474 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTUKIST. 
[Jan. 1, 1904. 
CATTLE-FARM AT SULUTANAGOUA IN 
WELIGAM KOKALE-MaTARA. DISTllICT. 
C By a visitor.) 
Having heard of this institution for some time, I 
determined to pay a visit to it, and took the opportu- 
nity to do so two days ago. Snlutauagoda is a village 
about 8 miles from Matara on the Kofcawila road, 
past the estate of that name lately -owned by Mr 
-C J R LeMesnrier. It may be mentioned in passing 
that Mr LeMesurier bought the land and got the 
estate planted himself when at Matara, and built a 
substantial bungalow on it, hoping no doubt to reap 
in due time — but, alas, it has changed hands and is now 
the property of a rich renter of Matara. lu addition 
to some 200 acres of coconut, I believe there is about 
100 acres of paddy land. The country all about seemed 
well-planted with coconut. Citronella looked very 
pleasant and cheerful in the bright sunlight. To 
return, however, to the object of my visit, the Cattle- 
Farm is an institution by the Mudaliyar of the 
Korale, Mr Jas. Wickremeratna, with the object of 
improving the breed of cattle in tlie District. With this 
praise-worthy object he laid the matter before Govern- 
ment and I must say that Government has so far 
given him every encouragement. In the first place 
they gave him a stud bull, a magnifioient animal, but 
not too big so as to be too unwieldy for the small 
native cows, The Government also placed at the 
Mudaliyar's disposal 100 acres of Crown land, about 
15 or 20 acres of which have been cleared and fences, 
in with palings, and 14 headmen presented a cow 
each so as to form the nucleus of the Farm. Tem- 
porary sheds have been run up for the cattle and I 
learnt from the man in charge that all the cows were 
big with calf at the present time. Beside the cows 
at the Farm the services of the stud bull are allowed 
free of charge to any villager who sent his cow to the 
Farm. Three korotowas have been formed for grow- 
ing vegetables, grain and other new products to be 
introduced. Two of them were already well planted 
and growing various kinds of vegetables, The third 
one will be duly planted up, and the whole clearing 
was planted with grass, seeds of which were obtained 
'from the Botanical Gardens, Of course, the whole 
thing is in its infancy, but there is no doubt that in 
3 or 4 years, the benefits of the Farm will be fully 
shown. Whatever the results, I think thp Mudaliyar 
deserves all praise for hia action in striking out into 
new enterprises of this nature for the improvement 
of his District and the benefit of the people under him, 
and let ns hope that he will meet with all success. 
Would that there were many more like him. With 
100 acres of land at his disposal and the Farm already 
started I have no doubt he will strike out into other 
and new schemes to improve the condition of the 
villager. I understood the Government Stock Inspector 
visited the Farm, and was highly satisfied with what 
has been done so far. On the way we passed many 
well-built houses the results, as I was told, of the citro- 
nella industry. The whole country seemed prosperous 
and flourishing. 
EXTRAORDINARY NOVEMBER 
RAINFALL, 
HAXF THE TOTAL PALLS GN ST. ANDREW'S 
NIGHT. 
Matale, N.-E.,Dec. 1st.— Now that November 
account is closed, it may interest some of your 
readers to learn that the month's rainfall 
was 5 94 in. of which under 2'73 in. fell on St. 
Andrew's night. Although showers fell on 
13 days, the weather throughout was more 
like March or April, than any November 
within the past M years. Result— leaf 
plucked double the quantity secured in 
October which was cold, wet and unfavour- 
able for tea flushings. Without going so back, 
the November records here, are as follows :-— 
laches. Days. Inches. Days, 
If 91 ... 10 00 oa 15 1898 ... 9'60 on 19 
1892 ... 16-44 „ 25 1899 .. 17-56 „ 18 
1893 ... 21-39 „ 25 1900 ... 20 14 „ 25 
1894 .. 17-53 „ 21 1901 .. 21-90 „ 21 
1895 .., 10-48 „ 19 1902 .. 36-33 „ 27 
1896 ... 21-36 ,, 27 1903 .. 5-94 „ 13 
1897 ... 13-51 „ 14-Cor. 
THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF^RUBBER. 
The following table showing the World'.s pro- 
duction of rubber in 1902, with comparative 
figures for 1900, is compiled from estimates 
published in Industrie et Commerce de Caoutchouc 
of 6th November, 1903: — 
Country of Production. 
Quantity 
Produced. 
1900 1902 
Tons Tons 
Brazil, Peru and Bolivia ... . . 25,000 30,000 
Other States of South America .. 3,500 1,000 
Central America and Mexico ... 2.500 2,000 
Straits Settlements and Dependencies — 1,000 
East and West Africa and the Congo 24,000 20,000 
Java, Borneo. &c. .. ... 1,000 — 
Madagascar and Mauritius ' .. 1,000 
India, Burma and Ceylon ... 500 — 
Total 
57,500 54,000 
QUININE IN INDIA. 
The recent cheapening of the cost of production 
of sulphate of quinine has made it possible for 
the Government to increase the quantity of qui- 
nine sold in the pice packets from five to seven 
grains. It has also been decided that quinine will 
be packed in 2 anna parcels of eight packets and 
printed vernacular directions given with each 
packet. The Postal authorities have undertaken 
to distribute vernacular translations of the fuller 
directions for self-treatment to all who ask for 
them.— Mail. ■ 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Rubber Planting in Ceylon.— Two im- 
portant lettei*s elsewhere on thjs subject 
should be noticed— one from an authority 
on Castilloa, our visitor, Mr. H. C. Pearson. 
Ceylon Experiments with Silkworms. 
—We believe that silk culture in Ceylon 
during the present generation is now only in 
its infancy and that after careful experi- 
ments such as those recorded by Mr. P N 
Braine elsewhere— showing most satisfactory 
results on the whole— the local knowledge 
acquired should be productive of considerable 
interest in the cultivation of eilkworms and 
silk culture generally in Ceylon. The "hobby" 
might well be turned into a profitable side- 
industry on the part of planters and others 
suitably placed as regards food, climate, &c. ; 
if local sericulturists have already had ex- 
periences differing from those related else- 
where, or otherwise of general interest, we 
invite them to communicate with us that 
these may be added to the general stock of 
information at present available upon silk- 
worms grown under local conditions. 
