484 The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Tephrosia. 



Cost of establishing Tephrosia 4 



Keeping drains clean 1 



Land Kent 1 



Cut down Tephrosia twice 2 



Various 1 



Supervision l 



Total cost first year 10 



•2nd and following years. 



As above less $4 for establishing 



Tephrosia 6 



Total expenses for five years 34 



Total saving titj 

 F. Zernichow, Jandarata Estate, Teluk Anson. 

 —Straits Agricultural Bulletin, for April. 



"DIE BACK" IN FRUIT TREES. 



This common disease, which shows itself in 

 the withering of branches, generally from the 

 top downwards, may be said to be due to star- 

 vation brought about by want of proper drainage 

 and manure 



The treatment consists of thorough drai- 

 nage and liming (2 to 6 lb. lime per tree) fol- 

 lowed later by a good dressing of manure— 

 if artificials, say, \ lb. sulphate of potash, £ lb. 

 saltpetre, 1 lb. sulphate of lime per tree : old 

 trees might get more. Prune off all diseased 

 parts and paint cuts with tar— leaving only 

 healthy tissue to grow. 



BANANA FLOUR. 



Negombo, April 15th. 

 Dear Sir, — This new and highly nutritious 

 food stuff is, I think, bound to take a fairly 

 prominent place in Ceylon and other of jour 

 tropical Colonies some day ; but at present we 

 in Ceylon do not know much about its pre- 

 paration. About the time I came here in 1898 

 a very small lot was desiccated, but I remem- 

 ber no attempt was made to reduce it to flour ; 

 and what became of it I know not. Since then 

 I have seen short articles from home papers in 

 our local papers now and then, but I do not 

 think any attempt was made by the numerous 

 writers at anything approaching a description 

 of its preparation after desiccating, lam afraid, 

 however, that when we take into consideration 

 the fact that the present-day banana pro- 

 duction of Ceylon is but little more than our 

 requirements for local consumption, particu- 

 larly with the ever-increasing demands of the 

 big steamers calling at Colombo, there would 

 be great difficulty in securing a sunisient 

 supply for desiccating, and anything like a re- 

 gular supply for a factory would, I think, be 

 out of the question. This fruit — indeed, all 

 Ceylon fruit— is harvested green, the chief reason 

 being, it seems, the dread the native grower 

 has of thieving ; and he says to himself and 

 perhaps not unwisely: " If I wait till that cluster 

 of plantains is ripe, someone else will get it." 

 I have not the least doubt, however, that with 

 the advent of the Puttalam Railway— bound, I 

 think, to come before long— further coconut 

 cultivation will be the order of the day up 



North, when perhaps the banana may be culti- 

 vated on a considerably increased scale as a catch 

 crop, as it is at present, in new clearings— the 

 proceeds, as a rule, going a long way towards 

 defraying the cost of opening and carrying on 

 the garden for the first two or three years. 

 This estate work is generally done by villagers 

 free of all cost, in return for being allowed to 

 grow the catch crops on their own account. 

 Beyond fencing the land, and finding the seed 

 nuts, the owner pays practically nothing; but, 

 of course, he has long to wait for returns much 

 longer than people think. — Yours faithfully, 



C. M. B. WILKINS. 



"PALE RUBBER" 



MR. BAMBER'S LATEST VIEWS. 

 Mr. Kelway Bamber, as far back as August 

 last, wrote on the subject of enzyme-destruction 

 in rubber, advising its adoption as rendering 

 the product so much more valuable. Owing to 

 a report that a sheet of rubber subjected to the 

 heating process had lost all its 'life,' and that the 

 treatmant was not always applicable ; also that 

 perhaps the rubber fetched its price because it 

 was the latest novelty on the market — we have 

 referred to Mr. Bamber himself on the matter. In 

 response to our enquiry we learn from him that 

 "Pale Rubber" was much admired by both 

 British and Continental rubber manufacturers 

 at the Rubber Exhibition, partly on account of 

 its uniformity and purity, but also for its suit- 

 ability for special manufactures. This is the 

 probable reason for the premium paid on such 

 '•pale rubber" as Mr. Bamber was told that 

 the demand for it would be very large. Many 

 factories are now adopting the process with 

 varying success, depending more or less on 

 attention to detail. The manufacture of pale 

 rubber depends almost entirely on the destruc- 

 tion or removal of the enzyme occurring in the 

 latex, and it is possible to make a certain pro- 

 portion of each day's latex into pale rubber 

 without using heat at all ; but the hot water 

 or steaming process is so simple and inexpen- 

 sive and the results, when properly done, so 

 successful and remunerative, that it is a wonder 

 it is not universally adopted. Any process that 

 will secure uniformity in appearance, without 

 injuring the quality of the rubber, will be of the 

 greatest service to the industry; and its general 

 adoption should be encouraged. 



CARAVONICA GOTTON. 



Premantle, W.A., April 2nd. 



Dear Sir, — I have just received yours of 

 January 30th; also a copy of the Ceylon Observer. 



Dr. Thomatis made a somewhat similar state- 

 ment in a Queensland paper on leaving Australia, 

 saying his Company had secured control of the 

 Caravonica Cotton Seed, to which I wrote a 

 denial. He has said, on other occasions, that he 

 only has the real Caravonica seed, which is 

 untrue. I have under cultivation with Cara- 

 vonica Cotton 22 acres of the best of his land 

 suitable for growing cotton. Why he did not 

 uso this lancf himself, instead of what he did, 



