April i, 1887.] IHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



6gi 



to have failed to grasp the object with which the 

 cultivation of this crop was introduced, viz., to afford 

 employment to men and cattle when they were not 

 required for paddy cultivation. Sugar-cane, it is true, 

 is a crop which takes from ten to fourteen months 

 to mature, but it does not require labour through- 

 out the period it is in the ground, as the Board 

 seems to suppose. Nor should the suggestion of the 

 Board to use copper instead of iron evaporators be 

 accepted simply because the Coimbatore ryots con- 

 sider the former superior. Messrs. Thomson and 

 Mylne recommend paua made of sheet-iron, and their 

 experience is quite as valuable as that of the Coim- 

 batore ryots, and iron pans are much cheaper than 

 those made of copper. The report concludes with a 

 brief account of an experiment made to test the 

 advantages of preparing rice land in the dry state, 

 instead of on the usual puddle system. The experi- 

 ment was successful, but the advantage was slight, 

 and there are several obstacles to the general in- 

 troduction of the new method. 



We cannot close this notice without offering our 

 congratulations to Mr. Krishnasawmy Mudaliyar upon 

 the success which has attended his public spirited 

 experiments. District Agricultural Associations rise 

 and fall with the advent of each new Collector. 

 They excite but little interest, and the ryots have 

 little confidence in them. It is to gentlemen like 

 Mr. Krishnasawmy Mudaliyar, then, that we must 

 look for the spread of agricultural knowledge, and 

 we wish him that success in the future which has 

 so Bigually crowned his efforts in the past. — Madras 

 Mail. 



VEGETABLE PRODUCTS AND 

 CULTIVATION. 



THEIR 



If there were was one thing more than another 

 which struck the thoughtful visitor to the Indo- 

 Oolonial Eshibition of last year, it was a feeling of 

 surprise at the vast resources afforded by the vege- 

 table kingdom. Even those more or less familiar with 

 vegetable products of various kinds from different 

 countries were compelled to own that they had never 

 before so completely realized the immensity and diver- 

 sity of the means at our command. At a time 

 when botany, or one portion of it, is falling into dis- 

 repute, as witnessed by its recent partial exclusion 

 from the curriculum of the Medical Schools and of 

 the Universities, it is worth while calling to mind the 

 tact that it is to botanists, and to systematic botanists 

 in particular — to the very class whose labours just 

 now are held in relatively little esteem — that we are 

 indebted for a knowledge of these resources; not 

 wholly, of course, but mainly so. AVitness what was 

 done for economic botany in the past by the Rox- 

 burghs, the Wallichs, the Wights, the Roj'les. Call 

 to mind what has been done by the Hookers, father 

 and son ; by Lindley, by Ferdinand von Mueller, by 

 Hanbury, by Markham, and many others that might 

 be mentioned. Think what is being done now by 

 Dyer, by Morris, by Watt, by Duthie.- and it will 

 be seen that the botanists of what is now called the 

 old school have been the chief agents in bringing to 

 light, identifying and developing, those products, "the 

 importance of which has been so forcibly brought 

 home to us. Consider, too, for a moment on the 

 one hand the depressed state of agriculture, and on 

 the other the host of matters awaituig development, 

 and for which development increased knowledge, botan- 

 ical, chemical, and cultural, is demanded, and it will 

 surely be seen that this is no time to depreciate the 

 study of systematic botany. We cannot, however, 

 stop to discuss this part of the question. It may 

 aid others to do so, it may promote the extension 

 of profitable knowledge, if we make passing allusion 

 to some of the various conferences and lectures del- 

 ivered relating to vegetable products, and which are 

 the more or less direct outcome of the Exhibition. 

 :. Reports on special subjects— such, for instance, as 

 on fibres for textile purposes, for paper-making, 

 and for mats, rnpes, and basket-work, have appeared. 

 Dinng thj discussions that took place many inter- 

 esi-iag facts came out on the uses of the products 



under notice; thus, on the question of vegetable fibres 

 suitable for substitutes for silk, a sample of Jute 

 was exhibited by Mr. Cross which had been subjected 

 to a chemical process, the effect of which was 

 to reduce the fibre to its ultimate fibrils, and at the 

 same time to increase the durability of the substance, 

 " This chemically treated Jute," it is stated, " was 

 much admired, the more so as it was almost impossible 

 to distinguish the fibre from Tasar silk." 



Amongst substances suitable for paper-making the 

 bark of Bauhinia Vahlii was considered the most hope- 

 ful, and it seems that since the Conference a number 

 of paper makers and textile manufactures have applied 

 for and obtained samples of the Bauhinia fibre ; and 

 it seems likely that, as a direct outcome of the re- 

 cent Exhibition, this will become an important one 

 foj a number of applications. 



On the subject of perfume-yielding oils, the otto of 

 Hang Hang (Oananga odorata) is said to have been the 

 first ever exhibited from India; while the tubers of Cype- 

 rus rotundus, and the oil prepared from tham were pro- 

 nounced quite new to Europe. The substance is said 

 to be largely used in Upper India to perfume clothes, 

 and an essential oil is prepared from the tubers. 



Of oils suitible for candle and soap making, that 

 from the seeds of the Mahwa (Bassia latifolia) was 

 thought to be the most hopeful ; it was stated to be 

 harder than Oocouut-oil— a fact, in the candle trade, 

 that would make up for its slightly inferior quality : 

 Messrs. Price & Co. report it to be worth £35 per 

 ton. It is believed that is has never been, to any 

 great extent at least, experimented with for the pur- 

 pose of the European soap trade, although the people 

 in Guzerat and other parts of India make soap largely 

 of it. With reference to dye products, it is stated 

 by Mr. Mu Rharji, that the Charila of the Punjaub 

 (Parmelia Kamts-Chadalis) is employed in India to 

 a considerable extent in calico printing, but with the 

 object of imparting a peculiar perfume, and a very 

 pale rose-tinge to the fabric. 



Perhaps one of the most important of the Confer- 

 ences was 'that on Tobacco and cigars. " Most of the 

 samples of leaf exhibited were pronounced almost un- 

 saleable from being packed too hard, having a bad 

 smell, and being often perforated, and even broken, 

 and indeed in many cases almost rotten, due to im- 

 perfect curing. ... A few samples were, however, 

 much admired, and one or two brokers were authorised 

 by the manufacturers to take steps to procure 

 large quantities if the price was found suitable. " 

 It was strongly urged that the leafstalks should be 

 cut off at the base of the blade and never exported 

 to England. It was pointed out that about 75 

 per cent of the Tobacco cut for the pipe is sold in 

 the shape of shag at 3d. an ounce, retail. The manu- 

 facturer sells this at 3s. to .3s. 2d. a pound ; so that, 

 taking the average cost of Tobacco at Gd. and the 

 duty at 3a-. 6d., the article is being sold at consider- 

 ably below cost price. This is due to the fact that 

 the raw Tobacco comes into manufacturer's hands in 

 a dry state, and the profit is made on the increased 

 weight due to moisture absorbed. A Tobacco must, to use 

 the technical expression "drink well" to be profitable, 

 but if the importer has to pay duty upon a heavy sec- 

 tion of the parent stem dangling at the end of a 

 long and heavy leafstalk it is impossible that he can 

 make a profit. Indian native leaf is also very inju- 

 riously coated with sand and dirt, which, apart from 

 the trouble of cleansing which this necessitates, greatly 

 increases the duty by rai.sing the weight. England 

 is, one might aimost say, well enough supplied with 

 Tobacco without the aid of India, and with numer- 

 ous disadvantages it is scarcely likely that India can 

 take an important place in the supply of Tobacco 

 unless radical improvements are effected. Tobacco 

 on importation should contain not more than 10 per 

 cent of water, for although the duty is raised when 

 there is less than 10 per cent of water, it is not 

 lowered when there is more. This is a most import- 

 ant consideration, and one that cannot be too forcibly 

 urged, for, as has been stated, the profit in the To- 

 bacco trade is due to water, but it is fatal if the 

 importer has to pay duty on the latter. 



