11 
Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
substances  to  be  added.  The  surface  furrow 
taken  from  the  second  trench  will  then  find  a 
resting  place  on  the  broken  subsoil  of  the  first 
trench,  and  thus  the  work  will  go  on  till 
the  entire  area  is  broken  up  or  trenched.  The 
surface  earth  taken  from  the  first  trench,  which 
so  far  has  not  been  disposed  of,  should  in  the 
end  be  carried  over  to  the  last  trench,  which 
otherwise  will  be  unoccupied.  In  this  manner 
the  ground  is  thoroughly  broken  up  without 
transporting  soil  and  subsoil.  The  labour  of  this 
operation  is  great,  but  not  tedious  provided  the 
work  be  done  heartily,  and  ample  time  be  taken 
over  it.  Once  done  there  will  be  satisfaction  that 
the  results  are  substantial,  lasting,  and  of  the 
best  character.  If  such  a system  be  adopted  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  need  for  breaking  up  the 
soil  about  the  trees  will  be  absent  for  an  inde- 
finite period. 
FROM  IIAPUTALE  TO  HAKGALA. 
The  Uva  paddy-fields  present  a pleasing  sight, 
and  the  goiya  is  sanguine  of  a pretty  good 
harvest,  although  complaints  are  made  here  and 
there  of  damages  by  floods.  It  is  very  difficult 
to  convince  the  Uva  villager  of  the  advantage 
of  planting  out  paddy.  When  you  refer  to  this 
method  being  practised  by  his  .Kandyan  brethren, 
and  try  to  expostulate  with  him,  the  usual 
reply  is  “ no  doubt  it  suits  the  Kandyan  dis- 
tricts, but  our  soil  is  so  poor  that  we  have 
to  sow  very  thick ; and  any  thin  sowing  or 
planting  will  simply  ruin  us.”  He  argues  that 
a rich  soil  responds  to  transplanting  by  grow- 
ing stout  healthy  plants  which  ‘ tiller  ’ or  send 
forth  several  shoots  from  underground,  and  yield 
heavily  ; but  that  his  soil  is  too  poor  to  grow 
any  shoots  from  the  transplanted  seedlings. 
This  belief  in  the  infertility  of  the  soil  is, 
however,  unfounded  in  many  cases  ; and  I am 
glad  I have  succeeded  in  persuading  Mr.  J.  B. 
Medekinda,  a young  and  intelligent  farmer  of 
Uva,  to  try  planting  out  paddy,  although  on 
a small  scale.  I should  be  glad  if  such  leading 
and  influential  landowners  as  the  Dambewinne 
Ratemahatmaya  would  try  1 planting  out  ’ 
seedlings  at  least  in  a few  lieddas  of  their 
vast  tracts  of  paddy-fields. 
Passing  the  red  soil  spangled  with  small 
plates  of  talc,  and  proceeding  towards  Weli- 
mada,  I found  tobacco  plants  growing  luxuriantly 
in  the  dark  soil  of  the  hollows  and  ravines 
where  tall  mana  bushes  and  brackens  once  held 
sway,  undisturbed  by  the  goiya’s  mamoty. 
This  deep,  rich  soil,  where  t he  manorial  matter 
from  the  highlands  has  accumulated  for  years 
is  fit  for  growing  almost  anything. 
In  the  dark  moist  lands  near  Wilson’s  Bun- 
galow, onions  and  garlic  are  grown  by  the 
native  villagers  and  Moormen,  and  are  gently 
irrigated  by  streams.  Dwarf  beans,  horsegram, 
kurakkan  and  native  vegetables  of  various  kinds 
are  grown  higher  up  on  the  dry  soil. 
Extensive  fields  of  potatoes  and  small  cab- 
bage plantations  thriving  at  Palugama  (Wilson's) 
and  Padinawela  speak  well  of  the  enterprising 
spirit  of  the  villagers  of  Uva,  and  of  their 
capability  of  taking  kindly  to  the  cultivation 
of  new  products. 
The  Hakgala  Gardens,  about  six  miles  from 
Nuwara  Eliya,  have  spread  throughout  the 
neighbourhood,  some  very  useful  and  easily- 
grown  plants  of  great  economic  value,  such  as 
the  chon  chou  gourd  and  the  tree  tomato 
which  were  introduced  by  the  able  Superin- 
tendent, Mr.  W.  Hock.  These  plants  have  now 
become  very  common  in  the  villages  of  Uva. 
There  are,  however,  to  be  found  growing  in 
the  Hakgala  Gardens,  other  useful  plants  which 
have  not  yet  become  half  so  popular  as  they 
deserve,  i might  give  as  instances  the  Ar- 
racacha  Esculent  a (South  American  parsnip)  and 
the  TJllucus  Tubivoms  (the  “ oca-quina  ” of 
Peru),  which  would  grow  well  m the  upcountry 
villages,  and  yield  excellent  food  for  the 
people. 
E.  T,  Hooee. 
INDIAN  NOTES. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  grafting  in  fruit  culture 
is  not  carried  on  in  Ceylon  at  all.  for  by 
grafting  the  productive  power  and  the  produce 
of  many  fruit  trees  could  be  improved  to  a 
great  extent.  There  are  several  methods  of 
grafting  which  requires  not  only  a good  deal 
of  practice,  but  also  an  exact  knowledge  of 
the  time  and  season  suitable  for  the  operation, 
so  that  their  adoption  with  success  is  no  easy 
matter. 
The  grafting  of  mangoes  is  done  very 
successfully.  1 was  at  first  surprised  at  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  done,  but  the  people 
here  wrnre  more  surprised  than  1 was  when 
1 told  them  that  we  never  grafted  mangoes  in 
Ceylon.  Their  first  inquiry  was  whether  wre 
had  mangoes  at  all  in  the  Island.  I am  in- 
clined to  think  that  we  could  export  mangoes 
to  Bombay  with  good  profit,  considering  the 
high  prices  the  fruit  fetch  here. 
The  first  thing  that  is  done  in  grafting  mangoes 
as  carried  on  here  is  to  collect  any  kind  of 
mango  plants  without  any  regard  to  their 
character  or  qualities.  These  plants  should  be 
about  three  to  four  feet  in  height,  and  are 
planted  in  pots  filled  with  fine  earth  mixed 
with  a large  quantity  of  black  loam  or  leaf 
mould.  The  pots  employed  are  spherical,  about 
a foot  in  depth  and  a foot  in  diameter  at  the 
middle,  while  the  mouth  is  about  6 inches  in 
diameter.  In  shape  they  resemble  the  pots  which 
are  used  by  toddy  drawers  in  Ceylon. 
The  plants  are  allowed  to  remain  in  the  pots 
from  one  to  three  months,  or  till  they  thoroughly 
establish  themselves  and  begin  to  grow.  They 
should  be  perfectly  healthy  with  the  full  com- 
plement of  leaves. 
Now  the  plants,  as  they  stand  in  the  pots, 
are  taken  to  a mango  tree  which  is  known 
to  produce  a good  variety  of  mangoes,  as  well 
as  to  be  a prolific  bearer,  and  they  are  grafted 
on  to  branches  (twigs)  which  are  of  the  same 
size  as  the  plants,  about  the  size  of  the  small 
finger  of  the  hand.  Just  about  the  middle  of  the 
