March i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



663 



of Agriculture of that State for 18S0, afford more recent 

 testimouy as to the value of this cereal. 



lu Juue, 1880, 1 succeeded in procuring a small quantity 

 of the seed of the Dhurra, or so-called " Eice Corn," from 

 Kansas, and on the 16th of that month planted it on 

 stubble land, from which a crop of wheat had just been 

 taken without manure. The Dhurra received no fertilizers. 

 The portion, 0-22 acre, thickly drilled in rows 4 ft. apart, 

 gave a yield of 45'4 bu. per acre, the other portion, 0'25 

 acre, planted in rows 4 ft. apart, and from 12 in. to 18 in. 

 in the row, a yield of only 163 bu. per acre. The great 

 difference in the two yields is explained by the excessive 

 tillering of the thinly planted portion — the plants formed 

 more heads than they were able to ripen. The stalks, of 

 which no account was taken, attained an average height 

 of about 8 ft. The grain was plump, and weighed 60 lb. 

 to the bushel. As an abundance of rain fell, the drouth- 

 resisting powers of the plant were not put to the proof. 

 In ISSl a piece of stubble was thorouglily plowed and har- 

 rowed immediately after the removal of the wheat, and 

 planted the first week in July, a very fertile portion, 2J 

 acres in Indian corn, and a very thin portion immedi- 

 ately adjoining 2 I-5th acres in Dhuria. No manures were 

 used on the preceding wheat crop, but 400 lb. of the same 

 fertilizer was drilled in with both the corn and the Dhurra. 

 The two portions were planted on the same day, and their 

 subsequent cultvure was the same. That the fertihzer m 

 consequence of the drouth seriously injured both ci-ops 

 was shown by six unfertilized rows of Dhm-ra, the super- 

 iority of which coidd be noticed at a considerable dis- 

 tance. AVhen the long midsummer ilrouth set in, the Indian 

 Corn was in full tassel, from 8 ft. to ft. high, and gave 

 promise of a flue yield. The Dhm-ra was hardly half the 

 height, but while the Corn was twisting and burning up 

 from the want of rain and the terrible heat, it scarcely 

 wilted, and coutinued fresh and green. The di-outh dwra-fed 

 it, but did not interfere with the filling of the heads, 

 which were almost as large as those of last year, while 

 the stalks were but httle more than half as high. 



About the middle of .September it became evident tha t 

 all hope of a crop of corn was destroyed. Hardly oue 

 stalk m ten had even a green nubbin. It was therefore 

 cut for ensilage on October 5th and 6th. The yield of 

 grain did not amount to one bushel per acre. The Dhurra 

 gave, when harvested late in September, 20 bushels of 

 clean, plump grain to the acre. As this plant remains 

 green and succulent after the seeds are ripe, this crop 

 was also cut for ensilage on the same days as the corn. 

 The Dhurra gave 5,543 lb. of green forage per acre, the 

 corn 8,764 lb. In comparing the fair yield of grain of the 

 first with the total faUure of the second, we should re- 

 member the gi-eat advantage the latter possessed in the 

 superior fertility of the soil of its plat. These experiments, 

 which were very carefully conducted, are almost conclusive 

 as to the remarkable superiority of the Dhurra in dry 

 seasons. Every farmer shoidd protect himself from the 

 effects of drouth by planting at least a few acres in this 

 cereal. Such a com-se last year would have saved the 

 farmers of this section many thousands of dollars. 



The feeding value of this grain is clearly shown by the 

 results of experiments given in full in the August No. of 

 the American Atjrindturist for 1881. From these and other 

 tests on a larger scale, made last winter, it appears that 

 it was about equal, pound for pound, to corn meal, or cot- 

 ton seed meal, as a food for farm stock. These practical 

 tests are supported by the results of aualysis. I herewith 

 append the analyses of samples of grain of the crops of 

 1880 and 1881, recently made by my colleague, Prof. AV. 

 G. Brown, of the Chair of Chemistry, and his assistant, 

 Mr. W. E. Moses. 



Analyses of Dhvrta grown at Misty Farm. 



1880. 1881. Aver. 



Water 12-61 12-74 12-07 



Ash 1-63 1-42 1-53 



Albuminoids 11-45 10-46 10-95 



Carbohydrates 74-31 75-38 74-85 



Bai-ley, 10 per cent. The grain, ground and bolted, makes 

 a good article of brown flour, superior for cakes to buck- 

 wheat. This is not my testimony only, but that of several 

 other parties who tried it last winter. It makes fair 

 brown bread. The meal is, however, inferior for bread- 

 making purposes to corn meal. The sUo containiug the 

 Dhurra, and the corn ensilage has not yet been opened, 

 and as none of the first was fed green, I am unable to 

 pronounce upon the comparative nutritive value of Dhiu-ra 

 forage. — A merican Agriculturist. 



ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN. 



By Oarnet Walch. 



100-00 100-00 100-00 

 In its percentage of albuminoids its compares very favor- 

 ably with the other cereals. Wheat grown at the Misty 

 Farm gave 12-70 per cent of albuminoids ; Indian Corn 

 grown in Michigan, 110!) per cent; Oats grown in Con- 

 necticut, Q-JJ^iiei- cent; B^-e JB Geimauy, 11 i)ereent;and 



MADEITIUS — THE ROYAL BOTANICAL OABDENS. 



Frequently during the voyage from Australia the convers- 

 ation on board the Caledouien had for its subject the 

 things worth seeing in Mauritius, and as frequently I was 

 strictly enjoined not to leave the island without visiting 

 the Royal Botanical Gardens, situated at Pamplemousses, 

 seven or eight miles to the north of Port Louis. And 

 the advico thus tendered at sea was even more strongly 

 urged upon me when I lauded — at the hotel, at the mer- 

 chants' offices, in the trahi, on the station platforms, one 

 of the first questions I was asked was, '* Have you seen 

 the Pamplemousses-gardcns ?" followed by an assurance 

 that they could not fail to delight me. A thorough be- 

 liever in the proverb, that what everybody says must be 

 true, I made up my mind, that, come what might, I would 

 visit the gardens. Hence I was much gratified when we 

 Globe-Trotter & Co. received an invitation from Mr. Wil- 

 liam Scott, the assistant director at Pamplemousses, to 

 take dejeuner with him, and afterwards inspect the place 

 for ourselves. 



Driving by the \arge and highly ornamental central 

 gates, round tlie neat iron-railed enclosure of the gardens, 

 we enter at a side door, and are on the threshold of Mr. 

 Scott's hospitable home. He receives us with a cordiahty 

 that is a perfect tonic in itself. He utters a few cabalis- 

 tic words to his Indian familiar, and, lo ! dijeiiner is 

 ready. Our appetites being in a equally prepared state, 

 we do full justice to one of the best meals we shall taste, 

 in Mauritius, and can but compliment our host alike on 

 his cook and his cellar. The last time I hobnobbed with 

 a botanist — it was at a nm'sery garden in Sydney — we 

 drank beer poured out of a watering-can into flower-pots, 

 the holes whereof we stopped up with our fingers. But 

 that was many — never mind how many — years ago, and 

 noA'-a-days, when the grey hairs that betoken wisdom are 

 making their appearance, 1 prefer Haul Saiiterne to even 

 Tooth's XXX. After ilijeihier we enjoy a smoke in the 

 flower-embosomed verandah, and admire the superb creepers 

 that hide us from the outer world. Here is the cleroden- 

 dron, with its pink and white blossoms ; the ipomtea, with 

 its deep-purple tiowei s ; the Petr;ea volubilis, with its ex- 

 quisite blue ; and here, too, is the sire of ail the Maiu-i- 

 tian bougainvilleas, dressed in his truly imperial robes. 

 Hard by, on each side, are raagnohas, Drac;enas with their 

 ruddy leaves, a fine Braughmausia, and a huge tree of 

 the New Guinea spathodea tulipifera, one glorious pyramid 

 of brilliant orange blossoms from tip to base ; and as far 

 as the eye can reach stretch level swards of cool, green 

 grass, great monarch trees, long avenues of stately palms, 

 giant quivers filled with verdant arrows, and in between, 

 soft ferns and dcjwny mosses, glowing flowers and little, 

 swift-flowing runnels of sparkling water. Amidst such 

 surrouudiugs, lulled to rest by the froU'fron of over- 

 arching foliage, the tinkle of the streamlet, and the twitter 

 of happy birds who would not feel himself — what's that ? 

 Only a snore from one of us, who has succumbed to the 

 enchantment of the scene, and pays nasal homage to its 

 beauty. Bnt this serves to remind us that we have a 

 long torn- before us, so, waking the sleeper we start at 

 once. And here 1 may as well caution the reader that 

 I am about to hurl a few dozen as.sorted Latin names 

 of supreme ponderosity at his devoted head. Forewarned 

 is forearmed ; allons done. Behold the areca catechu, or 

 betel nut of commerce ; the Croton Tiglium, one nut of 

 which B-ould kill the strongest man ; the Croton longi- 

 folia, the Qunssia amara ; the satijiwood tree with it* 



