732 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April i, 1884. 



fa ot that Mr. Wray, author of a standard work on 

 sugar, does not seem to have succeeded practically at 

 Pcnang. He seems now to be in Government employ 

 in Perak. Dr. Trimeu may, perhaps, accept the 

 challenge of "V'edda" and give his opinion of sugarcanes 

 and their cultivation. As to beet eugar in Europe, 

 not only is the hii^hest possible scientific skill brought 

 to bear on its production, but several of the Contin- 

 ental Crovernmenta aid the product by means of 

 protection and bounties. They have ruined English 

 sugar refiners but have benefited the English people 

 by giving them, at the expense of their own exchequers 

 cheap sugar. We by no means wish to diecourage 

 a revival of the sugar enterprize, but it is our 

 duty to marslial all the facts, j>ro and con. 



CASUARINA PLANTATIONS. 



It seeme strange that neither the Government Forest 

 Department, the Railway Department nor private in- 

 dividuals have tried plantations of casnarinas for 

 fuel purposes in Ceylon. There is a fine avenue of 

 these trees leading to the new Lunatic Asylum, and 

 as yet casuarinas seem to have been utilized only for 

 ornamental purposes. Besides private plantations, 

 there are nearly 2,000 acres of Government plant- 

 ations of casuarinas in the Madras Presidency, from 

 one to ten years old, and Mr. Gamble, the head of the 

 Forest Department, remarks that 



It wiU be seen that, considering only the regular plant- 

 atiima and not the small plots, the annual production of 

 wood per acre of closely planted Casuariua three to nine 

 years old varies from 2'6 to 6'.3 tons, the average being 

 4'5. And it is probable that if, until more accurate data 

 arc available, we estimate tlie annual increase of wood 

 per acre up to an age of ten years as four-and-a-half 

 tons, we shall be under the trutli rather than over it. 

 I feel sui'e that many of the Madras private plantations 

 will, for the same age, give more. In jiaragraph 25 of 

 the rejTOrt it is stated that Mr. Lushiugton found 

 the acre-increment of a Madras plantation thii'tcen years 

 old to be three-and-a-half tons, but it is not stated what 

 thinnings had been made, and how much had been re- 

 moved by loppings and cleaning of ground slioots. Mr. 

 Woolridge's calculations made in South Arcot give -i'o 

 tons at eight years of age, whicli is the age at wliich I 

 understand it is considered most profitable to cut tlie 

 plaiitiitions near Madras. Mr. Lushington's measurements, 

 though insufficient for a real basis of calculation, seem 

 to point to tlio decrease of the acre-increment after ten 

 years, and ten years is the term of rotation wliich I 

 would recommend to be ajipUed to the NeUore plant- 

 ations, at any r.ato until further experience and gre.ater 

 accuracy of statistics enable us to rccousider the question. 

 But there seems to be a prejudice amongst the 

 natives against this wood as fuel, for Mr. Gamble 

 adds: — 



This wood must of necessity be sent to Madras for sale, 

 for, as is well known, the native consumers will not purchase 

 Casuatina wood for fuel if it is possible to get any other 

 kind. It may be possible to dispose of small quantities 

 in NeUore ami Ougole, but the greater proportion must go to 

 Madras for sale, where it may possibly fetch a net price of 

 R5 per ton, i. v., 25,00U rupees per year. The cost of the 

 plantations up to date has been, according to Somasundra 

 Mudali's talile, and, as before, omitting minor areas, very 

 nearly 2 lakhs, so that the plantations may be expected to 

 yield 12^ per cent, interest on the capital. This does not 

 however account for cost of establishments which will prob- 

 ably reduce the rate to 10 per cent. 



Wliilo referring to the cost I would mention that the 

 rate of planting per acre has lately fallen considerably, the 



figures of Somasundra Mudali's list, corrected up to Decem- 

 ber 31st, 1882, giving K66 per acre as against R138 given in 

 paragraph 342 of Mr. Brandis' suggestions. 



From statements given me in Nellore the cost of the 1880 

 and 1881 plautations up to the 31st March 1883 had been 

 per acre on an average : — 



K. 



1880 41 



1881 18 



The 1880 plantations at any rate will not require now 

 much more expense in watering and the later made ones are 

 being now managed more economically, so that there is not 

 much fear that the cost per acre of those made in and since 

 1880 will go over E50, while there is every probability of 

 its being much less, at any rate for future years. 



The experiments of the weight of Casuarina wood are also 

 valuable ; they give the result as follows : — 



Green wood 69 lb. per cubic foot. 

 Dry -. 45 „ 

 both with bark, which may account for the low value for 

 dry wood compared with the 55 lb. given in Skinner's " De- 

 scription and Strength of Indian Timber,'' which was 

 calculated on large pieces of squared dry timber afterwards 

 used to determine the co-efEcients of transverse strength 

 and elasticity, and may be taken as a fau^ value for the 

 cubic foot of seasoned timber. 



But if, as is stated, the tree comes to maturity in 

 from eight to ten years, it would probably pay to 

 grow casuarinas for timber for tea-boxes and other 

 purposes. The statistics of an acre planted in 1877 

 and bearing 285 trees, showed a girth of trees from 

 9 to 27 inches ; height 24 to 46 feet, and cubic con- 

 tents 0'()1 cubic feet to 11'02. The casuarina flourishes 

 best when exposed to the sea-breeze. At nine years 

 old, some trees were 31 inches girth, 00 feet high, 

 and cubic contents 16'S9 cubic feet. Mr. Hutchins, 

 in his nport, stated : — 



Within the limits of my experience the growth of Casuar- 

 ina does not percejitibly vary for elevations up to 3,000 

 feet. There .are a few well-grown Casuarinas on the Nundj'- 

 droog Hill near Bangalore at an elevation of 4,G00 feet, 

 but the growth at that elevation is observably less than at 

 the plateau level, which is there 3,000 feet above the sea. 

 In West Mysore the tree flourishes in a few situations, 

 where it has been planted up to a rainfall of 40 inches. 

 Beyond this, on oolfee estates the growth is not good ; but 

 I believe Mr. Dickson is planting Casuarina successfully at 

 4.000 feet and in the heiivy rainfall of Mercara in Coorg. 

 The lower the elevation, the more severe must be the trans- 

 piration from an ever-green and a rapid grower, such as 

 Casuarina. On the deep red loams of the Mysore plateau, 

 where the level of well water is 30 or 50 feet below the 

 surface, Casuarina exhibits a growth nearly equal to that 

 on the mi.^ed alluvial soils of the Madras seaboard (the 

 Sriharikot Island for example) ami superior to the average 

 of growth on the sand dimes of the coast. With moderate 

 subsoil moisture in Mj'sore, as in Sample-areas A of Kad- 

 godi and Nelal plantations (vide Mysore report on rate of 

 growth of Casuarina) the growth is equal to the best Coast 

 Oa.suariua. Generally the Mysore Casuarina plantations 

 are on bare or scrub covered plains, where the subsoil 

 moisture in the dry season is at a great depth, and it is a 

 remarkable fact that in the terrible drouglits of 187() and 

 1877 the casualties amongst these trees were practically nil. 



O™ attention has been directed by a correspondent to 

 a paragraph in the Juun/al of Horticulture, having reference 

 to the value of bees to fruit-growers. Mr. Warren, a 

 market ganlener at Isleworth, near London, is also, it is 

 said, a practical and scientific bee-keeper, and his opinion 

 on the subject is worth the consideration of gardeners 

 aud fruit-tree growers. He considers that the large crops 

 of fruit he has obtained, even when his neighbours have 

 been complaining of scarcity, have been chiefly duo to the 

 influence of the bees in distributing the pollen. Tn this 

 respect he considers bees return a handsome profit for 

 tho attention and care they need. — Australasian. 



