8oo 
Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist" [May i, 1890. 
is of a coarse texture, very strong and durable. The 
work is also done much quicker than I expected. I 
have ordered for a model of one of these looms, and I 
hope to send it to the Agricultural School Museum as 
soon as I get it. At Udagama, in Upper Hewaheta, I 
was shown a cotton plantation, belonging to a native 
earpeuter, which is about an acre in extent. The plants 
which were of the Egyptian variety were about 8 
months old and they were growing well. 
(To be continued.) 
— ft 
NOTES FKOM EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS. 
Nintavub, 27th Maroh 1890. 
The whole of my experimental garden — consisting 
of 35 acres of paddy, 8 acres of cotton, and 3 acres of 
Native and English vegetables— is under crop. The 
crops are healthy and are growing in the most satis- 
actory manner. The Director of Public Instruction 
inspected my work on the 17th, and having compared nay 
crops with those of the neighbouring cultivators, found 
them healthier and more robust. Five acres of paddy 
which I transplanted are looking well. The Director 
after looking into the aocounts expressed the opinion 
that my cultivation should prove highly remunerative. 
I sowed my paddy on the 23rd of January, and the 
plants are now in ear. The following remark by our 
worthy G. A., Mr. Elliott, is of great encouragement to 
me: — "1 inspeoted Mr. Chelliah's field this morning 
and found it flourishing and looking very much better 
than the neighbouring ones." As I knew that my 
land contained veny little lime and too much organic 
matter, I applied 40 bushels of burnt lime to 30 
acres of land just before sowing. Usually when the 
plants are about two or three weeks old, caterpillars 
prey on them and do much damage, and the plants of 
my neighbours were this year much damaged by these 
worms, but to my great surprise I have found none 
in my field this year, while my neighbours have re- 
moved these worms from their land literally by the 
basket-load. 
There are four varieties of cotton in my gardens, and 
they are all coming up well. Some of them have 
both pods and flowers. 
The twenty climax ploughs and the winnowing 
machine ordered by Mr. Elliott from Massey & Co., of 
Madras, arrived at the end of last year, and I have 
had numerous applications for ploughs in my neigh- 
bourhood, S. Chblliah, 
Agricultural Instructor. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
Mr. Chelliah, the able Agricultural Instructor at 
Nintavur, writes at length on the subject of evil eye, 
citing oases where most disastrous and even fatal 
results were brought about by the power of the human 
eye, whioh he defines as " the vehiole through which 
the magnetio fluid of the body freely passes, that 
magnetic fluid having an inherent power in it which 
can somehow or other affect other bodies." Much 
as we would wish this abstruse subject to be 
thrashed out, we regret that we cannot open our 
columns to the discussion of the subject in an Agri- 
cultural Magazine. We trust Mr. Chelliah's contri- 
bution on this subject, which he has evidently thought 
much on, will not be lost to those who are interested 
in the question. 
We aro fortunate in securing the promise of a valued 
correspondent whose time is mostly spent in travelling 
about from place to plaoe, and moreover one greatly 
interested in matters agricultural, that he will send 
us regularly, notes of his observations and the informa- 
tion gathered in his journeyings to and fro. These 
ought to prove very interesting, coming as they often 
will from places far remote, and from which little 
news, especially of an agricultural nature emanates. 
The first instalment of "Notes from a Traveller's 
Diary," appears in the present issue. 
, _ 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
Cattle murrain is still prevalent in many parts of 
the Island, especially in the Eastern Province: but 
Colombo and the vicinity have been almost quite free 
of the epidemic. 
Some very severe thunderstorms passed over 
Colombo duiing the second and third weeks of April, 
accompained by heavy down-pours of rain. These 
showers were very welcome to vegetation, but the 
heat is still great. 
The School of Agriculture re-opened on the 15th of 
April, and work is in full swing again. 
Pveports reach us of coconut trees in the Eastern 
Province being attacked badly by ca'ernillars ; and 
parts of Colombo too show traces of their ravages. 
Prof. McAlpine, who last year brought out a 
translation of Stebler's remarkable book on the best 
foiage plants, has just published a handbook 'on the 
grasses, which has been favourably reviewed by all 
the leading papers in England. He has discovered a 
method by which the commoner pasture grasses can 
be identified by their leaves. Hitherto few have been 
able to make examination to any good purpose ex- 
cept in the period of inflorescence. 
Several Dutch firms have commenced the manu- 
facture of bamboc-furniture, which can be made very 
cheaply in Holland, as her Indian Colonies abound 
in the raw material. The furniture is also exported 
to France, Germany and England. 
"In the Science of Irrigation" says the Grocer's 
criterion in an article on Japan rice, " no people in 
the world are more skillful than the Japanese, and 
their systems of sluices, conduits, dams, floodgates 
and other conveyances for water in many localities 
are wonderful in the ingenuity of their construction." 
In more, than one place iu India it has been decided 
to adopt inoculation for the prevention of anthrax or 
splenic fever, the means recommended by Pasteur- 
A Shropshire ewe, belonging to Mr. Blakeman, Hay. 
wood Lane Farm Market, Drayton, gave birth last 
month to the unprecedented number of seven lambs. 
Egypt is evidently re-awakening to a sense of the 
importance of agriculture, and seeks the aid of scien- 
tific agriculturists to lay the foundation of a system 
of agricultural education and to improve the methods 
of cultivation. In our last issue we noticed the 
appointment of Mr. S. W. Wallace as agricultural 
adviser to the Government. We now hear of Mr. 
James Kerr who passed through the agricultural and 
scientific classes at the Edinboro' University, leaving 
for Egypt to assume the duties of assistant manager to 
the Aboukir Land Company, whose estates lie along 
the coast near Alexandria. 
The Straits Times, referring to pine-apple leaf fibre, 
says that the Chinese weave the fabric into linen, and 
that it was long used in certain parts of India for mak- 
ing nets ; while in the Philippines it is manufactured into 
a cloth of superior strength and fineness cslled Pina. 
Mixed with cotton or wool it is thought that pine- 
apple leaf fibre could form a good substitute for silk. 
A patent has been taken out for the production of 
thread from it. The leaves are best suited for extract- 
ing fibre after the fruit has ripened, so that the fruit 
crop need not be interfered with. The cultivation of 
pine-apple is vigorously pursued in the Straits Settle- 
ments, 
