574 



THE TROPICAL AGR/CI/LTUKIST, [Feb. j, j886. 



formeriy- cousklertid of vitiil iiuportaucp, are uow very 

 much questioned. Many successful planters have al- 

 together given it up, as entirely inuieccsKary. if not 

 injurious; but few go so far as to advocate leaving' the 

 soil entirely undisturbed, allowing the surface to harden 

 and cake. If, therefore, the concensus of opinion is 

 in favor of the theory that breaking the surface, and 

 turning the soil, to admit some (|uautuun of air and 

 light, is necessary, hand-weeding will not do, evidently. 

 But, argue the advocates of hand-weeding, tea in its 

 natural indigenous state in the forest, has hard, caked, 

 undisturbed soil around it, and thrives. This asser- 

 tion, to begin with, is open to question. The soil 

 ill the forest, from various reasons, is not likely to be- 

 come so hardened ou the surface as in an uncultiv- 

 ated but troddeu-over garden. Even if the assertion 

 were true, it is of little weight. The tea tree in 

 the forest has nothing taken out of it, as is garden 

 descendant has. It is neither plucked nor pruned : 

 naturally it thrives under different eonditious. 

 Further, is it itossihh to hand-weed everything 

 that comes up in an Assam garden ? Certain 

 classes of jungle, such as what is known as the 

 "cold weather weed," might be successfully coped 

 with by hand. But how about the bauds of the 

 coolies deputed to weed out uln and hoiluiii gras.ses, 

 which cut like razors ? It is to be feared that very 

 little work could be done by hand in that class of 

 jungle. On the whole, while we may have something 

 to learn from Ceylon in other matters, we opine we 

 can leave them their hand-weeding, unenvied and un- 

 adopted. As an accessory to forking it may be u.seful, 

 but nothing further. The fork is apparently the cult- 

 ivator of the future ; indeed, we may say of the pre- 

 sent, as it is rapidly superseding the hoe,— to our 

 knowledge in Assam, the Dooars, and Darjeeling ; and 

 probably also in Sylhet and Cachar. The fork thor"Ugh- 

 ly breaks up and exposes the soil to the beneficial 

 light and air. By it the roots of the obstinate uln * 

 grass are extracted and can be thrown away, while the 

 hoe only cuts the grass near the root, turns that root 

 over undisturbed in its own soil, and leaves it to take 

 an immediate fresh start. The fork cannot out the 

 laterals of the tea bush, nor need it touch them, if 

 used with anything like care. Indeed, the numerous 

 advantages of the fork over the hoe hardly need to be 

 dwelt on, and we look forward to the time when the 

 hoe will be as obsolete on a tea garden as the pruning 

 shears. Forking, aided perhaps by hand-weeding, is 

 the cultivation of the future.— -/nrfiira Tea Planters' 



Gazette. 



. .*. 



AGRICULTUBE IN THE NOBTH-WESTEEN 



PROVINCES OF INDIA. 



It is satisfactory to us, who have, since the first 

 publication of the Asian, almost always endeavoured 

 to encourage the work of the different Agricultural 

 Departments throughout India, to see from the rei'ort 

 of the operations of the Department of Agriculture and 

 Oommerc« in the North- Western Provinces and Oudh 

 for the year ended the Slst .September last, that good 

 work has continued to be done throughout the year. 

 Arboriculture seems to linve been well carried on 

 during the year, uo less a sum than K59,878 having 

 been expended on it, whilst the sales from loppings 

 and fellings of the different trees, as well as from 

 the produce of the trees, realised altogether 

 K.38,-85. lu plautiug trees along the roads the same 

 energy was shown, 1,76S miles having been planted out 

 RS against 1,226 miles in the previous year. Hut the 

 cost was of course increased, amounting to RtM.OSl 

 against ll48,12(i. The nurseries at the end of the 

 year amounted to Hi', and they contained 286,.'il0 

 young trees, the cost of their maintenance amounting 

 to K7,8;il. A new invention has been made by 

 Mr. Twigg, the Collector of Hamirpur, for watering 

 plants wheu enclosed within fences, which consists 

 of a long tin tube sheathed with split bamboo carried 



• No doubt the iluk of the Singhalese ; nlaiia-alanr/ 

 of the Malays. It is the main " jungle" of in any Indian 

 tea d;8trict,s and is fearfully prevelant in Java,— Ed. 



on a water cart, one end of which is I3ut through the 

 fence when the water is delivered from an earthen pot 

 furnished with a nozzle fitting into a leather bag which 

 is attnched to the outer entl of the tube. The agri- 

 cultural experiments ;it the different farms lio not 

 seem to have been on the whole very successful as 

 the season was very deficient in the rainfall, but 

 tins fact we have to bring into prominent notice — the 

 advantage of deep o\-er .shallow ploughing, the crops 

 on the deep ploughed ground when only one once 

 ploughed, giving a produce of 13 per cent over those 

 that had been twice ploughed with the ordinary native 

 plough. Our native friends may thus be taught to 

 understand that the first expense of buying a proper 

 plough will soon be repaid, as compared with the 

 work done by native ploughs, in an increased yield. 

 So far as regards the manure question, the old native 

 system of using cowdmig was proved to be superior 

 to that of any other system of manuring tried. Some 

 experiments were tried with ensilage, and jiwar forage 

 was kept in good condition for eight months in simple 

 pits dug in the soil. The cost of the ensilage when 

 taken out anrl disposed of, showed that 8,000 lb. of 

 this forage had cost only Rli5-14-8 at a time when 

 the same quantity of dried and inferior forage could 

 not be obtained under K25. There is nothing parti- 

 cular to notice in the proceedings of the Saharanpur 

 and Lucknovv Cardens beyond the fact that at the 

 former Mr. Duthie, after a tour of three months in 

 the Himalayas, brought b^ck a large collection of new 

 plants and seeds, and that the contributions from these 

 gardens to the Amsterdam and Calcutta Exhibitions 

 received three gold and one silver medal. ^lessrs. 

 Lister & Co. are still extending their opera^ons in 

 sericulture, and have already 200 acres of mulberry 

 planted and 200 additional acres of land cleared for 

 planting, whilst they have in their nurseies a number of 

 seedlings sufficient to plant over 1,000 acres. The com- 

 pany have hitherto felt the want of a sufHcient number 

 of rearing sheds, but these are now being rapidly con- 

 structed, as the prices realiseil for cocoons last year were 

 quite high euough to justify them in extending their 

 operations. Although prizes were offered for the best 

 cocoons produced under cottage cultiv.'ition, as had been 

 the case in the previous year, there appears to belittle 

 hope that the experiment will ever be successful so long 

 as the cultivators are expected to rear worms at their 

 own expeu.se in all their stages. Some experiments 

 were made in no less thau seventeen districts with 

 freshly imported American tobacco seed, but the result 

 is said to have been good in only three districts — ' 

 Pertabghar. Gondah, and ITnao — where the plants 

 flourished and yielded a good crop, and the cultivators 

 were so satisfied with the result that they have kept a 

 quantity of seed for future experiment. — Asian. 



TEA CULTURE: HAND WEEDING. 



I observe that the attention of some of our Managers 

 has been drawn to this mode of cultivation, so success- 

 fully practised iu Oeylon, with the object of having 

 it tried at least experimentally iu Assam. The advant- 

 ages claimed for it by Ceylon planters are. that 

 it costs less thau our system and yields better 

 results. 



The chief objections urged against it from the 

 Indian planters' standpoint are. urst. that the greater 

 abundance and more (irolific growth of seed-bearing 

 grasses and other weeds would either reniler the 

 system impracticable, neutralize the economic advant- 

 ages claimed for it. Second! i/, that even if practiable 

 it would be undesirable on the ground of the ex- 

 clusion in much greater degree of the beneficial 

 influence of light and air to the soil. 



With regard to the first objection it would be a 

 great mistake to assume that similar conditions are 

 nou-existent iu Oeylon with its moist forcing climate. 

 It is their prevalence, iu fact, which h;is led to 

 the adoption of incessant rapid luind-wi cding as the 

 only effectual means of keeping the growth of weeds 

 in subjection. The secoad objectipn has oo doubt 



