1 
THE MAGAZINE 
OF 
TI)G mf)00l OF AGRI^OLTQHG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as Supplement monthhi to the ''TROPICAL AGBICULTURIST." 
The following pages include the contents of the Magazine of the School of 
Agricultw'e for June : — 
INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES, AND THE 
APPAEATUS FOE DISTEIBUTING THEM. 
ANY insects and fungi, destruc- 
tive to cereals, from the ncature 
and time of their attack, cannot 
be directly dealt with, and must 
be left to their destructive works 
though there are indirect means of preventing 
their appearance. In the case of the fungi 
known as smut (Ustilago Set/etum) and rust 
{TJredo-rjraminis), nothing has yet been found 
of avail after they have appeared, though sul- 
phate of copper, applied to the plants when 
young, will most probably keep them off. 
Wireworms, the grubs of the click beetle, 
{Elater lineatus) can be hindered in their des- 
tructive work by dressings of gas-lime, at 
the rate of 10 cwt. per acre ploughed into the 
land. Top-dressings put on the crops at an early 
stage, consisting of soot, from 20 to 40 bushels 
per acre, or guano, from li to 3 cwt. per acre, 
or nitrate of soda, 1 to 2 cwt. per acre, have 
been found valuable, acting as plant stimulants, 
as well as by keeping the insects off the plants. 
Salt put on at the rate of from 4 to 6 cwt. per 
aero is also useful as tending to make the 
neighliourliood of the plants unpleasant. After 
all those applications the land should bo well 
rolled. 
In some seasons the plant louse {A phis (/rmiaria) 
causes much harm, tirst by exhausting the juices 
of cereals, and latter by getting into the ear and 
doing mucli mischief. Wlien it is seen that 
those ajjliides arc on the plni\ts in largo numbers, 
it is well to apply a wasli of soft soap and 
quatisia, iu the proportion of 7 lbs, of soup to an 
infusion made from 6 or 7 lbs. of quassia chips 
to 100 gallons of water. This should be sprayed 
on with an efficient spraying machine before the 
plants get too high. Again, paraffin solution 
might be used, made of 3 quarts of paraffin to 
100 gallons of water, with 4 or 5 lbs. of soft 
soap, or paraffin pure and simple distributed at 
the rate of from 2 to 3 gallons i^er acre. 
Aphides multiply with incredible rapidity ; early 
dressings may therefore effectually prevent a 
bad attack. 
For the eel-worm {Tijlmchus devastatric) which 
makes the bases of the stems of cereals swell, 
and plants unhealthy and unproductive, appli- 
cations of sulphate of potash, at from 1 to 
2^ cwt. per acre, have been found most useful, 
and a mixture of 2 cwt. superphosphate, and 
1 cwt. each of sulphate of potash and sulphate 
of ammonia per acre have been found of benefit. 
Almost similar remedies to those employed 
against wire-worms may be used for the grubs 
of the daddy-long legs(Tipula oleracea) and its 
congeners (Tipula maculosa S,-c.) when they infect 
cereals. All these dressings of manure and pre- 
ventive substances may be put in by the hand, 
or with ordinary broadcasting machines, or 
with the Straw sonizer, whose powers of distri- 
bution are generally acknowledged. One great 
advantage of this distributor is that as little 
as half a bushel of powdered substance can be 
put on per acre, and as small a quantity 
of liquid as a gallon per acre if desired, lii 
many cases of insect and fungoid attacks upon 
plants, the great object in spraying is to spread 
the obnoxious substance all over the leaves in 
tlio form of a mist or dense fog. A very small 
(piantity suffices to make the plants objection- 
able to insects and fungi. 
For the mustard beetle or bla&lv jack {Pliwdon 
l)e.tidir) the following is serviceable: 5 lbs. soft 
soap well dissolved in water, extract of lbs. of 
quassia boiled, 100 gallons water, rarullin and 
