and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society,— September, 1911. 267 



Such soils possess a good mechanical condi- 

 tion and admit of being easily cultivated while 

 they would certainly respond readily to dres- 

 sings of suitable manure. 



It is interesting to compare the above results 

 with an analysis of a ferrugineous sandy soil 

 actually growing cotton in the territory of 

 lbadan, Lagos, West Africa, sent me by the late 

 Sir Alfred Jones, particulars of which will be 

 found on page 195 of the Tropical Agriculturist 

 for September, 1904. 



The important constituents exist as follows:-- 

 Nitrogen - 06, phosphoric acid - 06, potash -07, 

 lime 1*12 per cent. 



Here again the figures are low with the ex- 

 ception of lime, which is present in fair pro- 

 portion. 



It appears, therefore, that Sea Island cotton 

 can be satisfactorily produced on naturally light 

 sandy soils provided the climato be favourable. 



Sir Daniel Morris has kindly forwarded a 

 letter of inqu ; ry to Dr. Francis Watts, the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, 

 who write* me from Barbados under date of 

 March 2lst, that "the general impression is 

 that the tine quality ot the St. Vincent Sea 

 Island cotton is due in a large measure to the 

 moist climate and the light friable soils of the 

 Colony." 



It is, I think, of great importance when sug- 

 gesting the trial of a new crop to be able to 

 produce reliable information as to the kind of 

 soil upon which such crop has been found to 

 flourish in other localities, a id the above results 

 have been put together with a view of affording 

 practical information as to the kind of soil unon 

 which cotton such as Sea Island has been found 

 to produce satisfactory results. -Yours faithfully, 



JOHN HUGHES, 

 Agricultural Analyst, 79, Mark Lane, 



London, E. C. 



REMARKABLE HEAT IN LONDON. 



CONTRASTS WITH INDIA AND CEYLON. 



Dr. Hugh R. Mill, who was lately on a visit 

 to Ceylon, reports to the London Times that 

 August 9th was the hottest day of the present 

 summer, and of the 54 summers of which re- 

 cords are kept in his office. We quote from 

 his report, in which, it will be observed, he has 

 areferenceto "Colombo":— 



"The temperature at 9 a.m. today was 78'7 

 degrees and it rose so rapidly that by 9-40 a.m. 

 the thermometer read 83'0 degrees, by 1 p.m. 

 95'0 degrees, by 1-50 p.m. 96'7 degrees, 1$ degree 

 above the highest previously recorded, and at 

 2-15 p.m. 97"1 degrees, almost 2 degrees beyond 

 the reading for the hottest day previously known. 

 At 3 p. m. the reading was 95 8 degrees, at 4 p.m. 

 95 degrees, and at 5 p.m. 93 1 degrees. A tem- 

 perature of 97' 1 degrees was put on record at 

 Greenwich Observatory in July, 1881, when the 

 temperature at Camden-square was 94 6 degrees. 



" The highest temperature of all days in the 

 last 54 years when the temperature reached or 

 exceeded 93 degrees are given below, the reading 



being made in each case from a maximum ther- 

 mometer in the shade mounted on a Glaisher 

 stand similar to that in use at the Royal Obser- 

 vatory, Greenwich, but differing from the stan- 

 dard Stevenson screen, which usually gives 

 temperature readings from 1 degree to 2 degrees 

 less extreme. 



" Maximum temperatures 



above 93 degrees 



recorded at Camden-square i- 





Max. Tern. 



Date. 



degrees. 



1868 July 21 



... 933 



July 22 



... 932 



1881 July 15 



... 94-6 



1893 August 18 



... 93'6 



1900 July 16 



... 952 



July 19 



... 93-4 



July 25 



... 94-0 



1906 August 31 



September 2 



... 932 



... 94.0 



1911 August 9 



... 97-1 



" It is interesting to observe how littlo effect 



< n the routine of daily work in London is pro- 

 duced by a temperature which would be con- 

 sidered high in Calcutta (when no tourist or 

 newcomer from home was within hearing), and 

 which has, I believe, never been reached in 

 Colombo." 



Dr. Mill is right that the maximum shade 

 temperature (97'1 degrees) he records for August 

 9th in London is higher ihan Colombo's maxi- 

 mum record which is 96*1 degrees (on March 12th 

 thisj'ear); but strangely enough, Kandy, 1,654 ft. 

 above sea level, had 96'2 degrees in April 1889, 

 and Galle on sea level, 96'7 degrees in April 1906; 

 whiln other stations on our sea coast South-East, 

 East, North and North-West greatly exceeded 

 Colombo until the maximum for the island is 

 Trincomalee at 103 7 degrees in May 1890— the 

 rext being inland Anuradhapura with 103 de- 

 grees in September, 1887- (In the sun Colombo 

 shewed up to 148"5 degrees; Anuradhapura 166'8 

 degrees, highest for the island ) At our Sani- 

 tarium. 6,200 feet altitude, the maximum shade, 

 temperature recorded is 8T6 degrees on May 16th, 

 1892 ; minimum 28"2 degrees on Feb. 6th, 1904. 

 The minimum for Colombo is 65 degrees 

 on February 3=4 1904 and for Kandy 49'5 

 degrees on June 25th, 1890. It may be of in- 

 terest to mention that the maximum temper- 

 ature recorded for Bombay is 100"2 degrees ; 

 for Calcutta 105 '3 degrees, and for Madras 112"9 

 degrees; but in the Pioneer of Juno 4th, 1895, 

 there appeared a " statement of the absolutely 

 highest temperature recorded throughout India 

 for each of the 19 years 1876 to 1894." The 

 list included the stations which we quote 

 with the highest records and appertaining 

 dates, namely, Sialkot 120 degrees in June, 1876; 

 Jacobabad 123 - 5 degrees in June, 1889 ; Agra 

 120 - 3 degrees in June, 1878 ; Lahore 119'5 de- 

 grees in June, 1880 ; Pachpadra 123" 1 degrees in 

 Mav, 1886 ; D. I. Khan 1215 degroes in June 

 1883. Our contemporary adds a warning that 

 "thermometers only a few yards apart may give 

 very divergent results if the mothods of ex- 

 posure are different." Consequently care must 

 be taken in making comparisons between dif- 

 ferent stations ; but as the figures quoted above 

 for India and Ceylon, are those recorded for 



