AGRieULTU 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to tJie " TBOPIOAL AGRICULTURIST:' 
July :— 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine for 
Vol. XL] 
JULY, 1899. 
[No. L 
SEASON EEPORTS FOR MAY, 1899. 
THE ANNATTO DYE OF COMMEECE. 
ESTERN Proz'wce.— Paddy. Sow- 
ing for Yala over. Eainfall heavy. 
Rinderpest in Rayigam Korale. 
Central Province. — Paddy. Yala 
cultivation in early stages ; rain- 
fall sufficient, 6'46 in. registered 
at Matale. Health of cattle fairly good. 
Northern Province.— Vo-My. Fields in prepara- 
tion. Eainfall 2-36 in. at Jaffna, 5-63 in. at 
Mannar, 3"57 in. at Mullaittivu. Health of cattle 
good, except in Mullaittivu district, where there is 
murrain. 
Southern Province.— P&My , Yala crops in early 
stage promising well. Rainfall 18 -So in, at Galle. 
No reports of cattle disease. 
Eastern Province.— PsxMy- Fair prospects, 
though some damage by caterpillars in Batticaloa 
district. Rhinfall nil at Batticaloa, -.51 in. at 
Trincomalee. 
North-Western Province —VaMy. Yala crop 
still young. Prospects generally good. Rainfall 
fairly distributed, 2-33 in. at Puttalam. Cattle 
disease still lingers in some districts, 
North-Central Province.— Yala crops 
still young. Rainfall 3-94 in. at Anuradhapura. 
Health of cattle fair. 
Province of Uva. — Paddy. Maha harvest nearly 
over, and preparations going on for Yala. Prospects 
. middling. Weather dry. Health of cattle good. 
. Province of Sabaragamuwa.—'Pa.My. Yala cul- 
tivation in progress, prospects favourable. Rain- 
fall at Ambanpitiya 10-5 in., atRuanwella 29-8 in. 
Cattle murrain in both Ratnapura and Kegalle 
districts. 
Dr. Nicholl's work from which extracts ap- 
peared in the May number of the Agricultural 
Magazine I suppose is a recent publication. It 
would therefore be interesting to know before 
entering into discussion, what older authorities 
had written on the subject. This is what P. L. 
Simmonds in his great work Tropical Agriculture, 
1877 edition, p. 388, writes in reference to the 
aimatto industries in Guadaloupe and Cayenne: — 
"The fruit is like a chestnut, atwo-valved capsule 
covered with flexible bristles and contains a certain 
number of seeds smaller than peas. These seeds are 
covered with a soft, viscous, resinous pulp, of a 
beautiful vermilion colour, and unpleasant smell 
Uke red lead mi.^ed with oil, and it is this sub- 
stance which constitutes annatta, or arnotto. The 
mode in which it is obtained is by pouring hot water 
over the pulp and seeds, and leaving them to 
macerate, and then separating them by pounding 
with a wooden pestle. The seeds are removed by 
straining the mass through a sieve ; and the pulp 
being allowed to settle, the water is gently poured 
off, and the pulp put into shallow vessels, in 
which it is gradually dried in the shade. After 
acquiring a proper consistence it is made into 
cylindrical rolls or balls, and placed in an airy 
place to dry, after which it is sent to market. Ifc 
used to be most common in this form as small 
rolls, each 2 or 3 ozs. in weight, hard, dry and 
compact; brown without and red within. The 
other process of manufacture is that pursued iu 
Cayenne. The pulp and seeds together are bruised 
in wooden vessels, and hotwater poured over 
