Miscellaneous. 



and to keep the lanes clean and free of illnk and other miscellaneous weeds by 

 digging or weeding them as often as may be necessary, but the growth of ordin- 

 ary grass herbage should be encouraged until a close sward is established. The 

 best way to open lanes where the growth of illuk is strong, is to first sickle 

 it down close to the roots, remove the grass and lay it on the intervening 

 spaces, then dig and turn up the ground to the full depth of a mamoty. If 

 Crotalaria is thickly sown in the lanes immediately after the fast digging 

 it will shade the ground completely and help to suppress the growth of 

 illuk, besides enriching the soil. The improvement effected by such a course 

 of treatment on the condition of young palms which had been previously 

 stunted in growth and almost killed out by illuk was simply marvellous. By the sixth 

 month they begin to make vigorous growth, and in eighteen months they are often 

 far and away finer and bigger plants than those of the same age growing in land 

 free of illuk. By this time the illuk, also, will have disappeared along two-thirds of 

 the lanes and given place to a close sward, and it may be confidently expected that by 

 the end of the second year all the land (in one case over an area of 217 acres) will be 

 absolutely free of illuk. As for the strips of illuk, between the lanes, it soon 

 becomes apparent that confining the weed grass to a space 15 feet wide has the effect 

 of considerably weakening its growth, and it has been further noticed that a climb- 

 ing plant ©fiSid (Maddu vel., Sing.) and a low shrub gge (Pupula., Sing.) Vemonia 

 Zeylanicn(?) were inimical to it ; the tendrils of the climber putting down the blades 

 of illuk and the shrub pressing upon it and gradually choking it out. The spread 

 of such friendly weeds should be encouraged, all other "chaddy" growth among the 

 illuk being rooted out, and in less than two years most of the illuk will be killed out, 

 maddu and pupula flourishing in its place : but these weeds are easily got rid of at 

 any time afterwards. 



The initial cost of opening 10 ft. lanes averaged in my experience Rs. 8 per 

 acre, and subsequent digging or weeding, and rooting up " chaddy" in the strips of 

 illuk between the lanes Rs. 1 per acre per month, or Rs. 12 per year. The total 

 cost of exterminating illuk by these measures is therefore about Rs. 32 per acre. 

 The writer has had quite 12 years' experience in the treatment of coconut planta- 

 tions over-run with illuk, and after careful trial of various methods he is of opinion 

 that a simple, less expensive, or better plan of exterminating illuk over large areas 

 on coconut plantations can scarcely be devised than that just described. 



Gerald T. Nicholas. 



Following the reading of the above paper at the meeting of the Board of 

 Agriculture (March 5th), an instructive discussion ensued. 



Dr. Willis said his experience of the grass in both the countries mentioned 

 had showed him that the grass in Ceylon was hardly worth mentioning in com- 

 parison with what it was in parts of Malaya. It was no unusual thing there for 

 one to look round from horizon to horizon and see nothing but thousands of acres 

 over-grown with this grass, which grew in a way we never dreamed of in this 

 country. One method of getting rid of it that had been discovered in the Straits 

 was by mowing. With regular mowing, little by little, other grasses got a footing 

 on the land, which was thus turned into decent pasturage. Referring to a certain 

 estate in the Straits Dr. Willis said he was told that ten years ago it was a mass 

 of illuk grass. It had been mowed regularly, however, with the result that the 

 illuk grass had gradually given way to other grasses. Dr. Willis went on to advise 

 the abolition of the custom of burning illuk, saying that burning did no harm to 

 that grass and did much damage to everything else. If fire was kept away, and 

 mowing resorted to, trees would grow up and the shade would groAV over the 

 illuk, causing it to die down. 



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