January i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



559 



leaves and fully develop the lower oues. If the land 

 is in high condition and the season is propitious, I prefer 

 to let the blossoms show pretty well before topping. The 

 upper leaves are apt to leave a whiter ash, and attain a 

 larger size. Again, the grower can usually top a larger 

 portion at the time he goes through the field the first 

 time. The true Havana seed is liable to blow over, produc- 

 ing crooked, uncouth looking plants, and this is a strong 

 objection to letting it stand long after the seedbuds make 

 their appearance. The weather, too, has something to do 

 with it, if very dry. I don't care to exhaust any of the 

 resources of the plant and hence top earlier. It will be 

 seen there are many circumstances which come in to modify 

 any and all rules. — farmer's Home Journal. 



MADRAS TEAK. 

 The Rangoon Gazette does not see why the trade in Teak 

 timber with Madras should not expand, as that with Bom- 

 bay and Bengal. It apparently seems to overlook the fact 

 that Madras has her Nellumbore Plantations, her Teak 

 Forests on the Anamullais and in Wynaad. The Gazette 

 also complains that the Madras demand for teak has only 

 gone up from seven-and-a-half to twelve lakhs. We are 

 only surprised to find that with our large depots of teak 

 to draw from, that the Burmah supply should have risen 

 from seven to twelve lakhs. There must be something 

 rotten in the management of our teak supply to allow 

 Burmah, not only to send this amount to Madras, but 

 to charge about three| times as much for teak in Madras 

 as it is sold for at the Madras Forest Depots. For in- 

 stance, a great deal of teak is sold in Wynaad for some 

 12 annas the cubic foot; the same would realise in Madras 

 at least 2 rupees, which would leave a handsome profit 

 for Government and at the same time undersell all Burmah 

 teak. We find by the Gazette, that the price of teak in 

 Burmah rose from 48 rupees the ton in 1879-80 to 95 

 in 1883-84. This is nearly 2 rupees a cubic foot in 

 Rangoon; and to meet all risks and a profit, this Teak 

 commands from 150 to 200 rupees a ton in Madras. In 

 his work on Forestry in Southern India, General Morgan 

 has shown that teak can be delivered from the various 

 Government Forests, in Madras for 75 rupees the ton, thus 

 leaving a handsome profit to Government, if sold in Mad- 

 ras for 125 rupees a ton. Against this price Burinah teak 

 could not compete. Madras last year took 14,000 tons of 

 Burmah teak: the greater part of this could have been 

 supplied from Madras Forests. Nellumbore alone cotdd 

 supply five thousand tons annually, and why it does not, 

 is one of those inscrutable things that no one can fathom. 

 The 1884-85-86 Plantations are quite fit for felling, as 

 the timber in them averages 40 years, and one hundred 

 acres contain something like ten thousand tons. Assuming 

 only half of this amount is cut out annually and we have 

 the 5,000 tons for Madras, and so far from this amount 

 having any effect upon the annual outturn, we believe, 

 in a few years it may be doubled, as the planting is over 

 2,500 acres, and every year a new lot attains an age of 

 forty years, this being the age when it is timber To pour 

 5,000 tons into the Madras market would at once raise 

 the Forest Revenues by about six lakhs of Rupees. Then 

 again from Wynaad and the Anamullais some two thousand 

 tons could be sent to Madras at the same amouut of profit, 

 or the sale of teak alone from these forests would equal 

 the whole of the present Forest Revenue. — .South of 

 India Observer. 



♦ 



MANGO CULTIVATION 

 is thus described in the Report on the Geunesh Khiud 

 Botanical Gardens, Poonah: — 



Mango Trees. — 4,300 grafted trees have been produced 

 this season. The number was limited by the quantity of 

 suitable pots procurable. As the demand for grafted mango 

 trees is very high, I have laid in a stock of pots that 

 will permit a much larger number to be prepared next 

 season. The price of the trees is ans. 8 each, packing 

 securely to travel fifteen days costs Re. 1 per doz., and 

 rail carriage by goods train may be calculate.! at Re. 1 

 per doz. per 100 miles. The varieties of mango grafted 

 are chiefly Alphonse and Pirie. It is well known that 

 those varieties are more delicate than seedlings, and I 

 find an impression prevails that grafting is the cause of 



the weakness. From my knowledge of plants, I am un- 

 able to take that view of the subject. A badly-executed 

 graft will no doubt form an impediment to the flow of 

 the sap, but if the tree survives, it must get over that 

 impediment in a few years, and in a well-made graft the 

 union becomes perfect in a few months. The delicacy of 

 the varieties beforenamed is more probably due to con- 

 stitutional weakness, and there are several seedling trees 

 throughout the country, the fruit of which I am assured 

 is sold under the name Alphonse. It is probable that 

 among those trees some of good constitution may be found, 

 which although not quite equal in flavour to the real 

 Alphonse may be valuable for hardiness and other good 

 qualities, and by skilfully grafting those trees, we can have 

 large groves of grafted mango trees thriving with as little 

 care and attention as the groves of seedlings may be seen 

 at present, if suitable soils and situations are selected. I 

 append a few notes on the soil and climate of Sivapore, 

 which has at least 5,000 mango trees as an instance of 

 suitable conditions. 



Mango Enemies.— The grafting work was interrupted this 

 6eason by a horde of bandycoots that invaded part of 

 the garden and destroyed over two hundred of the best 

 stocks, young seedlings, by eating them through near the 

 surface of the ground. It appeared that the pith in the 

 centre of the stem was the part sought after. The destruct 

 tion was begun suddenly on the plants being taken to the 

 proper place for grafting, and next morning about 100 

 were found destroyed. Phosphorous paste was the only 

 poison at hand, and it did not prevent an equal amount 

 of mischief from being done the next night, but arsenic 

 mixed up with bread crumb and fat was thorougldy effect- 

 ual, and we had no further trouble from that source 



Soil and situation ft for Manan growing.— The mango 

 grove at Sivapore with at least 5,1 'l00 trees is a good example 

 of a suitable soil and climate for mango and fig growing, 

 and as I have recently examined the grove carefully, I 

 may give my notes here. 



The soil from the surface downwards, as may be seen 

 in many places exposed by water currents and in un- 

 finished wells, is — 



1st.— Dark brown or black loam, about ... 5 feet. 

 2nd. — Calcareous marl, about ... ... 9 



3rd. — Coarse gravel, about ... ... 2 ' 



4th. — Very porous nodular trap, about ... 3 " 



5th. — Rock in an extremely disintegrated 



condition, not sand, but resembling 



what one would imagine would be the 



effect if lava had flowed into water and 



been cooled suddenly, at least 4 



Water is found abundantly in the last-named strata 

 The slopes are gentle, permitting the rain to percolate 

 freely. Laterite outcrops occur in the neighbourhood, and 

 the site is sheltered by hills on all sides except the south- 

 east. Thanks are due to Roa Saheb B. R. Natu of Pooua 

 for permitting his famous mango tree at Kadus called 

 Khuut to be grafted. I expect to remove 80 grafted 

 plants at least from that tree in a few days. To that 

 gentleman I am also indebted for an opportunity of success- 

 fully performing a grafting operation that has very seldom 

 been done in this country. A branch was brought bi a 

 cartman from the Kliunt mango at Kaduz, 40 miles away, 

 and grafted to a six-months old seeding here. The graft 

 made is what is known as the saddle. Grafting branches 

 on to old trees in the ground is common, but the oper- 

 ation described is adapted ,for plants to be distributed. 

 I fear that the delicacy of the operation will prevent 

 it from being much employed.— Indian Agriculturist. 



♦ 



AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 

 (Special Letter.) 



Paeis, September 29. 

 Dr. Koning, of Minister, has made known the results of 

 his analysis of beet pulp, derived from the diffusion pro- 

 cess, in a fresh and in a dry state. He operated on 2!i 

 tons of the fresh pulp, from which he obtained (i ewt. 01 

 dried stuff. The practical results corroborate those obtained 

 byMaercker, namely, that it is more advantageous to employ 

 the pulp in the desiccated state, then when preserved iii 

 silos in the fresh condition, and the loss consequent on 

 the acidulous fermentation. 



