76 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  Agriculturist .” 
[July  i,  1892. 
calves  ■which  were  fed  with  this  leaf  and  given 
only  four  pounds  of  hay  in  addition  thrived 
well  and  gained  in  weight. 
At  any  rate  prickly  pear  is  not  more  than  a 
famine  fodder,  hut  even  as  such  it  is  worthy 
of  attention,  for  in  Ceylon  cattle  frequently  run 
short  of  pasture  during  long  droughts  and  often 
astrve.  In  such  a case  the  knowledge  of  the  use  of 
a fodder  like  this  would  be  of  great  importance. 
One  is  simply  astonished  at  the  number  of 
cows  allowed  to  roam  about  in  the  streets  of 
Bombay.  The  streets  are  generally  so  crowded 
with  tramcars,  carriages  and  bullock  gharries, 
that  people  find  it  difficult  to  move  about. 
What  would  be  said  of  cows  roaming  about 
at  Kayman’s  Gate  in  Colombo  ? But  one  thing  is 
observable  in  the  animals  here,  they  are  unlike 
our  country  cattle  or  the  coast  cows,  being 
quite  tame  and  perfectly  indifferent  to  persons 
who  pass  by  them. 
It  seems  that  buffalo  milk  is  more  valued  here 
than  cows  milk,  for  there  is  a great  demand 
for  the  former,  and  the  prices  of  the  two  are 
almost  equal.  In  Colombo  the  milkman  often 
carries  about  a mixture  of  buffalo  milk  and  water, 
and  he  cannot  be  made  to  say  that  there  is  buffalo 
milk,  whilst  a milkman  here  would  not  hesitate 
to  call  cows  milk  buffalo  milk,  since  the  latter 
seems  to  be  a favourite  with  the  generality  of 
people. 
One  could  hardly  give  a reason  why 
buffalo  milk  is  preferred  to  cows  milk 
unless  it  be  custom.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  buffalo  milk  is  the  richer 
of  the  two.  Why  Colombo  folks  have  such  a 
dread  of  buffalo  milk  is  a problem  that  remains 
to  be  sloved! 
It  is  a great  pity  that  grass  is  never  dried 
in  Ceylon  for  after  use.  During  the  rainy  seasons 
abundance  of  grass  is  found  in  the  villages,  but 
nobody  thinks  of  laying  any  by.  When  the  dry 
weather  sets  in  the  grass  dries  up,  the  meadows 
no  longer  flush,  and  cattle  begin  to  suffer.  If 
during  the  favourable  season  the  over-abundance 
of  grass  could  be  dried  and  preserved,  it  would  be 
better  for  both  the  animals  and  their  owners. 
In  Bombay  large  stacks  of  dry  grass  are  seen 
evidently  brought  from  the  country,  and  horses  and 
cattle  are  all  fed  on  this.  The  grass  itself  is 
long  and  wiry,  such  as  we  meet  with  in  the 
neglected  paddy-fields  of  the  interior  villages. 
I have  not  seen  much  of  the  vegetables  and 
fruits  here,  but  if  I may  judge  from  what  are 
found  in  the  market,  fruit  trees  must  thrive 
there  a good  deal  better  than  they  do  in 
Ceylon.  There  is  any  quantity  of  a Variety  of 
Madan  ( Sisyyiumjambolanvni ),  taken  about  for 
sale,  the  berries  of  which  are  about  five  to  six 
times  the  size  of  our  Madan  and  taste  better 
too.  Whether  this  be  on  account  of  the  superi- 
ority of  the  variety  or  a peculiarity  of  the  soil 
and  climate,  I cannot  yet  say.  Some  of  these 
seeds  will  be  sent  to  the  School. 
Writing  of  fruits,  I omitted  to  mention  that  the 
most  striking  are  the  mangoes.  There  are  dif- 
ferent varieties  of  these  fruits  to  be  seen  here 
the  small  round,  large  round,  the  long  cylin- 
drical, the  sweet  and  delicate,  and  the  coarse 
fibrous  mango.  But  all  these  differ  from  our  Ceylon 
mangoes,  inasmuch  as  the  Bombay  mangoes 
dossess  a peculiar  yellow  and  pink  colour.  The 
trees  here  appear  not  to  be  so  prolific  as  they 
are  in  Ceylon,  and  hence  the  fruits  are  very 
dear.  In  spite  of  all  that  may  be  said  in  praise  of 
Bombay  fruit,  1 prefer  the  Ceylon  “Jaffna” 
to  gaudy-coloured  Bombay  mango ! costing 
four  to  eight  annas.  I shall  not  fail  to  procure 
seeds  of  as  many  varieties  as  possible  for  our 
School  garden,  where  a good  many  Ceylon  varieties 
flourish. 
W.  A.  D.  S. 
A COOL  DAIRY. 
The  following  suggestions  for  building  a cool 
dairy,  so  as  to  secure  the  lowest  degree  of 
temperature  during  the  hot  months,  have  been 
put  forward  by  the  Agricultural  Department  of 
Brisbane : — (1)  The  dairy  room  should  be  a 
wooden  rectangular  structure,  say  12  feet  by 
8 feet  by  10  feet  high  to  the  ceiling,  having 
a door  at  one  end  and  a window  at  the  other, 
and  simply  covered  over  by  a roof — the  roof, 
excepting  at  the  gable  ends  which  must  be 
boarded  up,  not  touching  the  sides  of  the  inner 
room.  It  should  have  a latticed  verandah  on 
three  sides,  and  the  roof  should  be  of  bark  or 
shingle,  another  galvanised  iron  roof  put  over 
it  giving  still  better  results.  The  door  and 
window  should  be  opposite  to  each  other,  the 
door  having  a hole  12  inches  by  6 inches  cut 
out  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  covered  with 
perforated  zinc  or  wire  gauze.  The  roof  should 
not  immediately  join  the  walls,  a space  of  6 
inches  being  left  to  permit  of  the  free  passage 
of  air  under  the  roof  and  over  the  ceiling  of 
the  room.  The  walls  may  be  made  double, 
the  space  between  being  filled  up  with  charcoal 
or  sawdust.  It  is  not  insisted  that  the  walls 
should  be  of  wood ; any  handy  material  may 
be  used — the  mere  fact  of  the  verandahs  being 
latticed  preventing  the  sun’s  says  from  heating 
the  walls.  Over  the  window  should  be  fixed  a 
framework  of  wood  to  which  strong  calico  or 
canvas  must  be  nailed.  The  framework  may  be 
constructed  of  battens  2 inches  by  a inch  nailed 
together,  the  size  being  say  a couple  of  inches 
longer  and  wider  than  that  of  the  window. 
The  window  may  be  3 to  4 feet  long  by  18 
to  24  inches  wide,  and  run  up  to  within  3 
inches  of  the  ceiling,  the  object  being  to  get 
the  cool  air  to  enter  the  room  at  as  near  the 
ceiling  as  possible.  This  window  must  be  covered 
with  perforated  zinc  or  wire  gauze.  After  the 
frame  covered  with  cloth  is  fixed  in  position 
outside  the  window,  strips  of  canvas  or  stout 
calico  should  be  nailed  over  the  front  and  two 
sides,  and  a gutter  or  piece  of  bent  tin  placed 
at  the  bottom  of  the  frame.  On  the  ground, 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  gutter,  should  be  placed  a 
bucket  to  catch  the  drippings.  Fix  a kerosine  tin 
or  any  other  vessel  that  will  hold  water  above  the 
window,  and  put  one  end  of  a piece  of  blanket- 
ing or  flannel  into  this,  carrying  the  lower  end 
down  on  to  the  canvas  blind,  and  stitch  it  up 
there.  The  kerosine  tin  is  now  filled  with  water 
which  is  gradually  absorbed  by  the  flannel  and 
drips  down  on  the  outside  and  on  to  the  front 
and  sides  of  the  canvas  blind,  keeping  it  saturated 
with  water.  The  air  entering  the  room  firs  t 
passes  over  and  under  the  saturated  blind,  and 
