tinge at end and along 

 sides, pods and berries eaten. 



Daluk dambala, large pods with four 

 indented edges (hence the name) 

 seeds in centre of the pod. 



Machchu Kotte, recently introduced 

 into neighbourhood of Teldeniya by 

 Tamil tobacco growers from ^ndia, 

 pods about |2i inches, berries eaten. 



