332 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [November r, 1889. 
a yel'owish product is obtained, which when fresh 
has an agrt-eable odor, a lard-like consistency and 
behaves with alkalies, etc., very much like coconut 
oil, with which it also closely corresponds in composi- 
tion. The melting point of palm kernel oil is given 
by Sehaedler at 25° to 26° 0., the density at 15° 
C. at 0-D52 That the former is subject to great 
variations according to the age and origin of the fat 
is evident ; palm kernel oils are therefore found which 
melt at 23° 0., while others melt at 28° C. 
For the determination of the fatty acids contained 
in palm kernel oil, several varieties ot them (one of 
them pressed from Sherbro kernels in the laboratory) 
were saponified with soda lye of 38° B. with the 
addition of a small quantity of alcohol. After carefully 
evaporating the alcohol, the resulting soap was boiled 
on a reflux condenser with dilute sulphuric acid, until 
the fatty X-acid had perfectly separated. The fatty 
acid were then separated by means of a separatory 
funnel, and washed with luke-warm water, after which 
they were dried under an air pump, and the melting 
point, saponifying value and iodine number determined. 
.5 
"3 
3W 
"5 O 
No. 
1. 
2. 
a g 
-D.2 o 
Remarks regarding 
the origin of the 
fats used in pre- 
paring the fatty 
acids. 
Now, if Messrs. Elliott and Green really mean 
what they say and have the courage of their opinion, 
L offer to.em the lands within easy acce.-s in the 
best typical parts of Batticaloa. Let them cultivate 
the-e according to their own methods, give the owner 
only his rent of 50 B, and take all the rest of their 
alleged enormous profit to pay the Government tithes 
and the cost of cultivation and to reward their men, 
or for any other purpose. I will be bound if at the 
end of their first year th>-y do not rue their over- 
sanguine generalizations. Pottering with two acres is 
quite different from manipulating 200. If, on the 
other hand they so desire it, I am ready to lease out 
these 200 acres to them or their agents for the next 
five years at this rental, and also have the cost of all 
permanent improvements made by them deducted from 
the rent. 
Now, this is a fair experiment. Let these gentlemen 
or others of their opinion come forward and accept 
the challenge ; or, in the presence of all Ceylon, 
let them keep silence for ever ! AVithin five minutes 
of any one of the four Editors intimating to me that 
it has been accepted, I am ready to call at the office 
and take the necessary steps to hand over the lands 
for carrying on the experiment. 
— Local" h xaminer." 
A Tamil Cultivatob. 
25* 261 14 Fresh fat, pale yellow. 
26-5- 258 17-5 Freeh fat, yellowish 
Brown. 
25-4 259 17 Fresh fat, chr colate 
brown obtained by 
pressing 
28-5 265 12-8 Very rancid, old fat, 
almost white. 
27' 261 103 Prepared in the labor- 
atory, pale yellow. 
■Oil, Paint and Drue/ Reporter. 
TEE AVERAGE YIELD 0E PADDY— 
A CHALLENGE ! 
I have read with the deepest interest the results of 
experiments in Paddy Cultivation in the model dis- 
tricts of Galle and Batticaloa, as reported by Messrs. 
Green and Elliott. I have myself been a practical 
agriculturist for many years past. Whatever the yield 
of a few bushels of paddy ,'own in a select spot may 
be, where hundreds or thousands of acres have to be 
taken into account, as at Batticaloa and some other 
districts, the average yield of paddy can never be 
more than 12 or 15 bushels per acre — it is indeed 
generally less than 10 bushels. It is the general 
opinion among Naiives that these two Civilians are 
very public-spirited and philanthropic, but at the same 
very misguided gentlemen. I hope they are not. 
But to settle the question of the average yield per 
acre once for all, I make the following proposal. Let 
the Elitors of the four leading Newspapers in Colombo 
be the Umpires. There are four kinds of lands in 
Batticaloa, viz., (1) Rain-fed, (2) Stream- fed, (3) 
Village-tank-fed, (4) Government-tank-fed fields. L 
will offer from 25 to 50 acres of each of these des- 
criptions of lands in different parts of Batticaloa 
amounting in the aggregate to 200 acres of excellent, 
good, bad and indiffernt fields. My calculation based 
on actual yields for the last few years, is that the 
highest average yield of these 200 acres of typical 
fields can never be more than 10 or 12 J bushels per 
acre — as foil .ws for the 200 acres in round numbers. 
Co'-t of cultivation 1500 B according to Mr. Elliott's 
own letter. 
Tithe 250 B 
Kent to laud owner 750 B at only 3} bushels per acre. 
Total 2,500 B 
PARING AND BURNING VS. FUMIGATION. 
C. I). in his letter to the Observer vindicating th e 
character and reputation of the Agricultural School — 
which by the way " Old Planter " did not asperse — 
speaks of the value of paring and burning on clayey 
and peat}' soils. As far as my information and personal 
observation go, Nuwaia Eliya is the only place in 
the Island where this operation is regularly and 
systematically carried on. It will be very interesting 
to find out whether the practice was introduced by 
Europeans, or whether the Native population of the 
plains took to it from observing how we l plants grew 
on soil that was burnt. The soil of the plains as 
well as of the adjacent patanas is a black peat over- 
lying water-worn gravel. From an excess of vegetable 
matter, the soil is almost sterile and inert, and is 
quickened into life only by paring and burning. I am 
surprised liming is not resorted to, for with limestone 
cropping up not far from the plains the price of lime 
cannot be prohibitive. Is it, I wonder, that the value 
of liming is unknown, or that paring and burning 
is the cheaper system of ameliorating the condition 
of the soil ? In this connection, may I be permitted 
to repeat a suggestion I made before, of having an 
Agricultural Station in connection with the School of 
Agriculture at Nuwara Eliya? It can be under the 
supervision of an Instructor, and the pupils cau migrate 
thither with their Superintendent durii g certain mouths 
of the year. 
The resemblance between the operation of paring 
and burning, and the burning the soil receives in the 
process of fumigation is very slight. In stiff soils the 
effect of burning is very marked, especially in their 
texture. The soil becomes quite free and po.ous, almost 
sandy. I, however, thiuk it is not prudent to bum 
light soils which have no body. Where the soil is 
occupied by coconut trees and plants, burning is pos- 
sible only to a very small extent. Unless smoiher- 
fires are resorted to, the branches of the trees become 
scorched. To prevent too fierce fires, I burn branches 
and husk after the first rains that break up a drought 
have fallen, and before these materials have become 
quite dry and combustible. The residual ashes I spread 
and dig in. During the followiug season it is best to 
shift the sites of the fires, as otherwise the mass of 
rootlets that are feeding on the old sites will be des- 
troyed and no benefit will follow burning. With fires 
well smothered with sods of earth, it will be possible 
to take them over a greater extent of ground than 
open fires. 
Let us now consider by what means burning benefits 
a soil. The soil is a vast store-house of plant food. 
A wise Providence has ordained that but an infinitesi- 
mal portion of it should ba in an active or soluble 
