AGRK^OLTORSL ffiAGaZffiG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplement Monthly to the " TROPICAL AQRICULTURIST: 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine for 
December : — 
Vol. XIII.] 
DECEMBER, 1901. 
[No. 6. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
E. L. A. D. Silva, an old student 
of the late School of Agriculture, 
and at present in charge of the 
Experimental Garden at Maha- 
walatenne, was awarded a prize 
for onions at the Show lately 
held at Ratuapura. 
St. Benedict's Institute has made a small 
start with School Gardening, and with the limited 
extent of land available for the purpose the 
results are very creditable. Two other private 
schools are likely to follow the example of 
St. Benedict's. 
The Superintendent of School Gardens has been 
travelling in the Three Korales, Kegalle district, 
with a view to selecting suitable sites for school 
gardens. Tlie Ivegalle district has been des- 
cribed as "The Paradise of the Pedngogue," 
for the reason, no doubt, that the attendance 
at the schools is excellent, the accommodation 
for scholars and teachers most satisfactory, while 
the interest taken by the revenue oJfficer and 
the chiefs of the district is an important factor 
in the success of the schools. Where land is 
available school gardens may be expected to be 
found flourishing before long, as the natural 
conditions for successful cultivation are nearly 
always present in that favoured district, 
Mr. F. C. Fernando, late of the School of 
Agriculture, who left for South Africa some months 
ago, says in a recently received letter : " 1 
have enlisted in a medical corps, and am off 
to Maritzburg en route for the front.'' 
In our last issue we referred to a letter 
received from Mr. John Speicer, Dejiuty to the 
Chief of the Eurenu of Nature Siudy {Cor- 
uell Univer.-ity, College of Agricultuie.) In 
response to Jlr. Spencei's request It r a C( n muni- 
cntion from a Ceylon child, a letter was des" 
patched some weeks ago containing a lively 
description from the pen of a youthful c( rre- 
spondent. The last mail brought the following 
reply from "Uncle John": My dear , 
Your Uucle John is delighted to receive your 
letter of September 2nd, which was four days 
before our President McKinley was shot, an 
event you no doubt know about, but you cannot 
conceive the shock and grief the tragedy gave 
everybody. Wiien we have our presidential 
elections, the feeling of the different parties 
would seem to be very intense, bat 1 think 
it must be on the surface. Men who did ail 
they could to defeat Mr. McKinley at each 
election mourned iiis death most sincerely, 
1 thank you for your letter. I shall pass it 
along to my junior Naturalists, my nephews 
ajid nieces as I call them, for they address me as 
Uncle John, and you will no doubt hear from some 
of them. In a short time I will send you some 
photographs. Your description of your bullocks 
and cooli^ is very good indeed. I wonder if 
my boys and girls can do as well. Perhaps 
some of them will tell you about their flower 
gardens and some of them had flower shows. 
You will no doubt think I have a novel way 
of giving my friends an idea of their number. 
I do not measure them by the bushel or by 
the ton. 1 count them by churchfulls. I have 
enough to fill forty churches, and each church 
holds 500 boys and girls. Can you compute 
the number in thousands. Out of that number 
6,700 bought flower seeds and had gardens 
'all their very own the past summer. I 
am fond of every one of them. I cannot 
help It, for they are so very kind to me. Just 
now they are engaged in watching crickets. 
If you have none in Ceylon your father 
will no doubt tell you about them. Hoping 
you will let me be your Uncle John the same 
as with the others, I am, yours cordially 
and sincerely, Jno. W. Spencbk. 
An official of the New Administration in the 
Transvaal, \' ho has l^ut laiely t:iken up . his 
duties at Pretoria, writing under date the .Uth 
