igQ 



THE i^OPiCAL AQKieULTUSISt. [Nov. i, 1866; 



laMiaM 



they were suft'eriug from the ravages of a grub which 

 attacks the buds of all th»' leadiug shootfi. In other 

 situations the Mahogany might not suffer from these 

 pests. 



5. Quilaja saponaria,. — This plant thiives well in 

 Ootacamunil and it is foiuid that it can readily be 

 propagated by means of cuttings, bo that if it proves 

 to be a tree of any value, it can be increased to 

 any extent. 



(}. Ki'.mera. — The tubers of this plant have been 

 raised, and on being eaten, proved palatable. 



7. Ulh'xus ("btrosi"!. — f received this plant from 

 INIr. Thiselton Dyer. It grows freely in the open air 

 at Ootacamund, and it would seem likely to yield a 

 heavy croj) of small tubers. Its name is derived 

 from the river 1 llucus, a river in the north-west of 

 ■South America, in the neighbourhood of which it is 

 found growing wild. 



>S. Arracucia and the Cochin tnheivvs-rwted Vine. — 

 On neither of these am [ able this year to report, 

 as the former has not yet produced any tubers, and 

 the second, although it tiowered at Barliyar, for the 

 first time this spring, has borne no fruit. 



'.). /lo/i.—l am indebted to Mr. J. L. Holland, 

 the Manager of the ^'ilgiri Brewery, for some cut- 

 tings of the hop, from which I purpose raising a 

 large stock. I fear that the climate of these Hills is 

 not likely to suit the plant, but 1 .shall at any rate 

 give it a fair trial. 



10. Ipemcuanlta. — In my last year's report I wa.s 

 obliged to confess that I bad lost a large number 

 of these plants, but during the past year, Mr, 

 Jamieson, who has paid particular attention to again 

 getting up our stock, has now about :300 plants. I 

 saw a bed of Ipecacuanha growing very vigorously in 

 the teak forest at Nilambur, the climate of which 

 seems to suit it much better than that of Barliyar. 



11. Pteroxijlon utile.— "Sit. Gamble gave me a con- 

 ssiderable amount of the seed of this valuable timber 

 tree, which is a native of South Africa. On dissect- 

 ing the seed it appeared to be perfectly sound, but 

 on attempting to germinate it in the green houses 

 at Ootacamund, I failed completely notwithstanding 

 that it was sown under several different conditions. 

 I am glad to hear from Mr. (Umble that he has 

 been more successful, so that this tree will, I hope, 

 be added the loiig list of timbers which will iu future 

 years adorn our Hills. 



12. Mr. J. Gaiaiuie, dupe/iiUendeiit uf the Cinchuiui 

 Vlaiitaliom, Darjudiny.—Tn this gentleman I am in- 

 debted for the seeds of several useful or ornamental 

 plants growing in the neighbourhood of Darjeeling. 

 The chief of which are Pliccnix rnpicola, Arcca 

 gracilis, WaUiclda disticha, Calamus flaijellum, Holl- 

 heUia lati folia. 



13. Mis6 Bakti' of Pecr/naad, Travancoie— To this 

 lady the gardens are indebted for sundry Impatiens 

 and Souerilas collected on the mountains of Travan- 

 core. None of them has yet tiowered, but to judge 

 from their leaves and their habit of growth, they 

 appear to be different species to those which we get 

 here, and as such will be of much interest. 



Jlr. T. Banbury. — From the maguificeut donation 

 of seedu which we received from this gentleman 

 through Hifci Excellency the l-overuor last year, a 

 ^ery large number of plants have been raised in the 

 green houses Among the most interesting of the 

 plants are the Acaciat-, many of which are new to 

 the gardens, and bid fair to be \ery ornamental. 

 i'uchiifi pi'ocu'mhcns also promises to make a fine 

 basket plant. 



15. t'oiV*''*^-" Several of the Ooinfer;e grow magni- 

 ficently on the Nilgiris. (1) Finus iit^ignis.— Trees 

 of six years old are sixty feet in height, and those 

 of fifteen years of age yield an abundance of excellent 

 timber. (2) Cupressus torulosa. — Though not nearly 

 so rapid in. its growth as the former, this flourishes 

 well, and at the end of twenty-five years makes a 

 massive tree of si.Kty to .seventy feet in height. (3) 

 C)ipr(^.<'(-'^ macroco/rpa and its varietie.^i grows with 

 surprising rapidity, but from their branching character 

 arc more suited for the purposes as fuel than for 

 tipit>ti', (I) Cr,'/pi0nena Japoniw grows well while 



young, and will, I have no doubt, grow into a fine 

 tree, but there arc none of any great age ou t!ie 

 Nilgiris, 



It). Tristaida conferta, Syncarpia, CauriJ'olvJ- Amjup- 

 hora, siiJ)celuti>iii and Grevillea rob:tsta. — All grow 

 rapidly' and make fine trees. I was told that in the 

 AVynaad there were <lrii:illeas which had been planted 

 out only eighteen montlis, that were five and 

 twenty feet in height. It ought, however, never to 

 have been called OicviUea robu.st"., for it has in its 

 living state the most brittle wood I know. The 

 brauches are always snapping off with the slightest 

 breeze ; * but grown in sheltered places, it becomes 

 a noble tree. Its wood is beautifully grained and is 

 well adapted for all the purposes of the cabinet- 

 maker. 



From the remarks of (Government on Mr. Lawson's 

 report we (|Uote as follows: — 



8- Kvoticf^. — The f!overnment approve of the pro- 

 posal to grow the better sorts of Eucalyptus for 

 purposes of timber, and the attention of the 

 Conservator of Forests, Northern Division, will be 

 drawn to the subject. The Quilaja S(ipo>taria thrives 

 well in the climate of Ootacamund and can be 

 readily propagated by means of cuttings. It still 

 remains to be seen, however, whether the tree will 

 prove as valuable here as in its native country, Chili. 

 Tubers, of the Kumera (Convolvulus chr;/sorhi::ut, 

 Soland) have been raised and were found palatable. 

 The Director does not say whether these tubers were 

 grown at Ootacamund or, as purposed in his report 

 for ] 883-81, at Coonoor and Barliyar; nor does he 

 give any information regarding their probable value 

 as an article of diet for the people of this country. A 

 new tuber (Ullucus tvhi rosu.s) a native of South 

 America, which was received from Mr, ThLselton 

 Dyer, has been found to grow freely in the open air 

 at Ootacamund. The (government await further report 

 on its properties and value. The director is not able 

 to report upon the Arracacha (Arracacia esculcnto) 

 or the Cochin-Ohina tuberous-rooted vine, as the 

 former has not yet produced any tubers or the latter 

 any fruit. E.xperiments in the culture of hops have 

 been commenced: the (government await the results 

 with much interest, for the successful cultivation of 

 this product would probably prove of great advantage 

 to the ryots of the Nilgiri Hills. The failure in the 

 stock of Ipecacuanha plants which was reported last 

 year has been effectually remedied, but Mr. Lawsou 

 thinks that the climate of Nilambur is more suited 

 to this plant than that of Barliyar. The remarks on 

 the successful growth of certain Coiiijertr ou the 

 Nilgiris are iuteresting and will be communicated to 

 the Forest Department. The Director has omitted to 

 report the results of his experiments with the 

 Medicinal Rhubarb plant, rel"erred to iu his report 

 for 1SS4-85. 



Plolghi.vi; .iND Ma>uki>(:. — (Jue of the most inter' 

 esting results of the agricultural experiments carried 

 out during the past two years at the Cawnpore ex« 

 peri mental farm is the establishment of the use of 

 woollen refuse as a manure. This refuse is turnod 

 out of the Cawnpore mills in large quantities, and 

 great difbculty is experienced in getting rid of it ou 

 any terms. Kecent experiment?;, however, have shown 

 that as a manure for wheat it produces results only 

 second to saltpetre. As saltpetre is an expensive 

 manure, and the woollen refuse costs next to nothing, 

 the discovery ought to be of some value to cultiv- 

 ators. Another point brought out is the importance 

 of deep ploughing. The average for all the experi- 

 ments showed that deep ploughing gave an increase 

 over ordinary shallow ploughing of 53'5 per cent, 

 when the land was ploughed 9 inches deep, and 43'5 

 per cent, when ploughed 5 inches deep, although the 

 number of shallow ploughings was twice as manj' as 

 of the deep. — Bombay Gazette. 



* The tree grown in Ceylon as Grevillea rohusta 

 must buiely be a different variety, as it stands win<^ 

 without the <ju»PinDg of the twig,— Ed, 



