May I, 190L] 
Supplement to the " Trnjoical AgrimUurist:'' 
801 
creasing appreciation of clioice fruit by growers, 
a seedsman has daring the iast three years reilizsd 
Qd. e;icb for some flue specimens." Happy seeds- 
man ! How the Ueylon fruit seller envies yon. 
RAINFALL TAKEN^ AT THE SCHOOL OP 
AGEICULTURE DUEING 
THE MONTH 
OF APRIL, 1901. 
1 
Monday 
. . Nil 
18 
Thursday . . 
•79 
2 
Tuesday 
. . Nil 
19 
Friday 
Nil 
3 
Wednesday 
. . -02 
20 
Saturday . . 
■16 
4 
Thursday 
. . -27 
21 
Sunday 
•37 
5 
Friday 
. . -01 
22 
Monday 
•34 
6 
Saturday 
. . -.52 
23 
Tuesday 
•88 
7 
Sunday 
. . -GO 
24 
Wednesday 
•83 
8 
Monday 
.. 1-02 
25 
Thursday . . 
•03 
9 
Tuesday 
... -26 
26 
Friday 
•04 
10 
Wediiesdny 
... Nil 
27 
Saturday . . 
2-12 
11 
Thursday 
... Nil 
28 
Sunday 
•37 
12 
Friday 
. . Nil 
29 
Monday 
Nil 
13 
Saturday 
. . -09 
30 
Tuesday 
Nil 
14 
Sunday 
. . -14 
1 
Wednesday 
Nil 
15 
Monday 
. . -05 
16 
Tuesday 
. . Nil 
17 
Wednesday 
... Is^il 
Total. . 
8^91 
Mean . . 
2^97 
Greatest amount of rainfall in any 24 hours on 
the 27th, 2^12 inches. 
Eecorded by tJ. Driebkbg. 
THE EOYAL BOTANIC GARDENS. 
The work of the Botanical Department in Ceylon 
now compri'-es a good deal of what bears directly 
on the Agriculture of the country, and in the 
ab.=^ence of a distinct Agricultural Department, this 
circumstance must be welcomed. The staff of the 
department has been considerably augmented 
within the last year or two, and now includes a 
botanist, an entomologist, a mycologist, and a 
chemist, besides a temporary assistant who devotes 
himself to the detailed study of some one parti- 
cular subject. 
Among the more interesting experiments and 
researches referred to in the annual report of the 
Director and his staff for last year are (1) the 
analysis of the black and variously mottled tim- 
bers of the Diospyros family, whereby the cause 
of the discoloration is said to have been de- 
termined, while e.Yperiments have been initiated 
with the object of inducing the blackening of the 
timber in the peripheral sapwood ; (2) the efforts 
(which are reported to promise success) to graft 
the mangosteen {Garcinia inangosfana) on the 
Cochin goraka {Garcinia xanthochymus) a njnie 
hardy species ; (3) the partly successful attempts 
to propagate the nutmeg by layering and so 
secure a certain means of raising female trees; 
(4) the bringing together of over 23 distinct 
varieties of plantains ; (5) the study of the polli- 
nation of the cacao tree with a view to produce 
an increased fertilisation ; (6) the attempt to raise 
cacao plants from cuttings, which, if successful, 
will be the means of perpetuating the characters 
of special trees. All such work as is referred to 
above must help to give us an amount of definite 
information, which the individual grower is not 
in a position to ascertain for himself, but which 
should considerably help him in the practical 
work of cultivation. 
The reports of the Entomologist and Mycologist 
shew that a great deal of work has been done, 
and the fact that the advice of these e.Kperts is 
always available must be very consoling to the 
cultivators of crops. 
We have no doubt that the Botanical Department 
will continue to extend its sphere of usefulness 
each year under its present Director and his able 
staff of assistants. 
SOME FACTS AND FIGUEES ABOUT 
COW'S MILK. 
In a report of investigations made at the New 
Jersey Agricultural Station, an average analysis 
of cows milk IS recorded which maybe accepted 
as a guide and useful information on Dairying 
subjects; but, as the Cape Agvicidtural Journal 
(to which we are indebted for a summary of the 
report) remarks, the average, it is to be pre- 
sumed, is that of the milk of profitable cows :— 
Milk is not a product of fixed composition. 
But the total amount and the proportions of 
the constituents contained in it are influenced 
by a variety of conditions, the chief of which 
IS, perhaps, the individuality of the cow. Breed 
food, age, health, period of lactation, and time and 
season of milking are also determining factors 
Of the constituents of»the dry matter of milk viz 
butter-fat, proteids (chiefly casein and albumen)' 
sugar and mineral salts, fat seems to vary more 
than the others, though each may vary consider- 
ably. Normal milk may be said to contain on the 
average the following amounts and propoitious of 
the different constituents, also weights in a aallon 
of 10 lb. 2 oz. : — " 
Water 
Total solids 
Butter fat 
Casein and albumen 
Milk sugar 
Ash (raiueral salts) 
Per cent. 
87-50 
12-50 
3-60 
3- 75 
4- 50 
•75 
oz. 
141f 
5| 
6 
7i 
1 
This average composition has served as the 
basis in both State and City Governments for the 
enactment of laws or ordinances, the purpose of 
which is to prevent watering, skimmin<T, and 
other forms of adulteration. The standards 
adopted seldom require more than 12^5 per cent 
total solids and 3 per cent, of fat. Thu^ what 
may be regarded as the average quality of milk 
usually exceeds the limit ft.xed by the various laws 
particularly in fat contents. ' 
Normal, or whole milk, will, however, show 
wide variations in both directions from this 
standard ; that is, it may be very much richer or 
very much poorer. 
The influence of breed is also very marked, so 
much .so that dairy breeds are classified into miik 
and butter breeds; that is, those which afve a 
larger quantity of poorer quality, and thoselvhich 
give a smaller quantity of a higher quality. The 
milk from animals which naturally produce large 
quantities shows average quality, and that from 
