October i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



285 



then be possible to gi'ow horse-gram even in the 

 ab!,ence of any rain, proviiled the land is ploughed 

 on the very day that the crops are reaped. . . , 

 Three or fourploughingsevenwith the country plough 

 and about six measures of seed are all that is required 

 to produce a crop of horse-gram for manure. It is the 

 duty of all men who have the welfare of the country 

 at heart, to use their influence towards the general 

 adoption of this highly beneticial practice of green 

 manuring. In this manner many million tons of 

 organic matter may be added amuially to the soils 

 of the country. As any number of crops can be 

 grown on dry land without extra assessment. I 

 do not see what dilficulty the ryot will have in 

 adopting it. Some^some of the dry lands are so'defi- 

 cient in organic matter as to be unfit for cultivation." 

 Mr. Subba Kao then advices that such lands be 

 planted with casuarina, of which the sheddings ought 

 to be allowed to enrich the soil. And he also sug- 

 gests that there can cultivation between the lines 

 of casaurina. But all the above argument is mate- 

 rially affected by the fact that the lecturer argued 

 from the condition of things at the Sydapet farm 

 to what may be done in country which is under 

 very different concUtions. On soil very poor in 

 organic matter horse-gram was grown in the Sydapet 

 farm. How is it that horse-gram grows on such soil? 

 Because it is nourished simply by air and water, 

 just as casaurina trees are. And the soil is sim- 

 ply the medium through which the nourishment 

 contained in air and water is most conveniently 

 conveyed to the plants. But it is quite possible 

 that casuarinas will refuse to grow both on similar 

 soil in other parts of the country where there 's 

 no moisture ; and also that, even though there 

 may be moisture, they will refuse to grow on land 

 which is very unfavorable to its ready percolation 

 and to the penetration of air to the roots of the 

 plant. And so it is with horse-gram. It is not 

 much moisture that it reiiuires ; but some it must 

 have ; and the soil on which it is planted must 

 be rather loose or light, so as to admit of [air pene- 

 trating to the roots. On the Sydapet Farm, with 

 all its •■ blowing sands," it would be impossible at any 

 time of the hottest year to dig a few inches 

 below the surface with the hands or with a stake 

 without coming upon moisture, or to dig a few 

 feet without coming upon water. And, however hot the 

 surface of the sands may be, that very heat 

 must be constantly bringing up vapour from below 

 to the surface. In fact, the subsoil moisture is 

 inexhaustible, because tlie soil is loo.se and the 

 sea is near. But how totally different in regard 

 to moisture and the cordition of the soil is most 

 of the dry land in the interior ! A little below 

 the surface it is in many jilaces as hard as rock, 

 and the digger may go down to primeval granite 

 without finding water, as the tentative borings for 

 artesian wells showed. And in some places even 

 the upper soil is unfavourable to the penetration 

 of air. Then again, it is not only by their root- 

 lets tliat ))lants and grasses receive nourishment, 

 but through every part of Uiem : the very leaves and 

 grass-blades absorb air and moisture. And when 

 the air is destitute of moisture, even watering 

 the soil of individual plants does not, in some 

 cases, avail to their nourishment. Moisture 'in the 

 air is essential to their existence. And what a 

 difference there is between the atmosphere of the 

 coast and tliat of the interior In this respect ! Only when 

 the landwind greatly prevails do we in Madras ex- 

 perience anything like the parching scorching heat 

 that prevails in the interior. The greater density 

 of the air and the moisture it contains near the 

 coast, make the heat there more oppressive to 

 animal life ; but these conditions are more favor- 

 able to vegetation than the arid heat of the in- 



terior. The absence, therefore, or great deficiency 

 of moisture in both the sub-soil and in the air 

 in tlie interior of the country is the reason, which 

 Mr. Subba Bao could not see, why the ryot can- 

 not adopt the plan he proposes of raising three 

 crops a year on dry land ! ! I ,So tar from being 

 able to raise one crop of horse-gram before, and 



one crop after, the winter crop of food grain 



and that on all the IDJ million acres of dry land 

 that now bear but a single crop a year — Mr. Subba 

 Kau must learn that on many an acre of land the 

 ryot would be glad it he could always raise but 

 one good crop of horse-gram as his winter crop. 

 And if he could, so far from using it for man- 

 ure, the poor fellow would eat the gram himself, 

 and feed his cattle on the rest of the plant — 

 roots and all — which is full of nourishing matter 

 for cattle, and is most carefully preserved and 

 doled out to them daily with the other fodder 

 as a treat. The students and others at the Syda- 

 pet Farm should be on their guard and about 

 generalizing too freely from their experience or 

 observation on the farm. As we hope to show 

 further at some future time, very good land in the 

 interior is at a great disadvantage, in some respects, 

 compared with the inferior soil of the Sydapet Farm. 

 — iJadras Times. 



PLANTING IN DELI. 



(Translated fur the" Straits Times.") 

 New Staple Products. — Planters in Deli who, this 

 year too, may rejoice in splendid financial results 

 arising from the sale of the 1884 crop, have, 

 often and not unjustly, been reproached with the 

 fact that, in this country, so pitifully little has 

 been done in paving the way for growing new 

 products and setting the example in cultivating 

 them, from every effort and all their energies 

 being directed upon tobacco only, without paying 

 heed at all to the likelihood that, some day or other, 

 all may be over with high prices. We do not 

 range ourselves among those wOio hold gloomy 

 views as to the future. We on the con- 

 trary, are convinced that Sumatra tobacco, with- 

 in the last few years, has gained a particularly 

 high reputation throughout the commercial world 

 and that heuee it can only be ousted from this 

 vantage ground by a product possessing at least 

 the some good qualities. Moreover, one tran- 

 i quillising circumstance for Deli planters is that the 

 , country competition from which most has been 

 j looked forward to, is still an unexplored region. 

 { But, notwithstanding this it is our opinion that 

 I prudence counsels the utmost attention to be 

 I steadily directed upon the cultivation of all trop- 

 ical products likely to make the East coast of 

 Sumatra more independent of tobacco. For that 

 Deli tobacco will continue to be a permanent ex- 

 ception and that the vicissitudes which charac- 

 ■terise wholesale trade in all colonial produce 

 articles will never befall it we would rather not 

 believe, the more so from tobacco being concerned, 

 as to which trade and cultivation have ofteii 

 undergone changes for the worse. We rather look 

 upon a reaction as being merely a question of 

 time, than feel uncertainty whether it will come 

 or not. That many jilantei's are regardless of 

 the future so long as tliey do well in the present 

 is easy to understand by bearing in mind the 

 price ruHng within the last few years. Neither 

 is it any wonder either that they do not feel the 

 least inclination, in consequence, to make experi- 

 ments. When, however, low prices once set in fur- 

 ther delay will be dangerous, and the question 

 what is to be done will we hope not be, then 

 put too late. What we fear is that, then, thi 



