Nov. 1, 1894.] Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist" 
359 
2. I hare lately, in nominating candidates for 
Forest Guardships, given the preference to success- 
ful students at the School of Agriculture, and 
the Director of Public Instruction and I are both 
of opinion that in a couple of years or so a branch 
of Forestry might be established at the school. 
This would not only save to the Government 
considerable expenditure at present incurred, in 
sending the students to the North of India, but 
it would greatly increase the usefulness of the 
school, and would enable Government to train a 
larger number of men each year, and thus to bring 
the Department quicker to a state of efficiency. 
3. The main difficulty against taking the 
school in hand at once is the establishment of 
classes of sylviculture, forest organization, and 
forest utilization ; and although I should be most 
willing to lecture on these subjects, and shall still 
be very pleased to do so if Government approves of 
the creation of a Forestry branch at the School of 
Agriculture, yet I should prefer not to be single- 
handed. There are at present only three officers 
(Messrs. Tatham, Ferguson, and Walker) who have 
passed through the Forest school and obtained the 
Ranger's certificate, and whose services are at 
present required elsewhere. 
The school has of late made great strides in 
practical teaching, and I should like to have to 
assist me an officer who has gone through the 
course. My duties as Conservator and frequent 
absences on tours of inspection might interfere 
with my regular attendance, and 1 should require 
the services of an officer to take my place during 
my absence and to supervise the execution of 
forest works by students. 
4. If the proposal meets with the approval of 
Government Mr. Cull and I could draw up a 
scheme for the establishment of a Forestry 
branch at the School of Agriculture and submit 
it t> Gfovern meiit.— i am, &c, 
A. F. Broun, 
Conservator of Forests. 
There are minor details to be worked out, e.g., 
the standard of mathematics at the school would 
have to be raised ; certain special subjects, e.g., 
land surveying in its higher form, &c'., would 
have to be taught ; in fact, speaking generally, 
the syllabus of instruction required at the Forest. 
School at Dehra Doon would have to be attempted. 
For my own part I see no reason why this 
should not be done, always admitted that the 
practical instruction in forestry can be supplied 
by the Forest Department. This is the initial 
step. As regards the details of a higher standard 
of mathematics at the school than now is required, 
the whole history of education of the Island for 
the past decade goes to show that when the need 
of a higher standard in any special subject has 
been recognized it has been fu' filled. Ami as 
regards forestry, with the abundance of opportun- 
ity for its systematic study in the Island, coupled 
with the assurance of the Conservator of Forests 
that as regards selection of individual E'oresters 
lie is prepared to open out the new urea of 
Usefulness tor t he sons of the soil, and to supplement 
it in course of time by nominations of such 
students as qualify themselves for such nomina- 
tions, there can be but little doubt that the 
addition of this new prospect would add materi- 
ally, not merely to the attractiveness, but to the 
usefuluoss of the School of Agriculture. 
Details have still to be worked out ; the 
experiment would involve a little more cost in 
the maintenance of the school than is at present 
entailed ; but a Forest School in Ceylon might in 
the course of the next few years be regarded as a 
normal condition of the Island ; and the extraneous 
forest training on the mainlaud for Ceylon 
regarded as abnormal and anomalous. 
~* 
WATER-TESTING. 
The importance of testing the materials which 
a manufacturer has to use is admitted on all 
hands though these tests are not always taken 
advantage of owing to their cost and the delay 
obtained in the necessary reports on the materials. 
There are simple as well as elaborate methods of 
testing, and we shall in this paper deal with a 
simple procedure for testing water, accurate enough 
for all practical purposes — and more particularly 
looking at water from an industrial point of 
view. It is not possible to draw a distinct line 
between water suitable for the use of man and 
that for industrial purposes. Water which may not 
be fit for human consumption may in cases be suit- 
able for industrial purposes, but good water even 
if it entails a higher expenditure is the cheapest in 
the long run. 
Water in its chemical sense is a compound 
formed by the combination of two dissimilar gases 
— Hydrogen and Oxygen — one a very light (the 
lightest known) and inflammable substance ; the 
other a little heavier than common air and found 
abundantly in a free state, being indispensable for 
the life of animals, inasmuch as it is the medium 
through which the purity of their blood is main- 
tained. Physically,; water exists in all the three 
forms in which matter is known to exist. As a 
solid, in the form of ice ; liquid, as common water; 
and gas, in the form of steam. To speak definitely, 
wateratand below the Temperature of 0° Centigrade 
is a solid; from 0°C. up to 103°C. a liquid; and 
100° C. and above it is a gas. Pure water in its 
strict sense should not contain anything else be- 
sides its two constituent gases, but the presence of 
traces of many substances does not necessarily 
make water unfit for economical uses. 
Before testing a sample of water it is necessary 
to know the impurities we may expect to find in it, 
the nature and the sources of these impurities, and 
the manner in which they have gained access to 
the water. The impurities contained in water may 
be solids, or gases. The solids may either be found 
dissolved in the water or may only be suspended, 
and they may cousist of organic (matter of vege- 
table or animal origin) or inorganic (mineral) 
matter. It would be well, here, tobearin mind the 
distinction between the terms dissolved and 'sus- 
pended matter. A substance is said to be dissolved 
in water when its particles have become so inti- 
mately mixed with it, that it is not possible to 
separate them by any mechanical means, without 
the aid of heat or chemicals ; whereas, suspended 
matter consists of particles so mixed with water 
that they easily separate from the fluid medium 
either by allowing the fluid to rest, or by passing 
it through porous material, such as bibulous 
paper, sand or charcoal. Ordinarily, the impurities 
