THE 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the " TROPICAL AGBICULTUBIST." 
August:. 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine for 
Vol. XIl.l 
AUGUST, 1900. 
[No. 2. 
OCCASIOA^AL NOTES. 
|MONG the more interesting contri- 
butions to the latest number of 
the Royal Agricultural Society's 
Journal (issued Juue 30th) are 
the f olio V* ing : — Fumigation for 
insect Pests by William E. Bear ! 
The Comparative Value of Nitrate 
of Sodium and Sulphate of Ammonium as 
Manures, by Pro. R. Warrington, M.A., f.e.S. ; 
Experiments on Lucerne by Bernard Dyer, d.sc. 
We reproduce elsewhere a note on Artificial Chan- 
ges of Physical Properties of Soils. 
Wo find that we have omitted to refer to a 
useful Circular issued from the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, drawn up by Mr, H. MacMillan, the 
Curator of the Gardens. This Circular deals with 
fruit trees suitable for cultivation in the low- 
country and for moderate elevations. It contains 
general directions regarding planting, propaga- 
tion, &c., iu addition to a list of fruit trees with 
short notes on each. In a Circular of this nature 
one does not expect to flud a treatise on fruit 
cultivation, but to those who would desire to havg 
fuller instruction regarding the cultivation of 
fruit trees we would commend a handy but most 
instructive publication issued by the Agricultural 
Department of the Cape of Good Hope, the 
authors of which are Messrs, P. MacOwan, f.l.s., 
Colonial Botanist, and Eutace Pillo" Agricul 
tural Assistant. It is entitled a "Manual of 
Practical Orchard Work," and the general in- 
structions on the subject are well worth the study 
of local fruit growers. 
We direct attention to still another scheme that 
has been put forward by a practical hand for th« 
agricultural education of the people of the coun- 
try. There are many excellent suggestions in it, 
which deserve the attention of those who hare 
been entrusted with the duty of reorganising the 
system of Agricultural Education in the Island. 
Of schemes there have been enough put forward 
already, and it is ior the wise heads concerned 
with the settlement of the question at issue to 
sift all these and make out a policy acceptable 
to the Government and calculated to serve th® 
agricultural interests of the native communities. 
The fifth and last volume of Dr. Trimen's Flora 
has just come to hand, though it has been issued 
some little time now. This volume is principally 
taken up with the grasses (Graminoee), but it 
contains as appendices a key to the Orders 
Genera and Aberant species of Ceylon Flowering 
Plants, Diagnostic characters of the orders to 
which the Flowering Plants of Ceylon belong, a 
} aper on the Forests and Waste Lands of Ceylon by 
Mr. A. P. Broun, Conservator of Forests. A paper 
on the Distribution of Rainfall in Ceylon by Mr. 
P, Lewis of the Forest Department. A History of 
