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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



THE SOUAJNA: OIL OF BEN. 



TO THE EDITOB OF TEE INDIAN AGRICULTURIST. 



Sib,— Referring to "O.S. F.'s" letter in your issue of the 

 6th idem, the Souajna Oil, if it is from the Anglo-Indian 

 horse-radish, procured by expression from the ripe seeds, 

 is a very superior hair oil, when boiled, dyed, and scented, 

 and far more efficacious than all the Macassar, and other 

 hair oils, and douches, that I have ever employed Especially 

 is this the case in diseases of the hair, and baldness after 

 fevers and other eruptive diseases, when the hair tails ott 

 in tufts. , , , 



The juice of the roots possesses the pungent taste and 

 smell of the horse-radish of Europe. It is added to mustard 

 for the table, and to sinapism (mustard poultices) to render 

 its action, as a rubefacient and vesicant, energetic 111 acute 

 affections. , . 



Decoction of the root is very serviceable as a gargle m 

 sorethroat and hoarseness. The pods, tender leaves, and 

 flowers are esculeut vegetables for curries (eluckee bajee ot 

 the natives). The soft reddish gummy exudation is employed 

 as a sweetmeat boiled iu syrup or honey. Blocks ot its 

 wood are converted into floats to teach boys to swim, and 

 two large blocks excavated and lashed together are used 

 as "fishing boats/' The oil, if denuded of its stearine, is 

 verv useful for protecting guns, swords, instruments, watches, 

 &c from rust. I have used it for all the above purposes 

 most successfully for nearly half-a-century. I consider it 

 a most valuable tree, and I have dozens of it in the 

 garden always. ., . 



TThe morenga plant is referred to. We saw it growing 

 so far in Northern India as Allahabad, but were told that 

 the pods were never used as food. We never before heard 

 of the use to which the wood is said to be put.— JiD.J 



THE FORESTRY EXHIBITION AT EDINBURGH : 

 INDIA. 



The Indian exhibits form a splendid collection of forest 

 products; indeed, this department is the largest and the 

 most valuable in the Exhibition. It occupies the whole 

 of the middle transept, and is under the superintendence 

 of Colonel Michael, who, as Lieutenant Michael, was appointed 

 the first forestry conservator in Madras thirty-six years 

 ago Though systematic forestry iu India is of so recent 

 origin, it has already made great progress The Forestry 

 Conservancy is now a great department of Mate, and the 

 reserved forests cover 40,000 square miles. An important 

 part of the work of the department is the survey of the Indian 

 forests, which is being rapidly pushed forward. The result 

 is shown in a series of upwards of 100 excellent maps, 

 partly exhibited on the walls and partly shown in port- 

 folios In the official catalogue the Indian collection has 

 had greater justice done to it than any other. It is treated 

 with exceptional fulness and particularity, as is indicated 

 bv the fact that -'India" has had nearly one-half of the 

 catalogue given up to it. Sir George Birdwood contributes 

 to this division a preface containing an interesting account 

 of the origin and progress of forestry in India. From the 

 Forest Department of Assam there come specimens of india- 

 rubber collected from creepers growing in the forests ot 

 the district, and also specimens of tools used by the foresters. 

 From the Government of India there comes the Index 

 Collection" of timbers and forest products. Besides up- 

 wards of 100 specimens of gums, resins, dyes, tans, fibres, 

 oils seeds, perfumery, and medicinal products, it presents 

 nearly 500 examples of different kinds of wood grown from 

 the Himalayas to Cape Comoriu. From the Ooimbatore 

 district there come 13S specimens of various woods and 

 wood products. There are also extensive collections sent 

 from the North-West Provinces, from Malabar, trom 

 Rangoon (including specimens of teak, both in sections and 

 in planks), from the Punjab, from Travancore from Bombay, 

 from Madras, and from the Andaman and Nicohar islands. 

 There are no finer specimens of polished wood in the 

 Exhibition than these of padowk and poore from the islands 

 last named. In the Indian Court there are valuable con- 

 tributions to the literature of forestry, in the shape ot 

 reviews and reports bearing on the forest administration 

 in the several provinces. From India's jewelled pendant, 

 Cevlon, there come specimens of woods, barks, fibres, gums, 

 and vegetable oils. There are also complete collections of 



the products of the coconut and the palmyra palm, and 

 of cinchona barks, with specimens of the flowers of the 

 tree. This is, perhaps, the most convenient place to notice 

 the remarkably fine collection of forest produce sent by 

 the Maharaja of Johore, in the Malay peninsula. It com- 

 prises specimens of timber prepared at the Johore saw- 

 mills, which are superintended by a brother of the Maharaja. 

 There are samples of 350 different kinds of wood produced 

 in the State, chiefly varieties of cedar. As Johore pro luced 

 the first guttapercha known to commerce, it is natural to 

 find specimens of it in the collection. There are also 

 specimens of caoutchouc, gum, and camphor; and besides 

 models of timber-rafts, there is a complete set of Malay 

 forestry tools and implements. — European Moil. 



CULTIVATION OF CIGAR TOBACCO. 



WHAT THE CIGAR TRADE WANTS; 



The trade demands, at the present time, a fine silky 

 leaf, of good fragrance and of good burning quality, and 

 the grower who proceeds counter to the demands of the 

 trade will have to accept of low and unremunerative 

 prices at harvest. The day has gone by when tobacco of 

 the Irishman's lot, who, in describing it, said that " the 

 leaves were as big as a barn door and as thick as his 

 coat," will sell. 



DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF TOBACCO CONTRASTED. 



In contrast with the above described lot, look at the 

 Sumatra leaf. I have seen bales of it carrying nearly 150 

 leaves to the pound, while twenty and twenty-five leaves 

 of thick seed leaf, and sometimes even less, will weigh 

 a pound. The pound of Sumatra is worth SI 50 to $11'90, 

 while this' large Connecticut leaf is worth only about ten 

 to fourteen cents per pound. Our growers now have a 

 variety known aa Havana Seed, of which I have tied up 

 hands taking 108 leaves to weigh a pound. Ordinarily, 

 sixty leaves will weigh a pound. Now, suppose we take 

 fifty leaves as an average. Fifty leaves will make 100 

 first wrappers, and fully an equal number of second wrap- 

 pers. Thus one pound wraps 200 cigars ; or five pounds 

 to the thousand, and when used the veins are very small, 

 and the cigar is beautiful, commanding a higher price than 

 the coarse ones usually made from heavy wrappers. The fine 

 ones sell readily, white the others are disposed of only at 

 low figures. 



TO PRODUCE FINE, DESIRABLE LEAF. 



Again, we find fine tobacco selling readily and at re- 

 munerative prices, while the other is a drug on our hands. 

 To produce fine, desirable leaf, we should fit our land well, 

 supplying such plant food as will produce the quality of 

 leaf desired and to have it in abundance at the proper 

 time. A sufficient number of plants should be set to the 

 acre, so that a great overgrown leaf may be avoided. I 

 think somewhere about 6,500 to 7,000 plants to the acre 

 is the most desirable number. Constant attention in the 

 growing season should be given to the crop, so as to induce 

 a rapid growth, that there may be abundant time for 

 ripening properly. It is all idle for growers to say that these 

 attentions are of small avail in getting what is desirable. 

 It isn't all luck in producing a good crop. There is a 

 necessity for an intelligent manipulation of the crops for 

 us to produce what we most desire. 



Frequent hoeing is of great advantage. It keeps the crust 

 broken, lets heat and light and moisture into the ground, and 

 thus hastens the growth. Hoeing oftentimes disturbs the 

 cut worm. I do not think that so much time should be 

 expended on the hoeing as was the case in olden times. 

 Some growers would pull away all the earth from the plants, 

 often disturbing the roots in so doing, finally pulling up 

 clean fresh earth about the plants, I prefer to leave the 

 plant wholly undisturbed if possible. I have seen a man 

 work all day on a third of an acre, while another grower 

 would do an acre in the same time. I prefer to spend the 

 time in hoeing it over again, and think better results will 

 follow such a course. 



THE BEST TIME FOR TOPPING. 



The question of the best time for topping tobacco is set- 

 tled by different growers according to their own precon- 

 ceived opinions. Much depends on the fertility of the soil, 

 the amount of manure in the soil to throw out the upper 



