JUtY I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



23 



Read the following memorandum by Mr. Gamble, dated 

 26th February 1884, referred to above : — 



" The Babul is not indigenous in the Madras Presidency 

 unless possibly it may be considered to be wild on the black 

 cotton lands of Bellary and Kurnool. Nor is it a 'Forest 

 tree' properly speaking in this presidency for it does not 

 occur wild in any of our chief forest tracts. But it comes 

 up plentifully, self-sown, on old tank beds, on fallow lands, 

 on black cotton soil, and on bunds and mounds and high 

 lands among the rice fields of the Circars and Carnatie. Its 

 real home is probably to be found in Sind and Guzerat and 

 in the first mentioned province it is the chief tree of the 

 Indus bank forests, where it affords large supplies of fuel for 

 the river steamers and the railway. The wood and its uses 

 are described at page 151 of the ' Manual of Indian Timber ' 

 to the information given in which I have nothing to add, 

 except that the Madras Railway refuse to take it as fuel, 

 although other lines have no such prejudice, I understand. 

 The refusal is due to the impression, right or wrong, chat the 

 products of combustion injure the boilers of the engines. 



"In the re-afforestation of barren lands in suitable soils 

 Babul is an extremely useful tree. It thrives well on the 

 black cotton 6oiI which is more than can be said of most 

 other trees, its usual companions being Albizzia Lebbek, Bal- 

 anites JEyyptiaca, Parkinsonia acuteata (an introduction,), 

 the Tamariud, Margosa and Wood apple. Old tank beds in 

 most Madras districts quickly cover themselves with it, and 

 indeed wherever there is a patch of fallow alluvial land 

 along the districts of the eastern coast and a few trees to give 

 seed it springs up in abundance. Goats being largely fed 

 on the pods they are the principal agents in the distribution 

 of the seed, and the value of the pods as an article of food for 

 stock must not be forgotten in considering the possible effect 

 of a large demand for them for tanning purposes. But the 

 recent report on the value of both the pods and the bark 

 for tanning are most valuable, and we shall bear them in 

 mind in making future cuttings of Babul trees in the plant- 

 ations, and self-sown Babul jungles of Bellary, Anantapur, 

 Ouddapah and Kistna Districts. It would be useful if Mr. 

 Liotard would inform us who are the purchasers in London 

 who are likely to give £40 per ton for cleaned Babul pods 

 and £12 to £14 per ton for bark (more than 50 per cent in- 

 crease on the ordinary price of oak bark) and what is the 

 usual method of sale. Are the tans sold like timber, tea, 

 &c, at public sales, or are they merely consigned direct to 

 the tanning firms:' It would also be useful to know what 

 prospect there is of firms in the presidency towns buying 

 such tans as may be collected by forest owners or managers. 



"At such rates as the above it is surprising that the tans 

 have not long ago become regular articles of trade, and that 

 Babul planting has not been carried on similarly to and much 

 more extensively than that of the Casuarina in such local- 

 ities as Madras, where cost of carriage to the seaport is low. 



" Grown for the pods only and their yearly crop I expect 

 the trees ought to be at least 30 feet apart, or 15 at first to 

 be thinned out to thirty feet, to ensure a proper amount of 

 air and sunlight for the full development of the fruit. 

 This would give about 48 trees per acre, the yield of which 

 can be calculated if the average yield of a tree is known. 

 Grown for the bark it would probably be found most profit- 

 able to treat it in coppice and cut it over every 8 to 10 years. 

 It would therefore require to be planted close say 10" x 10" 

 or still better propagated by broad-cast sowing. The yield 

 would probably be much the same as that of Oak bark, but 

 actual experience only can tell what amount is likely to be 

 realized per acre. The wood could at the time of cutting 

 be also easily sold at good rates in any locality, away from 

 the large forests, where Babul is grown. It will therefore 

 be seen that different methods of planting must be adopted 

 to secure the fruits and the bark, the former being an annual, 

 the latter a periodical, crop. 



"I should say that if onlj merchants can be found in our 

 seaport towns to buy the Babul bark and pods, not to speak 

 of other valuable tanning materials like the Tanged u or 

 Avaram bark (Cassia auriculata), the barks of Cassia Fistula. 

 Acacia Leucophlcea, Terminalia tomantosa, etc., and the 

 myrabolams, there is not likely to be much question of diffic- 

 ulty of supply. Our forest plantations and self-sown scrub 

 jungles alone could furnish a great deal of bark, while a 

 very large supply of pods would be given by the numerous 

 village trees even if one-half of the produce is conceded to 

 the goats," 



The tree grows very abundantly in the neighbourhood of 

 Madras, and enquiries are being made about it. Should any 

 information not to be Ei md in the above notes, •• Drury's 

 useful Plants," and similar well-known books of reference, 

 be obtained, it will be forwarded. 



Pbuning \ounc; Teees.— Experience has proved that 

 the triple crotch is the strongest form of tree growth 

 Had you left two or four buds, dividing the tree into two 

 equal divisions, in their after growth their weight would 

 have been always apart from each other, and in some year 

 of heavy fruitage your tree would have split in twain, los- 

 ing you the time as well as your reward for the care bestowed 

 upon it; whereas, the three limbs interlock their strong 

 fibres around each other and give a triple strength to this 

 foundation of your future tree, which insures it against any 

 such after catastrophe. — Leader. 



Effect of Petkoleum on Fbuit Teees. — My gardener 

 at my suggestion, applied petroleum neat to about four 

 hundred out of six hundred young apple, pear, plum, and 

 cherry trees, from top to bottom, about Christmas last 

 year. The trees were two and three years old, purchased 

 from a nursery, ten months before, and had therefore been 

 only ton months planted, and when planted had very coarse 

 roots. Two pear trees are certainly dead, which I attribute 

 to the coarseness of the roots when planted. The remainder 

 of the trees appear to be pictures of health ; many of the 

 apple and plum trees are full of bloom ; that on the pear 

 trees, principally consistmg of Marie Louise and Louise 

 Bonne of Jersey being especially abundant, Two gallons 

 of neat oil were used in the work. — G. B. Walkeb (Farn- 

 bro). [If the dressing had been applied a few months 

 later, not improbably most of the young trees would have 

 been killed. — Ed.] — Field. 



How to Feetiijse Feuit Teees.— J. B.— Here and there 

 on all farms and in most fruit gardens will be seen an occa- 

 sional tree or grape vine which seems to lack vigor — does not 

 grow well, and yet seems to have no particular disease. The 

 probabilities are that the tree is dyirg of starvation, and 

 needs a liberal supply of food. When you give it this 

 ration do not pile a load of manure around the trunk of the 

 tree on the body of a grape vine. That is just the place 

 where it) will do the least good. Nearest the trunk of 

 the tree the roots are all large. The fibrous roots (the feeders) 

 are further olf , near the ends of the roots. These only can 

 take up the nutriment. It is aways safe to assume that the 

 roots extend as far from the trunk in every direction as do 

 the limbs of the tree, and to properly fertilise spread 

 the manure all over that area. Then fork it in and you 

 have done a good work and done it well. If some disease 

 has begun its work on the tree, you put the tree in a healthy 

 vigorous condition, the better enabling it to successfully 

 contend againsts its enemies. We have seen numerous old 

 pear and apple trees, bearing poor and gnarled fruit, which 

 the owners consider of no value, but which such treatment 

 as we have outlined above would restore to their original 

 usefulness. — Leadi r. 



Salting the Soil. — Common salt spread upon the ground 

 has the effect of aiding in the solution of mineral matters 

 used in stiffening the stems of plants. If there is already 

 a sufficiency of such matters in solution in the soil, an 

 application of salt will do, no good. Salt is most effica- 

 cious in swampy ground and wherever there is an excess of 

 organic matter. It is not supposed to act directly as food 

 for grain producing plants. If it does anything towards 

 increasing grain crops, it does so by way of stiffeuiug the 

 sti -i w and keeping it from lodging. Wherever salt is needed 

 it .. on pays many times its cost, but there is so much 

 laud on which it does no good that it would be imprudent 

 to 1 1 it to any large extent without first determining, in 

 a small way, whether it will be useful or not. As its useful- 

 ness depends wholly upon the condition of the soil, no specific 

 value can be fixed for it in advance of using it, :is Hun 

 can lor barnyard manures and the commercial fei I 

 nor can it be used as a substitute for any of the real fertilis- 

 ers or for land plaster. It is most frequently used for 

 sowing on wheat in the spring, which it sometimes greatly 

 benefits and sometimes not at all. Its specific action i. most 

 marked upon the beet family. — Professor L. B. Ajjnold.— 

 Leader. 



