July i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



19 



mouths. The liquor is then kept boiliug until reduced to 

 the required consistency. If intended for molasses, the 

 woman who attends to the boiling dips her ladle in the 

 liquor, and then empties it into the pot by turning it up- 

 side down ; and this she does at intervals until a portion 

 of the syrup held in the ladle sticks to the brim and falls 

 in two instalments after the rest. The pots are then dis- 

 mounted from the stove, and their contents collected into 

 one capacious jar, which is at once'hermetieallj sealed up 

 and laid by for future use — only to be opened months 

 afterwards as occasion may arise. Crystallization sets in 

 almost immediately, but the longer the pots are kept un- 

 opened the more successful is the process. For manufact- 

 uring Jaggery, the toddy is boiled for a longer time than 

 for Molasses, that is, until the syrup becomes so thick 

 that a little of it (just enough to be held between the 

 thumb and the index of the right hand) can be shaped 

 by the action of . the two fingers into a tiny little ball. 

 The pots are now removed from the fire, and their con- 

 tents collected into one large receptacle, and beaten with 

 a stick for half an hour or so, until the surface shows a 

 disposition to dry. This thick semi-liquid mass is then 

 poure 1 into moulds, and left to harden, which it does in 

 twenty minutes. 



A few remarks as to the export trade in Jagqery may 

 not be out of place. I should think that Tiunevelly pro- 

 duces the largest quantity of any province in the Madras 

 Presidency, as it contains more palmyras than any other. 

 In parts where the Pariahs and other out-castes predom- 

 inate, you are sure to see a toddy-stall affording a cheap 

 means of inebriation to the poor fellows, who often enough 

 trausjjort themselves to the seventh heaven, and stagger 

 about, for the nonce, " monarchs of all they survey." 

 Apart from this questionable use of the tree, nearly one- 

 third of the " sweet toddy " is drunk not merely as a bever- 

 age but as a substitute for food by the poorer classes ; 

 and I shall not be far wrong if I estimate the quantity 

 of Jaggery consumed or reserved for family use at one-third 

 of the whole produce. The Jaggery season, properly so- 

 called, is from February to August, and the supply attains 

 its climax in April, and gradually diminishes until Sept- 

 ember or October, when little or nothing is to be had in 

 the market. And with other things, so in the case of 

 Jaggery, the price goes up as the supply goes down ; so much 

 so that you can buy twice as much in April as you can 

 for the same mouey in September or October. The aver- 

 age local price of a candy of 500 lb. in April is R9, but 

 the European exporter depends for the supply on so many 

 intermediate agents, who naturally charge something each 

 for their trouble, that the cost is well-nigh doubled as the 

 article reaches his hands. Let me explain. In the heart 

 of the palmyra region, Jaggery sells in April at R9 per 

 500 lb. ; two candies are a bandy-load and cart hire for the 

 same down to Tuticorin is KM ; add one rupee and eight 

 annas (being the cost of six gunny bags to pack the two 

 candies in) at as. 4 per bag; allow commission at rupee one 

 per candy : and the total cost comes to R24-8 for a bandy- 

 load, or 1,000 lb. Now, instead of endeavouring to minimise 

 the incidental expenses and so to obtain the Jaguery at as 

 near a rate to the local price as possible, the European 

 firms simply play into the hands of contractors or other 

 agents by accepting the latter's statements as true. I am 

 told, but know not how it is. that even at the present 

 moment they are advancing sums for Jaggery at R18 per 

 candy of 500 1b., to be delivered in April; that is to say, 

 they are paying exactly one-third more than they ought, 

 as will be evident from what I have stated above. — S. A. 

 D. — Cor. Indian Agriculturist. 



AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 



(Special Letter.) 



Paris, May 17th. 



The prejudice, now on the high road to extinction against 

 precocious and symmetrical stock, has had chief reason 

 that the flesh of young animals was neither so succulent 

 nor so nutritive as aged animals. Whether that was ill or 

 well founded, the opinion of the pounds, shillings and pence 

 fanners was that it was more profitable to sell off a fat 

 ox when two years old than when four, a sheep at four- 

 teen months, and a pig at eight. It has been demonstrated 

 that, the Quantity of meat produced by stock delivered to 



the butcher at the above precocious ages costs exactly 

 one-half less expense. An ox sold off at two years, in- 

 stead of at four, implies a double profit in point of meat 

 realised for the market, the return of the capital invested 

 in half less time ; the allowing of the sheds to be occupied 

 with double the number of stock, without any augmented 

 demand on food. 



It has been alleged that an ox aged four years yields a 

 greater or a heavier quantity of flesh than an ox of two years. 

 This requires explanation. It is now ascertained that an 

 ox from its birth, till it is two years of age, yields as 

 much flesh as an auimal of four years, provided the young 

 ox be fed carefully, plentifully and methodically ; that is 

 10 say, there shall be no starvation or short common 

 stoppages in the rations. Now it is a law of physiological 

 growth, that the time lost by insufficient feeding or the 

 absence of sanitary care in the development of animals 

 can never be recovered. In the first two years of its growth, 

 the assimilation of food and the formation of the tissues 

 of an ox proceed the most actively. No food is thus lost 

 on the system; all is applied to build up, nothing is de- 

 manded for repairs. At two years, then, the period of devel- 

 opment terminates, and henceforward the animal has, not 

 only to feed to keep up life, but to repair the daily waste 

 of the tissues. Thus more food is necessary to produce a 

 pound of flesh, when after two years the tissues have to 

 be restored than before and up to that period, when all 

 vitality is not repairing wastes but developing growth. 



Equally erroneous is the impression that an animal must 

 be developed fully before it can be fattened. This is quite 

 true in the case of unameliorated races so difficult to 

 develop, so hard to feed, so bony and so skinny. But the 

 wide-awake farmer does not seek such animals for fatten- 

 ing ends ; he tries to obtain a precocious race, whether in 

 cattle, sheep or pigs — animals well-formed, of agreeable 

 conformation, pleasing to the eye, and so more certain to 

 prove satisfactory for the purse. As to the alleged inferior- 

 ity in quality of young, over-aged meat, ask any judge at 

 a Cattle Show; note their awards; inquire of any butcher 

 if a well-bred, well-fed ox at two years has not a more 

 agreeable flesh, or, if you like, as good as the ordinary 

 auimal aged four; if a sheep, similarly cared, aged one 

 year, does not produce meat as highly-relished as the an- 

 imal double its age. In thus patronizing younger stock, 

 capital is doubled and profits increased 100 per cent with- 

 out any augmentation under the heads of food or labour. 

 Messrs. Gayot & Bouley are admitted authorities on all 

 that relates to horse-breeding. The former has re-cham- 

 pioned the plau of giving foals about one dessert spoon- 

 ful per day of bone-powder mixed in the oats or bran. 

 He testifies to have received from three departments in 

 France the most satisfactory accounts of the efficacy of 

 this adjunct to the rapid and strong development of the 

 bony system in young horses. The effect has been very 

 marked in the case of farmers rearing colts ou granitic or 

 schistose soils. Other breeders give the phosphate in its 

 precipitate or chemical form : a good quarter of an ounce 

 daily for animals between one and two years of age, one- 

 half more for two to three years, and double the quantity 

 for horses three to four years. The objections of M. Bouley 

 consist in that he has ever found the phosphate so admin- 

 istered pass off with the excrements of the animal, and 

 never absorbed into the system, and that more exactitude 

 is required to control the experiments. 



Professor Pyro advocates the permanent supply of water 

 in cattle-sheds, so that the animals can drink at will. 

 Ordinarily, stock is watered twice a day; the animal takes 

 too much at a time, and perhaps at the improper moment. 

 If left free with its trough, the animal may often patronize 

 it a dozen times during the twenty-four hours, and in con- 

 venient draughts. In any case his suggestions relative to 

 having the water kept in a reservoir in the shed, so that 

 it can possess the temperature of the animal's body, and 

 not some 7 or 8 degrees of a lower temperature, is worth 

 reflection. 



The breeders of the celebrated Percheron horses intend 

 henceforth to hold an annual Show for their important 

 speciality. The first Show will be held at Nogc-nt-le-Ro- 

 trou, department of Eure-et-Loir, on the 22ud hist., and 

 will last three days. Double the number of entries (500) 

 were registered than there were boxes to accommodate; 

 so only one-half the number of horses will be admitted 



