May 2, 1887.] l-HE TROPI-CAL AGRICULTURIST. 



717 



CASUAEINA EQUISETIFOLIA. 



Wethinktbe fashoinable fad of Bengal Forest OflScers 

 in laying down the general principles of forestry as th^y 

 hold good in India according to their lights, a great waste 

 of time. Most of the conclusions arrived at are erroneous 

 and must be productive of on little mischief. F jrestry is 

 an eminently empirical science, cons* queutly its general 

 principles must be derived from actual experience, and 

 until we huve a sufficient store of exp-rience, it is of 

 no Ufa to attempt publishing a aeneral hand-book on 

 forestry as applicable to India. If the object is, on the 

 other hand, to give the general principles of forestry 

 as applied, say to France or Germany, it would be much 

 belter to translate one of the leading hand-books of 

 those countries on the subject, or, if necessary, to 

 translate extracts, rather than to attempt the produc- 

 tion of a faulty book, which gives itself the appearance 

 of being based on Indian experience, whereas in reality 

 all the difficult points on which Indian experience is 

 wanting are studiously passed over in silence. Our 

 remarks are called forth by some astouudingly incor- 

 rect statements which are given as matters of fact in 

 the work of a Bengal Forest Officer who is considered 

 an authority on most piantiug matters. This gentleman 

 discourses on our well-known Oasuarina in the follow- 

 ing amazincr terms : " ihefabidovs growth of the Causar- 

 ina eqiiisetifoUa reported from the Madras Presidency, 

 which, however, is still an exotic, &c. " Why " fabu- 

 lous " and why an " exotic ?" This leads to the con- 

 sideration of another assertion on the same suhjet 

 ■which can ouly be propped up by a maintenance of 

 the most extreme views with regard to acclimatization, 

 or to speak more correctly, lasting introduction, namely, 

 that a permanent and independent position in the 

 new countriy's flora, like the American Water-weed in 

 English canals or the Australian AVattle ( Acacia 

 Dealbata ) on the Nilgiris. Accepting any definition 

 short of this, Casuarina equisetifolia is not an exotic. 

 Though we cannot positively assert that natural repro- 

 duction may be reckoned on in a Oasuarina plantation, 

 we have good grounds for believing it, at least in the 

 ordinary _ clim'ite of the M)'sore plateau and North 

 Arcot District, beyond which our observations hare not 

 ex ended. In the" Bangalore plantations it has been 

 planted pure and made unprecedented growth, which 

 we submit, is a crucial test, the more so as the rainfall 

 seems to be very irregular in most of them. It is 

 certain that in Mysore generally the tree seeds plenti- 

 fully and produces a crop of seedlings wherever the 

 ground is in a fit state to raise them. Hardihood is a 

 test of successful introduction, and here no arborial 

 species can surpass it over so large an area. Growing 

 magnificently along the sandy shore of the Madras 

 coast, it is quite at home and makes excellent growth on 

 the hard loams and inland climate of Eastern Mysore 

 whence it extends West with its graceful pine-like 

 foliage, in a country where- no Conifers are, into a damp 

 climate where few of its late companion species can 

 follow it. At Cotacamund, with a mean yearly temper- 

 ature a few degrees above that of London, the same 

 wonderful tree turns up again. We may well parody 

 a trite saying by describing it as "all things to all 

 climates."— ^oMi/i of India Observer. [If Casuarina 

 equisetifolia grows well in Ootacamund, it surely 

 ought to flourish at our highest elevations in Ceylon. 

 What is the highest elevation at which it has been 

 tried. There are species which grow well at high altitudes 

 for a few years and then die out. -Ed.] 



THE USES OF LIME. 



Lime should never be ploughed under, but kept as 

 near the sunace as possible. Your directions are pre- 

 cisely right; viz., "spread.it evenly in a finely pul- 

 verized state and diffuse it well in the soil by har- 

 rowmg. That is the proper practice, aud it is exceed- 

 ingly rare that when lime is thus used it is not found 

 to be of great service to the crops, especially clover 

 and grass. And as clover and grass are— so to speak 

 —the underpinning of a successful rotation, this is 

 exceedingly important. But farmers are much aided 

 by reasons why things are thus or thus, and miuute 



directions how to secure certain conditions. Now, 1 

 would like to give M. P. R. not only my experience 

 during several years, but reasons why lime is useful, 

 and directions how to procure the requisite finely 

 pulverized condition, and its intimate diffusion in theoils. 

 First, there is a good deal of miNapprehensiun re- 

 garding the efltect of lime as a fertilizer. It has long 

 been, and now is — by many pt^rsuns — thought to be a 

 stimulant to the soil, and, therefore, a dangerous 

 substance to use. This is by no means true. It is 

 partly true, and as it contains a little truth, it is, like 

 a little knowledge, a dangerous thing. Lime is a direct 

 and indispensable plant food. This is evideuily proved 

 by the following figures, showing the percentage of 

 lime contained in the ash of — 



Olover 27 to 40 



Potato vines 39 to 46 



Turnip leaves 32 



Rye straw 73 



Corn stalks 10^ 



Pea straw 38 



Hop vines 17 



Tobacco ... ■ 37 



Moreover, there is not ft plant or any part of a 

 plant that does not contain more or less of lime ; 

 this is not surprsing, when it is considered that as 

 animals feed upon plants, and the bones contain 

 about 50 per cent in round numbers of lime ; and 

 if the soil is deficient in it, of course the plants do 

 not thrive, and cannot, however much of the other 

 needed elements of plant food the soil may contain. 

 For if one is deficient, the plants cannot make use 

 of the others. The lime also must be soluble, and 

 it is only soluble practically in a caustic or fresh state, 

 and is practicully insoluble in its mild or carbonized 

 state. For instance, if a small quantity of fresh lime 

 be put into a barrel of soft rain water, the lime is 

 dis.solved, and the water becomes hard ; but if a large 

 piece of marble, which is carbonate of lime, be put 

 into the water, the lime is not dissolved, and the 

 water remains soft and pure. 



Second, lime is not only a plant food of itself, but 

 it has a strong decomposing action upon fresh organic 

 matter in the soil, and quickly reduces it to a con- 

 dition in which it is available as food for plants ; 

 moreover, it aids greatly in what we call the nitri- 

 fication of organic matter; uhat is, the development 

 of nitric acid from nitrogenous organic matter, and 

 the formation of nitrates in the soil, which can be 

 taken up by plants. This is the way in which it is 

 supposed to act as a stinjulaut; but wrongly so. It 

 is rather an exhaustive agent in the soil, because it 

 rapidly makes soluble and available organic matter, 

 which would otherwibe remain longer in the soil, and 

 only become available slowly. Lime is therefore a 

 most valuable addition to a richly manured soil, or 

 to land that is rich iu vegetable matter, as newly 

 reclaimed and drained swamps. But caution must be 

 used to feed such a soil well, as — to use a familiar 

 simile — its powers of digestion are very strong indeed 

 and it calls for more food in proportion. 



Third, lime also exerts a chemical action upon the 

 mineral particles of the soils, diss living their sili- 

 cious surfaces wnich hold potash and phosphoric acid, 

 and freeing these invaluable substances so that they 

 can be appropriated by the roots of the crops. This 

 is not an exhaustive process, because it is exerted 

 upon an inexhaustible store of material, and as long 

 as any soil remains, this process can go on without 

 danger of exhaustion. 



Lime is, therefore, useful in any soil in which it 

 does not already exist in a soluble condition. It is 

 more useful, perhaps, upon stiff clay soils, because it 

 loosens and opens them, and makes them porous and 

 gives admission to the air, than upon sandy soils. 

 It is most useful upon the feldspathic and micaceous 

 clay soils, or sandy loams, because these minerals con- 

 tain from ten to eighteen per cent of potash, insol- 

 uble without the help of lime. It should also, there- 

 fore, be used in the finist pos-ible state of division, 

 which is secured by air-.slaking, and be most intim- 

 ately diffused iu the soil, that its action may be as 

 effective as possible. — Southern Planter. 



