THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. 1, 1903. 
To the Editor. 
♦ ■ 
THE SLAUGHTER OF BIRDS IN CEYLON 
Croydon, 23rd Oct., 1903. 
Sir,— I enclose a cutting from the Daily Neivs 
of the 19bh, which I trust you will reproduce in 
your columns ; and I hope that the Ceylon Game 
Protection Society will take steps to hp.ve a stop 
put to this wanton destruclion of bird-life in the 
island. I noticed in one of your issues lately a 
letter from a planter describing how wh«n riding 
along a certain road he had seen a " vision of 
blue," which proved to be some hundreds of jays' 
wings hung up to dry, the whole of which were 
to be sold for a miserable five rupees, I do 
earnestly hope that this abominable, murderous 
traffic in birds, wings and bodies will be put an 
end to.— Yours truly, 
DONALD FERGUSON. 
(Exti act. ) 
BIKD MILLINEKY. 
Never before, say the plumage brokers, has there 
been so successful a season from their point of view, 
^ the recent agitation only having had the effect o£ 
increasing business, for prices are as high as ever. 
In epite of the prohibition of bird slaughter in India — 
which has been in force since the commencement of 
this year — it is remarkable to note that at the laet 
public auction, held at the London Commercial Sale 
Booms last Tuesday, over seventy-three of the pack- 
ages offered came from Eaet India and Ceylon, as 
compared with thirty-five from China and thirty- 
three from Brazil and other parts. It has come to 
the knowledge of a Daily Neivs represenia'ive that, 
as a matter of fact, the Icdian birds are still being 
slaughtered as largely as ever. They are smuggled into 
Ceylon for exportation abroad. The attention of the 
authorities is drawn to this matter, Thf quantity of 
Indian birds in the market is, hoviever, plausibly ex- 
plained by the brokers, who state that the vast con- 
signments which have come forward were collected 
before the restriction (dating from the Ist of January!) 
was put in force, and are in effect practically old 
stock. But, in spite of the prohibition, which should 
increase the value of this " old stock," we do not 
find that prices have gone up appreciably, which would 
indubitably have been the case hod the supply really 
ceased. In addition, however, it is found that an in- 
creasing number of birds ia being imported from 
China and Japan and from South America the 
plumage from the little paddy birds fetching from 
twenty-five to thirti£ shillings an ounce. It is largely 
used for lanfl. Osprejs aie not so plentiful as hereto- 
fore, owing to the growing scarcity of the victim?, 
whilst parrots are being rapidly exteiminated. As a 
consequence they are going up in value for, whereas 
formerly they were to be bought for three half-pence 
or two pence, sixpence farthing each is now fetched 
by the same rosehead variety. "WbilacERglish seagulls 
which are now so fashionable, fetch ten pence, the 
Japanese kind — known as Albinos on account of their 
pure whiteness of colour secured by their being bred 
in the darkness — fetch as much as eighteeupence 
apiece in the market. One thousand three hundred 
and eighty-five luipeynn pheasant skins were also 
offered for sale fetching from one and niuepence 
to three and sixpence each together with over a 
thousand female Lirds of Paradise sold at sixteen 
Bhilliiigs apiece, the green-breasted and long-tailed 
variety fetching as much as £1 15s. Hummingbirds, 
which find their principal market in Paris are ex- 
ceedingly cheap at the present moment. Killed by 
blow-pipes they arc exported for sale at rates which 
jB.ry Ivom three farthings to twopeuce tbree farlbipgs 
each bird. The short-tailed variety can be purchased 
for a halfpenny, the ruby-coloured bird varying from a 
penny to twopence three farthings whilst the blue 
were priced at twopence. Crested pigeons largely 
nsed in the manufacture of aigrettes can just now be 
had at three and fivepence and the little bronze 
kingfisher from one and seven to two and twopence. 
West India osprey skins in large supply sold, we 
learn, at full prices. Jungle cocks fouud themselves in 
fair demand at the last auction whilst many hundred 
of jays aud owls were readily bought up for the 
adornment of civilized womankind. It may be added 
one of the largest wholesale dealers informed the 
writer that he had in stock a quantity of made-up 
birds which sold exceedingly well. 
ON THE SELECTION OP MANURES. 
London, E.C., Oct. 30. 
Dear Sib, — The particulars mentioned iu 
the following paragraph from the Globe of ' 
October 23rd are of practical Interest to tea : 
planters in India and Ceylon : — , 
Wine and milk tend to absorb the odours of sub- 
stances near them. Ibis not so well-known that 
giapes also take up odours in this way. The 
Journal of the Society of Horticulture of Brussels ! 
states that grapes at Geisenheim acquired an odour 
of creosote, which persisted in the wine made from 
them. A still more disagreeable case is that of ! 
grapes which caught the odours of decomposing 
offal from a slaughtering house. The smell of rot* ' 
ting seaweed gets into grapes and wine in some ' 
parts of France. The seaweed is used as manure, 
and the odour in this case appears to get into the 
grapes by the roots of the vine. 
In reporting on the manuring of tea during 
the last few years, I have always discouraged 
the direct application of strong offensive 
materials, such as decomposing fish, bones, i 
flesh or blood, and as far back as 1878 when > 
I first visited Ceylon officially on behalf of , 
the Planters' Association I recommended that 
steamed bone meal, which has a strong dis- 
agreeable smell, should be mixed with acid i 
superphosphate in order to absorb and fix 
the volatile ammonia always given off in a 
hot damp climate when large quantities of 
this useful manure are stored in a heap. 
All decomposing animal matter should 
indeed either be treated chemically, or made 
into a compost with earth and a little lime 
before being applied to the trees. The direct 
application of such offensive materials is 
calculated not only to aitect the flavour of 
the leaf, but also to attract the presence of 
grub which, after feeding on the manure, will 
probably attack the small rootlets of the 
shrub. JOHN HUGHES, 
Agricultural Analyst, 
PROPOSED ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
Colombo, 10th Nov. 
Sir,— As some doubt seems to exist as 
to the nature of the proposed scheme 
for establishing Zoological Gardens in 
Colombo, I think it may be as well to 
acquaint your readers with the proposed de- 
tails of same and to give a recapitulation of 
what has been done in the past with a view 
to the same object. In June 1899 my firm, 
acting on behalf of certain persons interested 
in the subject, approached Government to 
know if a site could be granted or leased for 
Zoological Gardens and in August 1900 the 
