Oct. 2, 1893.] {Supplement to the " Trcq)ical Agriculturist^^ 
286 
not considered to be as digestible as Setaria 
italica (Tana-hal); the stems afford an inferior 
fodder. Koda is boiled and eaten in the same way 
as rice, or else is parched and gronnd, the meal 
being made into a kind of pudding. The alleged 
comparative indigestibility of this grain cannot 
be attributed to its percentage of fibre, which is 
usually low, but must be owing to some constitu- 
ent or some condition of the grain which ordinary 
chemical analysis does not reveal." This grain is 
not uncommonly grown in Ceylon in the native 
chenas. Dr. Lindley, in his Vegetable Kinydom, 
Speaking of injurious grasses, says, " and a 
variety of Paspaliun scrobiculatum, called hureek 
in India, which is perhaps the ghohona grass, a 
reputed Indian poisonous species, said to render 
the milk of cows that graze upon it noxious and 
drastic . . . The meyna or kodro of India, a 
cheap grain, regarded as wholesome, is another 
species." Another allied species, P. dilatatum, 
is indigenous to sub-tropical parts of North and 
South America, and has been naturalised in 
Australia. It is said to be an excellent forage 
grass that keeps green during dry weather, being 
a perennial and growing tall like Dutch millet. 
In Ceylon we have besides amu, three other 
varieties : P. Conjugatum, P. Filiculme, and 
P. Royleanum. 
Concerning Eleudne Egyptica, crowfoot or 
finger grass, the Sinhalese Putu-tana, the 
Agricultural Gazette of N. S. Wales says : — Its 
herbage is rich and succulent, and is much 
relished by all herbivora, sheep being particularly 
fond of it. All pastoralists agree that it is a 
most nutritious grass. It yields abundantly dur- 
ing the hot months, and is recommended for syste- 
matic cultivation. According to Dr. Watt, the seeds 
are eaten by the poorer classes in India, especially 
during times of scarcity, and it is generally con- 
sidered to be a very nutritious fodder grass for 
cattle, being both fattening and milk-producing. 
^gle marmelos, the bael or beli tree, sometimes 
called the Bengal quince, be.sides yielding a whole- 
some and nutritious fruit, which is also much 
valued as a medicinal agent,produces a good gum- 
like arable; a yellow dye is obtained from 
the rind of the fruit, the unripe rinds being used 
with myrabolans in calico-printing and tanning ; 
moreover it furnishes a yellowish white, hard 
aromatic wood used for pestles of oil and sugar 
mills, naves and other parts of carts, and for 
agricultural implements. Almost every part of 
the tree is used medicinally, and the flowers yield 
a sweet scent. 
Panicum distachyum (two-spiked pannick grass) 
is an indigenous growth in Ceylon, which 
Australian agricultural authorities say is worth 
disseminating in those parts of the country where 
it may not already be growing, and conserving 
where it already exists. The grass would seem 
to be more suited to moist lands ; and cattle are 
very fond ot it. 
The marram grass, the seed of which was first 
introduced into Victoria by the ttovernment 
botanist. Baron von JIueller, in 1888, and by him 
tjntrusted to the Borough Council of Port Fairy 
for experiment on the barren shifting sand hum- 
mocks fronting the coast line of Port Fairy, has 
been proved to be the most effective sand stay 
ever planted. Practical evidence of its value can 
be seen in the miles of sandhills now reclaimed by 
the marram plantations, sown under the direction 
of Mr. S. Avery, the park ranger. So complete 
has been the reclamation of the lands, that where 
a few years ago not a sign of vegetation w^as to 
be seen, there now exists a succulent grass, eager- 
ly devoured by cattle, and growing to a height 
of four feet. Marram grass is practically inde- 
structible—burning, cutting, or eating off only 
makes it thrive — whilst in exposed, shifting sand 
it propagates as surely as in the most sheltered 
position. The grass for transplanting has been 
supplied by the Port Fairy Borough Council, not 
only to the Governments of Victoria and New 
South Wales, but to numerous municipal bodies 
and private individuals in all the Australian 
colonies, New Zealand, and Tasmania ; and in no 
single instance has it failed to thrive. 
The Botanist to the Department of Agriculture, 
N. S. Wales, referring to Anthistiria avenacea 
( tall oal grass) says : — It will stand a phenomenal 
amount of dry weather, but this may be accounted 
for by the fact that its strong roots penetrate the 
earth to a great depth. I can highly recommend 
the grass for systematic cultivation, either in the 
coastal districts of the interior. From its rich 
succulent herbage, if cut before the flower stems 
are developed, it should make capital hay. I 
think, if the grass were cultivated for a few 
consecutive years, it would yield a grain large 
enough to be classed amongst the cereals we at 
present cultivate. We have in Ceylon the closely 
allied A. cymbaria (Karavuta-mana, Sin.), A. 
arguens, A. ciltatu. A. tremula (Pini-baru-tana), 
A. heteroclita and A. jfostrata, so that the 
Australian species may reasonably be expected to 
thrive here. 
ADVANCED AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 
Mr. John Hunter, lecturer on Agricultural 
Chemistry in the Eoinburgh School of Agricul^ 
tural Science, and examiner in that subject at the 
University, read a paper on the Chemistry of the 
Soil before the Royal Physical Society. We were 
aware that Mr. Hunter, with whom was associated 
Mr. McAlpine, the distinguished botanist, was 
long and deeply engaged in researches in agricul- 
tural chemistrj', but the theories and discoveries 
which both he and his co-worker have for many 
years been laying before their students, were for 
the first time put forward before a representative 
gathering of scientists a few months ago. Wa 
need make no apology for giving a summarized 
report of the paper as embody some new, and it 
will probably be thought, startling theories and 
discoveries, which will no doubt have their full 
share of criticism. 
At the outset, Mr. Hunter remarked that his 
sole reason for bringing this communication 
before the Sooiety this evening was that th« 
recent and important advances in agricultural 
science — an advancement in whicli he presumed 
to think Mr. MoAlpine and he liad play«d uo 
incousidmble part— ha,4 beeu opposed by meq 
