572 
Si^pkmmt to the " Tropical AgricuUmist.'' [Feb. 1, 1903. 
occasionally render farming a precarious in- 
dustry at the best. As for the climate, it is 
like Colombo without the humidity. The Mer- 
cury stood at 95° at 9 o'clock in the morning, 
and it was just nice and pleasant; at 1p.m. 
it rose to 107°. The orchard where I was visiting 
was laden with fruit ; and the verandah of the 
house covered up to the eaves with grape vines, 
and there were thousands of clusters of huge 
bunches on them. I have been driving in a 
sulkey " to see sheep stations at the rate of 
12 miles an hour. It is pretty hot outside, 
the thermometer in the sun registering 125°. 
Driving some 16 miles out and back again I 
did not meet a single passenger on the road 
nor even a house by the roadside. The ground 
being all open country, one could see round 
for miles and miles. The Galle Face on a 
pretty large scale with a gum tree here and 
there at the rate of say 5 trees to the acre 
■will give you some idea of the country through 
which I drove. The green was all parched up 
and the wheat fields after the harvest had a 
stubble as dry as the grass. Such is Australia 
in the North at this time of the year. The yield 
of wheat is 4 or 5 bags to the acre, and 
a bag is 4 bushels which, selling at 2/6 to 3/- 
makes the return about 30/- per acre for all 
the trouble and anxiety incidental to wheat 
cultivation. After my visit to North Victoria 
I went on to Gipsland in the South, travelling 
first by rail and then by boat along the river. 
In the wider parts of the water the banks are 
beautifully wooded on both sides, diversified by 
fen and moor. Flights of ducks and teal disturbed 
in their haunts among the rushes gave evidence 
of the country being a paradise for the sports- 
man. But this was nothing to the surprise 1 
had later on. As we entered a lagoon I noticed 
half-a-dozen large sized birds paddling away 
to avoid our boat. These turned out to be 
cygnets, and you might have killed a couple with 
ft large pole. They are not protected by law 
and may be shot here, but ducks are better 
«ating. Further on the water was dotted over 
with black swans in such numbers that when 
they flew they reminded me of the flying foxes 
swarming in the Peradeniya Gardens. They 
remain unmolested here. At one of the halting 
stations a sportsman joined us with a bag 
of blue-winged duck that was astonishing ; the 
slaughter must have been wholesale j like that 
in an English or Scotch preserve. On my 
arrival at Cunningham I went out to sea with 
the fishers, who getting into a lagoon drag 
their nets in the early morning. In a couple 
of hours they had fish enough to fill 20 
boxes or more. They are put iu ice and 
sent on to Melbourne. When too plentiful they are 
carefully transferred to large net bags all the 
while kept under water, and brought into 
kraals, which are called " paddocks " at Cunning- 
ham, and set free. There they are put by for 
stormy duy-«, tor when the fishermen cannot put 
out to sea, they net their homebred stock for the 
market. There is much to be done in this business 
by a man who could invest iu a fishing smack with 
au engine so as to be independent of the windi. 
The forests about here are not unlike Ceylon 
forests, but to clear with white labour would 
cost £20 an acre. Land is locked up here, but a 
man who can get together a selection of 1,000 
acres at a penny per acre per annam, to be 
paid for in 20 years, could leave a fortune for 
posterity, though he could only eke out a living 
for himself and family while he lived. 
A correspondent of the Indian Agriculturitt, 
writing about the wood of Anthocephalus Cadam- 
ba, says: — " It is sold in Calcutta in pieces, 6 ft. 
long, 9 in, broad, and one inch thick at the rate 
of Rs, 8 or 10 per hundred, mango wood of the 
same dimensions selling for Rs. 30 per hundred. 
As it is cheaper than mango wood it may be of 
great economic value as a material for packing. " 
He speaks of it as a wood which grows rapidly 
with little care and exertion, which can be planted 
on roadsides &c. for shade, and utilized for packing 
purposes without resorting to the destruction of 
fruit-yielding trees such as the mango. The Sin- 
halese name of this tree is Embul-bakmi (Tamil, 
Vellaidampa,) and it is found growing in the 
low-country up to an elevation of 2,000 feet, 
occurring in Kurunegala, Puasellawa, and Alagalla, 
and other places. Dr. Watt refers to its fast 
growth, mentioning that during the first two or 
three years the rate is about 10 feet per year, 
the girth increasing at the rate of one inch in a 
month. After 10 or 12 years, however, the 
growth becomes very slow. The wood is des- 
cribed as white with a yellowish tinge, soft and 
even-grained ; weight about 40 lbs. per cubic 
foot. It ia used in India for building, and in Assam 
and Cachar for tea boxes. Cunningham mentions 
that it is employed for beams and rafters on 
account of its cheapness and lightness, and that it 
is suitable for joiner's work, though rather brittle- 
If less heavy he thinki it would be much valued, 
for gun-stocks. 
Among the economic plants being grown in the 
Colombo Stock Garden are the fol lowing intro- 
duced from India : — Trigonella corniculata, a 
variety of Fenugreek, the seeds of which are 
used as a condiment and also medicinally ; Rumex 
vesicariws, sorrel or bladderdock, used as a vege- 
table both raw and cooked ; Peeoedanum graveolens 
{Anethum sowa) or dill, of which the fruit and 
leaves are used as a flavouring agent in cookery 
and the seeds considered of considerable medicinal 
value ; Chenopodium album or white goosefoot, 
eaten as a pot-herb and green vegetable. Of 
the last Prof. Church says : " The leaves are rich 
in mineral matters, particularly potash salts ; 
they likewise contain a considerable amount of 
albuminoids and of other compounds of nitrogen." 
The seeds are said to be superior to buckwheat. 
SUCCESSFUL USE OF TOWN DRAINING AS 
MANURE. 
The satisfactory disposal of town drainage ii 
always a vexed question, and any information on 
this subject is to be welcomed. Mr. W. H 
lCor«land, 0,8., Dirautor of the D«partm«at of Ltad 
