514 
Supplement to the " Tropjical AgricuUuriaV [Jan. 2, 1899. 
RAINFALL TAKEN AT THE SCHOOL OP 
AGRICULTURE DURING THE MONTH 
OF NOVEMBER, 1898- 
1 Tuesday .. "52 18 Friday .. Nil 
2 AVednesday . . Nil 19 Saturday . . Nil 
a Thursday .. -09 20 Suiid.-.y' .. Nil 
4 Friday .• -78 21 Monday .. -08 
5 Saturday . . l-()8 22 Tuesday . , -01 
6 Sunday . . '21 23 Wednesday . . -Uo 
7 xMonday . . -08 24 Tliursday . . Nil 
8 Tuesday 
108 25 Friday 
Nil 
9 AVednesday , . 1-42 26 Saturday . . -25 
10 Thursday .. 1-16 27 Sunday .. -69 
11 Friday . , -16 28 Moiidiiy . . -02 
12 Saturday .. -28 29 Tuesdny .. Nil 
13 Sunday ,. 3-0 3f) AVednesday. . -15 
14 Monday .. 1-95 1 Thursday .. 1 ij4 
lo Tuesday . . 2 77 
1« AVednesday . . -21 
17 Thursday' .. Nil Total.. 17 -06 
Greatest amount of rainfall in any 24 hours 
on the IStli inst. 3-() inches. 
Mean rainfall for the month '58 in. 
Recorded by A. M. .\ir.\M.'VT. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
It is not generally known that coconut milk 
can be treated like cows' milk for the production 
of butter. Tile term coconut milk is often errone- 
ously applied to the fluid endosperm found in the 
jiut, while it should refer to the j)roduct got by 
mixing the scrapings of the solid endosperm wiili 
water, and squeezing out and filteritig away the 
solution. If this milky or creamy substance 
be cooled down and churned in an ow:linary Eng- 
lish churn it will be found that it will prf)diice 
butter in a few minutes. The butter unlike the 
so-called commercial " coconut butter '' is not lardy 
but beautifully granular and snowy white- The 
normal temperature of the air in Colombo is, how- 
ever, too high to permit of this butter remaining 
in a solid state, so that in a very few hours it 
passes into the liquid condition when it appears 
after filtering, as a clear limpid oil. The iipj)li- 
cation of the churning process is probably of 
little use in the production of a pure coconut oil, 
but it strikes us as being capable of application in 
other directions in which we are at present experi- 
menting. — 
The Kcw Bulletin mentions the following nitro- 
gen collecting plants useful for fodder and green 
manuring : — A'igna catiang (cowpea), Cajanus 
indicus (pigeon pea or dhallj, Phaseolus lunatus, 
Dolichos lablab., Dolichos purpureus and Phaseolus 
mungo (green gram). These are all well-known 
pulses iu Ceylon. 
A small sample of the Caoutchone-like substance 
referred to by Dr. Biffen in our remarks with 
reference to the milk of the Breadfruit tree, and 
prepared by ns with the help of the ordinary centri- 
fugal cream separator, was thought to be of no 
value when submitted to the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Feradeniya. 
Erratum. — In the number for November last, 
page 48, at the end of the first column, for moist 
read most, 
In another column we refer to the experimenta 
with mtrugin in Scotland, and the conclusion of 
Hr. Aitken tliat iti» a practically useless substance 
Another substance has now come into the market 
under the name of Aliuif— a ye)lowi>li powder 
(■upphed in small tubes by Messrs. F. Fuber & Co.. 
Elberlield, Germany. It also contains u micro- 
organism di-cov^n d by Mr. Caron of Ellenbach, 
and hence callel Hacilln-^ lUlt-nOathenci* alpha, but 
which seems to be no other than tlie liaciUus 
Meyathennni of ]><• Biry. The maiiufttcturers 
issue instructions for its use, and thoy claim for it 
the power of enabling cereals to absorb free nitro- 
gen from the air. Let us hope that it may l>e less 
disappoiiKing than its predecessor. The proof 
that It can enable cereals to assimilate free nitrogen 
are far from complete, and that it sliould be 
boomed over the Continent as a substance that 
renders the application of nitrogenous manures for 
the growth of cereals unnecessary is, to say the 
least of it, pr ture. 
Irof. Hendrick of Aberdeen University, lias 
written an exhaustive jmper on "Seaweed «« 
-Manure, in which he supplies detailed unalyseo 
and refers to numerous field experiments with It in 
order to compare its fertilizing properties with 
various other manures. He summaries the results 
ot his observations ns follows:— It will be seen 
that weight for weight of manure, seaweed gives 
just as great a crop ot potatoes «s farmyard manure. 
When suj.erphosjdiate is applied along with sea- 
need the crop is in every case increased. On the 
other hand in no case does I he addition of super- 
phosphate to farmyard manure give any corres- 
ponding increase of crop. The croi)8 with dung 
alone and with dung and superphosphate are 
))r.ictically the same. Even when potash also was 
added f.0 the dung there was no improvement but 
the contrary. It should be mentioned, however, 
that dung had the advantage over seaweed in 
quality of produce. 
Dr. Bernard Dyer referring to the estimation of 
lime in soils says:-l have for some time been in 
the habit of adopting the presence orabsence of an 
appreciable amount of carbonate of lime (enough 
to make the soil effervesce when a mineral acid is 
added to it) os a means of deciding the frequ'^ntly 
put and often vexed question as to whether a given 
soil should be manured with an acid manure like 
superi>hosi)hate or dissolved bones, or whether it 
should be theated with a non-acid manure sudi as 
bone-meal, basic sl.ng or guano. 
The same authority, referring to sulphuric acid 
as a constituent of soils, remarks:— The proportion 
of suljjhates in a soil is a matter to which insuffi- 
cient attention has been given. AVhen farmyard 
manure is liberally used the supply of sulphates 
in the soil will probably le well kept up ; and 
where superphosphate is used, which, needless to 
say, contains much sulphate of lime, there can be 
no lock of suli)hates: and the fame holds good 
if sulphate of ammonia is used- But on fields 
o:i which dung is little used, and where super- 
phosphate has been replaced by basic slag, and 
where nitrate is used as a source of nitrogen, 
the occasional use of gypsum (sulphate of lime) 
may be desirable. At uU events the question 
