March i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



r59 



from the resemblance o£ the leaf to a goat's foot), and 

 Canavalia obtusi/olia, the beautiful and sweet-smelling 

 blossoms of which are exceedingly orndmental, 

 contrasted with the purple tieUs of the creeper: — 

 Head letter from F. L. Petro, Esq., 0. S., Officiating 

 under Secretary to the Government of India, No. 1,016- 

 A, dated Simla 26th October 1882, enclosing for iuform- 

 tion copy of the following letter from Sui-geon General 

 E. Balfour, late ludian Jledical Department, to the Private 

 Secretary to H. E. the Viceroy and Governor-General 

 of India, dated London 10th August 1883, regarding the 

 cultivation of sand-binding plants in certain sandy tracts 

 in this country, and requesting that that office may be 

 furnished with such information as the society may have 

 on the subject : — " AVould you take an opportunity of 

 leisure to His Excellency the Governor-General to submit 

 that an t-tfort might be made by the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, to bind the loose sands blowing on and from the 

 bed of the Indus and the Indian desert, as also the sands 

 in the South of India in the TiuneveUy and other districts. 

 I could address the agricultural department, but if His 

 Excellency feel able to take up the subject, an intim- 

 ation through you would be in accordance with the charac, 

 ter of His PJxceUency's rule. "About 30 years ago, Dr 

 Hugh Oleghom wrote on the Sand-binding plants of India 

 and what lie wrote then, I have given in my Oyclop:edia 

 of India under Sand-hindincf j'^tiDts. The seeds &c., of 

 these and of all the desert plants might be collected and 

 planted a little to windward of the sand tracts, in double 

 rows, with a row on the edge of the sands. But I 

 would advise, also, application to the Victorian Acclim- 

 ation Society, to Baron Von Mueller of the Melbourne 

 Botanic Gardens, and to the Cape Governments for sup- 

 plies of seeds of sand-binding and sand coast plants. 

 Doubtless the K.ajput Governments, also, know of many 

 plants which they use to restrain the blowing sands, and 

 the Bombay Government would help with seed.s and roots 

 from the desert east of the Indus. I think that an effort 

 might be made to prevent further encroaches and to re- 

 cover, even, some parts of the sterile tracts. About 1860, 

 at the request of the Government, I sent the seeds of 

 many plants, to the Australian Government, from Madras." 

 Kead also the following letter, dated 18th November 1882, 

 from the Honorary Secretary to the under Secretary to the 

 Government of India, llevenue and Agricultural Department 

 (Agriculture) in repiv:— " I have the honour to acknowledge 

 your letter, dated Simla 29th October 1S82, No. 1,016-A, 

 enclosing copy of a letter, dated 10th August 1Sk2, irom 

 Surgeon General E Balfour, regarding the cultivation of 

 sand-binding p ants in certain sandy tracts in this country, 

 and asking for such information as this society may have 

 regarding the same. I am having our older records 

 searched for information bearing on the point, and should 

 I discover anything, \vill furnish it to you as early as 

 possible, but in the meantime, a few items of information 

 which I happen to possess personally on the subject may 

 be of service. For the last twelve years or so, I have 

 been much interested in the planting of Oasuarina for 

 firewood, which is still steadily extending near Madras. 

 The land best suited to the industry, or which seems to 

 give the best results, is a narrow strip on the sea side 

 beginning just above high water mark, and consisting of 

 hillocks of drift sand, in some places matted together 

 with a thick growth of Spiaifex sqiiiirrnsus, Ijiomea pea- 

 capnp, Canavalia obtusifolia, a trailing bean with shoots 

 often 15 or 20 yards long and a few other more insigni- 

 ficant ])Iants, and in others constantly moring. The next 

 belt of lauil is usually very low, scarcely above the level 

 of the sea, where the water has stood, and the H^diter 

 sand having been swept away, even the Casuarinaafmost 

 refuses to grow. In parts of a better class, this lowground 

 is covered wilh a scrubby jungle of Phainixfariniftra, 

 Gmelina incJica, (?) asiatica ani 2>an'ifotia. Cari^sa cnmndas, 

 iU.merc^nn sp., Phi/ll nthus sp., A:adirachta imlica, Ftero- 

 s/jermuhi..iit' erifoKum, CashevT-nut (Anncardium nccidcntale), 

 Cujmnia cnnescens, Spear-grass CAristida antacea), Silv. r- 

 grass CPoa fi/nosuroidi's). and manv other coarse grasses. 

 The worst parts of this low land are usually bc.unded 

 on the inluid side by high land, matted together with 

 a close growth of Wild Indigo (ludigcftra ap.) and(7<'- 

 phrosia. sp.). Wild Chay-root {Vahlia oldenlandiaides). 



Spear-grass (Aristida setaca), and several other coarse 

 gra.ssos, particularly P< roti^-latif alia, hnt the jnug'e covered 

 parls are often apparently in course of being ovt- 

 whelmed by oceans of sand drifted over tliem by the 

 winds in the hot weather, the land abo'-e them be'ng 

 barren shifting .sand. Next inlatid comes a chain of viIla"-pR 

 with the coconut and palmyra topes and cultivated land 

 The first step taken wa,s to plant before and during 

 the rains along the boundary line a fence of screw-pine 

 PandoMus odoratissimuf, Vlte.vnrgnnd^, Wild oroton (Jairo- 

 pha olandutifera and Jatroplia cwrcas). These, however 

 though they grow well, nourished only by the iiatural 

 moisture, were soon given up as bearing no promise of 

 direct profit Wells were dag, sometimes even 20 feet 

 deep, and three or four rows of young Casuarina plants 

 were put in all round the outside ofthelmd, a few in<-he3 

 apart, .vheltered at first with a screen of Pabnyra leaves 

 and similar belts across at intervals of a couple of huiul- 

 I red yards or so ; when these had made sufficient pro- 

 gress to sllf^htly break the swrep of the wind, the whole 

 was planted with Casuarinas 12 feet apart. As these trees 

 require waterinj; by hand lor at least two years, the 

 tanks or wells had to be kept open, which in face of 

 the drifting sand was a difficult matter. We, however, planted 

 the sand dug out of the tanks with Casuarinas 4bont 3 

 feet apart, and thatched the steep sides with roots and 

 cuttings of Vixtex net/undo and silver-grass (Poa cunos- 

 itroides), which served , our rurpo^e. The native" make 

 thei" enclosures on these sands, by planting hedges of 

 wild creton (Jatropha curcas and Jatt-opha glanduUfera) or 

 Paridanus odoratisximus, and by setting the seeds of Pal- 

 myra, leaving all else to nature. The enclosures once 

 made, become speeilily covered with wild Indigo aod coarse 

 grasses, particularly Spear-grass (Aristida setacca) and Per- 

 Otis (atifolia. On the sandy plains on the coast of Tan. 

 jore I observed a Justicia sp. and Clerodendron inenne 

 largely used in the same way. I have of course never 

 seen such sands as those to which Sergeon General Bal- 

 four_ refers, but given time and periodical rains, or water 

 obtainable by digging or otherwise as a base to work 

 gradually away from, with such plants as those named 

 above, I have little dcubt the worst sands I have 

 seen could be, if slowly, surely restrained and reclaimed " 

 Read also a paper in" The Madras Journal of Literature 

 and Science, No. 1 (New Series)," entitled " NotahT 

 No. I on the sand-bindmg plants of the Madras beach' 

 by Hugh Cleghorn, m.d.," which origioallv appeared' io 

 the Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Soeiety 

 of India, Vol IX, Part II, from which if appears that 

 Major Worster, Superintendent of roads, in 1849. advised 

 fhe" planting of Spinifex squarrosus to secure thesand'on 

 the side of the sea-beach road, and in 18'il, pronou'iced 

 it more successful than Ipomta pes-cupne, and Government 

 sanctioned expenditure for that purpose; that Ca|>tain 

 Cannon, Aet'ug Si^perintendent of roads, under date 2Ist 

 July 18.53, pointed to the side of the road between the 

 Marine Villa and the fishermen's huts as shewing the 

 good effects of planting the -Spifij/ar, and stated that he 

 considered it far superior to the Ipomea as a protection to 

 beach ; that Mr. (iadell, sobcollector of Tanjorc con- 

 sidered Sptrti'/ea! the hardiest and most useful of all plants 

 tried on the sides of the Eastern Coast Canal ; and that 

 Dr. Cleghorn, considered the two species mentioned above 

 Canavalia obutdfolla. Htjdrophiilax mantima (Ro.icb. Cor' 

 Pts. t. 233), hf'icrorhynchus sarmcntosns, (Wight's' Illus' 

 Vol. IL t. 133), Pivpalia orbiculata (Wight's loones. Vol! 

 V. t. 1783), I'andamus odnratissimus, and Eiretiti ar'enaria, 

 (perhaps the same as E. cuneata Wight's Icones, Vol. IV. 

 t. 1385), to be the sandbinding plant" most frequently 

 noticed along the Coromandel Beach, though theie were 

 others as Pedall^mi murex, Ipomea pes-Ufiridis and Se amum 

 prostratum which co-operated in the work of conservation 

 to a minor extent, and were less widelr diffused along the 

 coast, and the Cashew (Anacardwm orcideiitale) the 

 Alexandrian I,aurel iCalophyttiim T.iophyUum) and the 

 Wild Date {Phnmx sijlvesiris*) which grew well and 

 would render a double servic" hy preventing further 

 encroachment of sand, and rendering the land useful — 

 Recordeil. 



* Probably P. fanniU-a Roxb., which is common on the 

 Coast, was intended. — J. S. 



