October i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



I345 



firmly in their woik, they will, we understand, be asked 

 to fiu'uish the central bureau with information on the 

 following points : — 



(a.) What waste lands are at tho present time the pro- 

 perty of Government, and available for fodder reserves ? 

 (b.) What waste lands, iu which proprietors or cultivators 

 have grazing or other rights, can be appropriated without 

 serious injury to the neighbouring population ? 



And it may perhaps be that orders will also be passed 

 disallowing any private interests to be newly acquired in 

 any part of the waste area without reference to the 

 Agricultural aud Forest Departments; and measures will 

 be taken enaljling Government to appropriate areas of 

 waste lands within the meaning of the Land Appropriation 

 Act on payment of reasonable compensation. 



The asefulness of such measures becomes still more 

 apparent when we consider the fact that trees are a 

 powerful engine iu the production of coolness and moisture, 

 aud that their growth throughout a country afflicted with 

 dryuess aud heat should be promoted. Mr. E. 0. Buck, 

 noting on this very point iu 1877, with reference to a 

 pamphlet by the late Colonel Corbett on the eUmate and 

 resources of Upper Imlia, said : — 



" The reply will be made that we do encourage the 

 preservation .ind increase of forests, and so far have done 

 our duty. But is it .so? No doubt we have been doing 

 a great deal to maintain the woods of the sub-Himalayan 

 regions, aud to clothe our mountains with forests of new 

 growth. But the question still remains whether belts of 

 thick wood iu the Tarai, or luxuriant forests on ranges 

 of the Himalayas, will add moisture to the arid climate 

 of the Doab, or give rain to the famiue-striken plains 

 of Buudlekhand. The effect of an edging of verdm-e along 

 the mountain boundary of the north upon the climate 

 of the wide-.spreading plains of tho south is probably so 

 remote as to be inappreciable A much greater, because 

 a more proximate, influence will be exercised by the in- 

 crease and euconragement of scattered grove.s, of hnes of 

 trees, and of small plantations throughout the agricultural 

 area of the Provinces, in which direction little has been 

 done except iu the adoption of the negative measure of 

 releasing grove lands from the payment of revenue, aud 

 by the-occasional plantation by Kevenue officials of avenues 

 of trees along public roads. 



" The superstitious reverence of the Indian ryot for trees 

 which his grandfather planted has hitherto saved grove 

 upon grove, but when the price of wood ri.ses reverence 

 for ancestry falls, and when Ifailway Companies offer cash 

 for fuel, holy plantations sink before the more sacred rupee. 

 The destruction of wood along the low hills of Eimdlekhaud 

 for the supply of the Allahabad market proceeded of late 

 years at .so r.ipid a paco as to alarm the local authorities, 

 and to cause tho Commissioner of Allahabad to bring 

 the matter to the notice of Government ; while, at the 

 other end of the Province, the Collector of Shahjahanpur 

 urged measures to prevent the disappearance of wood for 

 the supply of fuel to the new Oudh and Eohilkhand Eailway. 

 Some system is necessary which will lead to the conserv- 

 ation and increase of plantations or trees, not only in 

 ring fences like forest-covered tracts, but m scattered 

 patches, wherever the nature of the ground permits trees 

 to be planted without int!>rfering with cultivation." 



Colonel Corbett gave an apt description of diffused ar- 

 boricultiu-e in the following words : — 



" Supposing the country to be divided Uke a chess-board, 

 the squares of, say, a mile each in measurement, the 

 black squares planted with trees aud bushes, and the 

 white squares left bare for cultivation, the planted squares 

 would absorb a great amount of the solar heat which 

 fell on them, and the air in the daytime above them 

 would uot be so hot as that coming in contact with the 

 surface of the bare squares. The cooler air over the planted 

 squares would, by its greater gravity, sink and displace 

 the au- over the hare squares as it became heated and 

 expanded. At night the heat abfsorbed by the planted 

 squares during the day would be given off by radiation, 

 the superincumbent air would be chilled, sink, and spread 

 over the siu:face of the bare squares, displacing the mrre 

 heated air which had not been chilled by radiation. The 

 trees on the planted squares would act mechanically in 

 checking and- breaking the force of the wind, as a lattice- 

 work breakwater breaks- the force of the waves: thev 

 44 ^ 



would also deflect the wind upwards ; it would not sweep 

 over the surface of the bare squares as it does over a 

 plain where there is notliing to check its f<^rce, and its 

 drying effects would be lessened. The surface soil of thfe 

 bare squares would not be so dried and h;irdene<l froih 

 the action of the wind as the open plain now is : the 

 air would contain more vapour of water evaporated from 

 the trees of the planted squares, aud this again would 

 interpose a screen which would lessen the amount of 

 solar heat falling on the surface of tho bare squares. The 

 soil of the bare squares not being so dried and hanlened 

 could be ploughed and broken up at any season of tho 

 year, which now it cannot be, owing to its hardened con- 

 dition'; and when broken up it too would fm'ther help to 

 moderate the heat of the hot weather by its increased 

 absorptive and radiative powers." — h.— Asian. 



Tea in Hkwaheta, 12th August — As you are aware our 

 district can boast of some of the olde.st aud best known 

 tea estates in Ceylon. Young clearings in new districts 

 with a lower elevation and greater facilities for manuring 

 may give large returns ; but I do not notice any better 

 prices quoted than those against the favorite old marks 

 — Bookwood aud Looleondura. The latter of these estates 

 is known to give an average return of 300 lb. per acre ; 

 the former is said to give nearly 500 lb. This difference, 

 if it really exi.st, may partly arise from the method of 

 picking adopted ; some men do not care* to gather the 

 coarser leaves, as the low-priced teas cost as much to 

 pick, cm'e, pack and (Uspatch as the better varieties, and 

 in consequence leave only a small aud very doubtful profit. 

 — " C. Times." 



Lac. — "We made some remarks the other day on the 

 lac industry, and we are reminded that there is another 

 product of Tapper India which is at present neglected, 

 but from which a considerable income might be made ; 

 we refer to kamala (Hindostanee name Juimud : botanical 

 name Mcdiotn-! PhiUipiensis) . This tree grows at an elevation 

 of from 2,000 to 5,000 feet, and once a year bears numerous 

 bunches of berries, which, when ripe, are not uidike 

 rowans, the fruit of the mountain ash. These berries at 

 a certain stage of their ripeness are really brown, but 

 are covered with a thick coating of red dust Uke soorli:e. 

 Tills dust is the kamala of commerce, and can be collected 

 easily by plucking the bunch of berries gently, and rubbiug 

 them between the palms of the hands over a clotli sprc.id 

 out to catch the dust. If the berries are plucl 'd too 

 early, this dust is mixed witii another sort, of a g eeuish 

 tint, which destroys the value of the article, and if not 

 plucked at the right time, the dust will all disi^pear, 

 being blown away by tho wind, leaving the berries of a 

 greenish-brown colour, and of no value. This article, kamala, 

 finds a ready market, and is now worth one shilling and 

 sixpence per pound. — Friend of India. 



Laege CorroN Tkee in Palamow. — Ecaders of Mr. 

 Ball's " Jungle Life in India " may have noticed a descrip- 

 tion at page 652 of a large .silk-cotton tree at Seraidih 

 in Palamow, regarding which he says: — "At Seraidih there 

 is a silk-cotton tree (llomhrix malalmricmu) which I believe 

 to be the largest tree I have ever seen; unfortimately 

 I do not retain the measurements of this vegetable mon- 

 ster. I did not realize its enormous dimensions until I 

 saw the pack-cattle and elephants stalled between- the 

 huge flange-hke buttresses which project from the main 

 stem. I think I estimated by shadow-measurement the 

 height to be 140 feet." We recently had an opportunity 

 of mspecting the tree, and can certainly bear out Mr. Ball's 

 statement as to its appearance from a little distance giv- 

 ing very little idea of its real size. The girth round 

 buttresses was 115 feet. The height was, as nearly as we 

 could ascertain, 135 feet, though the calculation made, as 

 Mr. Ball made it, by the shadow, gives much more. But 

 as the tree has a verj' rounded head, and the sun was 

 rather low at the time, it is not surprising that the height 

 could not be satisfactorily estimated by that method. Tlie 

 tree stands alone iu the middle of rice-fields, and has its 

 buttressed side to the north. Sei-aidih is a Isrge village 

 lying half-way between the Kechld and Betlah Forest 

 Beserves and in the angle formed by the junction of the 

 rivers Koel and Aurunga. It is about three miles from 

 the junction of those rivers, and about five from the curious 

 old forts of Palamow, — Indian Journal of Forestry. 



