COc 



I'HE TROPICAL AGi?ICULTURIST. [Marcm i, :S86. 



and to all appearance lifeless, when the heavy raid 

 which fell daring the cyclone in that month led to 

 its immediate revival. Before the third day of the 

 rain was over, green shoots appeared all over the field, 

 and in two months it yielded a crop weighing 5,566 lb. 

 followed two months afterwards by a second cutting 

 weighing about 12,0U0 lb. The popular idea that this 

 grass requires to be irrigated, and that it should be 

 taken up and replanted in fresh ground at the end 

 of every two years or so, is situated to be quite errone- 

 ous. Of course irigatiou will increase the yield, and 

 any grass which grows so quickly requires an abund- 

 ance of manure. The plants, too, soon become too 

 large, and ought to be divided into four with a spade 

 by two cuts at right angles through the centre, three 

 of the parts may then be removed, aud the fourth 

 left where it is. A subject on which Mr. Symonds 

 has a very decided opinion is the present most un- 

 satisfactory state of the system of obtaining gra.ss 

 for horses by means of grass-cutters. In Bengal the 

 grass-cutters are men who are regularly enlisted and 

 serve for a pension, but in Madras and Bombay in 

 the army as well as in private stables, the grass-cut- 

 ters are women who are generally the horsekeepers' 

 wives. All who keep horses know how difficult it is 

 to have any real control over these women, and how 

 badly thuy usually do their work, and that there is 

 much need for an improved system. In connection 

 with this we arc glad to see that Mr. Symonds calls 

 prominent attention to the very common error that 

 the roots of grass are best for horses. If the roots 

 are young and small they certainly possess a consider- 

 able amoimt of nourishment, but old roots are alwaj-s 

 mixed with the young, and these are not only in- 

 nutritious, but are actually hurtful. The following 

 directions regarding grass seem worth quoting for the 

 benefit of private horse owners. "The grass should 

 be brought in dry, laid on a trellis frame, beaten to 

 remove dust and dirt, and it is then fit for use. 

 Perfectly dry grass is not always possible, of course 

 in the rains it is impossible, then they should bring 

 in 2(1 lb. extra, take every advantage of getting it 

 dry, keep it two or three days, then beat it and use 

 it. In .very wet weather, when there is continuous 

 rain, to keep it would only induce fermentation, but 

 as soon as there is a break in the weather, the dry- 

 ing should be assiduously attended to, and it cannot 

 be laid out too thin." The practice of grubbing up 

 the j^rass with a mamoty is strongly condemned not 

 only on account of the number of roots which are 

 thus mixed with the grass, but also on account of the 

 destruction of the grass ; but this latter objection 

 can hardly be maintained in view of the experiments 

 recently made at Lucknow, where it was found that 

 by scraping the surface, as practised by the natives, 

 an advantage of 10,-320 lb. per acre per annum was 

 obtained over the plan of allowing it to grow, and 

 then cutting it with a sickle. These experiments were 

 made on hariali grass. In conclusion we may call 

 attention to the sixty-two admirably executed litho- 

 graphic plates of the various grasses described, which, 

 tfiken along with the text facilitate the identific- 

 ation of each grass, and greatly add to the value of 

 the book..— .l/urfrii.* JAiil, 



♦ 



THE INDIABU13BBK OATHEEERS OF THE 

 AMAZON. 

 I'or the most part the juice of the seringa has been 

 hitherto collected on the islands and swampy portions 

 of the mainland which lie within a distance of a 

 hundred miles of the port of Para, autl for that reason 

 the product' is known as I'ara ludiarubber. In the 

 great ileUa, away from the channels that have now 

 become the highway for steamers between Para and | 

 the niaiu Amazon, the explorer may paddle about [ 

 iu his palm-decked canoe through hundreds of miles 

 of str|ucstercd creeks, la'ces, and streams, under the 

 shade of huge overhanging trees of the richest 

 Variety and luxuriance, and for weeks together he 

 will not lind the slightest trace of man's existtnc(^ in 

 thr ilense solitudes, but here and tliere the hut of an 

 Jndiarwbber (jatbcrer. Although the iudiistry is largely j 



confined to this limited district, the tree flourishes 

 with equal vigour in all the swampy districts border- 

 ing the Amazon, and there are gioves of untapped, 

 sermgas growing by the Tapajos, Madeira, and other 

 vast tributaries of the central river. Indeed, the 

 traveller by the steamboats (of English make, by the 

 ' way) that ply on the Amazon from Tabatiuga — the 

 first fortress in Brazil on the Peruvian border — to 

 Para, which is quite two thousand miles distant 

 will observe that Indiarubber is an article of export 

 from nearly all the places at which the vessel calls. 

 At the remote Tabatinga itself, rubber and salt fish 

 are taken on board, the contributions to the civilised 

 world from the numerous Indians who dwell in the 

 adjacent forest. Five hundred miles further down 

 the river stands Ega, on the tributary Telle, half-way 

 across the continent. Bates, who lived there ex- 

 ploring in the interest of science for four years and 

 a half ( Agassiz fished there for six months), exclaims , 

 " What a future is in store for the sleepy little village!" 

 At present, that distant population of 1,200, composed 

 of pure Indians, half-castes, negroes, mulattoes, and 

 whites, exports Indiarubber along with cacao, sarsa- 

 parilla, Brazil nuts, copaiba balsam, salt fish, turtle 

 oil, and other products of the district. At Mauaos, 

 a thousand miles from Para, there is ''enough India- 

 rubber to coat the civilised world.' The same article — 

 although cacao is the favourite product from this 

 point — is taken on board at the mud village of Villa 

 Nova, and so also at the town of .Sautareui, to which 

 it is brought down from the river Tapajos. Still, as 

 we have said, the greatest portion of the supply is 

 obtained in the swampy districts nearer Para and 

 the mouth of the Amazon. 



The caoutchouc-gatherer reaches the swampy regions 

 on which alone the Para rubber tree grows towards 

 the close of August, when the Hoods that have 

 I)revailed for four months and kept the tress under 

 water to their crowns, have gone down. A spot is 

 chosen where a gooil supply of rubber trees is at 

 hand, and in selecting it the gatherer has to take care 

 that too dense an undergrowth does not hinder a 

 ready passage between tlie hut and the trees. The 

 caution is highly necessary, for the juice is rapidly 

 spoiled by contact with the air, and every one must 

 be familiar with the difliculty of threading a Brazilian 

 forest because of its marvellous mazes of creepers and 

 shrubs. 



A piece of ground, of a size proportioned to the 

 number of the household or group, is cleared leisurely, 

 about a yard of the stumps beiug left standing. At 

 intervals the mestizo, with a genius for saving himself 

 trouble, allows some of the harder trees to remain, 

 in order to serve as supports for the roof. The tloor of 

 the projected dwelling must be raised above the reach 

 of the water, and accordingly the felled trees are 

 placed upon the stumps for that purpose. Small 

 strips of the bark of the miruti palm are laid down 

 as flooring. To form the frainework of the roof thin 

 trunks are fixed to the stems that have been left 

 standing, and over this are placed immense palm 

 leaves, sheltering a space probably sutficieiit to 

 accommodate a company of twenty persons. To serve 

 as walls— there is no need iu the tropics of any 

 protection against cold — bass-mats are hmig all round 

 tbe structure on a horizontal pole. Partition of the 

 b nldiug into apartments is not regarded as an in- 

 dispensable feature among these semi-savages, and 

 the highest conception of refinement among them is 

 satisfied by the construction of a ladies' chamber in 

 the centre by hanging up a few mats. The stair- 

 case is not an invention that retjuires much toil or 

 genius i some blocks are laid above each other, or a 

 tree stem, with rough steps cut into it. is placed 

 obliquely ajjainst the hut floor. 



T.ook now at the ii»ntry. A space at the foot of 

 some neighbouring tree is cleared of earth to a depth 

 of two or three feet and fcuced round. The adjacent 

 stream tills the pond with water, anti to this reserv- 

 oir are consigned the Hsh and turtles that are caught. 

 Less ciire is bestowed on the food obtained by the 

 Indian 'g gun ; what rvuiaius over the iievetisity of tb« 



