May  1,  1896.] 
Supplement  to  the  Tropical  Agricultuyist." 
799 
iiujtarted,  should  not  he  confined  to  screw-cutting 
and  lathe-making;  it  should  aim  at  developing 
the  natural  resources  of  the  Island,  and  the 
industries  appropriate  to  it  and  suited  to  the  con- 
ditions of  the  masses,  and  encourage  the  utilizing 
of  local  materials  in  the  manufacture  of  industrial 
products.  The  extracting  of  tanning  and  dye- 
producing  substances,  tlie  distilling  of  essences 
and  oils,  the  treatment  of  gums  and  resins, 
mat-making  of  a superior  kind,  wicker  and 
ornamental  work  ; tile,  brick  and  cement  mak- 
ing, porcelain  work,  fruit-dying,  apiculture, — 
these  are  some  of  the  industries  that  strike  one  as 
being  ill  the  line  of  our  village  population.  The 
material  for  such  industries  we  have,  but  what  is 
wanting  is  the  technical  kuowdedgo  necessary  to 
work  w'ith  them  successfully  and  profitably. 
W.  A.  D.  S. 
OCCASIONAL  NOTES. 
With  reference  to  Mr.  Frank  Modder's  interesting 
paper  on  the  Peaty  Deposits  in  the  Jvurunegala 
tank,  we  would  offer  some  further  remarks.  Peat 
is  an  aggregate  of  vegetable  growth — chiefly  marsh- 
loving  plants  such  as  those  enumerated  in  Mr. 
Modder’s  paper — closely  interwoven  and  more  or 
less  compressed  and  decomposed,  the  colour  vary- 
ing often  in  the  same  bed  from  light  brown  above 
to  dark  brown  or  black  below.  The  vegetable 
matter  is  not  much  changed.  In  the  upper  layers 
t!m  peat  is  often  found  growing  and  is  soft  and 
spongy;  a little  further  down  it  is  somewhat 
firmer,  but  its  vegetable  structure  is  quite 
apparent;  at  the  bottom  the  vegetable  substance 
is  more  decomposed,  and  the  peat  becomes  some- 
wdiat  compact  and  is  generally  very  soft,  easily  dug 
and  cut.  When  dried  the  upper  portions  of  a bed  of 
peat  are  felt-like,  somewhat  resembling  compressed 
hay,  or  more  nearly,  silage,  while  the  bottom 
part  ma’y  be  tough  and  almost  as  compact  as  some 
kinds  ol  lignite.  The  amount  of  ash  varies  very 
much — some  varieties  containing  less  than  one  per 
cent.,  others  over  60  per  cent.  The  most  extensive 
areas  of  peat-moss  occur  upon  flat-lying  ground, 
w’here  the  layer  of  vegetable  matter  varies  from  a 
foot  or  so  up  to  ten  or  fifteen  yard.s.  Feat  is  dis- 
tributed over  considerable  areas  in  both  the  old 
and  new  world.  A temperate  climate  is  considered 
to  favour  most  the  growth  of  peat  bogs,  and 
growth  is  regulated  by  the  sup])ly  of  moisture  and 
by  physical  conditions.  Feat  deposits  are  of  very 
different  ages,^ — -some  being  of  quite  recent  forma- 
tion, while  others  date  back  to  the  glacial  period. 
Most  of  the  larger  areas  of  peat  are  manifestly  of 
ancient  origin,  the  modern  formations  being  no 
where  so  extensive  as  the  older,  .since  the  condi- 
tions which  favour  its  occurrence  are  more 
restricted  owing  to  natural  physical  causes,  as  \vell 
as  to  the  interference  of  man  for  economic  ends — 
such  as  the  amelioration  of  land  for  agricultural 
purposes,  or  it  may  be  on  sanitary  of  other  grounds. 
Old  peat  deposits  apparently  do  not  occur  in  the 
Island,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  conditions 
which  favour  the  formation  of  pent  locally  are 
restricted  to  very  limited  areas.  Indeed,  the  de- 
posits which  occur  in  such  lowlands  as  the  marshy 
portions  of  the  Muturajawela  fields  and  Model  Farm 
hardly  meiit  the  name  of  peat.  The  quest  ion,  there- 
fore, of  the  availability  of  peat  for  fuel  purposes 
practically  docs  not  affect  us,  but  there  are  other 
economic  uses  for  which  such  local  and  limited 
supplies  of  peat, — if  indeed  it  would  be  wise  to 
encourage  its  formation — may  be  available.  Un- 
less in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  deposits  there  is 
no  special  value  to  be  attached  to  peat  as  an 
organic  manure  fur  mixing  with  poor  thin 
soils,  or  the  ash  got  from  it  on  account  of  the 
potash  and  other  mineral  ingredients  it  contains, 
since  it  has  no  great  advantage  over  ordinary 
organic  refuse  on  the  one  hand  or  wood  ashes  on 
the  other.  Peat,  however,  is  much  valued  owing 
to  its  great  absorbent  properties,  and  is  very  use- 
ful as  a medium  for  absorbing  liquid  manure  &c. 
Feat  moss  litter  as  exported  from  Germany  is  in 
fact  largely  used  in  England  in  byres  and  stakes, 
while  it  is  also  a very  effective  deodoriser. 
In  our  last  issue  there  appeared  a letter  signed 
“Cocopalmist”  dealing  with  certain  questions 
connected  with  coconut  cultivation.  Our  corre- 
spondent is  certainly  very  exacting  as  regards 
analyses  of  the  various  organs,  and  parts  of  organs 
of  the  palm.  For  practical  purposes,  however* 
an  analyses  of  the  nut— husk,  shell,  and  endosperm 
(albumen)— as  representing  the  crop  removed  off 
the  land,  and  the  chemical  constituents  of  which 
it  would  be  in  the  interests  of  good  cultivation  to 
return  to  the  soil  as  manure,  should,  we  sup- 
pose, be  sufficient,  but  it  may  be  that  our  cor- 
respondent as  a far-seeing  agriculturist  has  special 
reasons  for  desiring  so  complex  a series  of  analyses 
as  he  indicates  in  his  letter,  and  we  shall  be  pleased 
to  hear  more  of  the  methods  which  direct  his 
system  of  cultivation  and  the  objects  he  has  in 
view.  IVe  certainly  admire  the  liberal  advo- 
cacy of  our  correspondent  for  more  room  for 
the  coconut-palm,  and  are  greatly  interested  in 
the  figures  he  gives  (which  will,  no  doubt,  aston- 
ish many)  in  support  of  his  recommendation  that 
some  35  or  40  trees  should  be  the  maximum 
number  allowed  per  acre.  The  structure  of  the 
stem  of  the  coconut-palm  (a  monocotyledon) 
in  which  the  fibro-vascular  bundles  are  not  concen- 
trically arranged  no  doubt  gives  it  an  advantage 
over  the  dicotyledon,  when  either  the  outer  or 
inner  stem  is  more  or  less  injured,  but  in  any  case, 
the  palm  must  suffer  materially  from  the  inter- 
ference that  such  injury  would  cause,  with  the 
full  and  complete  exercise  of  its  nutritive  func- 
tions, with  the  ultimate  result  that  must  come 
sooner  or  later  of  a complete  collapse. 
We  are  in  receipt  of  a pamphlet  embodying  the 
Kules  and  Constitution  of  the  Tissamiiharania 
Cultivator’s  Association,  t lie  objects  of  the  existence 
of  which  are  thus  set  foruh  ; — 
{a)  To  systematize  the  cultivation  of  paddy 
and  various  other  products  at  Tissamaharama, 
(b)  To  obtain  the  necessary  help  from  Govern- 
ment on  that  behalf. 
(c)  To  do  all  things  requisite  for  the  general 
improvement  of  Tissamaharama. 
id)  To  remove  whatever  causes  there  may  be 
retarding  the  progress  of  Tissamaharama, 
The  statement  of  these  objects  is  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  Association  is  built  on  a good  foun- 
dation and  has  good  cause  for  existence,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  it  is  working  well  for  the  objects 
which  It  has  set  forth,  further  that  while  full  of  en- 
fulfil  these  objects,  it  is  not  an  ao’c^ressive 
body  and  does  not  go  beyond  its  legitimate  func- 
tions,  As  wo  have  before  stated,  Agricultural  Associ- 
