150 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



flow of watar, and a sufficient supply of coarse silt. (4) Deep cultivation^ 

 manuring, and ploughing in green crops. Some practical success was obtained 

 in improving the texture of the soil and in dispersing the salts from the 

 surface by growing green crops of rice and hemp, and ploughing them in; 

 but the experiments do not seem to have been conducted on systematic or 

 scientific lines. No analyst being available, tha original condition of the 

 plots was not known ; and the ultimate results are not ascertainable, as, after 

 some years of varied operations, the plots were either sold to private in- 

 dividuals or diverted to other purposes. Thus at Amraman, acquired in 

 1882, there was abundant ploughing and manuring; rice, barley, peas, maize, 

 and millet were sown with varying success ; but in 1892 the whole reserve was 

 sold, and the improvement effected in the condition of the soil appears to have 

 been lo^t. Similarly at Cherat there was no analysis to begin with, and the 

 official reports differ as to the nature of the saline deposits. Eventually this 

 reserve was sold to a Mr. Keventer, who utilised it as a dairy farm. At 

 Guraikran and Juhi the operations took a different direction, and a quantity 

 of hay was made from the natural grasses belonging to " usar " soil, princi- 

 pally the Sporobolus arabicus. The areas were enclosed, and the grasses grew 

 in considerable abundance ; but they died down after the rains ; they did 

 not stand drought ; and the hay, which proved unpalatable and innutritious, 

 was refused both by the Cavalry and Commis s ariat Department as being 

 unfit for fodder. The unsuccessful attempts to introduce Australian salt- 

 bushes as fodder plants are referred to by Mr. Moreland at page 453 of t^e 

 Agricultural Ledger. The first trial was made iu 1882, and the Atriplex num- 

 mnlaria promised to do well. But the beginning thus made was not effec- 

 tively followed up, and the ultimate fact of the experiment is recorded as 

 follows: " Unfortunately the further detailed history of these plants is not 

 on record, but all have disappeared." Mr. Moreland adds that he has learned 

 from Mr. Duthie, Botanical Director, that the failure of these plants was 

 "due to their inability to live through the wet season when the surface of 

 the ' usar ' is slimy mud, and water often stands on it." This collapse of the 

 experiment shows that in selecting the locality for plantation, due considera- 

 tion was not given to the special characteristics of the salt-bush, which 

 tolerates extreme heat and drought, but cannot endure heavy rain and a 

 moist atmosphere. Owing to this uohaopy error a great opportunity \ as 

 lost. Judiciously planted on the arid waste, which is its proper habitat, the 

 salt-bush might, in the droughts of 1897 and 1900, have proved the salvation 

 of countless plough cattle, besides, as will presently be shown, solving the 

 problem of " usar " reclamation. 



3. From the above summary it appears that as yet but little progress has 

 been made, either in propagating drought-resisting fodder-plants, or in re- 

 claiming " usar '" lands, " the problem which has been the subject of special 

 study by the Agricultural Department for the last twenty years " (Agri- 

 cultural Ledger, p. 415). From want of scientific method the Department 



