6ti 



raE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1884, 



of the Yucca Draconis ; for whereas, I believe, the yield 

 from esparto is only thirty per cent of fibre, the Yucca 

 IS said to yield sixty per cent. Then, again, the esparto 

 requires so much and such tedious manipulation in its pre- 

 paration for the market, that the value to any producing 

 country of the OaUfornian plant must be immensely greater. 

 It is true that the tedious peeling and sorting of the 

 esparto might afford suitable means of utilising the illimit- 

 able resoiu-ce of domestic industry that India possesses. 

 Hence it may be well worth while for the esparto to be 

 cultivated in or near some of the more thickly peopled 

 provinces of India; while the Yucca Draconis should be 

 encouraged in the " deserts idle " that, mainly because of 

 ruthless denudation, are so prevalent in vast tracts of Upper 

 India. And, if the Yucca can be cultivated within reach 

 of rivers or canals, which would afford cheap means of 

 transporting it to the deltas or coasts, where it could be 

 ^'pulpeii" and prepared for export as "half paper stuff," 

 it seems to me that a very important new industry might, 

 at comparatively small outlay of capital, be speedily es- 

 tablished in India." — Indian Mercury. 



^ . 



DAM-MAKING. 



For the benefit of those readers of the Queenslamler 

 interested m dam-making, I shah give directions how to 

 make a dam which I have seen tried with gi-eat success. 

 Select a gully runnuig not more than a mile; choose a place 

 where a level foundation can be got. if possible just below 

 a bend in the gully— say to want a dam to carrv 8 feet 

 of water. Plant a stick 11 feet high in the lowest part 

 of the watercourse, and level from side to side. In doing 

 60 shift the level back until you sight the top of the 

 stick and the ground on the far side. Tou do not want 

 any staff level or civil engineer to do this ; use a common 

 carpenter's level, and sight along it from bank to bank. 

 Having done so take this as the centre Ime ; then lay off 

 a puddle trench to a 2 to 1 batter all the way across. 

 Thus, allowing the bank to be 10 feet wide on top, and 

 the depth at centre 11 feet, the puddle trench is 27 feet 

 on the up-stream side of centre line at the deepest point, 

 and so on as the depth varies. Suik the puddle trench 

 3 feet deep, and about 2 feet 6 in. wide all the way 

 across. If you strike sand-drift you must sink through 

 or give up the idea of a dam at this place. Fill the 

 puddle trench with clay, rammed in 6 in. layers, up to 

 12 in. above the original surface of the ground. If the 

 clay is dry moisten it till it sticks. When forming the 

 bank excavate the muck from the up-stream side (thus 

 giving additional depth), but don't work within 20 feet 

 of the puddle. Use tip-drays, and work all from one end, 

 as this traffic over the bank at time of making tends to 

 consolidate it and make a good Job. Let the muck take 

 its own IJ to 1 batter on the down-stream side. When 

 the bank is finished sow couch grass all over, and better 

 fence temporarily to keep cattle from plajnng on it. 



In making the bywash there must not be any messing, 

 as this is the most particular part of it. Use yom- level 

 from the top of the dam-head, and sight up the gully on 

 to the lowest of the two banks, and toward the bend in 

 the gully. In doing this make sure you are correct. Turn 

 yoiu- level end for end, and sight from both points at 

 the spot where your eye catches the ground. In the bend 

 start your bywash, making it 3 feet deep at this point ; 

 carry it out toward the gully with a fall; let the high- 

 est point of the bywash be 3 feet below the dam-head. 

 The width must be determined by the quantity of water 

 the gully carries in flood time, but above all he sure and 

 have it mde enough. Throw the muck excavated from 

 the bj-wash on the side next the gully, where it may be 

 readily got to make up the bank as it consohdates. Don't 

 give the run of the bywash too much fall; 2 in. in a 

 cham IS enough. Have a clear 20 feet of solid ground 

 between the end of the dam and the inner edge of the 

 bywash. If a dam is built as I have du-ected, it will be 

 safe and serviceable. It is a new plan to have the puddle 

 wall at the toe of the bank. Yet I have seen splendid 

 water stores made in this way. and I am prepared to 

 undert.ike the construction, and stand the risk (but there's ' 

 none). The cost of this dam varies according to size. I 

 It just means so many cubic yards of muck, to be shifted 

 at so much per cubic yard, and the cost can be cal- I 

 culated hetotehand.—QMeemla>nk): I 



/ 



[ CINCHONA m THE NILGIRIS. 



Situated on the south-eastern slope of the Nilgiri Hills 

 at the top of the Ouchterlony Valley, and directly over- 

 looking the AVynaad and Mysore districts, are the Govern- 

 ment Cinchona plantations at Nediwuttum. These plant- 

 ations, about 20 miles distant from Ootacamuud, have 

 hitherto fm-nished the principal supply of Cinchona bark 

 exjiorted from Southern India. The plantations are three 

 in number, viz., the Nediwuttum estate, the Wood estate, 

 and the Hooker estate — the latter named, I beUeve, in 

 comphment to the present Director of Kew Gardens. The 

 amount allowed by Government for the keepmg up of the 

 plantations has of late years been principally expended on 

 the Nediwuttum plantation, the two others being at pre- 

 sent in a semi-abandoned condition, mainly attributable to 

 the fact that the surface-soil containmg the rich vegetable 

 humus so essential to the growth of the Cinchona has 

 been nearly all washed away by the heavy rains of suc- 

 cessive seasons, and no regular attempt has been made at im- 

 proving the soil by applying manure or any fertilizing matter. 

 The Nediwuttum plantation consists mainly of the red- 

 bark tree. Cinchona succirubra, but contains likewise a 

 good sprinkling of the crown bark, C. officinalis, and grey 

 bark, O. micrantha, as weU as C. pubescens, a well marked 

 hybrid between the two former, and a few 0. calisaya, a 

 group containing such a hosi of sub-vaileties and forms 

 mergmg more or less into each other as to have formed 

 the basis of a never-ending controversy concerning the 

 proper name duo to each particular form ; and it is need- 

 less, perhaps, to add that the names appUed or suggested 

 are almost legion, whilst each fresh one only adds to the 

 existing confusion. 



Two well-built bungalows exist on this estate, as well as 

 two of smaller dimensions for the use of the clerks and 

 assistant overseers, the extensive drying sheds being well 

 worthy of a visit. Here the Cinchona bark, after bemg 

 collected from the hving trees by the alternate stripping 

 system, or the Java process of scraping or uprooting, is 

 dried by fire-heat, and securely packed in bales of 100 lb. 

 each, and marked ready for the market. A new system 

 of drying and packing houses is now in course of com- 

 pletion, the main building being filled with bark on the 

 occasion of my visit for the first time. Owing to some 

 defect in the building of the flues generating tl.e dry heat 

 necessary to cure the Cinchona bark, the files did not 

 draw satisfactorily, and the flues not being properly set, 

 had burst, filhng the building with smoke, much to the 

 deterioration of the bark contained therein, the brickwork 

 and woodwork in general having been done by cheap con- 

 tract labour improperly supervised, leaving much to be 

 required before the buildings approached perfection. Near 

 the drying sheds is erected a long span-roofed propagat- 

 ing-house, heated also by flues ; this is used principally 

 for the propagation of O. pubescens and 0. Ledgeriana, 

 the latter taxing the abilities of the officials to the utter- 

 most from its shyness of propagation when in the younger 

 stages of growth. 



Fully one-third of this plantation has been uprooted 

 during the last two seasons, and is now being replanted 

 with C. pubescens, a fact which speaks highly for the 

 far-sightedness of the manager in charge, as undoubtedly 

 this will be the Cinchona of the future. At the elevation 

 of 5,000 feet — the altitude of the Nediwuttum estates — in 

 a plot well sheltered from the south-east monsoons, were 

 to be seen two fine specimens of the "hard Carthagena" 

 Cinchona, C. eordifoUa, introduced to the JNilgiris by Mr. 

 R. Cross, in 1880, from South America. These were fine 

 sturdy young planti5, upwards of 4 feet in height, the 

 result of eighteen months' growth.' It is a matter for 

 regret that no energetic attempts have been made to ex- 

 tend the number of plants of this new kind, or that of 

 its fellow novelty, the Calisaya of Santa Fe, not more 

 than thu-ty or forty being alive at the present time, al- 

 though most easy of propagation— private planters, from 

 some unaccoimtable misunderstanding, being denied plants 

 of these species when they apply to the responsible author- 

 ities for them, even though they may possess every ap- 

 pliance for propagating them successfully and extensively. 

 Three or four large nurseries are kept well filled with 

 pUints and seedlings for supplying the estate and neigh- 

 bouring planters who purchase at the very rao<lerate rate 

 of R5 per 1,000.— W, J, Kemp.— ea)-rfe««-/ Chronicle. 



