570 
Supplement to the u Tropical Agriculturist:' [Feb. 1, 1893. 
14. All that is required to work the Lift is to 
drag the yoke to and fro. 
We have seen a number of excellent testi- 
monials referring to the efficiency of this machine 
from Collecters, Engineers, and others. The 
Principal of the Madras College of Agriculture 
considers it very suitable for raising water from 
a depth of over 15 feet. The inventor claims 
for this lift that it is capable of raising 9,000 
gallons of water per hour, but we are not in- 
formed from what depth. Still the invention 
appears to us to be an excellent one, Mid should 
be a great boon in the dry parts of the Island. 
We have intimated our readiness to arrunge for 
working one of these lifts on the school pre- 
mises, if necessary, for show purposes. The 
price of a single lift with two 2o gallons buckets 
is R125, exclusive of ropes. Buckets ranging in 
capacity from 30 to 100 gallons are also made 
to order. Chain or wire may also be used instead 
of rope. The Agents for the Machine in South 
India arc Messrs Sultan & Co., Saidapet, Madras. 
NOTES ON THE CATTLE MURR1AN OF CEYLON. 
1 have little or no faith in treatment, and on 
no consideration should it be attempted unless 
under carefully pre-arranged and utterly isolated 
conditions. Prevention is and should be the 
whole aim and object of those who have to deal 
with the disease, to scamp out first indications 
and with strict watchfulness to guard against 
its spread. I feel satisfied that under proper 
organization, it is quite possible to reduce the 
prevalent annual outbreaks of this disease 
within the Island to a minimum, and a depart- 
ment so organized and disciplined as to effect 
this, would be the greatest blessing and boon 
ever conferred on the ngriculttnal population of 
Ceylon. Of my own personal knowledge, after 
extended and most careful inquiry over the length 
and breadth of the Island, facts elicited proved 
to my mind that rinderpest is a bane to all 
progress ; the sole cause of wide extended poverty, 
the°desertion of whole villages, the neglect of 
watercourses and tanks, and, indeed, of the rever- 
sion of districts to wild beasts and jungle ; since the 
agriculturist, having lost all his cattle, cannot 
cultivate, and must flee and obtain food elsewhere. 
Many such cases came to my knowledge. 
" The conditions under which cattle exist in 
this country," says the Indian report on Rinder- 
pest, "are so varied that it is impossible for 
us to lay down any fixed plan of action, as 
what would be applicable to one locality would 
not work in another, so that it must be left 
to the intelligence of those who are entrusted 
with the duty of repression. The difficulties 
which are encountered in certain parts in the 
matter of the segregation of animals in the same 
village are so great as to be almost insurmountable, 
and more especially is this the case where the 
villages are small." 
As regards this statement Mr. Smith remarks ; — 
Possibly so in India and to some extent in 
Ceylon, yet I again assert that by organization 
and needed administration by a department, 
purely agricultural, disease may be repressed 
and the cattle of Ceylon might be multiplied ten- 
fold, Cattle as we know constitute the real 
wealth of all agricultural nations. 1 do not 
think a purely veterinary department the belt 
to combat and repress diseases among animals in 
Indiu, or in Ceylon. Men simply imbued with 
veterinary science, be they ever 60 eminent, 
are little fitted to approach the native agricul- 
turist, as there can be but little sympathy be- 
| tweeu the two classes, and any laws promulgated 
| by a Veterinary Department will ever seetn 
antagonistic to native prejudice. 
But approach a native from an agricultural 
! aspect, look to his stock, their management 
i and well being, and he will understand you. 
Set him an example while you instil your pre- 
cepts, and he will not l>e tdow to take ad- 
vantage when convinced. It is not a rush hither 
and thither when an outbreak takes place that 
can ever do any good. An organized department 
with its specially educated officers living on 
friendly terms with the native headmen of his 
district, commanding their respect and receive 
their aid in the suppression of disease, through tlie 
eailiest intimution being communicuted by the 
minor headmen, is what U required. The sen ices 
of the village officials when they efficiently per- 
form their duties should be duly recognized and 
rewurded by Government. Such a department 
could in my opinion be self-supporting after 
being set agoing. Nothing but watchfulness all 
over the land will ever suffice to keep in due 
bounds a disease so subtile and stealthy in ap- 
proach. 
[Here Mr. Smith's notes come Ito an end. We 
aguin take this opportunity of thankiug him for 
for the valuable contribution he has made, and 
indulge in the hope that he may be induced to 
still further dilute on a subject which he has made 
a life's study. — Editob.] 
PLOUGHING-IN T OF GREEN-CROPS. 
Thi following note was drawn up by Dr. J. W. 
Lmther, Agiicultural Chemist to the Government 
of India: — 
The manuring of land by ploughing-in an 
immature crop is not unknown to cultivators in 
different parts of India. In Dr. Voelcker's recent 
Report o:i the Improvement of Indian Agricultuie 
(pages 106 and 107) instances ore given of this 
practice. To indigo planters, too, the practice of 
ploughing-in a young crop of indigo is known. 
This method of manuring would appear to be 
capable of wide application. The want of manure 
in India has been acknowledged by all who have 
studied the agriculture of this country, and the 
question whether the want can be in part supplied 
by the method under notice is worthy of enquiry. 
In his Report Dr. Voelcker points out that, 
judging by the samples of soil which he was able 
to examine in relation to the enquiries which he 
instituted, they were notably deficient in two 
constitueLts, viz., nitrogen and organic or 
carbonaceous matter. 
The rationale of ploughing-in a green crop is 
that the organic or carbonaceous matter is taken 
from the atmosphere by the crops to be ploughed- 
in and added to the soil, and in the case of certain 
crops the want of nitrogen is also obtained from 
the same source. 
Recent experiments conducted in Germany, and 
confirmed in England, have shown conclusively 
