3c6 
^Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist.” 
[October i, 1890. 
to lie on the ground, cold and wet owing to ab- 
sorption of liquid. Thus the use of litter will 
not only secure the urine for manurial purposes, 
but w'ill also benefit the cattle. Straw, sawdust, 
wood-shavings, coir fibre and coir dust are 
admirably suited both as bedding and absorbents 
but where none of these can be conveniently used, 
even dry leaves, or dry i>owdery earth should be 
made use of, so that at least some of the valuable 
ingredients of liquid manure may be secured in- 
stead of being wantonly allowed to run to waste. 
Care should be taken that whatever absorbents 
are used, they should not be allowed to lie and 
decompose in the cattle-sheds, but should bo 
regularly swept away, and new stuff laid on. 
Even where cattle are indiscriminately herded 
together for the night, provision should be made 
for absorbing the liquid manure. If some such 
means are adopted by small cultivators, the result 
will not only be beneficial to the health of cattle 
ns giving more comfort and warmth and securing 
better sanitation, but also when the refuse with 
the absorbed liquid is ai^plied to the land, will 
prove to be of material advantage to their sadly- 
neglected soils. Those who own cattle but no 
land to speak of, should also be encoiu’aged to 
adopt the methods indicated so as to dispose of 
the resulting manure to some advantage, for un- 
doubtedly it will possess some money value. 
OCCASIOJN'AL NOTES. 
We are in receipt of the first annual report 
of the School of Industry, Haputale. It is need- 
less to dwell on the good work done by this 
institution, the success of which is secured 
under the superintendence of so able and ener- 
getic a worker as Mr. Langdon. “ For the farm- 
work and agricultural teaching,” says the report, 
“ the -Government has kindly granted us a large 
reserve of land surrounding the school, on which 
we hope, by and bye, as the institution deve- 
lopes to culti^'ate some paddy, potatoes, perhaps 
cotton, and possibly do some pasturing.” Ac- 
cording to the Government Inspector’s rei^ort, 
dhall, tobacco, cotton, tea and coffee are being 
cultivated. The students above 9 years of age 
are instructed in theoretical and practical agri- 
culture by Mr. E. T. Hoole, the enthusiastic 
Agricultural Instructor, who is an old boy of 
the Colombo School of Agriculture. M’e wish 
this worthy institution all success, and earnestly 
hope it will receive the siqiport wliich it deserves. 
A visit to the Colombo Lunatic Asylum lately, 
impressed us with the idea of how much could 
be done with the mentally-afflicted by tact. It 
is only one who has made a long and careful 
study of the insane that can superintend 
an asylum for this class of unfortunates witli 
any success. One has to study carefully the 
peculiar traits of the inmates and the inclina* 
tion and ajitability of each individual, before 
hi- can utilize tlie manual ]>ower which lay in 
them, so that labour may at the same time la; 
a source of jdeasuro to tlie workers, and, second- 
arily, a source of income! to the establishment 
which df)cs so miicli for their support and 
comfort. Tin' labour of man has beeiii divieled 
by some info ( I ) jeiwely mental labour, (2) la- 
bour with reason, and (.’I) purely mtuuiul labour, 
The labour got out of the insane would of 
course come under the third heading of purely 
manual labour, or labour which calls for no 
exercise of the reason. It is this kind of labour 
which is generally allotted to those whose in- 
tellects are dull and undeveloped, with a ten- 
dency to a minimum of sound reasoning. In the 
insane, on the other hand, the tendency is (in 
addition to a minimum of sound reasoning) a 
maximum of false and eccentric reasoning, which 
of all conditions associated with manual labour 
must assuredly be the most difficult to deal 
with. It is, therefore, very pleasing to note that 
at the Colombo Lunatic Asylum about half the 
v'egetables required for the dieting of over 3(X) 
patients is supplied by the labours of the in- 
mates, while a handsome return is got as a re- 
sult of the various fonns of industrial work 
which the different classes of lunatics effect. 
The Evening Despatch, the evening edition of 
the Scotsman, gives the following racy account 
of the latest product of Yankee inventiveness ; — 
One of its singular features is that it has cost 
only 2,000 dols., the amount of an appropriation 
by Congress to the Forestry' Division of the 
Department of Agriculture “ for expei-iments in 
the production of rainfall.” By means of this 
sum, it has been ascertained that nature’s method 
of raining on the just and unjust is antiquated, 
and can be vastly improved upon. In future, 
all that will be required of the agriculturist 
will be to set his rain apparatus in order, and 
go and enjoy himself. There are certain pre- 
liminaries, of course, but the Forestry Depart- 
ment of the United States thinks they are of 
comparatively little consequence, and may be 
left to the hired boy or orra lad. The first 
essential thing is to get the cloud.s together 
over the dry spot and tl.iii blow them up. The 
precise method is still left in some little doubt, 
but that is of no great consequence, — the result’s 
the thing. Anyhow, it is accomplished by means 
of a rain-gun, and an arrangement of electric 
wires which catch and ‘ locate ’ the cloud. The 
advantages of this will be apparent to the 
meanest capacity. All agricultural grumbling 
and writing to the papers will cease, farming 
will become, chiefly a thing of cloud catcliing, 
and a new and intensely interesting sport will 
be devised. After the necessary operations of 
the day the thrifty farmer will o))en a gentle 
rain in the necessary quarter for the night 
(having previously fired some Paris green into 
the cloud, for the benefit of the bugs or other, 
insects). The hearts of rural ministers will re- 
joice at this news. There will be no longer any 
necessity for their praying for rain, which, when 
it comes, may prove the salvation of one farmer 
and the ruin of another. The rain-gun and 
cloud-catcher will leave nothing to chance, and 
the ministerial rain doctors will no longer be 
called upon to address perplexing appeals to 
Providence. 
The medical celebrities assembled at Berlin 
last August had before them some particulars 
respecting two alleged discoveries, which, if they 
stand the test of experiment, may prove to be 
of inestimable value. One of these is the alleged 
discovery, by the eminent bacteriologist, Pr 
