March 2, 1903,] THE TKOPICAL 
AGEICULTURIST. 
629 
strnnse to say only thiee living specimens have 
80 far been touiicl. The last class to be taken 
up was the Myiiopedef, consisting of tlie ceuti- 
peilrs, of which a specimen of the very venomous 
yellow and black species was shown on the 
screen ; and of tlie haimless Millepedes, met with 
so often upcountry; Dr. "Willey tlso mentiorcd 
the existence of a third order belorging to this 
class (Povopidae ?) a lew species of which are 
to be found in Australasia and South Africa. 
This third order was of interest in that it lay 
between the earth- woims and the centipedes. It 
was also of special interest to the Zoologis.t on 
account of its methods of reproduction ; one 
species lesembling the Mammalia iu that respect 
while another was possessed of an eiioimons 
nutritive sac which eulliced for the nutiilion of 
the embryo.— It was evident that Dr. "Willey is of 
opinion that this third order may exist in Ceylon 
though it has not yet been found. — The lecture 
terminated shortly after 10 o'clock, Dr. Periy 
proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, for 
the very interesting lecture he had delivered, in 
which he had in such a short space of time, leen 
able to give them such a fund of infoimation 
abtut the peculiarities in animal life iu Ceylon. 
COCONUT PLANTING. 
Sir, — In one of the most fertile islands ci the 
Godavery I own land on which I planted a coco- 
nut tope three years ago. The land is very near 
the banks of the river, whose water is saltish, 
owing to its proximity to the sea into which it 
empties itself. The soil is one on excellent Llack 
loam and is, in the opinion of all local jdanters, 
eminently adapted ft r the growth of the coconut 
palm. So far, the plants, too, are thriving ad- 
mirably, and if everything goes well with them, 
will yield fruit in three more years' time. A few 
days ago I paid one ol my occasional visits to the 
place to see how the plants were progressing. 
Among others of the village who came to see uie 
was an old experienced p'anter, who told me the 
following startling story. It seems he has land in 
another part of the village, veiy near mine, where, 
by the side of a large coconut plantation of his, 
growing and fruiting since his grandfalhei's time, 
he planted another some years ago. The plants 
grew very vigorously till they were just about to 
bear fiuit, when, from some ui known cnuse, all of 
ihem suddenly drooped down their heads, and died 
within a short into va! of each other. Hesu.'peeied 
there was something wrong about the soil (which, 
by the way, was covered with a deposit of white 
sand, the result of a recent inundation of the river) 
and which he replaced about a yard deep with a 
soil and manure believed to be favourable to the 
growth of the coconut ; a,nd planted another 
tope, which also shared the same fate, having 
come out splendidly till the time of tlie promised 
fruit and perished equally miraculously. Nothing 
daunted, the old planter tried various means to 
eliminate the causes of the evil so far as 
could be conjectured, and successively altered Ih.e 
manure, the water and other things which might 
influence the health of the plant one way or the 
other. But with the same unfortunate lesult 
throughout. Now he has given up all thought 
of remedying the evil, which he attributes to 
parasitic worms sapping the life out of the plant 
from behind the root. Against this, too, he 
vislied to provide by pouving iu kcrosine oil, but 
whether this tended to kill the plant instead of 
the woim I am not sure. Now, in the interests 
of all Iccal planters. I write this to you in the 
hope that yru or any of your nun)eious rcadeis will 
kindly enlighten me as to what conclusion to draw 
undei ti e circumsl ances, and what nieasuies to 
adopt in crder to remedy the evil or efl'ectively 
pi event it before having to aitempi'' a cure, 
9th Feb. Coconut-Plantee. 
—Madras Mml, Fch. 12. 
■ ^ 
MALARIAL FEVER AND HOW TO 
PREVENT IT. 
A CIECULAB IN THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCK. 
Mr. S. M. Burrows, Chairman of the Local 
Boaicl of Kurunegala, has issued the follow- 
ing circular, at a very opportune time, and 
it would be well that every recipient do 
"read, mark, leain and inwardly digest" its 
invaluable contents, so full is it of wise laws 
and modern instances. The circular is appli- 
cable to all malarial stations, and may, with 
profit, be adopted by the residents thereof : — 
" It is now quite certain that malarial fever 
is caused by the bite of certain mosquitoes. 
You cannot catch malarial fever in any 
other way. How can you avoid being bitten 
by these mosquitoes ? 
1. Use curtains (without holes or tears in 
them) at night to sleep under. They will save 
you the expense of doctor's bill, and medi- 
cines. 
2. Empty and throw away or burn all 
broken bottles, upright pieces of bamboo, 
empty coconut shells, tins, old buckets, etc., 
in which stagnant water collects, and fill 
up all puddles and stagnant pools near your 
house, and clean your drains. It is just in 
these places that the dangerous kind of mos- 
quito breeds. If we wculd all carry out this 
plan as far as we possibly can, there would 
be very few mosquitoes left to give us fever. 
3. Keep your houses as clean as possible. 
The mosquito likes dark, dirty corners and 
shuns light. 
4. Take quinine at regular intervals and 
in small doses, especially during the malarial 
season (December, January and February). 
Quinine prevents the fever germs from spread- 
ing. It can do you no harm. It can be had 
for nothing. Why not take it ? Eyeryone in 
a malarious place like this should take enough 
quinine to cover a ten cent piece once iu 
ten days even when quite well: If feverish, 
more frequently. If we all did this, there 
would be very little fever. 
5. Every person with fever should be sent 
to hospital, if possible. While he remains 
in the house, the mosquitoes that bite him 
will bite you and give you fever. Let us 
all try and act on these simple rules for a 
year, and see if we cannot make Kurune- 
gala a healthy place." 
Malarial Fever.— The circular issued by 
Mr. 8 M Burrows and printed in our daily 
;uid 2\A. is well worth the attention of all 
who reside in feverish districts. Fever has 
lately been especially trying in and near 
Anuradhapura, for instance— and this ajid 
other places similarly situated will doubtless 
be glad of good advice. 
