Nov. J, 1886 ij 



THE TjROPlCAL AGHiCULTUmSI^. 



345 



ii TlJB ! 



CULTIVATION OF THE OEANGE IN INDIA. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE "INDIAN AGRICULTUIUST." 



SiK, — I shall be much obliged if you can give me 

 any hints on the cultivation of orange trees in India. 

 I don't want to know about the climate, because no 

 place is better adopted to growing oranges than the 

 place I have selected. I wish to know what distance 

 apart the trees ought to be planted, when they will 

 fruit, and how much fruit they will yield ; also wfiat 

 extent of land should be planted to yield a sufficient 

 return to pay for superintendence and up-keep, with 

 a profit of RG,000 annually. 



If you could let me know whether there is a good 

 market for oranges in Calcutta, and what prices they 

 fetch, it would be an additional obligation. T. 



The orange should be raised by budding on the 

 common lime or lemon. The operation shold be per- 

 formed in February. In the December following, the 

 young trees should be planted out at a distance of 

 20 feet apart, in large holes 3 feet deep and 3 feet 

 diameter, filled with a rich soil composed of well- 

 decayed cow-dung, night-soil, common black earth, 

 and a small quantity of slaked lime. The trees blossom, 

 as a rule, in February and March, and the fruit is 

 ripe by November, and sometimes earlier. They last 

 till the end of January, and sometimes February ; but 

 the fruit should, for the sake of the trees, be all 

 removed by .January, to allow the plants to rest a 

 little before flowering again in February. The soil 

 should ha.ve a top-dressing of manure every year just 

 before the trees begin flowering. A well-grown tree, 

 • ly about 3 or 4 years old, will yield from 200 to 

 500 fruits. We have known them to yield a great 

 deal more. [We suspect orange trees in Ceylon do not 

 bear under Uvic. the age specified. — Ed] 



WOOD FOR CIGAR-BOXES, etc. 



I have read the correspondence on this subject in 

 recent numbers of the Forester with much interest. 

 I entirely agree with Mr. S. E. Peal in considering 

 that ' tun* or Foma ' wood is the best we have in 

 India for the purpo,se. There are of course others that 

 will do, and among tho.se referred to by "ex-Student" 

 Diiabanf/n sonnrratioicles and Alnus nepalen<iis might be 

 used, but would not bg nearly so good as several 

 ot'ier woods that can be named, such as ' bakayan,' 

 MeJia Aztilaracli (very like tun) and Acrocarpus 

 fraxinifoKi's. To put down in a list such coarse woods 

 as Echinoc(n-/)i/.s and Ehpocarpus is only to mislead. 



The bcces in which Trichinopoly cheroots are usually 

 packed are made of tun, those used in Coconada are 

 made inv.riably of Adina cordifoHa, but I doubt if 

 that wood would be used if tun were easily procurable 

 in the Godavari forests. I strongly advise those who 

 want a good cigar-box wood to stick to tun, the 

 Indian representative of the Spanish cedar, which I 

 believe is Cedrcia odorata. 



It is worth noting here that according to the most 

 recent determinations, neither the ' Lah ' ©f Darjeeling 

 nor the 'S;im' of Assam is Macldlns odoraiisdma. 

 The real Machilus odoratissima is the Punjab tree so 

 common about Simla, the others will, I think, be found 

 under other names, wliich I am sorry I do not yet 

 know, when the next part of the 'Flora of British 

 India' is published. The three trees of Darjeeling, 

 known to the Nepalese coolies as ' LaH,' ' Kawala ' 

 and ' Jagrikat ' re.spectively will probably be described 

 as distinct species, instead of being all placed, as 

 hitherto, under Machihn odoratis.iima. The 'Lepchaphal' 

 has proved lately, from good flowers and fruit collected, 

 to be not J'hcehe attenuata, but a new speci-s, to which 

 Dr. King has given the provisional name of Jfachilns 

 edulU. I expect "ex-Student" is nuxing up cigar-box 

 woods with those suitable for tea-boxes. It would be 

 rather too much to expect Mr. Sutherland to go to 

 Darjeeling for such woods, when he can get tun and 

 bakayan from the N.-W, Provinces.— J. S. Gamdle. 

 — Indian Forester. 



* Popular spelling Xoon,- 

 44 



-E». 



THE QUESTION OF MULCHING. 



Mulching may serve to keep the surface moist, but 

 it will be fo«nd that the portion in contact with tho 

 ground is apt to mildew and encourage fungus growth, 

 which does not promote healthful vegetation. We are 

 cautioned, therefore, against the use of easily decay- 

 ing or fermenting substances. A careful examination 

 of the under surface of most mulchings will develop 

 the fact that it is a snug harbor for slugs, .snails, 

 worms and all minor sorts of vermin. 



If the material used cannot be usefully or properly 

 dug into the soil after its use as a mulch hns ceased, 

 as with tan, sand or sawdust upon light .soils, then the 

 labor of spreading and afterwards gathering it together 

 again is by no means incon.siderable. A coating two 

 inches thick on an acre amounts to about three hun- 

 dred single loads of stuff, which must cost at le.ast 

 ;>.50 to '~60 to spread and remove. How many times 

 could you go over an acre with a cultivator for -50 ^ 

 Certainly more than thirty. 



Mulching induces a growth of fibrous roots to push 

 up to the surface. It is not a little remarkable that 

 none of those who have recorded this fact so repeatedly 

 have noted that this is not a useful result. 



How can. temporary advantages of mulching be other- 

 wise obtained permanently? In a well-cultivated field 

 not more than from one-eighth to one-tenth of the 

 rain that falls upon the .soil finally passes off by per- 

 colation; the remainder is drawn to the surface and 

 evaporated by the process described. Anything that 

 breaks up the uniform continuity of the texture of the 

 soil, by which atom after atom of water is brought to 

 the surface, will accomplish the first steji in retaining 

 the natural moisture of the soil within it. 



Now, mulching does not do this at all ; it only checks 

 or moderates the approach of the atmosphere to the 

 moistened surface of the soil, and therefore retards 

 evaporation to that extent ; but the reason why there 

 is so much moisture beneath the mulch is because the 

 capillary action of the soil keeps on pumping up the water 

 faster than it can evaporate. 



Dry soil is an excellent non-conductor, made doubly 

 so by being loosened and thus intermingled with air. 

 This is precisely the condition of the soil after ,1 

 thorough cultivation. When thus rendered tine and light 

 the surface becomes truly a cushion of air and dry 

 earth ; the continuity of tho in.sensible process of con- 

 viction of the water of the soil is broken, the point 

 at which the upper passage of the water of the soil 

 ceases is removed to the depth of the cultivation, tin: 

 free access of the air to tho continuou.sly moist suifnce 

 is hindered and you have accompli'^hed all of tljo hf nc- 

 ficial effects of mulching in a cheaper, more intelh'giiit 

 and scientific manner. — Proceedings Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society. 



ANTS ON TREES AND PLANTS. 



The ants so often found in great numbers upou 

 plants and young fruit trees cause no injury. Their 

 presence is due to plant lice, a very prcidiar insect 

 found upon nearly every part of plants, but usually 

 in the greatest numbers upon young shoots, bud^-, 

 and leaves. These parasites multiply with wonderful 

 rapidity. It has been provefl by Eeauniur that a 

 single individual is capable of becoming the progenitor 

 of nearly six thousand millions of these pests in five 

 generations. This accounts for the fact that the tendei' 

 twigs and leaves of plants and small trees will often 

 become completely covered with a living mass of 

 these minute lice in a very short sp;ce of time. 

 Most of these are females, destitute of wings. The 

 winged individuils, according to Harris, '■ appear only 

 at particular sea.sons, usually in the autumn, but 

 sometimes in the spring, these being all small males 

 and larger females. After pairing, the latter lay 

 their eggs upon or near the leaf buds of the plants 

 upon which they live, and together with the males 

 soon afterwaril.s i)erish." The genus to which plant 

 lice belongs is called Aphis, from a Greek word 

 signify inj; to oxhaust, The eggs arc batched in th<^ 



