May, 1909.] 



463 



Miscellaneous. 



ing of the merits of these up-to-date 

 appliances and compare them with the 

 crude chekku-mills of the country. 



Any one desirous of trying the 

 Duchemin Fibre Machine can do so by 

 application to the Superintendent of 

 School Gardens. 



A simple hand loom may be seen at 

 work at the Government Stock Garden, 

 where two of these weaving machines 

 are under trial. It is interesting to learn 

 that the weaving of cloth is now being 

 carried on in the Welikada jail. A loom 

 introduced by a late vistor to Siam will 

 probably be shown at work at the 

 Kandy Show next August. 



Sericulture.— A consignment of live 

 Eri cocoons is expected shortly from 

 Assam. Applications for eggs should 

 be made to the Superintendent, School 

 Gardens. 



The following report has been received 

 from a Swiss firm in the silk trade on a 

 sample submitted :— " We very much 

 regret not to be able to give you a 

 satisfactory answer as regards the com- 

 mercial value of Eri-pierced cocoons. To 

 do this we ought to make a trial of a 

 certain importance, but till now we 

 never heard of large quantities we can 

 rely on, which should amount to 200,000 

 pounds a year at least. If one day you 

 should be able to give us exact informa- 

 tion on this score, we should decide upon 

 the matter." 



A Paris firm, to whom samples were 

 forwarded some time ago, writing on 

 February 20, reports that the trial of the 

 cocoons will be finished in a few days 

 when a full report will be sent. In a 

 previous letter the same firm reported :— 

 " We duly received your favour of 

 October 13 last, and since we have seen 

 in our mill the parcel of 50 lb. of Eri 

 cocoons you have sent us. The reason 

 we did not write to you earlier was that 

 our Manager, Mr. Villy, wanted to see 

 those cocoons with Mr. Strohl before 

 working them. We have chosen all the 

 brown cocoons left in the white ones so 

 as to enable us to make dyeing trials, 

 and to see how we can use this quality. 

 We are dressing and spinning the 

 cocoons now, and shall be able to give 

 you further reports in a short time. 

 You may be assured that we give all 

 our attention to this question, and that 

 we hope that it will later on bring some 

 interesting business. We think that 

 since Mr. Strohl's visit you have been 

 able to study the question of making an 

 important practical trial of Eri cocoon 

 culture, and would be glad to hear what 

 the cost of such a trial could be. If the 

 trials of spinuiug we are making now 

 give a good result, we shall do what we 



can to facilitate you a large trial of 

 practical culture. We think that such 

 a trial will be absolutely necessary to 

 show the cost of price of those Eri 

 cocoons, and to allow on one side the 

 producer and on the other side ourselves 

 to see what the interest of this business 

 c -mid be for each other," 



A small experiment in the extraction 

 of Eri silk fibre and spinning it into 

 yarn is about to be tried at the Govern- 

 ment Stock Gardens. 



Cotton.— The local agents of the Brit- 

 ish Cotton Growing Association, in 

 reply to an inquiry from a cultivator, 

 report as follows : — "There is a combine 

 of Moormen who buy both cotton and 

 kapok in 2nd Cross Street, Colombo, 

 besides most of thp European firms buy 

 both products, and we ourselves should 

 be happy to compete. The best results 

 are obtained by the planter if he allows 

 us to gin, bale, and ship the cotton for 

 him, as by doing so he would reap the 

 advantages of a rising market, while 

 merchants have to take into consider- 

 ation a possible sudden drop in the 

 market and have to keep their quota- 

 tions accordingly low. Our charges for 

 ginning, baling, and putting on board 

 f. o. b. are 7 cents per pound of clean 

 cotton, and for kapok the charges are 4 

 cents per pound hand-cleaned and 6 cents 

 machine cleaned." 



Manure.— A series of experiments in 

 the manuring of vegetables is being con- 

 ducted at Jaffna by the Agricultural 

 Instructor of the Northern Province. 

 The Superintendent of School Gardens 

 has recommended the following mixture 

 for oranges :— 



cwt. 



Ground nut Cake 1\ 



Bone Phosphate 3| 



Sulphate of Ammonia 1| 



Sulphate of Potash 1 



Salt and Citronella Ash for Coconut. — 

 The Government Agricultural Chemist 

 reports as follows on samples submitted 

 to him by a member':-" I consider 

 sample of salt submitted suitable for 

 young coconut trees at the rate of one 

 pound per tree forked in round the tree 

 about three feet from the trunk. 

 Similarly applied the ash of citronella 

 grass would be suitable at the rate of 

 5 pounds per tree." 



Mosquito Exterminator.— A few pack- 

 ets of a preparation under the above 

 name were received from a mem- 

 ber, and have been distributed in 

 malarious districts for trial and report. 

 The preparation is said to be made of 

 local vegetable products (chiefly Mar- 

 gosa leaves) and not to contain any 



