78 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882. 



cnltivated in other districts, but not so largely as it 

 might be, eonsiilei-ing its valuable properties. 



The flowers ripen towards the end of February or 

 beginning of March, the corollas becoming fleshy and 

 tinged with the juices they secrete. They then gi-ad- 

 ually loosen from the calyx, and falling to the ground, 

 are carefully gathered by the natives — women and 

 cMldi'en being chiefly employed in this Irasiuess. They 

 start in the early morning from then' villages, caiiying 

 baskets and a supply of water for the day's use, to 

 where the Mahwa trees gi'ow. 



Just before the blossoms are ready to fall, the gi-ass 

 is burnt away in a cii'cle from beneath the trees, in 

 order that none of the precious blossoms may be hidden 

 by it, and so lost. The gleaners of the Mahwa crop 

 remain in the neighbourhood of the trees all ilay, col- 

 lecting and sleeping by tm'ns, and retm'n home at nighi 

 laden vith spoil. When the gleaners have come from a 

 long distance, they often make a temporary encampment 

 of huts, formed of branches of trees, and live on the 

 gi'ound untU they have coUeeted aU the flowers. They 

 never strip the trees entii'ely of blossoms ; in good 

 seasons, each tree ^vill produce from two to three hun- 

 di'ed pounds of flowers ; and a good many are allowed 

 to remain to seed themselves. 



The natives clear a piece of gi'Ound in front of then' 

 huts, and on this spread out the flowers to dry in the 

 sun. WTien quite dry, tbey are reddish brown in colour, 

 and have shrunk to about thi'ee-fourths of then- ordinary 

 size, and lose at least half theii- weight. 



The tree is a hardy one, and even in poor ground 

 flourishes well. It could therefore be eiUtivated on land 

 wliich would not j-ield ordinai-y crops. The trees are 

 rented, and the rent varies with various circimistances, 

 such as theu' abundance in the district, and the quality 

 of the previous rice harvest. Mr. V. Ball, of the Geo- 

 logical SmTey, says that in the Mm^iia district the prices 

 paid for permission to collect vaiy from twopence to 

 fom' shillings ; and from one humked and twenty to 

 four hundi'ed and eighty poimds per rupee — tivo shill- 

 ings — is the price paid for the saved crop. Very often 

 the exchange is made in kind, in salt'.or rice ; the merch- 

 ants then give a small quantity of salt, and six or 

 eight pounds of rice for a matind — eighty pounds — of 

 Mahwa. During the time of the famine in Manbhoom, 

 the average price of Mahwa was twenty-four pounds for 

 one rupee. 



Two maiindii of Mahwa are said to be enough for a 

 month's food for a family of five. It is not generally 

 eaten alone, however, but mixed with different seeds, 

 those of the Sliorea rvhusta, the sal tree : and very 

 often rice is added also. When dried, Mabua flowers 

 rather resemble inferior figs. When fresh, they have a 

 sweet taste, but a by no means agreeable odoiu'. The 

 fruit succeeds the blossoms. It is about the size of a 

 very small apple ; and the kernels contain oU, which is 

 of an inferior colour and rancid taste, Imt is vei-y 

 generally used by the poorer natives for lighting pur- 

 poses, as well as for cooking ; and it is also applied 

 externally as a remedy for wounds, sores, and cutan- 

 eous diseases generally. 



The freshly-di-ied flowers yield, on distillation, a very 

 intoxicating spirit, called by the natives dam. It is 

 usually diluted with from five to ten times its bulk of 

 water, and is then oflered for sale at about a penny per 

 quart. Its smell, which is most offensive, cannot, even 

 by the most careful distillation, be wholly got rid of. 

 The natives, however, do not seem to mind it in the 

 least ; and even British soldiers acquire a taste for the 

 liquor in time, though they generally liold thek noses 

 while diiuking it. One hundvedweiglit of flowers is said 

 to yield from four to six gallons of proof-spirit. The 

 very caret'iiUy distilled and rectified spirit is put iuto 

 oak-casks, becomes of a yellowish colom* with keeping, 

 and is said to be little inferior to the best Irish wbi,-ky. 

 The oil is manufactured from the seeds by bruising, 



rubbing, and subjecting them to heavy pressure. It is 

 a coarse sort of oil ; but in the manufacture of soap 

 is largely used in the country, and also for canities. 

 For that pm-})ose, it would be worth in England from 

 twenty-five to thirty-five pounds per ton. It has been 

 tried by candle-manufacturers, and pronoimced veiy 

 suitable, and a valuable oil for such pmposes. 



Useful as the Mahwa tree is, and valued as it is by 

 the natives, stiU, they do not protect or foster its gi-owth 

 as much as it might be thought they would, consider- 

 ing that the flowers and fruit are alike useful for food, 

 diinli, and domestic puiijoses. The cultivation of the 

 tree is not so gi-eat as it well might be. This culture 

 might, with very considerable advantage to the country 

 be fostered by the government, as the trees would yield 

 a revenue, by the duty on the spuit distilled from them, 

 as well as afford food for the poorer native population 

 at certain seasons of the year. No outlay is necessary, 

 as they are very easily gi-own from seed, the trees pro- 

 pagating themselves in those parts of India in which 

 the tree is indigenous, the seed being generally self- 

 sowTi. In the Conoans, the Cii-car Mountains, Bengal, 

 Rajputana, Gnzerat, &c., the Mahwa tree gi'ows in con- 

 siderable numbers, and it might easily be spread from 

 thence over all India. The natives are sufficiently alive 

 to the value of the trees to protect them in those places 

 in which they exist, but do little or nothing towards 

 increasing their numbers ; and the increase of cultivated 

 land prevents the seedlings springing up, as they would 

 othernise do in many places. With a view to securmg 

 the preservation of Mahwa trees in village areas, it is 

 not now allowed to cut them down, even when they 

 have ceased blooming, without permission. This is a 

 step in the right dii'ection ; and if attention is turned 

 towards the cultivation of seedlings throughout India, 

 one of the best food-trees of the empire will be pi-e- 

 served from extinction. — CImmbers's Journal. 



INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA-PERCHA 



IN THE FAR EAST. 



Dr. L. Pierre, Director of the Botanical Garden at 

 Saigon, in French Cochin China (about the same latitude 

 as Tenasserim), has recently made some interesting 

 observations on the rubber and gutta yielding trees of 

 Cochin China and Cambodia, in No. 2 of " Cochin 

 Chine Frauijaise : Excursious et Reconnaissances," an 

 official work published at Saigon. 



Slplionia elastka, introduced vid Java, is apparently 

 certain of establishment, thought not yet seriously 

 culiivated ; Ficus elastka h'ls also been introduced. It 

 is, however, to the indigenous plants that Dr. Pierre's 

 attention has chiefly been directed. He speaks of 

 three native species of Eii/j/ioihiii, not worked by the 

 inhabitants ot the country, though easily cultivablu, 

 and growing on the driest and most unlikely soil, 

 wliich afford a medium or inferior product, and are 

 considered to be wirth the attention of the Govern, 

 luent ; and h" als i mentions an allied jdant of very 

 wide distribution and rapid growth, Exirecaria op- 

 posUi/olia, which furnishes amost aliumlaut milk. But 

 the most remarkable plant in Cochin China, from 

 the caoutohouo-pioducing point of view, is one of the 

 Apoci/nece, Pariimetia (or En/i/xan/herfi) rfandiilifera,, 

 on which positive a d entirely cnuclusive txperi- 

 ments have been made. ("his plant is a liana or 

 creeper, which grows to the tops of even the highest 

 trees, and i.i found ahundautly in all the forests of 

 Cochin Chiu.n, ciiiefly at Canixny Phuquoo. Ponlo- 

 Condore, and in th - environs of Tayninh, Baria, and 

 Bienhoa, beint; excessively common near Xong-luM (we 

 retain the original spellini;) : nevertheless, the natives 

 do not know how to extract the rubber from it. 



The diameter of this creeper when full grtiwn (>^ay 

 in ten years) is nearly two inches. The juice that 

 flows from it presents exactly the appearance of milk. 



