March i. 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



743 



the whole more favourable to the healthy growth 

 aud permanency of cinchonas than our better distributed 

 but often persistent and !oDg-coutinu.-d raiufall ? What 

 do experts, snch as Korbee Laurie, Oweu, Christie 

 and others, say ? Mr. Hughes notices trees wliich 

 are said to be " doing well, so far, at le.ast, as ap- 

 pearance may be t.iken as a favourable sign, but 

 we have no account ol the yield of alkaloids from 

 the bark." Is the proposition generally accepted that 

 the more healthy the appearance of the plants is the 

 more their bark ubounds in alkaloids ? If so, how 

 is it reconciled with the improvement in the bark 

 of trees suffeiiug from the- shork, or repeated shoL'ks, 

 of shaving ? As Mr. Hnghes especially dwells on the 

 i-icluiess of the Nilgiii soils in nitrogen .and carbon, 

 why did he make comparatively ligiit of the former 

 iugroilient and take no means even to determine Ihe 

 amount of the latter in cur Dimbula soils. Is it be- 

 cause he was in our case testing for coffee, while in 

 the case of the Nilgiri soils he had cinchoua in 

 view '; If so, are the large size of the cinchona trees, 

 and the fact that their virtues reside in their bark, the 

 reasons why he considers carbon eo important in the 

 one case while not determining it in the other ? Why 

 also should Mr._ Hughes recommend a direct ap- 

 plication ot potash to the Kilgiri soils, while he con- 

 sidered such "an application unnecessary in Ceylon ? Is 

 it that onr rocks are richer in potash ? It cannot 

 certainly be that cinchona bark requires more potash 

 than do the beans of ccitl'ee, which contain in some 

 cases 54 per cent jjotash ? Recently, when we asked 

 why silt in ravines was not applied to the soil, the 

 answer was. " Ob ! it is only sand." But would not 

 the application of this sand pay in the result of the 

 mere improvement of the mechanical condition of the 

 soil? If it could be afforded, we suspect that the 

 digging into many of our upland stiff soils of sand 

 and even gravel from ravines and streams would have 

 a good effect, in the case of cinchoua culture at 

 any rate. And might not some form of mountain 

 plough or digger be used with advantage in some 

 portions even of the mountains of Ceylon ? With a 

 certain period for sweetening by aeration, it really 

 seems that, in the case of cinchona culture, the 

 positions of the surface soil and the sour, cold sub- 

 soil may be reversed, not only without the injurious 

 consequences general in other cases, but with positive 

 advantage. 



The geological and mineralogioal conditions on the 

 Nilgiri plateau and in the high mountain system of 

 Ceylon are so much alike that we think the differ- 

 ence in favour of the Nilgiris as regards cinchona 

 culture, at least, must be due to climate. Wind is, 

 if anything, woi-se on the Nilgiris that in Ceylon, 

 but, from the absolutely less rainfall on the Nilgiris 

 and the conformation of the plateau, there does not 

 seem to be so much "wash" as in Ceylon. Hence 

 probably the existence of so much greater a depth 

 of surface mould ? But, to enable us or anyone to 

 institute a full and fair comparison, we ought now to 

 get similar analyses to those of Mr. Hughes for half- 

 a-dozen at least of the soils of Ceylon in which cin- 

 chona culture lias been specially successful. This is 

 a task which Mr. Alexander l)ixon, with all that 

 lie has seen of our mountain system, with the eye 

 of a geologist and chemist, ought to perform con 

 amore. The impression left on our mind by our pre- 

 spnt consideration of the oubj'ot is, that, while the 

 Nilgiris present, generally, superior conditions for the 

 culiu.e f cinchonas, Ceylon is destined to be pre- 

 eminently a producer of TEA. 



(ieTee^aking^in Tndia. 



Mr. W. R. Robertson, M.K..\.c., Agricultural Re- 

 porter to the Government of Madras, wrote to tlie 

 Director of Revenue Settlement aud Agriculture, 5th 



December IS82, as follows : — "I have the honor to sub- 

 mit the following observations on the papers forwarded 

 under your endorsement No. 3, dated 27th November 

 last. Some of the details given of the prooesse.s followed 

 in ghee-making are, making allowance for differences in 

 climate, not unlike those followed in this Presidency. 

 In making ghee, the first object is to get the butter 

 thoroughly separated from the milk in us pure a 

 condition as possible ; this is secured by placing the 

 can or vessel containing the freshly-drawn milk in au 

 e.arthenware vessel of boiling water for about live 

 minutes. The milk, after thus being exposed to a 

 temperature of about 212 degrees, is poured into an- 

 other vessel, and butter-milk is added, from two to 

 three drops in hot weather, to a teaspoonful in cold 

 weather, per quart of milk. The vessel with the 

 milk is put aside for 24 hours, the milk is then 

 churned. The yield of butter averages from about 

 I^ to 2 ounces per quait of milk, but, of course, 

 varies greatly. The butter is next melted in an open 

 vessel over a slow fire, the heat coagulates the casein, 

 which, with other imijurities, sinks to the bottom 

 of the vessel ; boiling is continued for from fifteen 

 to twenty minutes, when most of the water is evapor- 

 ated into (he air, aud the ghee, clear and bright, 

 rests on the heavier sediment covering the bottom 

 of the vessel. The ghee, when cold, is carefully 

 poured off' leaving the sediment behind, and is fit for 

 immediate use, or for storing for future use. The 

 outturn of ghee varies with the quality of the butter 

 and the purity of the ghee made ; an average outturn 

 is 50 to 60 per cent of the weight of the butter used, 

 when the butter is made from the milk of the cow. 

 The yield of ghee from buffalo butter is higher. Ghee 

 is never made when a fair price can be obtained for 

 milk or butter. A viss (.Sib. 2oz. ) of ghee sells for 

 usually only about Rl-20, and to make this, not 

 loss than 6 lb. of butter, or 48 quarts of milk of the 

 cow, would be needed. In nearly all the large towns 

 of Southern India cows' milk will sell readily at 

 As. 2 per quart and butter at As. 12 per pound. Thus 

 the milk that would be required to make a viss of 

 ghee worth Rl-2-0 would, as fresh milk, sell tor aliout 

 R6, and if churned would yield butter worth R4-8 0. 

 It is apparent then that what it is necessary to 

 do is not to encourage the making of ghee, but to 

 improve the dairy processes aud to enable the ryot 

 to place his milk and butter in a good maiket. AU 

 classes consume milk, and there is at present a large 

 annual importation of condensed milk and of buttei\" 

 On this Mr. Wilson, the Director of Revenue Settle- 

 ment, wrote : — " The details of ghee-making, as de- 

 scribed by Mr. Robertson, differ, it will be observed, 

 in some respects from those described in the no-e oi 

 the Agricultural Department of India. With refer- 

 ence to Mr. Robertson's remarks in paragraphs '> aud 

 6, it is observed th.at the chief consumers of dairy 

 produce in India must necessarily be the native 

 population ; fresh milk is not greatly used by them. 

 According to my experience they have a prejudice 

 against fresh milk, preferring it boiled, that is in 

 its first stage to the favourite and universally. used 

 curds and butter-milk. Among the native population 

 again fresh butter is not much used, whether as a 

 relish or for culinary purposes, ghee being used in- 

 stead. To sum up, fresh milk and butter won't keep, 

 and have but a limited market, which no imi-rove- 

 ments in dairy processes or in communications will 

 do much to extend. It is for the interest of the 

 dairyman to turn his milk into butter-milk and his 

 butter into ghee which keeps well as soon as possible ; 

 he is always sure of a market for both, which is not 

 the case with fresh milk and fresh butter. The greater 

 part of the dairy produce of India may be always 

 expected, therefore, to take tlie form of curds, buttei- 

 milk and ghee, for these articles find by far and away 



