September r, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



177 



clown, the plentiful application of clean cold « 



the best means. Soft water, in which a little sulphur 



soap has been dissolved, is a very good remedy. 



With reference to the letter in re tea in Ilaputale, we 

 would point out that the figures represent a yield of 

 4G0 lb. per acre per year. It does not seem, therefore, 

 ft very rash estimate to predict that every district in 

 Ceylon, where tea will grow at all, may pretty safely 

 couut upon securing an average of at least 4001b. 

 per acre in full bearing. 



Tho following extract from the Indigo Gazette gives 

 an idea of sonic of the benefits which a railway brings 

 with it : — 



The railway now brings up about 85 maunds of bamboo 

 leaves to Darjeeling every evening and retails them at six 

 annas a maund. This is a great boon to tho public, as the 

 loaf cutters had it all their own way previously and usi I to 

 cheal most abominably. Competition in another directions 



has done i :h public good. I allude to the Nagri farm. 



It has brought the Darjeeling butchers toatheir proper 



senses, and ! the establishment of the Nagri meat has 



bei ii coming into the town, the quality of their wan has 



iiv improved. The extim tion of the bullock trains 



may also have something to do with this improvement in 



beef, 'thru f coal as f uel f or the boilei ;ardens, 



situated within easy reach of the various railway stations, 



ug rather extensively adopted. It has been found in 



practice thai about 20 seers of coal will suffice to roll a 



I maund of leaf. As firewood has become difficult and 



expensive to procure on many gardens, the use of coal for 



i iderable saving on many gardens. 



CULTIVATION OP EHEA GRASS IN WYNAAD 

 • About the end of last year, the home papers con- 

 tained several articles on the cultivation and | 

 ation of rhea, or China grass, and much information 

 . .i collected and published on the subject, both by 

 those who were interested in the cultivation, and by 

 who Immediately deal iu textile fabrics. All 

 this public attention was roused by the invention, 

 halfa century of enquiry, of a machine 

 ii issfully treated the raw material. A stimulus 

 nical genius in this direction, by 

 il of £5,000 by Lord Mayo's 



lent in 1869, and England and France, and 



ntries of Europe, competed for the 



ome prize, Several machines were put forward 

 and t.i ■.- ti d, but n , ,! to fulfil all the 



conditions of the advertisement, the most important 

 of which was, that the machine should be able to 

 deal with in a green or freshly-cut state. 



The offer in I860 was not the first official movement 

 in this direction. In 18-10. an effort was made to 

 utilize the plant ; and earlier still, in ISO?!, Dr. Box- 

 burgh diew attention to the subject. The process of 

 universally adopted to free the fibre 

 lentitious matter, Mas found to injure its color 

 and durability, but no substitute for this insanitary 

 and injurious proces was found till Mr. Smith, an 

 en ineer in the Mauritius, patented a machine, 



. Death and El wood, the London manufacturers, 



perfected, and which is pronounced by competent 



authoritii lo be all that is desired for producing 



ore at one operation ready for the loom. Simul- 



usly, or, perhaps, a little in advance of this 



ery, two French chemists, by a double patent, 



bad a i a similar result, but their tre; 



was rather chemical than mechanical, and will be 



noticed further on. 



Various other nines, besides rhea grass, had been 

 cultivated ami tried iu Southern India, Flax, for 



i', was inti Nilgiri Hills ii 



and proved a failure. Th ■ cultivation of the : 



of tbe most valuable fibre plants of in- 

 i' rowth in tint district, was sought to be 



encouraged, and a free grant of land was given for 

 that purpose, about the middle of 1803, by the Madras 

 Government. The experiment wai tried in th Coonoor 

 ravine, on the site of tho pre • en t Glen dale tea estate, 

 then known as the Vellanie estate. Mr. Sanderson, 

 • in, r, was in charge of the enterprise. The 

 nettle which luxuriates in the moist shade of the 

 holahs in the plateau was transported, when full- 

 grown, to the site, and planted on the land; but the 

 conditions not proving congenial, the transplants im- 

 mediately died away. The promoter were not, how- 

 ever, to be deterred by tho failure of a single at- 

 tempt, and thought success might attend the experi- 

 ment, if seed of the nettle was procured, and iwn 

 broadcast. This was accordingly done, but over a 

 very large extent. Little more than halfa 

 seedlings struggled into existence, and these refused 

 to attain maturity, and soon perished for want of the 

 protection of their natural habitat. Meantime, Mr. 

 Sanderson was erecting a scutching machine to treat 

 the stems when they should be ready. With the 

 failure of the cultivation, the works were abandoned/ 

 and in 1864, the Government was made acquainted 

 with the complete failure of the experiment, and lapse 

 of the free grant. This Nilgiri nettle produces a 

 I great strength and lustre, and is exceedingly 

 in the staple; but the manipulation is trouble 

 some, as the stems are covered with strong thorns, 

 and the sting of the foliage is very painful, and the 

 effects prolonged. The Todas pre i are the fibre I \ a 

 process of boiling, and sell it to the other Hill tril'i._% 

 who use it iu embroidery, after it has been dyed* 1 

 of various colors. The fibre has been from time to 

 time exhibited, and attracted admiration, but the 

 character of tbe plant, tbe scantiness of the supply, 

 and Ihe difficulty of the process of extraction have 

 prevented any considerable quantities of this material 

 reaching tbe home market. 



The China grass, in a wild state, is to be found 

 in many of the ravines on the elopes' of the Nilgiris, 

 and in the woods of the Wynaad. Wo hear that it 

 abounds in the Tambrachery Company's property, and 

 on the Glenrock estate, where immense quantities will 

 be t rated until the cultivated rhea is ready lor the 

 machine. The forest soils of the lowcouutry, especially 

 where facilities for irrigation exist, are specially suited 

 to its growth. On the Glenrock estate, the cultiv- 

 ation has been commenced on a large scale. All the 

 plants that could be obtained, have been secure, 1 

 from Dangalore, Sharunpore, Calcutta, (Caugra Valley 

 ace! Algeria. Ten acres of ground are already planted, 

 and the propagation is being extended at the rate of 

 about 5,000 plants per day. The growth from ten 

 plants put out in January last has proved prodigious. 

 It is proposed in course of time to put out 5,000 acres 

 of bud m Wynaad under fibre cultivation. Under 

 the superintendence of Mr. J. VV. Miucbin, the ex- 

 periment has every prospect of success. The same 

 Company has purchased the concession from Govern- 

 ment to Mr. H. P. Hodgson in the Bowany Valley, 

 of a block of land, one -mile in width, on each side 

 or the Bowany River, running up from Matoopolliam 

 to the Koondahs, a distance of twenty. five miles. 

 On this land there is growing an immense quantity 

 of the " Marool," or " Sanseviera Zeylanica, " or 

 "Moorva" which is referred to in the following terms 

 in Doctor Forbes Watson's lecture at the Society of 

 Arts :— 3 



" This plant grows as a wood in Madras, and other 

 parts of India. In fact it is such a nuisance, that 

 the people sometimes do no:, know o-bat to do with it, 

 is machine (Smith's) tells us what to do with it! 

 The sample which I hold in ray hand, was prepared 

 upon the occasion to which I have alluded. Hero is 

 a sample which is prepared on a commercial scale in 

 India by this machine, and I may say with regard to 



