October, 1911.] 



351 



Miscellaneous. 



Cultivation by transplanting is carried 

 on at various places under the super- 

 vision of the Agricultural Instructors. 



Referring to new ploughs, Mr. Mole- 

 gode, Agricultural Instructor, writes : — 

 "I am of opinion that the 'Goiya' 

 plough (imported by Messrs. Hunter 

 & Co.) is suitahle for most lands. At 

 Uva it has created quite a favourable 

 impression." 



Cotton. 



The British Cotton Growing Associ- 

 ation sent through their local agents a 

 cwt. of cotton seed known as Sakella- 

 rides, and in advising despatch report- 

 ed :— 



" Last season in Egypt a planter there 

 raised a very excellent type of cotton, 

 which competed with the Sea Island 

 varieties, and realized prices from 15ci.to 

 17(i. per lb. The cotton has not the same 

 lustre and fineness as the Sea, Islands, but 

 is very strong, and altogether a useful 

 cotton. In view of the fact that Sea 

 Island Cotton did well in Ceylon, it has 

 occurred to me that it might be useful 

 if you could have some experiments 

 carried ovit with this class of cotton, 

 and therefore we are sending a bag of 

 this seed to our Agents, Messrs. Freu- 

 denberg & Company, and asking them 

 to hand the same to you. We shall be 

 very glad to learn the result of any 

 experinent you may decide to make 

 with this seed. The name of the success- 

 ful planter was a Mr. Sakellarides, and 

 the seed is named after him, so that it is 

 now known as " Sakellarides " seed. We 

 might also mention that the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies are undertaking experiments 

 with this variety." 



The seed has been distributed to all 

 likely places and is being tried in the 

 Experimentnal Gardens conducted under 

 the supervision of the Society's Instruc- 

 tors. 



The following report on the Cambo- 

 dian cotton grown at Balalla Experi- 

 mental Garden has been received from 

 the Director of the Imperial Institute: — 

 "Lint fairly soft, lustrous, of pale cream 

 colour and almost free from stains. 

 Strength generally fairly good, but some 

 portions weak. Length of fibre from 1 

 to 1*2 inches ; mostly from l'l to 12 

 inches, commercial valuation nominally 

 7c£. per lb., with middling American at 

 7'SQd. per lb., and fine machine ginned 

 Broach at 7£d. per lb. The colour is of 

 good quality ; it is somewhat fine and 

 softer than samples of Cambodia cotton 

 recently received at the Imperial Insti- 

 tute from India, and it resembles an 



American Upland type. Such cotton 

 would be readily saleable in the United 

 Kingdom." 



Mr. J. B. Ratnayake, of Wauwa, Ham- 

 bantota district, sends the following 

 interesting report of a trial of growing 

 Sea Island cotton. The experiment was 

 unfortunately begun at the wrong sea- 

 son, but its lessons are not without 

 interest : — 



" Three acres' extent of land was pre- 

 pared for cotton cultivation in February, 

 1910, but for want of rain the planting 

 had to be delayed till the 14th May of 

 that year, when there was some rain. 

 Dry weather set in agaiu shortly after 

 planting, and only about two-thirds of 

 the seeds planted germinated. Fresh 

 seeds were planted on 16th June to 

 replace the failures and watered for five 

 days. Of the three acres' extent two 

 were cultivated in the manner of chena 

 cultivation and one acre on ridges, 

 according to instructions. There was 

 no difference in the growth in the two 

 methods. Some of the trees grew up to 

 about eight feet high, but they bore 

 less than those of the shorter growth. 

 During the first two months after plant- 

 ing there was little rain, but the plants 

 came up vigorously. The first picking, 

 which was done in October, gave six 

 hundred and seventy pounds of seed 

 cotton. Twenty-five days later the cot- 

 ton was ripe for a second picking ; but, 

 owing to excessive rain, the flowers and 

 pods fell off and the fibre of those that 

 remained were hopelessly damaged, and 

 only eleven pounds of seed cotton were 

 collected. The third picking commenced 

 about the beginning of February last, and 

 five hundred and sixty pounds of seed 

 cotton have already been collected, and 

 about one hundred pounds more could 

 be picked from the trees of the second 

 planting. There was dry weather during 

 this picking, and the colour of the fibre 

 was superior to that of the first and 

 second, but its length was somewhat 

 shorter. 



"Samples of the stained and unstained 

 cotton were sent to Messrs. Freuden- 

 berg & Co., Colombo, and they have 

 valued them at seventy-five cents to one 

 rupee and fifty cents per pound of lint. 

 During the wet weather maggots and 

 small beetles of pink colour appeared on 

 pods, which affected the colour of the 

 fibre to a greac extent ; but, as soon as 

 the rains ceased, they disappeared ; 

 nevertheless a bug-likd fly brooded in 

 vast numbers, but these insects did not do 

 much harm to the crop. I got rid of them 

 by the application of naphthalene to 

 the cotton collected. The cost of cultiv- 

 ation of the two acres of chena land was 



