August I, i8go.] 
Supplement to the ^ ^Tropical Agficultunst . 
i47 
does not contain oily matter to any appreciable 
extent. The timber is also good, and is used for 
a variety of purposes especially in building. 
The bark of this tree is used in cases of mild 
fever, and the fresh juice is reputed to be a 
successful remedy in curing earache. 
« 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
We have before us Bulletin No. 6 of 1889-90 
of the Agricultural Department, entitled “ South 
Indian Fodders.” This paper consists of a series 
of analyses of the chief kinds of straw on which 
the cattle of the Madras Presidency are fed, with 
explanatory remarks appended ; and the work 
is that of Dr. VanGeyzel, m.b., c.m., f.C.S., f.i.C., 
Chemical Examiner, Madras. After giving the 
average composition of the straw of paddy {Oryza 
sativa), Choluni {Sorghum Vulgare), Ragi 
(Eleusine corocana), Cumbu (Pemcillaria Spicata), 
Yaragii (Paspahan Scrobiculatum) and, for the pur- 
pose of comparison, analyses of English and American 
wheat and oats, English Barley and American Maize, 
he remarks : — “ The first point to observe is the 
apparently extraordinary poverty of the Indian 
straws in albuminoids. This brings down the 
“ albuminoid ratio ” in all cases to a figure much 
below that given for any English or American 
fodders. That this is misleading will, how- 
ever, be evident, if the nitrogen found in the 
non-albuminoid compounds be calculated in the 
usual way into albuminoids, and the nutritive 
relation worked out on the resiilt. The results 
are then, excej)t in the solitary case of the analysis 
of oat straw where the non-albuminoid nitrogen 
is separately given, generally much more favour- 
able to the qixality of Indian fodders. In com- 
parison with the English and American straws 
shown in the table, and judged by the figures 
representing the “ albuminoid ratio ” (i.e., the 
total nitrogen being regarded as albuminoid); 
the South Indian fodders examined do not 
appear to be inferior ; they also compare favor- 
ably in respect of the total amounts of nutriment 
contained in them, viz., the sum total of albumin- 
oids, the starch, and the starch equivalent of 
fat, excluding the fibre, which is in this case 
usually regarded as non-assimilable. What pro- 
1)ortion of the total nutriment is actually assi- 
milable being unknown, it would be unsafe to 
condemn these fodders, though regarded absolutely 
as food in the light of their albuminoid ratios, 
the analysis show that these fodders, on which 
South Indian cattle mainly depend are not of 
high A'alue. Of the fodders generally obtain- 
al)l(>, ragi stianv appears to be the best, while 
varagu and cumbu straw are but little inferior to 
j)atldy straw, and cholum straw is the worst.” 
So far back as 1869 we find Mr. Laurie, the 
Director of Public Instruction at that date, suggest- 
ing in his Sj)ecial Report on the state of Public 
Instruction in Ceylon, that “an Agricultural 
class should be initiated in connection with each 
school,” and recommending the a])pointment of 
“ a ila.ster of Design and Technical Hcience.” The 
carrying out of 1 he former project, howevt'r, was 
h'ft. to th(> energy and determination of our 
present Director, who, we [doubt not, will not 
rest satisfied till he sees the latter suggestion also 
im fecit ceccompli. 
From the Director of Public Instruction’s report 
we quote the following ; — “ There are now alto- 
gether eleven Schools of Agriculture in Ceylon ; 
that is to say, there is the parent Colombo 
School of Agriculture, which I opened in 
1884, and there are ten branch institutions 
officered by young men trained in the parent 
school, the object of which is to spread into the 
districts the knowledge hitherto confined to 
those who came in to Colombo to the parent school. 
“ In 1887, the first of their existence, there 
were only six branch schools. The progress is 
therefore satisfactory, especially when it is con- 
sidered that the government continues to pay for 
only six Agricultural Instructors ; but the Govern- 
ment Agents of the Eastern and North-Western 
Provinces, of Sabaragamuwa, and Kegalla have 
come forward, recognising the usefulness of my 
Agricultural Instructors, and have themselves 
arranged for the payment of the four new Agri- 
cultural Instructors, wdio are usually attached to 
ordinary Schools, giving a few hours of theoretical 
instruction each week during the School Session, 
and, with the help of the bigger boys and such 
labour as they may engage on hire, cultivating 
plots of land upon improved principles. The 
profits are divided into two halves. Half goes 
to the Instructor and the remaining half 
divided amongst the boys who work on the paddy- 
fields or highlands cultivated. These lands are 
re-rented and paid for, so that my Instructors may 
be in no better position than the native cultivator, 
excepting that they cultivate on improved prin- 
ciples. Otherwise the native cultivator would lay 
our success down to having free government land.” 
Mr. Dunstane, a well-known American Natura- 
list, has brought back from Central America some 
horrible details of the “ la sagenas de diable,” the 
devil’s snare, a plant or vine composed entirely of 
bare, interlacing stems of a very dark hue and 
covered with a thick viscid gum that exudes 
from its pores. There are many stories current 
in the vicinity of Nicaragua lake, where the plant 
is found in the swamps of San Sebastian, of 
human victims to its voracity. These must be 
taken for what they are worth ; but as to the 
carnivorous nature of the plants there seems 
little doubt, for Mr. Dunstane had this proved to 
his satisfaction by the attack made on his dog, 
and on his own hand, while attempting to rescue 
the animal. The meshes of the vine were found to 
twist and twine in a most life-like fashion when- 
ever anything came within their grasj), and from 
experiments made with raw meat &c. it was 
found that whenever any animal matter came 
within reach, it was sucked dry of its blood in a 
few minutes and then thrown aside. The gummy 
secretion seems to seiwe the purpose of increasing 
adhesion and overpowering the victim by its 
nauseating odour. 
We are in rocei])t of the annual report of the 
Department of Mines, New Sotith 'Wales, for the 
year 1889 — a voluminous Blue Book of 253 pages, 
from it we find that the number of applications 
dealt wil b in 1889 amounted tod, 155, of which 1,640 
weri' for gokl leases comprising an area of 13,76b 
acres, and 2,515 wore for mineral leases covering 
an urea of 160,700 acres. The number of applj 
