Junk 1, 1900.] Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist'''' 
863 
5. For cycling or picnic parties, tourists, 
travellers and others, this will be found a great 
convenience, a few bananas being sufficient stay 
and nourishment for some hours. The bo.xes are 
compact and easily cured. 
Then follows a number of recipes, which we 
shall give for the benefit of ourread6rs, in a future 
issue. 
A correspondent sending us this advertisement 
writes: Why not in Ceylon at the Agricultural 
School ? Why not indeed ! We suppose because 
the Agricultural School is not given the opportu- 
nity of doing this and many other things which 
it might do. It has not had, as one of the speakers 
at the recent prize-giving ceremony put it, a 
"fair chance." and that explains everything. 
RAINFALL TAKEN AT THE SCHOOL OF 
AGRICULTURE DUEING THE MONTH 
OF MAY, 1900. 
1 
Tuesday . . 
6-28 
17 
Thursday . . 
Nil 
2 
Wednesday 
6-11 
18 
Friday 
Nil 
3 
Thursday . , 
, -72 
19 
Saturday . . 
Nil 
4 
Friday 
•05 
20 
Sunday 
2 '59 
5 
Saturday . , 
Nil 
21 
Monday 
Nil 
6 
Sunday 
Nil 
22 
Tuesday 
•21 
7 
Monday 
Kil 
23 
Wednesday 
Thursday . . 
•30 
8 
Tuesday 
Nil 
24 
•03 
9 
Wednesday 
Nil 
25 
Friday 
Nil 
10 
Thursday . 
, Nil 
26 
Saturday . . 
•02 
11 
Friday 
, Nil 
27 
Sunday 
•01 
12 
Saturday . , 
, Nil 
28 
Monday 
Nil 
13 
Sunday 
, Nil 
29 
Tuesday 
•41 
14 
Monday 
. Nil 
80 
Wednesday 
•44 
15 
Tuesday 
, Nil 
31 
Thursday . . 
•15 
16 
Wednesday 
Nil 
1 
Friday 
•07 
Total, .ll^ll 
Mean . . •SS 
Greatest amount of rainfall in any 24 hours 
on the 2nd inst. vyas 6"11 inches 
Eecorded by Mr. J. A. G. Eodbigo. 
KlXlh LANDS, 
Dear Sir, — What is the correct meaning and 
signification of Kiiil (sSctf) is "sed in re- 
ference to unprocJuctive lands, on which nothing 
will grow. Clough gives the meaning as " absence 
of salt ; insipidity." But the ^ot A Kiiil is used 
with regard to water, which is brackish. 
There are several patches of land in this district 
(Kurunegala) known as Kiiil, which are useless and 
worthless. To give you a typical case. There is a 
patch of about 8 or 10 acres situate under and 
about two miles from Ma-Uswewo. The surround- 
ing lands are under cultivation. The plot in 
question has been abandoned since three years ago. 
The whole tract, including the Kiiil land, was 
asweddumised about ten years ago and gave good 
crops — 12 fold. The portion in question began 
gradually to fail since then, till three years ago, 
when only grass (a peculiar and uncommon kind) 
will grow. When paddy is sown, a sickly plant 
comes up and withers away, 
Please let me know what ails the .soil. Can it 
be remedied, and what will you proposee ? '■ 
Yours truly, 
FEANK MODDER. 
Kurunegala, 21st July, 1899. 
[We regret to find that this letter has been 
mislaid for some mouths, and apologise to our 
correspondent for the delay in dealing with the 
points raised. Our regret is all the keener from 
th« fact that the author of the neglected letter 
should be so esteemed a correspondent as Mr. 
Modder, whom we know to be a close observer and 
an ardent student of Nature, as his work in the 
Eoyal Asiatic Society amply te3tifi.es 
Without a personal acquaintance with the 
locality in which the unproductive tract referred to 
by Mr. Mcdder occurs, or indeed any definite 
notion of the character of the tract itself, we can 
but speculate as to the cause of the barren nature 
of the soil from our kiiovfledge of the infertility 
of soils under conditions which are suggested by the 
general description given us in the above 
communication. 
At first sight it would appear that there is some 
confusion in the use of the word " Kiiil," but we 
think this could be explained away. The general 
meanings given by Clough are not far from the 
technical signification of the expression in its 
agricultuaral sense, for " absence of salt " or "insipi- 
dity " clearly enough describes the impotent condi- 
tion of soils which, as oar correspondent states, can 
grow nothing. The term " brackish," given as 
another synonym of the word in question is, it 
should be noted, not always correctly used in ita 
application to water, which is so described whether 
it is tainted with common salt or whether it 
presents the stale odour and taste derived from 
organic acids. It is in the latter sense, we fancy, 
that the word " Kiiil " is used to denote brackish- 
ness. Indeed, we are informed on good authority 
that there is another and distinct expression which 
conveys the meaning "brackish" where the con- 
dition is due to the presence of common salt, viz.| 
" Karijja " (mSdfd). 
To our mind the word " KiUl " expresses as nearly 
as possible the condition indicated by the expres- 
sion "sour" as applied to land. This condition, as 
Dr. Fream puts it, is generally found in soils con 
taining too much organic matter, as a result of th 
excess of organic acids which develope in the land 
as the vegetable matter decomposes, Land of this 
description is, as a rule, characterized by the pre- 
sence of coarse inferior grasses such as are referred 
to by our correspondent. 
The chief agent to be recommended in the treat- 
ment of such land is lime, which by combining 
with the free organic acids renders them harrolesa 
to plant life. But the adoption of this and any 
further treatment cannot be safely advised until 
after a careful inspection of the land. 
■ 
PEACTICAL HINTS TO HORSE-OWNERS.' 
By a. Chinniah, g.b.v.c. 
Chapter II. (contd.)— Food and Fbbdino. 
Oats. — Oats stand pre-eminent amongst tha 
concentrated or artificial foods for horses. Looking 
at the following analysis you will notice that tha 
nitrogenous matter and the fat stand in the pro« 
