N(3V. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICtTLTURlST. 



Ut 



AGRICULTURE IN MYSORE, 



{From a CoiTespondent.) 



From Official Returns recently published by 

 the Mysore Government, we gather that the total 

 area cultivated in the Mysore provinces amounts 

 to 43,54,006 acres. Of this 5,54,554 acres are cultiv- 

 ated with rice ; 19,0"3 with wheat ; 32,71,771 with 

 food grains ; 1,33,433 with oil seeds ; 25,956 with 

 sugar cane ; 20,75'j with cotton ; 1,305 with fibres ; 

 9,860 with tobacco ; 1,40,50 l with coffee ; 32,032 

 with vegetables ; 6,074 with mulberry ; 1,38,264 with 

 coconut and arecanut ; 280 witla pepper and 164 witli 

 lac. The Shiringeh District with its 2,07,598 acres 

 takes the lead in rice, while the Kadur district 

 with 91,784 acres takes tlie lead in coffee. The 

 Taukar District takes the lead in coconut and areca- 

 nut, having 45,769 acres unc'er cultivation, while the 

 Kolar District leads i i vegetable with 11,915 acres 

 under culvation ; the Chitaldoorg Disirict, which ad- 

 joins the Bellary CoUectorate of the Mt^dras Presid- 

 e-icy has the greatest area under cotton. * * 



The average races of rent from cultivated lands 

 in the Mysore province are as follows : — Per arce 

 for rice R5 2 9 ; for wheat R4 6 9 ; for inferior 

 grairs Rl 10 9; for cotton Rl 13 7; for oil seed 

 Rl 10 1 ; for fibres Rl 9 9 ; for sugarcane E6 1 4 ; 

 and for tobacco R3 1 7. * * 



The average produce of land per acre in pounds 

 is : rice 1,069 ; wheat 661 ; inferior food grains 739 ; 

 cotton 26; oil seeds 633; fibres 2^6; sugarcane 

 1,382; tobacco 379; i^offee 501b. and silk 31. * * 



The estimated value of manufactures in Mysore 

 is returned at R53,91,'^46 for a whole year, of this 

 silk realized Rl,61,800, and here it may be men- 

 tioned that the Bangalore District, wliich is the 

 great silk-growing district cont'lbute-^ Rl, 50,000 of 

 the whole. Cotton R21, 18,490; wool R2,66,525 ; 'her 

 fibres R32,470 : paper R400 ; iron R45,214 ; jaggery 

 and sugar R8,44,175 ; coffee Rli, 14,48s ; oils R6,53,184 ; 

 and brass and copper Rl,54,500. * * 



THE INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRIES. 



The Madras Times has been directing attention to 

 the condition of India's trade with Europe "Then and 

 Now," or its position at the begining of the nine- 

 teenth century and the present day, and it occurs to 

 me that as so many of your readers are interested in 

 India, a few remarks on the subject suggested by the 

 topic discussed in the aforesaid newspap3r will be 

 acceptable. 



.Sir Thomas Munro was a carefu' experienced observer 

 of the state of trade in India sixty or seventy years ago. 

 It was his opiuion that European traders would not 

 remain long iu India, but from the operation of various 

 obvious cause would be forced to the sea coast. iSo 

 far as regards the coffee planters and indigo factors, 

 this_ prediction has been realised. Indigo factors in 

 India are now almost without exception natives, and 

 the coffee plantafons are rai^idly passing into their 

 hands. But with respect to the textile industries, the 

 forecast made by Sir Thomas Munro was not correct. 

 His words are the following:— "As to the exports (from 

 England to India) it is not likely they will ever, un- 

 less very slowly, be extended ; opposed by moral and phys- 

 ical obstacles, by religion, by civil institutions, by 

 climate, and by the skill and iagenuity of the people 

 of India. Some inqrease there undoubtedly will be, but 

 such as will arise principally from the increase of 

 European establishments, and of the mixed race which 

 springs up in their chief settlements. No nation will 

 take from another what it can furnish cheaper and 

 better itself. In India almost every article which the 

 inhabitants require is made cheaper and better than in 

 Europe. Among these are all cotton and silk manufac- 

 tures, leather, paper, domestic utensils of brass and 

 iron, and implements of agriculture." 



The use of machinery driven by steam has falsifi(!d 

 this prediction. By its means Europe produces fabrics 

 which only fall a very short way behind the finest 

 hand-made fabrics of India, while the price is con- 

 siderably lower, and the goods can be produced to 

 any extent required in a very short period of time. 



Now this state of things has reduced the native Indian 

 Industry very low. When the best Indian hand-woven 

 fabric IS conpa.ed with the productions of English 

 ard Scotch looms and found to be as 10 in favour of 

 the Indian, bat at the same time the price is as 60 

 iu favour of the British goods, it will bo seen at once 

 that the latter would command the native ma ket over 

 the former. This is the case vow. The finest cotton 

 fabrics from Indian looms, the admiration of the world, 

 is a decaying industry, and it is difficult to find work- 

 men suitable to produce them, while the coarse c native 

 cobton fabrics are subjected to a competition with Euro- 

 pean goods which prevents their proper development. 

 It must not, however, be supposed that the Indian 

 cottsn industry is ruined, for the formation of rew 

 companies promoted to estab'ish new mills at once 

 refutes the notion, but at the present time the Indian 

 cotton industry has not kept pace with the increase 

 of fie native population. Thanks to European manu- 

 faciurers, who have sent to India fabrics which from 

 the'r even threads, close weaving, and thickness 'ock 

 very strong, but are really very rotten, the natives 

 who can afford to do so prefer Indian cotton fabrics 

 to Europeans; still, owing to the cheapness of European 

 goods, clothing is more extensively used among the 

 lower orders than formerly. It may be that in the 

 future, by more equitable modes of raising revenue 

 than that now adopted by the Government, who have 

 removed all duties on imported goods in the interests 

 of European manufacturers, an obtaining an equivalent 

 for the lapsed duties by laying a heavier burdei of 

 taxation upon the country, and by encouraging the 

 growth of native manufactures, Indian productions 

 may supplant European goods.— Textile Recorder. 

 ^ 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



Section D.— Biology. — Papers bt Professor 

 Marshall Wabd and Dr. Tbimen. 



Oil the Germdiiation of the Spores of " Phytophthorct 

 iiifestaiis," by Prof. Marshall Ward.— One of the ob- 

 jects of this communication was to bring before the 

 meeting copies of some careful drawings of all the 

 stages of germination. These were obtained by actu- 

 ally watching the .development, escape and germin- 

 ation of the zoospores from the "conidia," following 

 all the phases in one individual. The curious effects 

 of Hght and of abnormal conditions upon the develop- 

 ment of the zoospores were also pointed out, and the 

 author showed diagrams of other forms of germin- 

 ation obtained by interfering with the conditions. In 

 the short discussion which followed Prof. Mirshall 

 Ward referred to some points in the development and 

 escape of the zoospores of the Saprolegnia. 



Oh tlie Flora of Ceijlon, especMlly a^ efected hi) 

 Climate, by Henry Tumen, M. B., F. L. S.— Attention 

 was fiut called to the fact that the Island of Ceylon 

 was practically known to laropeans only by its south- 

 west part, being about one-fifth of the whole area, 

 but including the chief European centres, the plant- 

 ing districts of the hills, and the railway system. 

 The remainder of the country is thickly covered with 

 jungle, thinly inhabited, and rarely visited by Euro- 

 peans, save Ciovernment officials and sportsmen. This 

 d'fference was shown to be due to climate, especially 

 to rainfall. The distribution of the rain, so far as is 

 shown by annual amount, was exhibited by a map, 

 in which the great advantage to the south-west of 

 the lofty forest-clad escarpment of the central 

 mountain-mass of ovct 7000 feet was exhibited. The 

 south-west monsoon wind commencing at the end of 

 May deposits an immense quantity "of rain here, es- 

 pecially in the neighbourhood of Adam's Peak. In 

 the rest of the island this wind becomes dry, and 

 the country is parched and arid until the arrival of 

 north-east monsoon, which commences in October. 

 This wind brings rain to the whole island, and is tlie 

 only rain which the dry districts get ; in many places 

 it all falls in a few weeks, when the country is 

 completely under water, though parched with drought 

 for the rest of the year. This is very different to 

 the well-known south-west of Ceylon, where save in 

 February or March, a fortnight's drought is a very 



