790 
Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." [May 2, 1904. 
Mr. D. S- Blaz^, of Perak, who is one of 
our oldest subscribers, writes: — " Will you let 
me know if you can supply plants and seeds 
mentioned in the Magazine from time to time, 
and also any others not known in these States, 
I am willing to pay cost of procuring, freight, 
&c. If I can be of any service to you on this 
side it would give me great pleasure to aid 
you in your interest for agriculture." 
We are always willing to meet such a request, 
as that of Mr. Blaz6, from abroad, but our 
department is such a small one, and there are 
60 many School Gardens whose wants have to 
be supplied, that we are very reluctantly obliged 
to plead oar inability to meet demands from 
outside the island, though whenever there is a 
possibility of sending even a few seeds of a 
new plant we never miss the opportunity of 
meeting the wishes of foreig correspoundents. 
Mr. C. W. Meaden, Manager of the Govern- 
ment Farm, Trinidad, writing to us in reply to 
an enquiry as to the fate of the Sinhalese cattle 
sent to that colony some years ago, says: "Tbere 
is not much to say about them. One cow 
proved barren; the other two produced three 
calves each, two of which have been sold and 
one is working. The bull had his leg broken, and 
is therefore not of much use. They are in- 
teresting little cattle, and are kept practically 
for show at Government House grounds. For 
practical service they are of little value in 
Trinidad, as we have any number of donkeys, 
mules and ponies, which are to be had cheaply 
from neighbouring islands, and therefore cattle 
breedirg is not much in favour here." 
We ore greatly obliged to Mr. Meaden for 
his interesting repart, which goes to show that 
our cattle are not wanted — at any rate in the 
West Indies, and had better be kept in Ceylon 
where there are no donkeys, neither mules nor 
ponies to be had cheaply. With us the hardy 
Sinhalese breed is invaluable, and Prof. Van 
Drathen of Saxony questioned the advisability of 
attempting to cross-breed them of larger size. 
We regret to say that the distribution of 
Australian "90 day" and "120 day" Maize 
has hot been attended with very satisfactory 
results, and, in fact, the reports are in most 
cases disappointing. We are therefore more 
than glad that we have secured seeds of the 
finest American varieties, (which we referred 
to in our last issue), that are being introduced 
even into Australia to improve the stock there. 
We omitted in our last issue to acknowledge 
receipt of a packet of seed, kindly forwarded by 
the Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Port Darwin, 
Northern Territory of South Australia. 
The tree which we have often referred to 
in these columns as " madre de cacao," and was 
tiret erroneously named Millettia atropurpurea. 
and later Lonchocarpus sp. has undergone a third 
naming, as it will in future be known as Gliricidia 
maculata, which we are informed by the Curator 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens is the correct name. 
The common name "Madre de cacao" is only a 
general term for cacao shade trees, and is 
perhaps most commonly associated with Erythrina 
umbrosa, but the seeds of the plant in question 
came out to Ceylon under this name which 
has stuck to it ever since. It is interesting 
to note that the first trees were grown in 
the grounds of the late School of Agriculture, 
from whence we have helped to spread it to 
almost all parts of the Island, The tree is easily 
distinguishable by its peculiar foliage and hand- 
some blossoms. 
RAINFALL TAKEN AT THE GOVERNMENT 
STOCK GARDEN 
FOR 
APRIL, 1904. 
1 
Friday 
Nil 
17 
Sunday 
Nil 
2 
Saturday .. 
•46 
18 
Monday 
Nil 
3 
Sunday 
Nil 
19 
Tuesday 
Nil 
4 
Monday 
Nil 
20 
Wednesday ... 
•18 
5 
Tuesday 
Nil 
21 
Thursday 
Nil 
6 
Wednesday.. 
Nil 
22 
Friday 
Nil 
7 
Thursday .. 
Nil 
23 
Saturday 
•08 
8 
Friday 
. Nil 
24 
Sunday 
Nil 
9 
Saturday .. 
. -21 
25 
Monday 
Nil 
10 
Sunday 
. -11 
26 
Tuesday 
Nil 
11 
Monday 
. Nil 
27 
Wednesday ... 
Nil 
12 
Tuesday 
. -10 
28 
Thursday 
•76 
13 
Wednesday .. 
. -05 
29 
Friday 
1^93 
14 
Thursday .. 
. -43 
30 
Saturday 
1-05 
15 
Friday 
1-15 
1 
Sunday 
•07 
16 
Saturday ,. 
. -17 
Total in... 
.6^7G 
Mean in.... '2*2 
Greatest amount of rainfall in any 24 horn's 
from 28th to 29th = 1-93 inches. 
No. of days in which rain fell — 14 days. 
ALEX. PERERA. 
IMPORTANCE OF POTASH AS PLANT FOOD. 
The element of potash is now known to be one 
of the most important ingredients of all plant 
foods. Large quantities of it are required by all 
crops, whether grown on the farm or in the 
gardens. 
Professor Loew estimates that the amount 
required annually per acre of pine forest is 6"11 lb., 
for the same area of wheat field 30*7 lb., a clover 
field 83-4 lb., and a potato field 102'31b., while 
an acre of fruit trees in full bearing will require 
in leaves and fruit, and for the storing up in the 
fabric of the trees, about 150 lb. of potash annually. 
A considerable part of the ash of most plants 
consists of potash, and though closely related to 
the element soda in its chemical properties the 
latter cannot replace it in the plant. 
Recent research has demonstrated the fact thafe 
plants growing in soils containing more soda 
than potash in their composition will nevertbelese 
absorb much more of the potash. 
