March r, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTORIST". 



65!) 



IXDIAN GRASSES. 



uaril, * very precious " for actlie ercJ feet of her Lord. 

 Let us first examine iuto the svibject of atr. ami ttien 

 see how it ought to be exliibited anrt the meaning 

 of the rite. Atr is the essential oil procured by dis- 

 tillation from the petals, leave.-^, or wood of certain 

 plants; as it is yielde^i in small <]U:intities, it is always 

 added to a ground , zaniin i, which is almost invariably | 

 snndal oil (sandal), the essential oil oi Santali'.m 'i/butn. 



The atrs in common use are rose fgulab), jasmine 

 (chameli), paudanus (keorahi, and henna (mchndi) ; 

 the [irices of these vary according to their dilution 

 with sandal ; if you chose to go in for real gulab-ki- 

 atr (otto of roses) you will have to pay R120 per 

 tolah (rupee's weight) for it, so that it is vastly 

 dearer than gold. 



At the close of an ordinary durbar, bits of mus- 

 lin soaked in rose-water and touched with an atrdam 

 spoon are the reprcsGntatives of the sacred ceremony I 

 of atr, which is thus performctl. Tan having been i 

 bestowed, host and guest rise ; the former pours atr 

 of roses iuto one hand, rubs both palms together, 

 and commencing with his guest's head, passes them 

 down his be.ird and body aud down to his feet ; then 

 he .salaams to his guest, who repeats exactly the | 

 same process with his host. The anointing being com- ; 

 plete, raiment for the guest and, if necessary, a purse ' 

 of money are prorided, .and the welcome is complete. 



Vou cannot join in this solemn ceremony without 

 thinking of " the precious ointment upon the head 

 that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beanl, 

 that went down to the skirts of hi.s garment." Nor 

 can you forget DaWd's share in a similiar durbar . 

 " Thou anointest my head with'oil, my cup runneth over." 



The ceremonial of pan and atr is only a portion 

 of the welcome ; food and raiment (khurish-poshis), 

 or their eiiuivaleuts in money, are also supplied un- 

 grudgingly to the guest. When I joined as a griff 

 in 1854 I recollect being welcomed at Bhopawar by 

 a banker, who offered me as khurish-poshish a horse, 

 a pair of shawls, a pagri, and a bag of 11150; of these 

 I was allowed to retain the shawls an! pagri. I 

 only mention this as one illustration of the kindly 

 feeling in pre-Mutiny times. — R. F. H. — Pioneer. 



All who have read Mr. Syraonds' articles on the 

 grasses of the Madras Presidency, and on Army 

 Animal Management, which ai)peared in the Qi'm'terly 

 Journal of I'eUriiuny .S'ci./ire in Jndia, will be glad 

 to have them in the more complete and convenient 

 form in which they are now published. In the present 

 work. tho. most important grasses of the whole Indian 

 Peninsula are described, and fi!,'ured with special re- 

 ference to their use f r fodder, and though, of course, 

 a complete list of the Indi.in grassi-s cannot be ex- 

 pected, it will, we think, be found that all those known 

 to be of value are included. Of coiu'se such a work 

 must be iu the main a compilation from other writers, 

 but it needs a wide knowledge of the subject to make 

 the compilation satisfactory, and we can congratulate 

 Mr. Symonds on his auccess- iu this respect. 



It appears that the most important of the fodder 

 grasses of India is the Ci/itodfni Jhict'/Zoii^ known in 

 this part of India as| hariali grass, and in the north 

 as dhoob. It is the same as the couch grass of Aus- 

 tralia and America, and grows well in all parts of 

 India. This grass is treated of at considerable length, 

 and many useful details arc given regarding its cultiv- 

 ation. Perhaps the most interesting part is a quot- 



• Spikenard is supposed by many to be the Roesa 

 grass of the jungles of Central India; its fragrant 

 esfleutial oil, Roosa-ki-tel, is largely distilleil about In- 

 dorc. Others identify it with the incense root of Jata- 

 ma8i, one of the Valerians, aud essentially an Alpine 

 plant. But .Jata-masi titr is unknown, while Koosa-ki-tel 

 IS very faradiar. Apart from its powerful aud pene* 

 tr»tiDg odour, the . u a famous rub«fe>cieDt. 



ation from a report made by Major General Ottley 

 upon some experiments which he made at Vellore on 

 its cultivation on a fairly large scale. Tl'e soil 

 was first very carefully prepared and manured, care 

 beiug taken to remove all the roots of the corra 

 (Ct/perus Iwtundus)^ a most troublesome weed, which 

 is often found growing along with the hariali, aud 

 which can h.ardly be eradicated after the latter grass 

 has been planted. In the ground thus prepared the 

 hariali roots were planted in fm'rows, and the whole 

 was then laid out in beds, so as to allow of irrigation 

 from wells in the compouud. At the end of about 

 a month the first crop was ready for cutting, and by 

 the judicious use of irrigation — once or twice a month — 

 it was found that eight crops could be obtained in 

 a year. Each crop yielded on an average two tuns to 

 the acre, so that it is well within the limits to say 

 that 50 tons per annum can he obtained from 5 acres 

 of ground properly attended to, and this yi-.-ld is 

 sufficient to render the crop a profitable one, even 

 when we take into account the very heavy first cost 

 of preparing the ground. On the produce of his five 

 acres) General Ottley was .able to keep eight or nine 

 horses and sheep, and to supply hay for the racing 

 studs and livery stables at Madras; while during the 

 hst Burmese war, at a time when there was not a 

 blade of grass in the country, he supplied all the hay 

 needed for the Horse ^Vrtiilery sent to Rangoon. Ex- 

 periments made at the Sydctpet Farm on a plot of 

 3 acres iu 1S08 showed, tlitt a fair crop could be 

 o'otaiued seven wit'aout irrigation, for from this plot 

 8 tons 1.3 cwt. of h.ay was obtained during the year. 

 This bay sold for R3G0, while the cost of curing it 

 was only R1^5. The hay made from hariali grass is 

 of an excellent rjuality if care is taken to carry on 

 the drying properly. The grass ought to be cut im- 

 mediately after the flower appears and, according to 

 Mr, Cameron, of Bangalore, the cutting should bo 

 done in the cool hours of the day, so that the newly 

 mown grass may not be exposed to the intense heat 

 o" the mil-day sun aud the drying shouM take place 

 very slowly. But this is evidently a point on v.hich 

 "doctors differ'' for Mr. Robertson, of Sydapet, gives 

 advice which is very uearly the opposite of this as ho 

 advices that the grass should be cut in the morning 

 after the dew is oil it, that it should then be left 

 lying for an hour or two, and finally be turned and 

 tossed about till sunset, for " it cannot " he adds " be 

 tossed too much during a hot sun." In dry wsather 

 two days of this treatment .should fit the hay for 

 being stacked. Our author does not attempt to de- 

 cide between these diverse opinions, and neither will 

 we, though we must admit that ISlr. Robertson's advice 

 seems to agree with the best practice at home. A 

 point which is not generally known with regard to 

 hay is that it it decidedly atlvautagrous that it should 

 heat .slightly after it is stacked, the fenncntation that 

 takes pi ice in that case improving the quality of the 

 hay as fodder, just as coarse grass is improved by 

 fermentation in a silo. But of course care must be 

 takeu that this heating does uot go too far. Mr. 

 Robertson suggests the use of a single row of six inch 

 drain pipes placed about the middle of the stack, and 

 leailiug from the centre to the outside. But drain 

 pipes are not things that are usually to be found in 

 this country, and they can bo replaced by hollow 

 bamboos, or split palmyra stems, or the stacks may 

 be huilt round a " centre," as is so often done at 

 home. Hay which has been well made, attains its 

 maximum value in from eight to twelve months, and 

 after fifteen months begins to deteriorate, and by 

 three years it is useless for fodder. 



Another very valuable grass is the guinea grass 

 (Paiiicum Juinentoriiin) a native of Guinea, but thorough- 

 ly acclimatized in this country. Not only docs this 

 grass yield a very large crop of a quality admirably 

 suited for feeding horses aud cattle, but it has the 

 power of resisting the longest severest droughts. This 

 was well shown on the Sydapt Farm during the last 

 famine. A field of two acres was planted in Sept- 

 ember 1877, and iu May 1S77 it was perfectly brown, 



