flOt^ICUliTUf^flLk JVLflGflZIflE. 
OOL.OMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the " TBOPICAL AGRICULTURIST" 
May :— 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magadne for 
Vol. XV.] 
MAY, 1904. 
[No. 11. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
OME months ngo we applied 
to our late Conservator 0£ 
Forests, now serving in the 
Soudan, for seed of the best 
varieties of Egj-ptian cotton 
for trial in Ceylon, Mr. 
Broun was probably on a 
long tour at the time our letter reached Egypt, 
and attended to our request on his return 
to Cairo. Last week [we received through the 
Ceylon Government three packages of cotton seed 
which will receive a fair trial together with 
the Caravonica and other varieties we are growing 
in the Government Stock Garden. 
In this connection we may mention that we 
have received applications for cotton seed from 
three leading Sinhalese gentlemen fjr trial on 
their estates. We are pleased to observe the 
interest in cjtton culture reviving in this way, 
and are glad of offers to experimentally grow 
the varieties we are introducing in view of the 
present limited area of the Government Stock 
Garden. Before long, however, we hope to have 
additional land at our disposal for moi'e extensive 
experiments, as there is the prospect of an addi- 
tions! grant from Government, while Mr. 
J. W. C. de Soysa, with his wonted interest 
in agricultural matters, has expressed his willing- 
ness to place some of the land attached to '' Alfred 
House " grounds, and in close proximity to the 
Stock Garden, at our disposal — for the tiiil of 
newly-introduced plants. 
the seeds of which came to us from Mr. J, W. 
Sturgess, Colonial Veterinary Surgeon, and 
referred to by him as "New Zealand Grass." 
Mr. J, P. Carruther;!, acting Director of the Royal 
Botanic Garden^, to whom we referred for the 
correct name of the grass, writes : — " The grass, 
if it is the same as that grown by Mr. Martin, 
of Yatawatte, is Anthistiria ciliata (Kangaroo 
grass), and iutroduced for some time past 
into the tropics." We understand that the grass 
is the same as that grown by Mr. Martin in 
the Matale district. 
Mr. N. G. Mukerji, the well-known Indian 
expert in Sericulture, and author of the "Hand- 
book of Sericulture," is back again in the 
Indian Agricultural Department as Assistant 
Director, Calcutta. Writing under date of 17th 
March, Mr. Mukerji asks if we could send him 
5 lbs. of fresh coffee seed for trial in Mourbhanj, 
Orissa. Another Ceylon product he wishes to 
try in North ludia is Bread-fruit. This is 
usually propagated from root-cuttings containing 
buds or " eyes," and plants have been successfully 
raised from such cuttings, sent by us carefully 
packed, in the Bombay Presidency. 
Among the fodders which are being given a 
trial ia the Government Stock Garden is 
With reference to the request for Coffee seed 
from an area notoriously infected with the 
leaf disease {Hemileia vastatrix), we consulted 
the acting Director of Botanic Gardens on the 
expediency of sending seed out of the Colony. 
Mr. Carruthers writes in reply to our enquiry : 
" If the coffee seed is carefully washed in a 
dilute solution of copper sulphate (bluestone), 
there is no danger of carrying Hemileia spores, 
and the fungus itself does not penetrate to 
the fruit." 
