326 



[October, 19il. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



PERADENITA EXPERIMENT 

 STATION. 



Minutes of a meeting of the Committee 

 of Agricultural Experiments held at the 

 Experiment Station, Peradeniya, on 7th 

 September, 1911. 



Present :— The Director, R, B. Gardens, 

 the Hon'ble the Go\ernment Agent, CP., 

 the Assistant Director, the Government 

 Entomologist, Messrs. H. P. Laycock, 



H. Inglis, and the Secretary. 



Resolved :— 



(1) That the figures of the soil wash 



plots to date be not published. 



(2) That an experiment re the cost of 



decorticating rubber seed be 

 carried out. 



(3) That steps be taken to ascertain 



the cost of a decorticating 

 machine. 



(4) That members of the Committe be 



requested to be more expeditious 

 in the passing on of Circular 

 Notices. 



(5) That Messrs, Beachcroft and 



Tisdall be approached as to their 

 willingness to act on the Com- 

 mittee vice Messrs. Turner and 

 Anderson resigned. 



J. A. Holmes, 



Secretary C. A. E., and 

 Superintendent, E. S. P. 

 Peradeniya, 9th September, 1911. 



Progress Report on Experiment 

 Station, from 13th July to 7th 

 September, 1911. 



Tea.— All the recently pruned plots 

 are now in bearing. 



The Manipuri Indigenous is still yield- 

 ing heavily ; the 5 acres which have now 

 been running for 2 years having given 

 2,108 lbs. of green leaf in August. 



Cacao. — Canker has been very pre- 

 valent along the river ; cutting and two 

 sprayings have been carried out at a 

 cost of Rs,l'02 per acre for spraying, 

 and canker Rs.P27. 



There is at present the promise of a 

 very fair crop. 



Coconuts.— The coconut experiments 

 are being continued, 30 gallons of oil 

 being extracted in July. 



Rubber.— Para. A large quantity of 

 seed has been gathered for the purpose 

 of making oil ; the cost is something 

 under \ a cent a pound ; the weight of 



I, 000 seeds was found to be 7 lbs. 



Ceara and Dichotoma are being tapped, 

 but the yields are indifferent, 



Funtumia is seeding for the first time. 



Paddy.— The paddy field is being pre- 

 pared for the current crop ; some delay 

 was experienced owing to the pre- 

 valence of fever amongst the Sinhalese. 



Green Manures.— The following green 

 manures have been cut yielding as below 



for 1/100 of an acre :— 



Plant. Yield. 



Leucsena glauca ... ... 164 lbs. 



Tephrosia Candida ... ... 184 ,, 



do Hookeriana ... .... 88 



Cajanus indicus ... ... 170 ,, 



The plot of Cassia mimisoides was 

 tipped, as if cut low it dries. 



Oil Grasses. — Cymbopogon polyneu- 

 ros has been distilled, the oil being 

 destined for the Imperial Institute. 



General.— Ploughing and the re- 

 moval of stumps is being carried on in 

 the cleared cacao land. 



The barbed wire fence has now been 

 completed round the inside boundary. 



Half an acre of castor has been sown 

 to obtain a supply of seed- 



DEDIGAMA MARKET SHOW. 



19th August, 1911. 



A series of market shows, which are 

 becoming such popular institutions, 

 were arranged by the Assistant Govern- 

 ment Agent of Kegalla, but it was feared 

 that they would have to be abandoned 

 owing to the unusual drought that 

 prevailed during the early part of the 

 year, and to the severe outbreak of fever 

 in the District. The first of these, how- 

 ever, came off at Dedigama, in Beligal 

 Korale, on the 19th August, and, judging 

 from results, the success of this Show 

 was an ample reward for the trouble 

 taken over it. Some time before the 

 Show a quantity of selected vegetable 

 seeds were distributed free of cost among 

 bona Ude village cultivators. 



The Show was held in the Gansabawa 

 Court at Dedigama, and was opened by 

 the Assistant Government Agent, who 

 also distributed the awards, which were 

 all in cash, 



The Ratemahatmaya of the Division, 

 the Kachcheri Mudaliyar and a large 

 number of headmen were present 

 throughout the proceedings. The attend- 

 ance of villagers was not as large as it 

 ought to have been, but this is probably 

 due to the prevalence of sickness as well 



