MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 149 



plant in California in places where the normal rainfall is small, and it is pos- 

 sible that in some parts of India, where similar conditions prevail, the cultiva- 

 tion of this plant will be found to succeed. 



Editors. 



DROUGHT-RESISTING FODDER PLANTS. 



No. 2. 



ATRIPLEX SEMIBACCATA ON ALKALI LANDS. 



Experiments in India. 



The India Office has been so gocd as to supply me with the most recent 

 information from India regarding fodder for cattle in times of drought. 

 This information is contained in a Note (Agricultural Ledger No. 13 of 1901) 

 by Mr. Moreland, Director of Agriculture, reviewing the attempts made to 

 utilise the " reh " or " usar " lands, amounting to some two million acres, in 

 the North-West Provinces and Oudh. The first important correspondence on 

 the subject w;is published in 18G4, No. 42, Government Selections, and deals 

 with the deterioration of villages lying along the Western Jumna Canal. It 

 shows that the construction of that canal, and the neglect of drainage 

 works, led to the accumulation of injurious salts at the surface in such 

 quantities as to destroy the fertility of the land, and render culti- 

 vation impossible. There is no record of attempts made to meet this 

 mischief during the next ten years ; but in 1874 the matter was taken up by 

 Mr. (now Sir Edward) Buck, and in 1876 the " Beh Committee" was ap- 

 pointed, and a scheme of experimental work was drawn up, to include arbori- 

 culture, surface and subsoil drainage, flushing, manuring, and the growth of 

 special crops. Unfortunately no chemical analysis appears to have been 

 made of the soil selected for these operations ; and the omission of this essen- 

 tial preliminary deprived the experiments of scientific value ; while it led to 

 action being taken in wrong directions as, for example, when nitrates and 

 phosphates were applied to tho " usar'' lands, which are now known to be 

 already charged (even to excess) with these nutrients. 



2. The Reh Committee's experiments, directed to the reclamation of 

 " usar," are reported under four headings: (1) Removal of salts ; (2) Drainage ; 

 (3) Silting ; and (4) Deep cultivation, manuring, and ploughing in green crops. 

 (1 ) Removal of salts. Thi3 was tried od the Awa estate. The salts on the 

 surface were scraped oft before the rainy season, and in the following year 

 the quantity of such salts was found to be decidedly less ; but the subsequent 

 history of this plot cannot be ascertained. (2") Drainage. Surface drainage 

 was attempted, but the plants died, and this method was given up as a failure. 

 Subsoil drainage with two-inch pipe3 was then tried, but was also held to be 

 a failure, mainly on account of the prohibitive cost, and the experiment was 

 abandoned. (•>) Sdiing, By this method it was sought to form an entirely 

 new soil by deposit on the top of the " usar,' 1 but it was found that this 

 process was of very limited application, depending as it did upon a copious 



