Gums, Resin ft, & 



In 1905, eight trees planted in 1882 

 were tapped in this manner, and gave 

 an average return of 6 lb. of rubber per 

 tree. The same trees were again tapped 

 in 1906, and the yield for individual 

 trees varied from 2| lb. to 10 lb. Four 

 trees, planted in 1880 and 1890, Avere 

 tapped in a similar manner during the 

 same years. In 1905-0 the estimated 

 yield per tree was about 2 lb. of rubber, 

 and in 1900-7 the yield per individual 

 tree varied from 1| lb. to 3j lb. With 

 this method of tapping, the cuts made 

 in the previous year appeared to heal 

 well and to be hardly noticeable, and it 

 is thought probable that the Assam rub- 



! [April, 1909. 



ber trees may be tapped more fre- 

 quently than by the older methods of 

 tapping in which the bark is seriously 

 injured. 



The latex coagulating on the cuts is 

 said to require no further treatment. 

 That gathered from the cups is mixed 

 with a 2-per cent, solution of formalin, 

 poured into clean bamboo troughs and 

 coveted from the direct rays of the sun. 

 The coagulation is said to be complete 

 within a day's time. After the strips 

 of rubber have dried they are rolled 

 into balls.— Agricultural News, Vol. 

 VIII., No. 176, p. 27, January 23, 1909. 



OILS AND FATS. 



THE SUNFLOWER (HE LI A NTH US 



ANNUS). 



By "Rusticus." 



The Sunflower has long been grown 

 for ornamental purposes, the beautiful 

 yellow flowers with dark centres being 

 particularly attractive in field and 

 garden. Here in Ceylon it has been 

 grown to a very small extent, chiefly as 

 an ornamental plant, but its value as a 

 useful product has not been fully re- 

 cognised. Deriving its scientific name 

 from helios, sun ; and anthos, a flower, 

 and from the erroneous idea, propagated 

 by poets and others that the flowers 

 always turned towards the sun, the 

 plant is conspicuous and attracts atten- 

 tion among other vegetation. We have 

 been cultivating the plant for its beauty 

 alone, not 



RECOGNISING ITS ECONOMIC VALUE. 



It appears to possess far more profitable 

 qualities than have been hitherto sup- 

 posed, and may be cultivated with 

 advantage and applied to many useful 

 purposes. The part of the sunflower 

 plant which has the chief value is the 

 seed from which an edible oil may be 

 extracted. The oilcake left after the 

 extraction of the oil by pressure is 

 extremely rich in nitrogenous matter, 

 and has a food value equal to the cake 

 resulting from the expression of linseed 

 oil, but superior to it for fattening 

 cattle, while the plant itself is made 

 use of in different directions ; it is there- 

 fore a valuable plant to be cultivated, 

 and though we hear that it is being 

 regularly grown in some parts of the 

 Province of Uva as an oil seed, its 



CULTIVATION THROUGHOUT THE ISLAND 

 SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED 



In western Europe and America the 

 sunflower has been grown chiefly for 

 ornamental purposes and occasionally for 

 poultry food. More varieties are grown 

 purely for ornamental purposes than for 

 the production of seeds, but several of the 

 ornamental sunflowers are derived from 

 other species. In Russia, where the 

 numerous religious fasts restricting the 

 use of meat lead to a large consumption 

 of vegetable oils and oily foods, the 

 sunflower seed has become almost a 

 staple article of diet. It is eaten raw or 

 roasted as peanuts are in America, but 

 much more extensively. In the United 

 States three principal varieties are 

 grown for the production of seeds. In 

 this country the common sunflower, with 

 no distinguishing varietal name, has been 

 long cultivated. Its nodding heads are 

 eight to sixteen inches in diameter, pro- 

 ducing chiefly grey-brownish or striped 

 seeds, but if the plant is to be cultivated 

 for the expression of oil larger varieties 

 would be desirable, as for instance the 

 mammoth Russian with heads fifteen to 

 twenty inches in diameter producing 

 seeds about one-half inch long, with 

 black or brownish stripes or sometimes 

 white; and the black giant, another 

 variety, has heads sixteen to twenty-two 

 inches in diameter, with rather thick 

 black seeds about three-eighths of an 

 inch long- The 



GREAT VALUABLE PROPERTIES 



belonging to the sunflower plant have un- 

 doubtedly been neglected when greater 

 attention ought to have been paid. No 

 plant produces such fine honey and 

 wax, and when the plant is in 

 blossom bees abound on it. The 

 branches and stalk of the sunflower, 

 when reduced to a sufficient state of 



