February 2. 1 



885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



593 



TEA CULTIVATION IN THE PUNJAB. 



Tea cultivation in the Punjab is making steady if not 

 rapid progress. In 1S83 there were 1,894 tea gardens in 

 existence, showinga slight advance on last year. Only forty- 

 four gardens out of the total number are "European plant- 

 ations," tie- remainder being worked and owned by natives. 

 The total area under cultivation is returned as 9,056 acres, 

 of which 5,708 acres and 2,256 acres represent the area 

 under mature and immature plants respectively, and 1,092 

 acres the area taken up for planting but not yet planted 

 out. Compared with the previous year there was a falling- 

 otf of 1,020 acres under tea cultivation. Several of the 

 larger plantations show a considerably reduced area in the 

 returns, but no reason is assigned for this reduction, and it 

 is therefore supposed eitherthat a portion of the area origin- 

 ally taken up has been abaneloued as unsuitable for tea or 

 has been appropriated to other purposes. In 1883 the total 

 outturn of tea was 1,300,000 1b., of which 984,4051b. was 

 black tea and 315,605 green. Of the total outturn 899,957 lb. 

 was the yield of the European plantations and 400,053 Hi. 

 that of the native gardens. Compared with 1882 there was 

 an increase in the outturn of 81,491 lb. The increase is duo 

 to the European gardens, and occurred chiefly in the manu- 

 facture of black tea. The average yield per aero of mature 

 plants was 2091b., — 2571b. per acre on European ^plant- 

 ations, and 147 lb. on native gardens. The cost of cultivation 

 per acre was R64-4-0 for European gardens, and R27-9-0 

 for native, while the cost of manufacture per lb. was 4 annas 

 and 3 annas respectively. Some explanation is given as to 

 the manner in which the costaof manufacture has been arrived 

 at. As figures for about half the number of plantations 

 were uot available, those of the larger plantations were taken, 

 and an average was struck from them. The result obtained 

 was R0-3-3 per 11). This, however, was raised to 4 annas 

 on including the cost of manufacture per lb. on European 

 gardens. The area under mature plants has been enlarged 

 during the past year, but that under immature plants is 

 stationary.— Englishman. 



HUREIALLEE GRASS. 



TO THE EDITOK OF THE MADRAS MAIL. 



Sir,— With reference to a para, in a late issue of the 

 Mail on the Hurriallee Grass Seed for Australia, allow me 

 to state that the word Hurriallee is a corruption from 

 Dnknee for H kaus or green grass : Hariya green, 



mdgkaus, grass ; and this name is now popular in English 

 for the lactylon of Persoon. Panicum dactylon of 



Linnseus and Roxburgh, and Agrostis linnearis of Jvetz. Iu 

 tla: vernaculars, in Tamil it is known as Argampilloo, in 

 Telugu Qerii ha Kasavu, in Bengallee Duma, iu Urdu Dub, 

 and in Sanscrit Durva; and it is not only one of the 

 commonest and most abundant of grasses, but it is the 

 most nutritious and useful on which our horses and cows 

 are fed in most parts of India for the greater part of the 

 year. It is exceedingly abundant in all natural and artificial 

 gx-ass lands in this country, and is admirably adapted for 

 permanent pastures, and on a lawn, roadside or tank 

 bund, is the prettiest and most lasting grass. When well- 

 grown, it attains from 10 to 18 inches in height by its 

 branchlets, whilst the culms creep underground, rooting 

 at each joint, and throwing up fresh shoots; thus it 

 spreads far and wide. It is celebrated by Hindu poets, 

 and is held sacred to Ganesha, and is universally known 

 and recognized. In arid soils a few of the dwarfed leaves 

 are only to he seen in clumps, whilst the succulent culm 

 keeps underground, and it is these roots and culms that 

 the Madras grass-cutter produces for our horses; whilst, 

 when irrigated and manured, it attains to IS inches or 

 more in height, and furnishes from five to six crops during 

 the year ; when cultivated for hay, with its long linear 

 leaves, it is seen at its greatest beauty. The natives use 

 the roots in medicine ; its action is supposed to be diuretic; 

 the tender leaves are used as medicine also. A native 

 clergyman once brought the leaves of this grass to me as 

 an antidote to snake poison. So confident was he of its 

 success that he was willing to stake his reputation on it, 

 and, need I say, that he went away sorely disappointed at 

 its non-success. Dogs are fond of the tender grass, 

 which they readily eat, and hence it is called by some peo- 

 ple "Dog Grass." It is the principal of Indian grasses, 

 75 



and seeds freely; the seeds are small, and birds are fond of 

 them. They are collected and sold by seedsmen in Bangalore, 

 but as collecting them requires much care and trouble, they 

 are rather expensive to purchase. John Shoktt 



ENGLAND AS A MARKET-GARDEN. 

 Iu an interesting eight-page tract, just issued by Govern- 

 ment, it is shown that in 1882 no less than over thirty- 

 eight million pounds sterling of articles of food for man 

 and beast were imported which might have been grown 

 in this country; and so, on an average, £1 per acre might 

 have been added to the total acreage of the cultivated 

 land of England. The return alluded to, entitled ( 

 Statistics for 1882, gives the following details of imported 

 articles: — 



Animal Food: — 



Bacon and hams £7,772,063 



Poultry and game 583,797 



Butter 11,350,909 



Cheese 4,749,870 



Eggs 2,385,263 



Lard 1,866,360 



Vegt tables: — 



Chicory 94,750 



Hops 2,962,631 



Onions 527,781 



Potatoes 997,120 



Tares 134,9tM 



Vegetables unenumerated ... 416,109 



Fruit: — 



Apples 783,906 



Nuts 442,570 



Fruit preserved without sugar ... 146,476 



Do., raw, unenumerated 1,415,252 



Do., dried, unenumerated ... 147,9S7 



Of course there is an obverse view of the pecuniary plenty 

 consequent on such extended market-gardening. Practical 

 fruit-growers have called attention to their seasons of 

 disappointment and low prices, as well as their years of 

 plenty. The strawberry-growers of Blairgowrie, whose 

 achievements have won notice from Mr. Gladstone, complain 

 this season that the price of their staple has been such 

 that it does not yield a profit. Jam-making appears to 

 have been over-pushed. The colony of forty industrious 

 proprietors on land that previously was only capable of 

 pasturing travelling flocks going or returning from the 

 Falkirk Tryst appeared to us on a recent visit one of the 

 social featuresof the time. But the colonists are grievously 

 handicapped by the proprietor, owing to a heavy feu 

 rising to £5 per acre of their two to four acre lots and 

 ecessity of immediately erecting a house to the value, 

 of £300 or so on the same. — Journal of Forestry. 



PYRETHRUM. 



The following notes concerning this insecticide were com- 

 municated by Prof. A. J. Cook, of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College, to Gleanings in Bee Culture: — 



" Pyrethrum is a generic term referring to the powdered 

 flowers of one of three distinct plants — Pyrethrum 

 i, P. Carnev.m, and P. Cinerariafolivm. The powder 

 from the two first-mentioned plants is known from the 

 locality where the plants grow, as Persian insect-powder, 

 and for a like reason the latter is called Dalmatian in- 

 sect-powder. Buliach is the Dalmatian insect-powder that 

 is grown and manufactured iu California. G. N. Milco. of 

 Stockton, Gal., who, I believe, is a Dalmatian, has given 

 the name of his product — buhach — to protect him against 

 the adulteration which is quite sure to overtake so valu- 

 able an article. This powder owes its valuable properties 

 to the presence of a volatile substance which, unless the 

 powder is kept close, will escape, when the article is value- 

 less. Buhach, which I have had a year, and have kept in 

 a close tin vessel, is not so effective as last year, nor so 

 effective as fresh powder obtained this year; yet it kills 

 most insects to which it is applied. Another peculiar pro- 

 perty of fresh pyrethrum is that it may be mixed with 

 several parts of flour, and still be potent to destroy. This 

 makes adulteration easy, and likely had its influence iu 

 causing Mr. Milco to adopt a peculiar name for his product 



"Buhach— indeed, all pyrethrum— kills by contact, and 



