54 
Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
he  should  see  the  performance  of  a machine,  he 
must  know  how  it  is  effected,  and  the  means  that 
are  employed.  The  necessity  for  workshops,  as 
accessories  of  a technical  institution,  needs  no 
insistance,  as  they  afford  the  only  means  of  acquir- 
ing a practical  knowledge  of  the  uses  of  tools, 
and  of  some  at  least  of  the  properties  of  materials. 
The  workshop  is  as  necessary  to  a practical  know- 
ledge of  mechanics,  as  a laboratory  is  to  the 
chemist.  A technical  institute  must  be,  above  all 
things , practical.  The  student  who  possesses  only 
book  knowledge  would  have  no  chance  as  an  in- 
ventor in  prosecuting  his  experiments  and  re- 
searches. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  emphasise  the  im- 
portance of  a student’s  thorough  knowledge  of 
drawing . because  that  at  least  is  fully  acknow- 
ledged, and  has  already  been  introduced  into  most 
schools.  It  is  in  fact  the  language  of  invention. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  to  point  out  the  necessity  of  a 
thorough  grounding  in  that  kind  of  close  reasoning 
thatEuclid  teaches,  for,  as  drawingis  the  language 
of  invention,  logic  it  ite  grammar. 
OCCASIONAL  NOTES. 
“An  Essay  on  Farmyard  Manure  ” is  the  title 
of  a pamphlet  sent  to  us  by  the  author,  Mr. 
E.  T.  Hoole,  Agricultural  Instructor.  The  subject 
is  fully  and  intelligently  dealt  with,  and  is 
evidently  treated  of  with  the  object  of  impres- 
sing upon  the  cultivators  of  Ceylon  the  im- 
portance of  conserving  and  utilising  to  the  fullest 
extent  the  droppings  of  all  animals  kept  on  the 
land.  It  is  the  complaint  of  the  scientific 
agriculturist  everywhere  that  there  is  great  neg- 
ligence on  the  part  of  the  ordinary  farmer 
in  the  treatment  of  farmyard  manure,  and  to 
the  wasteful  system  now  in  vogue  among  the 
natives  of  Ceylon  must  in  a great  measure  be 
attributed  the  unsatisfactory  results  of  their 
cultivation.  We  trust  Mr.  Hoole’s  pamphlet  will 
have  a wide  circulation,  and  be  the  means  of 
working  the  reform  at  which  it  aims. 
We  were  glad  to  note  that  the  Assistant 
Government  Agent  of  Matara  had  taken  steps 
to  exterminate  the  insect  pests  that  devastate 
the  paddy  crops  in  this  district,  and  that  his 
efforts  have  proved  successful.  We  have  not 
been  informed  what  form  of  spraying  apparatus 
Mr.  Le  Mesurier  has  been  using,  and  whether  it 
was  imported  or  is  of  local  manufacture. 
If  the  latter,  it  would  redound  to  his  credit 
to  have  contrived  a machine  which  is  reported 
to  work  so  successfully.  The  School  of  Agri- 
culture is  in  possession  of  a patent  spraying 
apparatus  known  as  the  “ Eclair  ” knapsack  ma- 
chine. It  consists  of  a copper  reservoir  or  vessel 
holding  26  pints  made  to  fit  on  to  the  operator’s 
back,  being  fastened  there  with  straps  like  a 
knapsack.  A rod  traverses  the  lower  part  of 
the  reservoir  inside,  being  worked  by  a lever 
with  the  operator’s  hand.  This  does  not  move  a 
piston  as  in  ordinary  pumps,  but  acts  upon  an 
indiarubber  diaphragm,  by  whose  sucking  action 
the  liquid  is  forced  through  the  delivery  tube 
with  great  force.  The  liquid  can  be  delivered 
in  the  finest  spray  in  any  direction.  The  machine, 
which  has  worked  well  on  trial  at  the  School, 
ought  to  do  well  for  infected  paddy-lands. 
The  School  of  Agriculture  re-opened  after  the 
Christmas  holidays’  on  Monday  the  16th  January. 
Fifteen  new  students  have  been  admitted.  There 
have  been  some  changes  in  the  teaching  staff: 
Mr.  Jayawardeue,  late  Headmaster  has  resigned, 
and  Mr.  W.  A.  He  Silva  at  present  in  Bombay  pro- 
secuting his  veterinary  studies  has  been  appointed 
to  succeed  him.  Mr.  I).  A.  Perera  of  the  Ratna- 
pura  Government  School  has  been  appointed  2nd 
assistant  and  acts  for  Mr.  Silva,  while  Mr.  Hoole, 
Agricultural  Instructor  comes  to  the  School  as 
permanent  3rd  assistant.  Mr.  P.  S.  Rodrigo,  who 
has  been  connected  with  the  School  for  over  3 
years,  during  which  time  he  won  the  highest 
respect  of  the  students  and  the  confidence  of 
his  superiors,  takes  up  the  duties  of  Head- 
master of  the  Kadugannawa  primarv  English 
School. 
There  was  no  public  prize  distribution  at  the 
School  last  year.  The  following  is  a list  of 
the  prizemen  : — Among  the  Seniors  : Nallatamby 
and  Abeyesekera  in  Agriculture,  Suvarimuttu 
in  Veterinary  Science,  Gunaw'ardene  in  English 
and  Mathematics,  Abeyesekera  in  Science, 
Romiel  in  Practical  Chemistry.  Among  the 
Juniors:  Cooray  in  English  and  Mathematics, 
Fernando  for  Agriculture  and  Science. 
« — 
FARMYARD  MANURES. 
A pamphlet  of  15  pages  on  this  subject,  written 
by  Mr.  E.  T.  Iloole,  late  of  Happy  Valley  and 
at  present  Agricultural  Instructor  at  Bandara- 
gama,  has  reached  us.  Mr.  Hoole  explains  at 
the  outset  that  farmyard  manure  is  a general 
manure,  because  it  supplies  all  the  elements  of 
plant  food  in  convenient  proportions.  One  of 
its  many  advantages  he  notes  is  that  in  the 
natural  course  it  decomposes  but  slowly  in  the 
soil  and  gradually  yields  up  its  stores  of  plant 
food.  This  advantage  is  of  special  importance 
with  us  where  heat  and  moisture  favour  the 
decomposition  of  organic  substances,  while  our 
copious  showers  have  a tendency  to  wash  out 
of  the  soil  the  soluble  ingredients  of  plant  food. 
Again,  we  have  no  cheap  substitutes  for  this 
manure  as  is  the  case  in  western  countries 
wrhere  many  refuse  nitrogen-yielding  substances 
are  manipulated  into  products  of  manurial  value, 
such  as  shoddy,  hair,  skin,  horns,  leather, 
blood,  &c.  Now  it  is  beyond  the  means  of  the 
ordinary  cultivator  to  import  or  locally  pur- 
chase the  so-called  artificial  “guanos,”  and  while 
bones  are  used  by  them  to  some  extent  to  supply 
phosphoric  acid,  and  ashes  or  leaves  are  utilised 
for  the  other  valuable  ash  constituents  which  they 
contain,  without  farmyard  manure  there  is  no 
convenient  means  of  appreciably  adding  nitrogen- 
yielding  material  to  the  soil.  For  these  and  many 
others  reasons  which  Mr.  Hoole  has  not  failed 
to  notice,  it  is  most  important  that  our  culti- 
vators should  exercise  the  greatest  care  in  pre- 
