The Tropical Agriculturist The Agricultural Journal of Ceylon August 1929

In this experiment the co-operation of the Agricultural Chemist was obtained in order that the changes in the nitrogen content of the soil during the course of the experiment could be determined. [...] When the plot was examined again on 42th December 1928 there was scarcely a plant in the plot that75 was not attacked and the sclerotia of the fungus were present on the dead and dying plants and on the surface of the soil in enormous quantities. [...] The failure of the manager of the Experiment Station to establish roselle on the plot which had carried ginger may be explained by the presence of the fungus in the soil as a saprophyte when the seeds of roselle were sown which caused the damping off of the young seedlings. [...] Owing to the nature of the country the difficulties of obtaining supplies of labour and the unhealthy conditions of the district the cost of clearing was high. [...] in the case of short-time paddy that has to be cropped within three and four months uniformity of selected seed does not help in increasing the yield; for in the selection of seed the usual procedure is to select the larcrest and the best formed ones such seeds produce plants that take a little longer time to flower and mature than the average smaller seed and the outturn of the crop suffers in c