November 



,88 4 .J 



TWE TROPTCAL AGRICULTURIST 



365 



contains an editorial on the food ami Feeding of animals 

 in India, which contains much information of general 

 utility. " It is rare," we arc told, " to find any kind of 

 grass seed prejudicial to animal health, except as the result 

 of ergot, mould, or other fungal growth on it ; but it 

 must be remembered that all mouldy food is unsuited for 

 animals, and its ingestion may be followed by acute poison- 

 ing, paralysis, or ententes." The grain foods on which 

 animals depend for concentrated nutriment consist of the 

 of varicus kinds of grasses, the true grains, such 

 as rice, barley, wheat, cholum, raggy, etc., ami of 

 fur, ns of pulse, Mich as cheuna, coolthee, dhall, etc. Paddy 

 has been found in India a valuable substitute for the 

 more highly nitrogenised grains, although unhusked rice, 

 dhall, has caused dysentery amongst the bullocks in Afghani- 

 stan. Barley and wheat are considered dangerous food 

 for horses in England, but in India the former is some- 

 times, and the latter frequently, used without ill effects. 

 The celebrated Beluchi mares are fed on cholum. Indian 

 corn is suited for a hot weather grain. Oats are extensively 

 given in Tirhoot to get horses into condition. Chenua and 

 coolthee are highly valuable, but dhall has been known 

 to cause sickness. Mote was tried at one station in the 

 Bombay Presidency, and produced a disorder of the lungs, 

 very like " broken wind." The golden rule to remember 

 is, that " given an unknown food for animals, it may be 

 freely used if a grass seed, only after careful trial of a 

 pulse ; also that light may be thrown on the enquiry by 

 evidence as to whether natives use the substance as a 

 food either for themselves, or for their live stock." 



Next in importance to the choice of food, is its proper 

 preparation. Some grains remain undigested, or cause grave 

 disorders, if not properly prepared. Coolthee, oomel, and 

 moong should be boiled before being given to horses ; 

 oxen will not digest them after being simply soaked, but 

 camels will. Bajree and mote are best given mixed, and 

 in an unprepared state. The water in which coolthee has 

 been boiled is highly nutritious for animals, ('henna is 

 best given crushed, but horses can eat it after it has been 

 simply soaked. For debilitated horses, chenna roasted and 

 finely powdered, or " in the form of adawar, which con- 

 sists of equal parts of parched and well-ground gram and 

 barley," is useful ; or a mixture of rice and dal may be 

 given. For cases of costiveness bran may be substituted 

 for part of the grain ; or for diarrhoea powdered rice. 

 Suttoo, made of finely powdered parched gram and barley, 

 is the usual India substitute for gruel. Conjee is an ap- 

 petiser, and a good vehicle for medicine; and bazaar bran 

 may be advantageously given instead of gram throughout 

 the hot weather to horses suffering from disordered liver. 

 Salt or mailahs should be given with the grain food as a 

 good digestive and tonic. The latter are much affected by 

 natives for horses or camels as a preventive to skin disease. 

 Artificial foods may generally be divided into two classes, 

 those containing nutritive matter, and those which are all 

 stimulants and spices, ami are useless unless given with large 

 quantities of the ordinary feeding materials. Thorley's 

 " Food for Cattle" is an example of the latter. The com- 

 pressed food recently experimented with by Government has 

 tin' drawback of not containing enough of nutritious or 

 stimulating matter. Horse biscuits are a form of compressed 

 food adapted to the requirements of cavalry on service, as 

 1I1 e very nntritious, a number of them can be carried, 



attached by a cord to the saddle. The Russians have made 

 grout us,' of them in their Turkish and Centra] Asian raids. 

 Their cakes consists of ground oats and pea mea] mixed with 

 hemp seed oil, and some salt. They arc baked as thin bis- 

 cuits, fo 1 diameter and perfi I in numerous 

 pUti facilitati 



ui keep h Iworl 



1 hi ced into thi b veter- 



inarians during the siege of I' t 1 OrseS in good 



ion. •■ The Arabs his ordinarily feed their 



animals on boiled sheep's head." Australian 



experimented with ai Pooui found to 



be nutritious. "Generally the resii sion of 



oil for i mic purposes, is utilised as a feedii 



Ear cattle in the district--." Si ue is usually 



procurable in this country, cattle eat it freely, and it is es- 

 pecially valuable for milch cows. Horses will eat the cake. 

 Foonacs (cocoanut cake), pootoo (shell of the pigeon pea), 

 and tour K ricc bran; arc all given to milch cows in various 



idency, but have not as 3 ' been tried for 



ind sugar-cane are all i n 



boi < .::, liked bj all arums s. ami is 



■■ 'i' cb ■ .' i fattening die! Booi cro is are "i 



ountry than at home; but when procurable, 

 . moolees (countrj radishes), to and a few 



others can he used with benefit. 



Fodder naturally divides itself into green and dry, Lu< 



grass, reana, anil impy are calculated to kei p the liver 

 and skin in good order, and may he used with other foddi 1 

 to tempt the appetite. Ensilage will probably permit of these 

 grasses being preserved lor use in the hot weather; but at 

 1 ' til ii has not been sufficiently experimented with. 

 With regard to artificial increase in cultivable land, the 

 introduction of the Australian salt bush promises to r< nd( 1 



' tracts, at present spoilt by the amount of salt in 

 the soil, available for cultivation, and it is a valuable food 

 for sheep. Much increase in the fertility of the soil is 

 ecured by care in the lavish use of wate". and in 

 the construction ot canals. The growth of eucalyptus re- 

 duces the moisture in swampy places and lessens in 

 Trees are an important factor in increasing the value of 

 the return from the soil. Their leaves also form, during 

 the hot weather, almost the sole food of such animals as 

 camels and elephants. " Green grass, of various kinds, hut 

 especially the valuable dhoob, must always continue to be 

 the staple article of fodder for (troop) horses in India, and 

 it contributes a useful source of supply in most tropical 

 countries where the grass must take refuge from the 

 excessive heat of the sun under the surface of the ground." 

 The sowai-s of the Bengal cavalry subject their horses to 

 a course of green food (kasseil) during the hot weather, 

 a practice said to result in abdominal complaints. Camels 

 are also ted on kasseil. The attention of Government has 

 recently been directed to fodder reserves. In some canton- 

 ments waste lands have been taken up and preservi d 

 from the tracks of foot passengers, carts, etc. Under ex- 

 , d circumstances, when the supplies thus yielded are 

 not all required, they can lie utilised for hay-making or 

 seed-producing purposes. — Madras Mail. 



ASAFCETIDA. 



BY E. W. C. PIEHC'E. 



The name asafietida is derived from the Arabic "asa," 

 healing, or •• ; sa," remedy, and the Latin " fcetidus," fetid. 

 The botanical source of asafcetida is now generally attrib- 

 uted to two large umbelliferous plants. Ferula narthex, 

 the Narthex asafcetida of Falconer, anil Ferula scorodosma, 

 or the Scorodosma fcetidum of P.unge. Ferula narthex was 

 discovered by Dr. Falconer in 1838 on the northern slopes 

 of the mountains dividing Kashmir from Western Thibet, 

 seeds of which he sent to the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, 

 where they germinated and produced a plant which flourished 

 for several years, hut died after flowering. Plants more 

 or less allied, and also said to afford asafietida, hav been 

 met with in Herat, and Afghanistan. Ferula scorodosma 

 was collected in 1841 by Lehmaun on the east side of 

 the. sea of Aral, and also in Bucharia. It probably extends 

 over a wide district of Turkestan, Northern Afghanistan 

 and Eastern Persia. Whether this plant is the 1 



(da of Linnaeus cannot be certainly decided. Then 

 is no doubt that the drug is afforded by other allied species 

 of Ferula besides tin' two previously mentioned. The Ferula 

 a of Phi alii d / . , ula alliacea, yields 



asafcetida, which is known in the Bombay market as " Hing " 

 at the present day. Asafietida is. according to Fluckiger 

 and Haubury, lie produce entirely of Afghanistan, lot, 

 1 Dr. E also produced in the proviuci 



of Laristari, in Persia. The drug is i toBi 



I ' ' the Persian Gulf. The asafcetida 



vhich comes from Southern Persia issupposed tele,'. 

 from ■' ',. and that from Afghanistan is 



rom ///i.e. This latter plant, 



■ found by anyone except Falconer 

 irtain, and by him only in Thibet, hence the bota 

 ■■' re "■ ii, Afghai istai i afoetids is mereh 

 ' a in Europe, America and 



other pli |, arisen with the amount 



in Persia and India, win re it is known as "Hingra." 

 Asafcetida was known to the Arabiansand Persians of the 

 middle ages, who mention two kinds, one good, or sweet, 



