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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1886. 



DinnnOARn — Oonsiderablt dissatisfaction is very 

 geuerally expressed at the remarks of tho Obief Com- 

 missiouer on the official report by our divisiouil oilicer 

 in which he averaged the yield per acre of bearing 

 plant throufiliout the district to be over four hiuidred 

 poniKls. Tliis amount that resolving dijimtai'y regards 

 as fabulous. He is not perhaps aware that this large 

 average is decided by (lie enormous oulturu of (he Urge 

 Upper Sadiya road gardens. Itoughly sjjeaking there 

 are ln-re about .'ix thousand acres of mature tei, be- 

 tween the Cliota Hapjan and Dholla. Of this, two 

 thousand five huiulred yield at Ihe rate of no lest- than 

 eight hundred pounds per acri'. and tlie remain ler, 

 with the exception of two insignificant gardens — Dholla 

 aiul Mesai — average between six hundred and tlurty 

 and seven hundred and fifty. The two gardens which 

 promise to bead llie list this year are Besakopie 

 ( Doom-Dooma) and Hilika (R. G. S. estates). Up to date 

 their outturn has been at the rate of eight maunds per 

 acre, and they hope to make eleven before they have 

 done. The manager of Talup, who used to .show us all 

 the way, has decided to stop at ten maunds per acre, 

 an.l go in for quality more than he has done. To give 

 tliose of your readers, who do not know our district, an 

 idea what work on these gardens means, when the manu- 

 facturing season is at its heiffht, I may mention that 

 most of our tea here is made ^ July, August and 

 September, and that Talup and Hilika are a thousand 

 acres each and ]5e.sakopie nearly six hundred. — Jiidian 

 Planters Gazette. 



Ckylonese Agricultubal SrUDENTs. — It may interest 

 Mr. Green and other friends of agricidture to know that 

 a Geylonese is now prosecuting his studies at Cirencester. 

 lu a private letter lie writes : — " Though I was a week 

 late in entering, I have almost got into the swing of work. 

 It is all very novel. The theoretical part, in which 

 we have lectures, is of course altogether scientific. It 

 includes geology, physics, chemistry, apriculture. Ve- 

 terinary and book-keeping. Then there is a farm and 

 hospital class, which is novel in the extreme. The 

 farm class is a " locomotive on"," and it is a thing 

 one has to get used to, to walk 2 or 3 miles over 

 fields through slushy soil (leather gaiters are of course 

 indispensable) to examine crops and soils and animals, 

 I doubt not this will be pleasiut in other weather, 

 but it is liorrilily cold now. AVe have about 130 stud- 

 ents, from nearly every part of the woi Id — even from 

 Biiimah — but the bulk are sons of English farmers. 

 We have even fanners themselves ol 30 and 40 who 

 cam« down to attend the lectures. Tho vacation com- 

 mences alout the ISth December and lasts six weeks 

 at least, possibly eight; and we cannot remain at Ciren- 

 cc'ster at all. It will make tliree weeks next .Sat urd.ay 

 that I have been here. I stay in town in a licensed 

 house, the College being situate about a mile or more 

 from the town. I am up at 7 every moruing, and after 

 In-eaklast start out for the College where work begins 

 at !> sliaip Mondays and Tuesdays keej) me there 

 till 4, and then I am obliged to lunch at College, but 

 (Ml other days lam back for dinner. The theoretical 

 work takes us 2 or % liours, and there is one prac 

 tical ilass each day in analysis of soils, plan-drauing, 

 and the farm class — the latter in the ojien air where 

 we discuss crops, soils, manures, dairies, sheep, beasts 

 of th<' field generally, and watch the different processes 

 in the diHercnt departments. The College is beauti- 

 fully situateil, and the country about is v<:ry lovely 

 just at this time. A\'e have a delightful park, the 

 grounds of the Karl of Uathurst, open to the pub- 

 lic, thvongli which I return from College, It extends 

 seven miles. 'I'he central road is lined on eitherside 

 with regularly planted elin-^, and the view of these 

 stretchin.g as far as the eye could r(;aeh. with their 

 various shades of green, yellow, brown and red, is very 

 pretty. ' Cirencester is a neat lilth; town, the only ex- 

 citing timi's being the hunting season, the Fairs, nnd 

 the " Miip " when the hiring of farm-labourers takes 

 place. 'J'liere has been a good deal of excitement lately 

 over the election. This is a fearfully Conservative oM 

 place, (for ol 1 it is, since you will be shown a }»oman 

 arch in every kitchen! and when a liberal candidate 

 called Winterbothani came with Mr. IJroadhnrst, II. 



P., to address us at the Corn Hall— our great public 

 building !— there was a fr.>e fight aud a smash up." 

 We trust the writer of the al)ove will prosecute his 

 .studies so as to prove an acquisition t) the island oa 

 his return, whether to put into practice on his own 

 laud the knowledgi he has acquired, or to be the head 

 of an enlartred ami flourishing A;,'rioiiIturaI- College.— 

 " Examiner." 



Inohn Plouohino. — The improvements intro- 

 duced by civilisation in every industry and every 

 occupation of life seem to reach agricnlture last 

 of all- This is so in England, and in Europe 

 and also in India, as we read in an interesting 

 paper on " Punjab Ploughing " by Mr. Kennedy 

 in the current number of the Calcutta lievicte. 

 " Looking at the actual state of tillage in India," 

 says Mr- Kennedy, " a scientific agriculturist will 

 be perhaps, inclined to think that the Indian peas- 

 ant has made but little advance upon the primitive 

 tillage which yokes a buUock to the branch of a 

 tree .for a plough and a thorn bush for a harrow, 

 and with tliese rude appliances roughly scratches 

 and harrow.s the soil. Ho may be inclined to think 

 that under British rule, agriculture alone of all 

 the arts has not progressed, and still remains 

 in the state it was before European skill and 

 energy were brought to bear upon the industries 

 of the East." But if we examine more closely 

 into the subject and compare the efforts of the 

 agriculturist with those of his ancestors, there 

 may be found signs that the inlluence of scienti- 

 fic improvements has not been entirely unielt. 

 Too much must not be expected. In P^urope, and 

 especially in England, labour is dear, and every 

 invention of machinery which can perform the 

 work of men or horses, and every extension of the 

 application of steam to drive such machinery proves 

 efl'ectual from the cheapness of fuel and the 

 dearness of labour. But " in India labour is still 

 cheap, and labour-saving machines have not 

 hitherto proved a success. Machines, on the otlier 

 hand, to increase tlie agricultural ou.lurn, such as 

 the Bihia Sugar Mill, oil-expressing machines, 

 etc., have probably a great future before them, lint 

 until we thoroughly understand the conditions 

 under which native husbandry is carried on, the 

 merits or demerits of the various operations of 

 tillage the farmer practises, and of the various 

 implements and tools he uses, and thoroughly 

 understand the general principles which guide his 

 practice — and such knowledge is still in its infancy 

 — it would be unsafe to too rashly condemn his 

 methods, or to ask liim to forego tho use of ap- 

 IJliances which he understands, and adopt others 

 of which he is ignorant, and the advantages of 

 which ai'e siill problematical." And Mr. Kennedy 

 docs a service in pointing out that improvements 

 which work well in England may not do so in India 

 and ought not in such cases to be forced upon the 

 acceptance of tlie agriculturist, who is almost of 

 necessity conservative in liis habits and of a low 

 intellectiial development. An instance is quoted 

 from the Punjab Famine Report, which is very 

 instructive. Mr. Hume, the writer, says : — " I 

 remembor once seeing a practical English jilough- 

 man plough up a piece of land on I he Knglish 

 system, that is, throwing the soil inland ; the 

 operation was beautifully performed, the crop 

 germinated well, but v.lien the time came for it 

 to he watered, it naturally jn-eferred to remain in 

 the furrows between the land : the. result was, the 

 cro|i came to nothing. This system of i)loughing 

 in lands ill England is employed on purpose to 

 caiisi^ a siu'face drainage : in the Punjab we do all 

 we can to keep moisture in the soil." VVihcs i\f 

 liulia. 



