Feb. 1, 1899.] Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." 589 
The next Show of the Colombo Agii-IIorticiil- 
tural Society has beea fixed for tlie 21st and 
22nd of July. A large and representative Agri- 
cultural Siio-.v will be held at Galle from July 
11th to loth. The comparative frequency of 
Shows is a healthy sign and should ijroduce 
good results in the agriculture of the Island. 
We hare to acknowledge with thanks from 
the autlior, Mr. T. 13. Pohatli Kehelpannala (an old 
student of the School of Agriculture) receipt of a 
copy of his interesting brochure on the Jiitul Palm. 
Part of the piper originally appeared in the 
pages of the Agricultural Magazine. The pam- 
plilet were seen through the pre.ss by Jlr. J. C. 
Willis, Director Royal Eotanio Gardens, Pera- 
deniya, and is published at the cost of the 
Government. 
The article on drought-resisting plants suggests 
the question whether there are not among our 
indigenous plants these with similar properties 
to cliicory and sheep's burnet, and wiiich therefore 
might be grown with the object of minimising 
the evil effects of drought on pereimial crops. 
The question is one well worthy of the atten- 
tion of cultivators to whom we commend it for 
careful consideration, while it shall not escape 
our notice. 
PLANTAINS-DEIED AND MEAL. 
The annual report of the Department of Agricul- 
ture,Queensland, to hand tlius refers to the question 
of e.\porting plantains or bananas in a convenient 
form : — " Some years ago several shipments of 
dried bananas were made to London and Germany, 
and though the fruit arrived in good condition and 
a strong effort to popularise this fruit was made 
by a free distribution in order to create a demand, 
the result was anything but satisfactory. Banana 
meal was also .sent to England, but the report 
received was, however, of such a nature that the 
manufacturer was reluctantly compelled to refrain 
from any further experiments. During the past 
yearMessrs- Reis Bros., of Woolloongabba, expressed 
the desire to again test the London market witli a 
sliipment of bananns that had been dried by anew 
process adopted by that firm. A number of cases 
each cont.iiniiig 28 lbs. were sent to the Agent- 
General, and a small quantity was kept in this 
department to test the keeping; quality of the fruit. 
The report from London was not of a cheering 
nature, and when the samples left here were in- 
spected, the evidence obtained sufficiently proved 
the difficulty of exporting this product in such a 
condition that profitable returns could be secured, 
FrQra what I have learned from visitors to the 
United Kingdom, it seems to me to be somewhat 
futile to attempt to place dried fruit of this kind 
where thu ripe fruit, owing to the rapid means of 
tran.sit, is brought from countries nearer to Eng- 
land, and sold at prices that jdace it within the 
reach of all classes of the community. ' 
What we are interested in just at present is not 
the preparation and export of dried plantains 
wiiich we always b(dieved to be an undertaking 
beset wilii serious dilVicull ies, but the preparation 
of the flour or meal, for which, if exi)eriraent8 now 
in progress give favourable results, there should 
ba a distinct and large demand apart from the 
demand for lipe or dried fruit, for table use. 
f Mr. Benson, Fruit E.xpert, referring to the culti- 
vation of the plantain in Queensland says "that 
the only chance of extending the industry profit- 
ably is that we may be able to utilise or preserve 
the fruit in some manner, and that there is a 
demand for the product so obtained. In order to 
determine this matter it is propo.sed to carry out 
a series of experiments to determine the best 
method of pre-erving the fruit and utilising same 
when necessarj'." 
It is just such experiments that we have been 
engaged in ourselves, and while convinced that 
there is no hope of jilantains being exported as 
" figs"' (witness the failure in the West Indies and 
India), there is still the want of a ready market 
for the plantain flour or meal which is the most 
suitable form for e.xport. Our efforts to find such 
a market have not yet been abandoned, and as we 
stated in our last issue we have lately had 
some encouragement in this connection. 
TOBACCO SOILS. 
As Ilavanah cigars and Cuban tobaccos have 
attained such wide celebrity, the analysis of a good 
tobacco soil in that country is interesting as. 
giving an idea of the constituents which help to 
produce the best quality of tol)acco. It would 
appear from the analysis that the large proporLiou ■ 
of organic matter gives good texture to the soil, 
while at the same time supplying the crop with 
nitrogen. The quantity of phosphorus is compara- 
tively large and shows the need of phosphatic 
manures in tobacco growing. 
The following is the analysis as made bv Dr. 
Earle:- 
Moisture at 110° 
...14-20 
Organic Matter 
...12-30 
Sand and Insoluble Matter 
...30-32 
Carbonic Acid 
... 4-20 
Sulphuric Acid 
... -12 
Oxide of Iron 
...29-40 
Oxide of Lime 
... 7-GO 
Oxide of Magnesia 
... -17 
Phosphoric Acid 
... 1-60 
Potash 
... -16 
Soda 
... -084 
100-154 
Nitrogen to 
... -32 
Ammonia ... 
... -.39 
The sulphuric acid is combined with the lime to 
form sulphate of lime. The remainder of the 
lime is combined with the carbonic acid to form 
carbonate of lime and with the pho.sphoric acid to 
form phosphate of lime. 
A USEFUL SCHEME FOE AGRICULTURAL 
EXPERIMENTS. 
The Director of State Farms, Queensland, gives 
the following useful though condensed i)rogramme 
of work, which is useful ns a guide for siuiilur 
work in this colony : — 
"In my position ns Director of Stnfs Firms 
I drafted a scheme for the working and manage- 
