50S 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  Agriculturist.''  I-Iam.  1,  189G. 
But  they  are  domesticated  and  have  to  live  in 
limited  areas  ])rovided  for  them  hy  their  owners 
housed  and  fed  according  to  “artificial”  laws. 
Hence  the  laws  that  have  been  enacted  to  itrotect 
animals  from  inttictious  diseases  whenever  they 
occur,  ha\e  in  all  cases  resulted  in  much  good 
to  the  animals  and  have  reduced  their  mortality 
to  a great  extent. 
But  we  are  aware  that  ])lauts  too  are  liable 
to  various  forms  of  diseases,  some  caused  by 
deadly  fungi,  others  resulting  on  the  attack  of 
different  kinds  ot  insects.  !Maiiy  of  these  spread 
far  and  wide  and  destroy  not  only  whole  croj)S 
but  even  devastate  large  areas  of  laud. 
The  fact  that  i)lants  are  stationery  places  them 
at  the  mercy  of  their  enemies,  and  according  to  the 
degree  of  tiieir  helplessnes.s,  the  means  for  ])rotect- 
ing  them  should  be  increased.  But  in  this  respect 
tlie  vegetable  kingdom  has  been  to  a great  extent 
U'^glected.  Here  in  Ceylon  we  have  had  a sad 
example  of  the  ravage.s  of  plant  diseases  in  the 
history  of  Coffee  cultivation.  Our  paddy-fields 
are  in  some  districts  attacked  by  the  fly  or  bug 
and  destroyed  wliolesale.  Insects  of  various 
kinds  prevent  the  successfnl  raising  of  Cotton,  and 
pe.sts  are  beginning  to  interfere  to  some  e.x- 
tent  with  tea.  The  coconut  beetle  has  become  a 
thorn  in  the  jiath  of  the  owners  of  palm  plant- 
ations. If  proper  measures  are  taken  to  prevent 
tlie  introduction  and  spread  of  the  agents  that 
do  damage  to  plant-life,  the  revenue  from  agri- 
cultural pursuits  should  be  more  than  doubled, 
while  every  agriculturist,  and  particularly  the 
])Oorer  class  of  cultivators  should  have  great 
cause  for  thankfulness.  The  Australian  Colonies 
have  indeed  pas.'-ed  acts  and  made  orders  and 
regulations  to  lire  vent  the  introduction  and 
.spread  of  plant  pests.  Under  these  acts  the 
introduction  of  jilants  from  otlier  countries  is 
regulated,  and  measures  are  enforced  to  control 
the  spread  of  any  ]>est  which  may  break  out  in 
the  Colony.  An  orcliard  or  garden  found  to  be 
infested  is  proclaimed  an  infected  area,  as  it 
would  be  done  here,  if  cholera  or  cattle  plague 
was  prevailing  in  a jjariicular  area.  The  owner 
ot  sucli  a garden  has  to  clear  his  land  of 
.such  parts  of  trees,  dry  twigs,  &c.  as  would  har- 
bour the  particular  pest  and  to  keep  the  pre- 
mises free  of  weeds  &c.  Besides,  every  owner  is 
bound  to  report  the  occurrence  of  disease  and 
to  follow  the  instructions  for  their  suppression 
as  ordered  by  the  inspectors  appointed  by  Govern- 
ment. The  importance  of  this  subject  is  so  great, 
though  it  ajipears  slight  at  first  sight,  that  it 
is  not  too  early  to  adopt  some  such  ])ercautionary 
measures  in  tiiis  country,  particularly  so  as  almost 
all  our  chief  products  are  subject  to  attack 
bv  some  form  of  i)lant  pest. 
W.  A.  D.  S. 
NOTBS  ON  KBCUNT  IIUSUARCH  ON  THE 
FEEDING  OF  ANIMALS. 
A maintenance  diet  for  oxen  at  rest— that  is 
a ration  on  whh  h oxen  at  re.-t  are  al>le  to  live 
l)Ut'are  not  able  to  i>ut  on  fat— has  been  found 
by  Dr  Gustav  Kiihn  of  the  famous  German  Ex- 
perimental Station  at  Mbckern,  to  consist  of  7 lb. 
of  digestible  alluuninoids  or  jnolein  matter,  and 
6-6  lbs.  of  digestible  non-nitrogenous  matter  ])cr 
1,000  lbs.  live  weight.  This  closely  agrees  with 
Heniieberg  and  Stohinan’s  maintenance  diet,  viz., 
*0  of  protein  and  7 lb.  of  digestible  non-nitrogenous 
matter.  Dr.  .'viilm  found  that  when  this  ration 
was  exceeded  by  less  than  'o  lb.  of  digestible 
protein  the  animal  laid  on  fat  and  flesh. 
With  regard  to  the  influeiice  exerted  by  the 
different  nutrients  (nitrogenous  and  non-nitro- 
genous respectively),  it  was  found  that  when 
the  protein  of  (iie  ration  wa.s  inci'eased  by  the 
addition  of  gluten  or  otlier  nitrogenous  nutrients, 
no  more  albuminoids  were  stored  in  the  body 
than  when  an  equal  amount  of  organic  matter 
containing  only  a small  percen'age  of  jirotein 
was  used.  That  is  to  say,  the  jmtting  on  of  flesh 
depends  more  on  the  amount  of  non-nitrogenous 
nutrients  in  the  food  than  on  the  amount  of 
nitrogenous  nutrients.  This  is  doubtless  to  be 
explained  by  tlie  well-known  fact  that  carbo- 
hydrates— that  is,  non-nitrogenous  nutrients — act 
as  “ albuminoid  coiiservers.”  They  prevent  the 
albuminoids  from  being  used  up,  and  thus  iiennit 
them  to  be  utilised  in  their  specially  characteristic 
function  as  “ flesh-formers.”  It  was  further  found 
that  every  increase  of  the  nutrients  above  main- 
tenance diet  was  followed  by  the  production  of 
fat  in  the  body,  and  that  for  this  production  it 
made  no  difference  whether  the  excess  of  nutrients 
over  the  maintenance  diet  consisted  of  nitrogenous 
or  non-nitrogenous  nutrients. 
Among  the  other  points  brought  out  by  these 
important  researches,  is  the  fact  that  no  storage 
in  the  body  can  take  place  excejit  when  the 
food  contains  more  nutritive  material  than  is 
reipiired  for  the  maintenance  of  the  animal.  This 
fundamental  principle  of  feeding  is,  of  course, 
well  known,  but  it  is  pleasing  to  find  it  corrobo- 
rated by  these  careful  exiieriments.  They  also 
bring  out  the  fact,  previously  known,  that,  where 
animals  are  fed  with  an  excess  above  the  main- 
tenance diet,  no  exact  constant  relation  between 
the  excess  of  nutrients  and  the  storage  of  fat 
can  be  exiiected.  This  is  on  account  of  the 
individuality  of  the  animals.  Making  due  al- 
lowance for  this  variability,  due  to  individuality, 
Dr.  Kuhn's  results,  on  an  average,  may  be  said 
to  show  that  for  every  one  pound  of  excess  over 
maintenance  diet  of  digestible  organic  matter, 
•fl4  lb.  of  an  increase  of  fat  should  be  obtained. 
Thus,  1 lb.  of  starch  meal  in  excess  of  main- 
tenance diet  yielded  on  an  average  "2  lb.  of  fat. 
How  much  of  this  was  diiectly  formed  from 
the  starch,  and  how  much  was  the  result  of  its 
conserving  action,  cannot  be  stated,  but  the  ex- 
periments seem  to  bear  out  that  carbo-hydrates 
can  go  to  form  fat. 
Changes  of  the  food  of  cattle  should  always 
be  gradual.  Another  point  to  be  remembered  in 
the  feeding  of  animals  is  to  take  care  that  the 
food  is  not  affected  by  mould  which  so  com- 
monly hajipeus  in  tropical  countries  in  wet 
weather.  Dr.  Ostermann  records  a case  wl  e."e 
three  cows  became  ill,  two  of  them  afterwards 
dying,  on  a farm  where  about  1-^  lb.  of  cotton 
seed  meal  were  fed  per  head  ]ier  day  to  the  stock. 
The  disease  was  characterised  liy  I lie  iiresence 
of  very  great  weakness.  I'lxternally,  the  cotton 
seed  meal  seemed  all  right,  but  on  analysis  i.‘,  wa.s 
found  to  contain  highly  ]ioisonous  ])Utrefaclion 
production  (ptomine.s. ) Dr.  SiebeiT  records  a 
