130 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[August i, 1891. 
This is evidently, we fear, a true piotnre of laziness, 
improvidence and utter want of shame in bein({ 
pauperized. One feels that something more than 
a mild form of ooeroion is required • and certainly 
if the only influence now brought to boar to secure 
cultivation, is prematurely removed, the consequences 
will lie at the door of a Qovernment that has 
been fully and fairly warned. 
NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE. 
Bl Da. ,1. K. Tavloh, p. t.. s., f. o. b., &c., 
BniTon OF “ Scmat E Gossip.” 
One of our young agricultural experimenters has 
just published the results of hie application of 
sulphate of iron to fruit trees and plauts generally. 
Must soils contain iron, but lack sulphur ; iiuverthelcss, 
sulphur is one of tlie necessary six ingredients in the 
oomposUion of protoplasm. Grape vines shank and 
fruit trees canker for lack of it. There can now be 
no question that snlphnte of iron is boat of all 
manures lor fruit trees of all kinds. This has bmui 
proved to bo espocmlly the case when the soils had 
an excess of lime. Even old apple and p. nr trees 
frisked up into rcjuveneeceut life when ibir tools 
were tioated lo a eolntion of this minoral. The 
mixture applied was in the proportion ot half n 
pound of sulphate of iron di.ssoivci in four or live 
gallons of water, aod appliej to tbs roots in a 
einall trench dug for the piirpo'e round the tree. 
Dr. M. C. Cooke, the well-knowB fungi logi't, ovi- 
dently does not agree with the suggestion that tlm 
attractive coloure of fungi are for ihe purpose of 
attracting insects, &o., to them, so ns to induce tbrni 
to carry away and dii.tri'nuto the snores. But Dr. 
Cooke draws the attention of botanists to nnotlnr 
class of phenouif na, the mimetic resHinbiances of fungi. 
Ho stiows that some poisonou.} species rest tnblo the 
sdible and harinluse kinds so closely that only a skilful 
and careful botanist could dislinguish Ihe dilf.-rcnct’. 
Two Aiueriomn chciniats, Messrs, tV. O. Aiwatir 
and 0 . D. WoedB, have piibibhed in the Amencnn 
Chemical Journtl tlio resulls of a Itrgn numbtr if 
experiment.! they have been making on tlio im- 
portant subject of the acquisition of atmnsplurio 
nitrogen by plants. Tliey exiieriraonted with pens, 
oats, and corn, and they oouolude that nitrogen is 
readily absorbed from the atmosphere by Ihese ptants, 
where treated with •' soil-iufnaiun,” and tlist Ihe 
gain of nitrogen is deiicndont on the number of 
root-tubercles which the application of soil -infusion ” 
induces. It should be rommihered, however, tliat these 
root-tnberolcs liavo bean found to lie lilerally neats 
of bacteria, so that tho latter may probably produce the 
nitrogen by assistiog in the nitrification of tho soil. 
More interesting expenmuute on this subject still 
liave been conducUd liy two Krench cbeuiists, 
Messrs. Scbloosling and Lanrunt. it has long heen 
suspeotod that the ustnrai order of plants Icguuiinoeia 
had tho power somehow of absorbing slniospherio 
nitrogen. Tho h guminose plants ciperimented upon 
were grown in closed vossels, which were so arranged 
that the gases introduced and withdrawn could be 
aciiraloly measured and aiialysad. Tliey found that 
when the legumiiioso plants wore watered witli an 
infusion of nodosities from otlier plants of the same 
order, there was an absorption of nitrogen much 
greater than eonld be put down tocirors of expiiri- 
ment. On the other hand, wben the legiiniiioso 
plants had not been inculatedi i his way, am; were 
therefore free from nodosites, ii ; such absorption of 
nitrogen was obaorvable. It is beliveil, therefore, 
these experiments demonstrate that under tlie iiifluuiicD 
of microbes leguminoso plants can fix and uutilise the 
gaseous nitrogen of the atmosphere. — Anetralasian. 
Ckyi.on Tea is taking lir.st rank, says the 
h. and C. Jixpresa, both for large supplies and 
moderate prices. The yield for 1891 put at 60,000,000 
lb., is Bomewbat of a staggerer to Cbioa traders. 
PLANTATION PRODUCTS IN THE 
CENTILVL PROVINCE : 
TliA— COTTON — TOBACCO — CACAO — ANATTO. 
IFrom the Administration Report for 1890 of 
lion. R. IP. Moir.] 
The assured end increasing success of the tea 
enterprise has led to the ana cultivated with tea 
being largely extended dnriiig the year. Not only 
have Burnpoan proprietors admd lo their properties, 
but Ihe facilities afforded at several factories for the 
disposal of green leaf plucked on native gardens have 
onooursged natives to plant up abandunod coifee 
land and cbouas. And the improvement observable 
in the cirourastaiicea of the people generally, oon- 
Hcqucnt upon the largely iuervaned cironUiion of 
money amonget them in many different ways oon. 
npotod with the tea enterprise, is very marked. The 
'ippcrtmiity also for obtaining employment, promptly 
paid for, which the estates olfsr, is a great help to 
the residents in villages where the cultivation of 
paddy and dry grain has sufTared, as it has in many 
parts (>r tho country suffered, Irom suoocssivo uu- 
favrrn'dc seasons. 
rxperiniants msje in the cultivation of cotton did 
not prove sccaessful, and tho sesaous appear not to 
have been gi notaily favourable for tobacco, with 
vhich also expiriinoots wore tried. Cacao tbrivi-s 
welt in Tuiiipaue, Harispattii, and Dumbaia, and 
nuinerou.- email patch'-s are in native bands, bat tbo 
uultivation of this product doos not appear to be 
appreciably cxtoiided liy tbo natives. 
{From the Administration Report /or 1800 of Mr. 
6r. S. Saxton, Matale.] 
Mr. Haf-h Fraser, of Bandnrapol* estate, haa kiuaiy 
auppliod inewi^htbe following information;— 
Toft is prospering, and is being extended in Uatnio 
North, Matale Eadt, Bsixlarapola, Ukkuvtold, Laggala, 
ind ihe Matale Eas»t end of Kelebokka. From 500 
to 600 acTUfl wore aJdod to Iho previous area in tea. 
bMore expensive mtohiuery, and more of it, ia required 
lor tea thaw for cotTi e ; and it ia pldaalng, alter one 
gota over the i<U*a '■( th** cost, to toe the aaocessful 
offi'rU made by eMu,!iioerfl to provide tea pianters with 
9u< h suitablo und good machinery. 
Cotton au i nnatto have had a cbfck in popnlar 
e8t< cm, and have not been mnoh extended. Moisture 
Mid in^ccta are tho bano of the one, and low prices, 
con*.hquent on limit6d demand, of the other. 11 is 
boli' vrd cotton would do bettor in a drier cliinato. 
The south'V.ost monsoon waw comparatively u failure 
iu the inattf‘r of rain; consequently tli© sta^ou was 
an Ufif^vourAb'o one for tobacco, and Iho largo clear* 
inga in Matale aio below expectations. Thi‘< enter- 
prise des'^rvea better results, imd those I hope await 
farther efforts. 
Cacao continuoH to improve in favor, and there is 
the enconrugiitg fact that prices h.avo kept up, Small 
patches of native plantations of this product »re to bo 
seen here and thereat long intorvala iu the villages, 
but a grout uotI more might be done in tin® direction, 
and further effort impreMged on tho villagers. Moor- 
men traders arc at presont periimbnlatiiig tho district, 
paying 50 cents a pound, equal lo K56 aowt., for cacao, 
cured in a very primitive fashion. The European cnlti* 
yntioD cf cacao in various portjocs of Matale, as for 
mstanee Wariap'da, jiir. Harbor Grove estate, Ysta- 
wstta, Sylvakfti.ds, and many otht r*, is equal to any- 
thing to bo steo elsewhere in the Island. 
CardamoniH do well ia suHablo sitnations at the 
higher elevatiou®, but unforiunattly there iauot much 
suitable land left nuopeuecl, so the extension of this 
product is scarcely po.^eible. The Mysore variety 
doc® better thau the Malabar. The lowlands do uot 
seem to bo suitablo for tho Bucocssful cultivation of 
eit^ er variety. 
An exp-iTiment on a limited scale has been made in 
the district with (Juorg coffee, and the result of this 
clearing will doubtless be watched with interest. 
