66 
Supplement to the " Tropkal AsricuUurist," 
[July 1, 1901. 
There are many parts (such as the Kesbewe 
district) in which the industry is common, and 
•where it is found to be rather a profitable 
business. We have been informed that when 
jaks are plentiful they fell for 3 cents (equivalent 
to a ^d.) each, and that in seasons when they 
are scarce the dry stuff fetches as much as 6 cts. 
per lb., and jak fruits may weigh anything 
from 6 to 60 lbs. 
Among our latest visitors from abroad (and there 
are many that call at the Colombo School of Agri- 
culture — now, alas! only so in name) was Dr. 
F. Stuhlmann of German East Africa, who has 
lately been touring in India, Java, and the East 
generally. The doctor is a most interesting 
personage, and has a fund of information to 
entertain one with, not merely regarding his 
own African experiences— botanical and agri- 
cultural — but also with reference to the various 
countries he has been so fortunate as to 
visit with a view to studying their economic 
conditions. We are making a fairly representa- 
tive collection of the vegetable products of the 
Island which Doctor Stuhlmann wants for a 
museum in which he is interested. 
An Australian exchange in taking over an 
article on the composition of Indian cows' and 
buffaloes' milk remarks that some information re- 
regarding the quantity of milk yielded by milch 
buffaloes would be desirable. In north-west 
India the buffalo as a milk animal is found at its 
best. Mr. MoUison, late of the Poona Farm, in 
his paper on the Management of Dairy Cattle in 
India, speaks of buffaloes " giving over 30 lbs. 
of milk per day (a quantity sufficient to make 
3 lbs. of butter), and of an average animal 
yielding 18 lbs. per day while suckling her calf. 
In his report on the Poona Farm for 1893, the 
same authority records that the best buffaloes 
yielded during the period of lactation (371 days) 
6,959 lbs. of milk, and the worst (during 227 
days) 1,971 lbs." This will give some idea of 
the milking capacity of the Indian buffalo. 
At the time of our visit to the Poona Dairy in 
1893, the best buffalo was giving 36 lbs. per day. 
In this connection it would be interesting to 
compare the yield of certain animals at the 
Allahabad Dairy Farm, In a recent account of 
a visit to this institution mention is made of a 
buffalo giving 32 seers of milk (a seer =2 lbs.) 
equal to 5 lbs. of butter per day, and of a cow of 
the Hausi breed yielding 26 quarts of milk per day. 
We shall say more about the Allahabad Dairy 
' and its successful work in another issue. 
Mr. George Weerakoon, Mudaliyar of Wella- 
boda Pattu, Matara, draws our attention to the 
reported extraordinary flowering of the bamboo 
in Central India. Ihe area over which the 
flowering extends is estimated at 1,200 sq. miles, 
and with the exception of a few isolated 
clum])S the flowering is said to be universal. The 
extraordinary point is that clumps of all ages 
are seen in flower. Last year, it is said, the 
(irouglit (wrought ttbout floyrcrips in the Phaba 
Range of this district, where the bamboo produced 
a kind of manna, the seeds keeping thousands 
in food for some weeks ; so that this 
year it is expected that the entire population 
will flock, in a short time, to gather the seed. 
To the people in the vicinity it is said the result 
of flowering will be serious owing to the impeiid- 
ing death of the bamboos. The oldest inhabi- 
tants recall the gregarious flowering of bamboos 
over fairly large areas some 60 years ago, 
a circumstance which points to the not unlikely 
fact that the bamboo found in the district flowers 
at intervals of about 30 years. 
Mr. Weerakoon states that he remembers seeing 
a sample of the bamboo seed brought from Bin- 
tenne in the Bad ulla district some 35 years ago. 
The "paddy" as well as the " rice" resembled the 
products of oryza sativa, and in taste resembled 
el-wi or hill paddy. It v?ould be interesting, 
as our correspondent remarks, to ascertain from 
Bintenne how often seed has been produced since 
then, and if it is procurable at present. We 
trust some of our readers will give the desired 
information. 
Since wirting the above we find a reference to 
the extraordinary flowering of bamboos iu the 
last (June) number of the Indian Agriculturist. 
The approximate area over which the flowering is 
taking place is put down at " 75,000 acres extending 
60 miles from North to South, along belts 8 to 8 
miles broad." Cart loads of bamboo grain are 
now seen plying along the roads, and no action 
is taken to arrest collection by the natives, as 
the deficiency of rain has produced scarcity of 
ordinary food grains, while this same drought has 
no doubt brought about the seeding of bamboos, 
The flour is either mixed with " Jowari " 
(Sorghum vulgare) or eaten by itself after pre- 
paration into flour cakes. It is considered nutri- 
tious by the natives, but it would be interesting 
to ascertain (as we hope to do) its chemical 
composition, and its true value as food. 
^ . 
MORE ABOUT AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 
FOR COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 
In the April number of the Queensland Agri- 
cultural Journal Mr. F- W. Teck deals with the 
question of Agricultural Education for our countrj' 
districts, and many of the arguments in his paper 
apply forcibly to local conditions. 
It is no wonder, says the writer, that with 
the conditions of life as it is generally found 
among the cultivating classes, our young country 
folk get dissatisfied with their isolated positioa 
and crowd into towns where life is made to appear 
more pleasant if not so healthy and independent. 
The pleasures of a town life and the alluring 
fixed period of work per day tend to attract 
the sons of the soil, who should be brought 
up to have a stronger liking for agricultural 
pursuits by better systems of education and by 
practical teaching. And how, it is asked, are 
the children of the rural districts brought up ? 
A? i390i» as they are old enough they are expected 
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