August i, 1889] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
83 
reason to believe that places were known to the natives 
where such mines might be opened with confidence 
of suocess. Sir Emerson Tennent commenting 
upon this report says : — "It is highly probable that 
the finest rubies are to be found in these strata, 
perl'eot and unchanged by decomposition, and that 
they are to be obtained by opening a regular 
mine in the rock, like the ruby mine of Badakshan 
in Bactria, described by Sir Alexander Burnes, 
Eubies both crystalline and amorphous are also 
found in a particular stratum of dolomite at 
Bulattota (Rakwana) and Badulla, in which there 
is a peouliar copper colored mica with metallic 
lustre. It is strange that although the sapphire 
is found in all this region in greater quantity 
than the ruby, it has never yet been discovered 
in the original matrix, and the small fragments 
whioh sometimes occur in dolomite show that there 
it is but a deposit." 
Prom such evidence as we here possess, it may be 
deduced that gneiss forms the gem-bearing matrix of 
Ceylon — gneiss of which the whole mountain region 
of Ceylon is composed, — and as further proof of this, 
rubies and other gems are found at Nuwara Eliya 
over 7,000 feet above sea- level, in Dikoya and the 
Bcgawantalawa patanas at near 6,000 feet. In fact 
the matrix is the whole of the hill coun- 
try of Ceylon, the higher portions of which 
have ages ago become decomposed and the 
precious minerals have become scattered and 
washed down the mountain torrents on all sides, Mr. 
Streeter talks of the source of the Ratnapura river as a 
locality comparatively easy of exploration, and as if 
the lower bed of that river were the principal field 
for gemming in the Sabaragamuwa district. The 
sources of the rivers which form the Kaluganga 
are innumerable, each stream having its own source 
and own gemming localities along it course. Some 
of the streams rise io Rakwana, some in Bam- 
barabotuwa and all along the Adam's Peak range. 
Each of these may De said to have its own 
matrix for the gems it produces, if it still exist. 
Again, suppose the gems are found imbedded in 
the gneiss, they could not possibly be extracted 
without enormous expenditure by blasting. The 
gneiBs of Ceylon is as hard as granite and as 
difficult to move from its bed. However, there 
is no insuperable difficulty preventing the search 
for the matrix suggested by Mr. Streeter, should it 
be considered necessary. 
Again Mr. Streeter characterises as an objection, 
that stones found in C-ylon realize as much 
looally as can be obtained for them in the Euro- 
pean markets. Mr. Streeter here looks at the 
matter from a jeweller's point of view, he would 
no doubt prefer all the gems to be sent to him for 
sale, and for his benefit in the way of commission on 
the transaction; but it must be very obvious that the 
shareholders of the Company would look to the 
return on their venture, it would be immaterial 
to them whether their dividends were realized in 
Ceylon, or at home, as long as they made the 
most they could out of their capital. At the 
pres< nt moment considerable quantities of 
sapphires are sent from Ceylon to Australia 
and America— and a local demand arises which 
would be in favour of the miners. In Burma 
Mr. Streeter has to buy a large ■proportion 
of the rubies sent to Europe for the Company, and 
local competition is consequently dead against 
the interests of that Compaq ; in Ceylon it would 
be the exact reverse. Another objection now put 
forward is that the reduction in size, necessitated 
by the grading in colour, reduces the value of sap- 
phires. In his " Precious Stones and Gems" after 
commenting on the value per carat of sapphires, 
he says ; " Sapphires, do not, like rubies, riso in 
price as they increase in size." In opposition to 
his latest assertion that " catseyes are not favour- 
ites with purchasers of jewellery generally," he says 
in the same work. " The catseye has become more 
and more fashionable of late years in Europe 
and its value has greatly increased," and in 
India it has always been much prized, and is 
held in peculiar veneration as a charm against 
witchcraft. Mr. Streeter's opposition to a Ceylon 
Gemming Company is easily explained : having 
floated the Ruby Mining Company for Burma, 
he no doubt finds it as much as he can at 
present undertake to keep it going, and he 
naturally would view with alarm any under- 
taking in Ceylon in whioh he did not play a prin- 
cipal part. Again Mr. Streeter is perfectly aware 
that a Ceylon Company would realize its produce 
in the best available market, and that market 
would possibly not be in London where the jewellers 
would have the pickings of the sales, and this also 
militates against his interests in business. 
INSECT ENEMIES. 
A Mechanical Murderer. 
Not far from a tree on her Majesty's home farm 
at Windsor which marks the spot where the late 
Prince Consort finished his last shooting, an interest- 
ing agricultural demonstration was witnessed on 
Saturday. The enormous depredations caused by in- 
sects is one of the difficulties with which agricul- 
turists have to contend, and for years they have 
been seeking for some effective means of destroying 
these pests and preventing their ravages. Mr. G. F. 
Strawson, of Newbury, Berks, has invented a machine 
for this purpose, which he has named the pneumatic 
distributor, and two of these were shown at work at 
Windsor. The liquid or solid which is to be distri- 
buted is p'.uciM in a tank or hopper and a fan which 
is driven at a great speed by the revolutions of the 
wheels of the machine scatters it over the plants or 
land to be covered. Thus paraffin falls in a fine spray, 
and powdered lime is emitted in a white cloud like 
smoke, covering everything over which they pass with 
a fine film or coat, sufficient to destroy the dreaded 
fly. A horse travelling quickly with one of these 
machines can travel over a ten-acre field in an hour, 
so that rapidity, which is so essential when a crop 
is attacked, is secured. The smallness of the quan- 
tity of material used is surprising, a pint of paraffin 
being sufficient to cover an acre, and yet so effectively 
distributed is it that a single leaf cannot be picked up 
without the smell of the liquid beiug detected. As 
well as for ground crops, the pneumatic distributor is 
adapted for hop fields, vineyards, and orchards, special 
shapes being made to suit the form of cultivation. 
But the uses of the machine by no means end here. 
Its power of distributing is also available for fertilizers, 
and nitrate of soda, for instance, ] which must be 
bandied very carefully, can be laid down with perfect 
evenness and in regulated quantities. As a broad-cast 
corn and seed sower it also does work of a perfectly 
even and accurate character. So far as an agricultural 
implement ; but it has, further, its town uses. In the 
distribution of disinfectants either in a liquid or 
powdered form it has obvious advantages, and its use 
for the distribution of sand on asphalte and other 
slippery reads would undoubtedly prevent many ac- 
cidents from the falling of horses. The machine can 
be worked either by horses or hand power, and by one 
man. The French Minister of Agriculture is very 
sanguine that the " Strawsonizer," as it has been 
named, will oust the dreaded phylloxera from the vine- 
yards of France— Pall Mall Budget, May 24th. 
IMPROVED PADDY (RICE) CULTIVATION. 
Office of the Director of P. I., 
Colombo, 15th June 1889. 
To the Editor of the "Tropical Agriculturist." 
Sir, — I am directed to forward for publication the 
inclosed copy of a communication from the Oovern- 
