666 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 1. 1899. 
You will observe that I drew attention to the 
figofcs as being unusually hiyli and niucli above 
what [ had found in rain watei c.oUecteil by Mi. (i. 
Walker at Bo^awantahiwa. — Youis faithfully, 
JOHN HUGHLS, 
Analytical Laboratory 70, Maik Lane, London, E.G., 
No. 1. June 12th, 1884. 
Rain Water received ia a stone jar case with wicker 
collected on Meeiiabedde, Koslanda, Ceylon, between 
November IGtb, 1883, and March Gth, 1884, and eup- 
Eosed to represent the 20'81 iachSB of rain registered 
etween the above date.s. 
An Imperial Gallon vsaa found to yield on evapora- 
tion, solid residue dried at 110° c= .'>-74 grains con- 
BistinR of : — 
Orgnnie and "Volatile Matters .. 1-12 
Mineral Matters .. 4 02 
Total 
Also by direct determination- 
Per Gallon, 
Grains. 
Free Ammonia ... '291 
Albuminoid Amrconia.. '008 
5-74 
Per Acre for 
Every Inch 
of ilain. 
■209 equal to 
lb. 
•966 
iJitricAfid .. -510 „ 1-048 
Sulphuric cid . . 2-.S07 „ 7-458 
Cbloiin .. -307 „ 1-283 
Eqii '.l to ('hloride of 
Sodium ... -054 „ 2,114 
"Lime .. 1-3.S2 „ 4306 
Magnesia ... '100 „ -323 
Assuming that the average annual rainfall on the 
estate to be 00 inches— the total quantity of Ammoiua 
from the above results would amount to 87 lb. in 
round numbers, and the Nitric Acid to as much as 
148 lb. 
Thfi figures are so very high, aud so much above what 
was found in the raio water collected by Mr. Walker, 
of Bogawantalawa and reported on last November, that 
it would bo desirable to make enquiry respecting the 
manner in which tliis particular sample was collected 
and stored between the Ifith November 18S3, and 6th 
March, 1884. 
From the accompanying Table of Rainfall,* it will be 
noticed that the total of W Sl inches extends over 42 
days and has been made up by numerous shov.-ers, most 
of which are less than half inch ; in only six instances 
did the quantity exceed one inch per day, and in these 
it varied from i-35 to 3 G2 inches. Doubtless the rain 
yielded by these showers does contain a much hrger 
proportion of Ammonia and Nitric Acid to that found 
in water representing a heavy storm of from 3 to 6 or 
more inches cf rain, but it would be desirable to make 
enquiries as suggested, especially as the relatively loige 
quantity of Mineral matters fonnd on evaporation, 
leads me to concln.de that some impurities had become 
accidentally introduced. 
For sending Samples of Water, clean white glass 
spirit bottles well corked are always to be preferred to 
stone jars. — John Hughes, f.c.s.. Fellow of the In- 
stitute of Chemistry. 
of tiie gamut beiug diKlinctly heard. When the 
cry is imitated by tiie human voice, the bird 
responds readily to the call if in definnce aud 
the {.'aine is kept up for some time to the great 
amusement of the listener. 
The juiif-le crow builds Us nekton thetopmoet 
branches or fronds of the areka palm, concealed 
from observation— Yours truly, A. 
ALLEGED ADULTERATION OF Cl'lRO- 
KELLA OIL. 
Galle, March 4. 
Deab Bib, — I notice a complaint in your pnper of 
the 2nd iust. emanating from Mr. Andrew Peurs in 
regard to the adulterutiou of the bulk of citronella 
oil chipped from Ceylon. The (>llef;ed adulteration 
is surely not carried on in Ctylon now : for. what- 
ever malpractices may have existed in (he past when 
coconut and kerohine oil were used in distilh ries, 
shippers arc too wide-awske at pretent to purchase 
any but the genoine article. I believe all iLie oil 
now shipped iu bulk is tested by Bcfaimmers or other 
satisfactory tests before exportation. 
My own imprcHsion is that the poor quality of the 
csseniial oil of citronclla now produced in Ctylon, 
is due to the fact that the original species of grass 
(Audropogou nardus) which was introduced and cul- 
tivated by Messrs. George Winter and William 
Austin at Baddegama and Wakwella is now pxtinct. 
The species now iu caltiration was obtained from 
Matara. It grows luxuriantly, but yields a smaller 
quantity of oil. The late Mr. Simon Perera Abev- 
wardene who owned the larg<>st citronella estates iu 
the South assured me that this was the fact 
The late Mr. Fisher had an extensive plantation 
of citronella aud lemongrass on the Perseverance 
estate, Singapore, aud his oils always commanded 
the highest jjrices in London equally with Winter's. 
He told the writer that the excellent quality of his 
oil was brought about by careful filtration Recording 
to bin own method. I am not aware that this estate 
is still in exietenec. It would bo worth while if a 
competent authority were to examine fpecimen* of 
thfi citronella grasses grown here and iu Singapore. 
Lemongrnss oil is only paitially produced in 
Ceylon owing to the diiffieulty of keeping up the 
cultivation.— Yours faithfully, MERCATOR. 
LOCUST FUNGUS. 
School of Aftriculture, Colombo. Ma'cli 6. 
Dear Sir,— I am in receipt of a letter from 
Dr. Kdrington, the Director of the Bacteriological 
i^aboratory at the Ciipe, infoiminR me that he 
has despatched to my addre.'s six tubes of the 
Locust Fnnj,'us, with instructions for its use. 
Dr. Edringlon say.s in his letter : " It has been 
very successful here, and we are at the present 
moment destroying immense swarms 'of the 
insects." I shall be gl.id to hear from anyone 
who would undertake to use the tuncus according 
to directions which I shall supply, and report 
results — I am, yours truly, 
C. DRIER ERG, Supt. 
THE "KOHA.' 
Galle, March 4. 
Dkae Sir,— The bird known in Ceylon as the 
Koha is not a.niigiant. It has been observed 
all round the year, all hough its notes are net 
heard so frequently like those of other birds. 
There are two species : the black and the speckled. 
I have been credibly informed as to this by 
several gentlemen who have frequently noticed 
the two. These birds are not gregarious. The 
cry has a joyous ring about it, the several notes 
THE TIMBER OF GREVILLEAS. 
Abbotsford, Nanuoya, March 4. 
Dear Sir, — Timber from immature trees decays 
rapidly if used out of doors, and suffers from 
weevils or dry rot quite as rapidly w-hen used 
for inside work, the sajjwood portions of the i)lank9 
being the first affected. 
Irouviocd of the same age would probably 
behave similarly or worse, so do not blame the 
tree as 1 have seen timber sawn from 20 years' 
old grevilleas wliieh left nothing to be desired 
for ordinary building purposes, a? it shrinks 
exceedingly little and doesn't warp at all even 
wheu unsea.soned.— Yours faithfully, 
JOHN FRASER. 
