644 
Supplemmt to the " Tropical AgricuUumt." [March 1, 1902. 
manure I should supply," The ignorance dis- 
played by such a bare request is only surpassed 
by the audacity of the reply prescribing the kind 
of manure to be used. 
And even when all things are considered : the 
past history and present circumstances of soil and 
plant, mechanical properties, the question of 
rainfall, drainage, etc, etc., we still cannot 
with anything like exactitude calculate upon 
certain treatment producing certain results, unless 
our recommendations are based upon the out- 
come of actual experiment and personal ex- 
perience—our best guides. A contemporary well 
sums up the situation we are discussing as 
follows : — 
Many farmers hold erroneous ideas as to the 
value of soil analyses. We hear farmers speaking 
as though they only required to have the soil 
analysed to know what manures to apply to certain 
crops to obtain the best returns. This, however, 
is far from being so. In the first case, as every 
farmer know^, it would be nearly impossible to 
obtain a sample that would fairly represent even a 
ten-acre field. Besides this, an analysis will only 
show what the soil contains ; it will not tell the 
farmer whether the plant food is in such a condi- 
tion that the plants can make use of it, neither 
•will it tell him what treatment the soil requires 
to make that plant food available, So many other 
things, such as the physical condition of the soil 
and subsoil, its ability to retain moisture or 
perhaps the reverse, have to be taken into con- 
sideration that (txcept to the scientist) ft soil 
analysis is just as likely as not to prove mislead- 
ing in dealing with the manuies such a foil 
requires. The only guide to the farmer is ex- 
perience. Find out what others have done under 
similar conditions, and prove by experiment 
■whetlver the treatment beneficial in their case is 
equally so in yours. 
« 
Rainfall taken at the school of 
agriculture during the month 
of february, 1902. 
1 
Saturday 
. Nil 
15 
Saturday , . 
•50 
2 
Sunday , 
. Nil 
16 
Sunday .,, 
. Nil 
8 
Monday 
. Nil 
17 
Monday 
, Nil 
4 
Tuesday 
,. -02 
18 
Tuesday 
. Nil 
5 
Wednesday , 
. Nil 
19 
Wednesday.. 
. 2-54 
6 
Thursday , 
.. Nil 
20 
Thursday ,. 
. Nil 
7 
Friday 
. Nil 
21 
Friday 
. Nil 
8 
Saturday 
. Nil 
22 
Saturday ... 
. Nil 
9 
Sunday 
, Nil 
23 
Sunday .., 
. Nil 
1') 
Monday 
.. T2 
21 
Monday 
Nil 
11 
Tuesday 
.. -04 
25 
Tuesday 
, Nil 
12 
Wednesday , 
. 1-88 
26 
Wednesday,. 
. Nil 
13 
Thursday 
,. Nil 
27 
Thursday . 
. mi 
11 
Friday . 
.. -20 
28 
Friday 
. Nil 
Total... 5*30 
Mean... -19 
(j real est a nount of rainfall registered in any 
24 hours on the 19th inst,, 1901, 2 '54 inches. 
Kecoi'ded by Alex, Feeera. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES, 
Mr. Williamson Wallace, the late Lecturer on 
Agriculture at the Heriot-Watt Technical College, 
Edinburgh, and subsequently Director of Agri- 
culture, Cairo, was a visitor at the School of 
Agriculture, Colombo, last week, Mr. Wallace 
wiis on his way to Melliouriie to assume the duties 
of the new Director of Agriculture for Victoria — 
an appointmeiit about which so much has been 
heard of late througli the press. Our personal 
acquaintance with Mr. Wallace commenced in 
1886, wiien we plnced our-elves under his tutorship 
for a practical knowledge of Agriculture on his 
2,000-acre farm "Twiglees" near Locherbie in 
Durafrie.s-shire. Mr. Wallace, we were glad to find, 
is in excellent henltli and full of enthusiasm 
over the prospect of his now duties which will 
offer a wide scope for his scientific and i)rac- 
tical attainments. 
The specific grnvity of c.<conut oil i?, at 99 ^ C, 
873 6, its solidifying point varie.3 from 68 ' to 
82° F., irdine vnhie 8'7, Reicliert-Meissl value 
7"5, and Butyro-refractomei er value 35 '5 at40°C. 
In its natural state coconut oil readily becomes 
rancid, though the tiioroughly purified forms are 
free from this defect. Messrs. Loders and Nuco- 
line. Limited, adopt the following process in purify- 
ing the crude coconut oil. After lieating to a 
Tacuura, a current of low pressure steam is forced 
through, which carries off tlie volatile substances of 
objectionable or pronounced odour or flavour, and 
leaves behind a pure and comparatively neutral 
fat. Like lards these preparations are pure fats 
and contain no fereign matter. They are dis- 
tinguished from other fats, both vegetable and 
animal, by possessing a rather high Reichert- 
Meissl value. We understand that the latest 
developement in the preparation of pure vege- 
table fat frotri the coconut is a process bj' which 
the fat is mechanically liberated from the fresh 
nut without any previous dessication. The ."am- 
ples produced by this process are unequalled 
in purity and freshness, and lead one to expect 
that the product will meet with ready demand 
from confectioners. 
A Planter, who has given much attention to 
the subject of manuring the coconut, affirms 
that the results of fertilising the palm show 
themselves not only in increased vigour in the 
tree and larger crops, but also in greater deve- 
lopement of the kernel. He believes that by 
manuring the number of nuts required for a 
candy (650 lbs) of Copra can be reduced fi"om, 
say, 1,100 in the case of good nuts to 1,000 oi 
even 950, 
NATURE TEACHING IN SCHOOLS. 
In a report on "Popular Education for the 
Farmer" by Dr, True, Director of Experimental 
Stations, U.S., the following reference to the 
above subject occurs ; — 
"There is evry reason to believe that the 
plan of ' nature teaching,' as proposed by Cotuell 
