954 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Tune i, 1883. 



l?APKit IN Cinchona Cultuke. — In Ceylon, where much 

 atteutiou has of late been given to Cinchona culture, stout 

 brown paper has been found an effectual protection for the 

 trees after they have been " shaved," or had their bark 

 removed. The p.iper will not, however, stand the south-west 

 monsoon, " We suggested," says the Tropical Agricidturist, 

 " that brown paper might answer if the outside was tarred, 

 and we are also going to try what the stationers call 

 ' duck back paper,' but that is expensive." If the planters 

 find p;iper answer the purpose, there will soon be a good 

 market for a tough waterproof wrapping in that region. — 

 Statiuiieri/ Trades Journal. 



A New Substitute foe Quinine. — Messrs. Parke, 

 Davis & Co. bring before the notice of the medical 

 piofession, by thtir Therapeutic Gazette, a new herb, 

 brought from the Sierra Nevadas, where it is said 

 to have Iouj enjoyed a local fame, known under the 

 name of "Sierra Salvia," or .Mountain Sage. Bot- 

 anically it is the ArtemUia frigida. Messrs. Parke, 

 Davis & Co. .are having its claims te^ted. Dr, Corn- 

 stock, of Silver Cliff, Colorado, who introduces the 

 plant to the profession, declares that in his experi- 

 ence "the iutermilteut, remittent, and ooiigoitive 

 forms of fever yield to this herb much more readily 

 than to quinine, and with iuQnitely less disturbance 

 the to system." 



MuLBEKEY CuLTIVATIO^f IN INDIA. — At a meeting of 

 the Government of Madras, Revenue d'-partment, on 

 28th March, a letter w(is read from T. W. llolderness, 

 Esq., C. S., Officiating Under-Secretary to tlie Govern- 

 ment of India, Revenue and Agricultural Department 

 (Fibres and Silk), ,to the Secretary to the (iovernment 

 of Madras, dated Calcutta, 16th March 1S83, forward- 

 ing for information and communication to the Di- 

 rector, Department of Agriculture, copy of a letter, 

 of the 1st February la^t, from the Superintendent, 

 Botanical Gardens, Sah.aranpur, on the subject of the 

 cultivation of the mulbtrry tree. In this letter the 

 varieties of mulberry under cultivation at Saharan- 

 pur are detailed, and the mode of cultivation is 

 described. 



An Enemy of the Cinchona. — A planter writes: — 

 "I forward you 9 ' poochies ' which I found on 

 8 months' ledger plants, in my new clearing. On 

 careful examination, I found that they do not seem 

 to attack the succirubra, hybrid, officinalis or calisaya 

 plants. The leaves sent along with them are of 3 

 days' destruction off one tree. I do not know if they 

 are one of the enemies of cinchona, so should like 

 to know through the medium of your columns what 

 remedy will the best to keep them off and save my 

 ledgers. The tree had from 50 to CO leaves, out of 

 which the 4 sent are the remnants. Out of all the 

 ledgers affected, I can find no othe!" 'poochies' but 

 these." Our entomological referee reports as fol- 

 lows : — "A weevil of a greyish, brown colour. Whole 

 of body and legs covered with ecales having a slightly 

 metallic lustre. Largest specimen 6-lOths of an inch. 

 Smallest 4- lOths of an iueh. Should be collected and 

 destroyed, which is considered the only remedy. " 



The Question ok JlAMnsKsis at present exciting a good 

 deal of attention in France ; ought they to be mineral, 

 though erroneously termed cliemical, mauures : or organic, 

 which comprize the refuse of animal and vegetable pro- 

 ducts ? Brofessor Earon, of Alfort College, leans to the 

 latter class, of which farmyard manure is the type, while' 

 Professor Georges Ville, as strongly advocates inoiganic 

 fertilizers. Farmyard manure ameliorates the soil ; by the 

 slowness of its decomposition it imparts from time to time 

 the doses of nutrition required by the plant, liut the pul- 

 verized mineral phosphate of lime, sulphate of ammonia, 

 nitrate of limes, the salts of potash, &c., also augment the 

 yield of crops. There is nothing definite to prescribe ; 

 the laryer of arable soil requires a mixture of various sub- 

 stances, which are decomposed by certain forces, and 

 trausforined into food for plants. How tlie latter feed 

 themselves, science cannot yet .say ; cannot state Jiow starch, 

 sugar, albumen, and cellulose are produced in nearly all 



plants : how immediate principles are produced iu certain 

 plants ; nicotine in tobacco ; essential oils in odoriferous 

 plants ; quinine in cinchona ; citric acid in lemons, malic 

 acid in apples and pears. Soils and plants require fert- 

 ilizers, differing in kind and amount ; exclude none, but 

 ever judiciously select. Some crops are gluttonous for 

 phosphoric acid, others are dainty for nitrogen ; spring is 

 the season for employing complementary manures of a 

 soluble nature, while autumn is better for such as de- 

 compose slowly. — Madras Mail. 



Weevil in Whe.\t. — The Civil and Military Gazette 

 in the course of a very able article, showing how 

 seriously its undrest and dirty condition places Indian 

 wheat at a disadvantage when compared with Ameri- 

 can, goes on to notice another great evil thus : — A 

 former Lieutenant-Governor took great interest in 

 this trade ; which he, with an almost prophetic eye, 

 foresaw would one day arise. At bis suggestion, many 

 experiments were conducted with a view to discover- 

 ing an effectual and practical means of destroying 

 weevils and grain moths — the curses of Indian grain. 

 A perfectly simple method for their destruction was 

 discovered ; but whether the application of the method 

 would be feasible under all circumstances, or whether 

 it woidd affect the mai-ket value of the grain, we are 

 not prepared to state. The losses from weevil are so 

 enormous as to defy calculation. One pair of weevils 

 have been known to reproduce G,045 of their kind in 

 five months ; and the birthplace of each of these 

 weevils is a grain of corn, which the inmate does not 

 vacate whilst there is still anything to devour. The 

 systematic destruction .of such pests is worthy the at- 

 tention of any Government. 



FoDDBK Reserves. — In one district of India alone, 

 half the cattle, or 250,000 head, died from starvation 

 in 1877. Disasters of this sort have resulted from an 

 increase of the population, which advances further and 

 further into the jungle, bringing into cultivation cul- 

 tivable waste land, which formerly served the pur 

 poses of village grazing grounds. Precisely the same 

 encroachments occur in Europe from the same cause — 

 that of increasing numbers. But owing to the greater 

 constancy of the weather in temperate climates, the 

 effects there are not serious. In such places, compen- 

 sation for the lost grazing ground is found in tbe in- 

 crease of cultivated fodder crops, upon which reliance 

 can bo placed from year to year. Bxit in India, things 

 are different. In unirrigated tracts — that is, over a 

 very large part of the country — if droughts occur, and 

 we know that they do so periodically, the fodder crops 

 wither and die, and the cattle, having no longer any 

 jungle to which to turn, perish miserably. The Go- 

 veriinieDt of India is therefore setting itself to work 

 to remedy this state of things, liy protecting and en- 

 closing forest grazing lands. This will serve a double 

 purpose The long-rooted grasses deriving a supply of 

 moisture from below, and the shallow grasses protected 

 by shade above, will then furnish food for cattle, while 

 the I he bushes and smaller trees will reproduce them- 

 selves by seeding, uud provide fuel. Something has 

 already been done in this way in Ajniere; and the 

 results, after five years only, are said to be most en. 

 couraging, the appearance of the hills and countryside 

 being quite altered. Averse as the villagers must be 

 at the outset to a proceeding which encloses even a 

 portion of their grazing lands for a time, they come 

 to see the advantages of it when di'ought is upon 

 them, and will, no doubt, before many years have 

 passed, be allies, instead of opponents, of a measure 

 designed solely for theirbenelit. In Ajmere, side by side 

 lieprotected fodder reserves and unprotected jungle, and 

 the difference is most striking, though the enclosures 

 have existed so short a time. "The first are covered 

 with an almost impenetrable thicket, chiefly composed 

 of shoots edible by cattle. The see md are practically 

 devoid of all vegetation, aud .ippear to be mere heaps 

 of rock aud stoae." — Iiulirjo Planters' Gazette. 



