60 
Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
Among  these  particular  mention  might  be  made 
of  Ipomea  repens  (S.  kankun)  as  a crop  which 
would  thrive  even  in  wet  lands.  Other  Ipomea, 
or  the  many  varieties  of  amaranth  us,  particu- 
larly A.  speciosus  could  he  grown  on  dry  lands. 
Besides,,  these  and  other  crops  would  un- 
doubtedly imirove  by  culture. 
Much  has  no  doubt  been  written  on  the 
backward  state  of  Indian  agriculture,  but  I 
believe  Ceylon  is  very  very  far  below  India 
as  regards  its  native  agriculture,  with  the 
exception  of  coconut.  Of  course  it  does  not 
require  any  argument  to  prove  that  the  “ planting 
products”  are  far  above  anything  in  other 
countries.  The  Indian  cultivator  very  often 
grows  fodder  crops  and  prepares  hay  out  of 
the  natural  grasses,  but  these  means  are  never 
heard  of  in  the  Island. 
About  twenty-five  miles  away  from  Bombay 
I have  seen  large  tracts  of  paddy-fields,  and 
one  thing  which  struck  me  was  that  in  many 
places  they  make  use  of  the  numerous  ridges 
to  grow  fruit  trees.  Mangoes  and  Papaws 
were  thriving  well  on  these  ridges. 
HOW  TO  PRESERVE  BOTANICAL 
SPECIMENS. 
The  specimen  is  carefully  spread  out  and  placed 
between  t-wo  thick  sheets  of  blotting  paper  and 
pressed  by  a clean,  smooth,  heated  dhoby’s  iron. 
The  pressure  by  the  iron  should  be  always  down- 
wards and  not  sideways.  For  instance,  if  a rather 
big  leaf  has  to  be  pressed  by  a small  iron,  the  iron 
should  be  lifted  straight  up  from  the  part  already 
pressed  and  laid  on  the  unpressed  part  with  a 
downward  pressure.  If  (he  iron  be  even  slightly 
dragged  across  from  cne  part  of  the  leaf  to  the 
Other,  the  leaf  might  be  squeezed  or  distorted  by 
the  sideward  pressure  thus  exerted. 
The  pressing  is  done  so  as  to  remove  the  mois- 
ture from  the  leaf  and  to  make  it  dry  and  smooth 
for  keeping.  If  a specimen  is  very  thick  and 
fleshy,  it  wall  be  better  to  press  out  the  moisture 
gently  and  gradually  rather  than  attempt  to  do 
it  too  quickly.  If  the  blotting  paper  becomes 
saturated  after  some  of  the  leaves  have  been 
pressed,  fresh  blotters  should  be  used  for  pressing 
any  more  that  remain  to  be  done,  as  the  paper 
which  has  become  thoroughly  wet  will  be  useless 
for  the  purpose. 
When  the  pressing  is  over,  the  leaf  should  be 
carefully  removed  from  between  the  sheets  of 
blotting  paper  and  mounted  on  card  or  thick 
paper  after  gently  applying  some  liquid  gum  to 
the  back  of  the  leaf.  If  the  mounting  cannot  be 
done  immediately  after  pressing  the  specimen,  it 
may  be  temporarily  placed  between  the  leaves  of 
a book  and  mounted  afterwards  when  convenient. 
The  mounted  specimens  must  be  kept,  as  far  as 
possible,  without  being  bent  or  squeezed. 
I send  along  with  this  (for  the  Agricutrural 
School  Museum)  a few  specimens  collected  at 
Happy  Valley  and  pressed  in  the  above  manner  full 
eighteen  months  ago.  Two  large  collections  pre- 
pared by  me  in  this  way,  at  the  same  time  as  these 
have  been  taken  by  some  ladies  to  England,  and 
jtre  keeping  well  I Lear,  There  are,  no  doubt,  other 
good  methods  of  preserving  botanical  speci- 
mens, such  as  by  the  application  of  salycylic 
acid  for  instance ; but  the  one  I have  described 
here  has  the  advantage  of  simplicity. 
E.  T.  Hoole. 
Bandaragama,  19th  Dec.  1892. 
ZOOLOGICAL  NOTES  FOR  AGRICULTURAL 
STUDENTS. 
In  the  division  Sco/ecida  are  also  included 
(besides  the  tapeworms),  the  “flukes”  or  suc- 
tional  worms  ( Trematoda ).  With  few  exceptions 
the  sexes  are  united  in  Tremntodes,  and  the  young 
may  be  developed  directly  into  the  adults,  or  may 
pass  through  a complicated  metamorphosis,  which 
varies  in  different  cases,  and  does  not  admit  of 
description  here.  In  many  cases  the  larvae  are 
tailed,  and  one  of  the  early  stages  of  their  exist- 
ence is  often  spent  in  the  interior  of  freshwater 
moluscs,  from  which  they  are  finally  transferred 
to  their  definite  hosts.  The  “ flukes  ” inhabit,  in 
their  adult  condition,  the  most  varied  situations. 
Most  are  internal  parasites,  living  in  the  intes- 
tines or  hepatic  ducts  of  mammals,  birds  or  bac- 
trachians,  the  vitreous  humour  or  lens  of  the  eye, 
the  blood  vessels,  &c.  A few  are  external  parasites, 
living  in  the  skin  and  gills  of  fishes,  crustaceans 
and  other  animals. 
Practically  there  is  only  one  trematode  worm 
of  any  importance  in  a sanitary  sense,  viz.,  the 
Distoma  or  Fasciola  Hepaticuin,  or  liver  fluke. 
This  worm  inhabits  the  bile  ducts  of  the  liver 
of  the  sheep  and  the  ox,  and  occasionally  the 
bile  ducts  of  the  horse,  and  gives  rise  in  sheep  to 
the  disease  known  as  “ liver-rot,”  which  is  found 
to  exist  to  a much  greater  extent  in  damp  and 
swampy  districts  (except  salt-marshes)  than  in 
any  other.  In  wet  seasons  too  the  disease  is 
more  prevalent  than  at  other  times. 
Rot  is  directly  of  no  consequence  to  man,  but 
indirectly  the  disease  is  of  vast  importance,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  great  loss  which  it  causes 
to  sheep  owners,  but  also  from  the  immense  dimi- 
nution of  the  food  snpply  which  results  from  its 
ravages.  The  fluke  produces  extensive  organic 
disease  upon  the  liver  of  the  sheep,  annihilating 
the  function  of  the  organ  and  leading  to  emaciation 
and  exhaustion  of  the  host  whose  tissues  be- 
come dropsical  and  innutritious.  In  all  cases  where 
important  tissue  changes  such  as  wasting,  dis- 
coloration or  dropsy  occur,  the  condemnation  of  the 
flesh  is  warranted;  at  any  rate  the  liver  and  the 
contents  of  the  intestines  should  be  destroyed,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  structural  alterations  which 
may  exist  in  the  former,  but  in  order  that 
the  ova  of  the  worm  may  be  destroyed.  Prof. 
Leuckart  in  Germany  and  Mr.  A.  P.  Thomas  in 
England,  traced,  almost  simultaneously,  the  life 
history  of  this  parasite  through  all  its  stages, 
and  published  accounts  of  their  investigations 
in  1882.  They  find  that  it  lives  for  a time, 
and  changes  its  form  in  the  body  of  a minute 
shell  snail  ( Limneeus  truncatulus ) which  thrives 
in  an  excess  of  moisture. 
The  great  means  of  checking  the  outbreak  and 
spread  of  the  disease  are  draining,  keeping  animals 
off  flooded  land,  scattering  about  lumps  of  roekr- 
I salt,  and  not  allowing  the  stock  to  go  off  condition 
