726 
Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." 
[April i, 1890. 
The experimental cultivation under review shows 
for one thing that the influence of agricultural educa- 
tion in the island is being felt, and we may hope to 
see other village cultivators carrying out similar experi- 
ments on their own account erelong. 
The experiment is reported to have been made in 
Imbulgoda in the Medapattu of Siyane Korle, and the 
area of cultivation is given as two beras sowing extent 
(a little less than an acre). The fiold was first well 
prepared by digging up earlier than usual, (in the 
absence of an improved plough which would have done 
the work more cheaply), and the seed was put in a 
nursery. When the plants were up, they were pulled 
and transplanted out in the field. The yield in spite of 
the damage done by the paddy-bug was 60 beras 
equal to 52J bushels. The trash or spoilt grain was 
measured and found to be nearly 8£ bushels, the 
total cost of cultivation including reaping was E9'02|. 
(There ought to have been a saving in seed paddy 
also, as only plants from 12 seers of paddy are required 
for planting an acre.) 
It would be well to mention here that for trans- 
planting an acre we require in Oeylon the labour of 
12 women for planting, and 2 men for pulling up 
plants from the nursery, which amounts to a cost of 
nearly R2T0, at the rate of 12| cents per woman, and 
30 cents per man, per day. But with practice half the 
number will be able to do the work. Such is the case 
in India, and the following quotation from Prof. 
"Wallace's "India in 1887" shows the despatch with 
which the natives do their work there : — 
" Forty days after sowiDg, when the plants are about 
one foot long, they are pulled by men who using both 
hands uproot with each hand alternately two or three 
plants at a time. The plants are retained until the 
hands are full, and all the while during the interva's 
between the moments of pulliDg, the roots are well 
shaken in the water which is allowed to stand on the 
seed bed to make the work easier. Each handful or 
bunch is then freed of all the mud and moisture that 
will shake off by striking against a stick of perhaps 
an inoh thick, kept standing in the ground within 
easy reach of the puller. The two handfulls are there- 
after tied into one bundle by twisting a few tops of 
the paddy seedliugs in a loose temporary rope, and 
passing this round the bundle, a few more plants 
being taken in to add to the length of the band, when 
t has passed fully half way round. The end is fast- 
ened by being tucked underneath the baud, and the 
bundles are ready to be carted or otherwise conveyed 
to be planted, to be set out the same day if possible. 
* * * Six women plant an aore per day, when tho 
bundles of seedlings are brought to them by a man." 
W. A. D. S. 
THE NUTRITION OF PLANTS. 
By C. Diuebebg. b.a., p.h.a.s. 
We saw that as a rule plants got their food con- 
stituents from the soil, through the roots, and from 
the atmosphere through the leaves, and that these con- 
stituents had to be elaborated, into organic matt 
beforo they were fit for the nutrition of plants. There 
are, however, some exceptions to this rule, and these 
are the parasites, the saprophytes the insectivorous 
plants, and epiphytes. Now parasites are of two 
kind*,partial parasites and true parasites. Both these 
get their food from a living host, but while the 
former appropriates the crude sap, the latter absorbs 
the elaborated sap. We 6aw that the crude sap or the 
ascending sap consists of water with mineral matter 
in solution, and that this sap is carried to the leaf or 
laboratory of the plants (to be manufactured into 
organic matter) by means of the wood tissue. Thus 
the partial parasite would have to fix its roots in the 
wood tissue of the host, and by doing so gets at the 
water and mineral matter which should have been 
supplied by the sail. The crude sap which it thus gets 
will have to be manufactured into organic maHer m 
in the case of ordinary plants, and hence the pirtia 
parasites will require the presence of chlorophyl, for 
we saw that the presence of chlorophyl was necessary 
for the process of elaboration. Thus the partial 
parasites are green plants, such as the mistletoe, 
and the Loranthus so common on mango trees in 
Oeylon. On the other hand the true parasites appro- 
priate the elaborated sap or descending sap which is 
carried down by the seive vessels of the bast tissue, 
and will thus have to fix their roots in the bast tissue. 
Now such plants need not elaborate food, for they 
get their food ready made from the ho3t — they rob 
the food after it is " cooked " and ready for eating — 
and hence they do not require the presence of 
chlorophyl, and they are not green. Such are the 
various parasitic fungi, examples of which are the 
well-known Remeleia Vastatrix of Ceylon and the 
clover — dodder or cicscuta of Great Britain. It is the 
parasitic fungi that are such dangerous enemies to 
cultivated plants, sucking their very life-blood. Their 
presence in vegetable food is sometimes a source of 
danger to animals, for instance Claviceps purpurea, 
commonly known as Ergot, which occurs on rye and 
some other grarninacss, causes abortion in in-calf cows. 
In Hungary where rye-bread is much used its presence 
has caused a large number of deaths resulting from 
gangrene. The saprophytes or saprophytic fungi, on 
the other h-ind, live on decayed or decaying organic 
matters and are not hurtful to vegetation, as they 
attack tho tissues only after they have begun to decay. 
The commonest of this class are the mushrooms; a 
homely instance being the mould on cheese. Another 
example is the common brown saprophyte 
{Mucor Muccdo), which occurs very commonly in 
Oeylon, and may be seen on coconut leaves. 
The life histories of mauy of the parasitic and 
saprophitic fungi are peculiar and interesting, but I 
must reserve a consideration of this subject for another 
occasion. 
The insectivorous plants are such as are able to 
capture and digest insects. They are more or less 
green in order that they may manufacture their own 
