654 
Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist. 
[March 1, 1898. 
sufficiently skilled not only foi' cutting the crop 
and stripping the bark by band or machine, but 
also for preparing the filasse.” 
An Ideal Department of Agriculture and Indus- 
tries is the subject of a paper reprinted in the Year- 
book of the Department of Agriculture, 1896. 
The report of the Parliamentary Recess Commit- 
t j 5 on the proposal to establish a department of 
Agriculture and Industries for Ireland, submitted 
to the Chief Secretary by the Right Hon. Horace 
Pluiike't, M.P., Chairman, on Augmst 1st 1896, con- 
tains among other valuable reports the admirable 
paper by M. E. Tisserand referred to above. The 
Report of the Parliamentary Committee says : 
“ M. Tisserand is universally acknowledged to. be 
one of the first authorities in Europe on Agricul- 
ture and the administration of aid to agriculture 
by the State, and the French Ministry of Agri- 
culture, of which he may be described as the 
permanent head, has been to a large degree shaped 
by his hand.” The paper which was prepared at 
the request of the Committee contains “ such 
advice as his unique experience would prompt 
him to offer on the constitution of a ministry of 
Agriculture”. Although prepared for adoption 
under special conditions, it is a paper of such 
breadth of view and general importance that it 
ought to be consulted by every State, not omitting 
our own Government, which, it must be admit- 
ted, is very backward in the matter of 
aiding agriculture. Referring to the director or 
minister of agriculture M. Tisserand, inonepart > £ 
this admirable report, says that “ It means for the 
man who is placed at the headthe obligation tostudy 
the needs of agriculture, to surround himself with 
the necessary assistants for the purpose, to cause 
the extent of the problem to be understood, to 
seek for practical solutions, to point them out to 
Government, and to see that they are adopted.” 
And who does not , wish to have such a head to direct 
agricultural education and improvement inCeylon! 
Arrangements have been made for a series of 
lectui’es to be delivered at the School of Agriculture. 
The first of the series, on Physical Exercise, was de- 
livered by Dr. W.H. De Silva, M.B.C.M., on Tuesday, 
the 15th February, to a very appreciative audience. 
Mr. G. W. Sturgess, Colonial Veterinary Surgeon, 
left for Bombay and Karachi by the “ Laos” on 
the 14th February to bring over a supplementary 
.stock of Sind cattle for the Government Dairy. A 
number of cows and calves drafted from the 
Dairy herd will be sold on the 4th of March next. 
The final examination of the present Forestry 
class began on Tuesday, the 15th February, and 
lasted till Wednesday the 28rd idem, Mr. W. 
Ferguson, Asst. Conservator of Forests presiding. 
The Entrance Examination for the new class was 
held on the 14th and 15th February (when .si.x 
candidates presented themselves) under the super- 
vision of Mr. Gillam, Superintendent of the Forest 
Timber Depot, Colombo. The new term begins 
on March 1 st. 
Specimens of Ramie fibre lace made at the 
instance of the School of Agriculture by the 
Bcholars of the Kandy R. C. Convent, have been 
sent to London for an opinion. 
We understand that two enterprising gentle- 
men are intending to start the extraction of Ramie 
fibre in Ceylon, one using the McDonald Boyle 
machine and another the Favier machine. The 
interest in Ramie fibre is gradually taking prac- 
tical form. 
COCHIN COCONUT OIL. 
We are indebted to the Principal of the Madras 
College of Agriculture for the following note by 
Mr. Menon of the same institution. 
“ The name ‘ Cochin oil ’ in the London market 
denotes all coconut oil sent from the West Coast 
i.e„ the ‘ Malabar Coast.’ ‘ Cochin oil ’ does not 
mean exclusively oil from the Cochin State. As 
the port of Cochin from a very long time was 
the active centre of the coconut oil trade, the 
name ‘ Cochin oil ’ came into vogue in the 
London market for all coconut oils from the 
Malayalam side as distinguished from ‘Colombo 
oil’ for all coconut oil exported from the 
island of Ceylon. The process of manufac- 
ture is the same as in Ceylon. It struck me 
while I was in Colombo some years ago, that 
the harvests were too early, and that the 
coconuts were not fully matured. Of course we 
know from experience that immature coconuts 
give muddy oil. No doubt more attention is paid 
on the Malabar Const to the curing of the kernel. 
In Colombo artificial methods are employed for 
drying coconuts before milling, whereas on the 
Malabar Coast they are naturally dried. During 
the heavy rains of the S.W. monsoon the nuts are 
preserved in elevated sheds and receive smoking. 
The good ‘copra’ of commerce is obtained thus, 
don’t think the superiority of ‘ Cochin oil ’ is due to 
any superiority in the variety of the coconut tree. 
The Ceylon coconuts compare very favourably 
with the Malabar ones. Perhaps owe main reason 
for the superiority of the ‘ Cochin oil ’ might 
be found in the fact that throughout Malabar, 
Cochin and Travancore, coconut oil is an article 
of diet. Ghee is seldom used even by the wealthy 
For all culinary purposes, even in the Royal fa- 
milies of Calicut, Cochin and Travancore, only 
coconut oil is used. This direct patronage by the 
aristocracy and the whole public must have 
greatly contributed towards the excellence of the oil. 
“ The whole question requires a thorough in- 
vestigation before any definite conclusion could 
be arrived at. I give what appears to me to be 
the probable causes. Mr. Diieberg’s enquiries 
cover a vast area, and I am sorry 1 am unable to 
give more information at present.” 
Mr. Menon then furnishes a list of names of 
persons who may be consulted on the subject, 
and kindly adds, “ if necessary, I shall prepare a 
a few queries which might facilitate matters.” 
NOTES ON RINDERPEST. 
I propose in these notes to give some idea 
of how rinderpest sometimes breaks out in 
the villages of the North-Central Province. There 
is a tendency among the villagers to hide the facts 
connected with the origin of an outbreak ; but by 
enquiry I have found that most outbreaks can 
be traced to a certain extent. I shall give a fevy 
examples to illustrate this. 
