CULTIVATION OF THE BABUL 



Sir Waiter Elliot (Fl. Andh.) says it is the Barburamu of Sanskrit. 

 In South India it is known as karu (or karuvelam), gobli, jdli, tuma, etc. 



Habitat. This is one of the roost widely distributed and prevalent of small 



trees in India, but chiefly on village sites, borders of fields or waste lands, where 



usually seen to be gregarious. It prefers a dry to a moist climate and ac- 



onlingly is, as a rule, absent from the coast tracts; it disappears gradually 



! "nn u Bengal, Buhar and Oudh, on the Terai of these provinces being approached ; 



'^ent from tho warm moist tracts of Assam, Manipur und Burma; i- 

 prevalent from the North-West Provinces, through the Central Provinces to 

 Berar, Central India, Bombay and Sind ; and might be said to attain it* 

 greatest development in lower and middle Sind, where it is probably truly 

 indigenous. It does not appear to be a native of many parts of India, where 

 nevertheless common, e.g. the Panjab, Oudh, Bengal and Madras. In 

 the Panjab it is mainly grown on canal embankments, and in the United 

 Provinces by roadsides and on islands in the Ganges. [Cf. Kept. Arboricult. in 

 Pb.. 1890-3, 6.] 



Varieties. Some short time ago Sir Dietrich Brandis (Ind. For., Sept. 

 1897, 23, 359) raised the question of the varieties of this species. He 

 referred to the kaulia babul of Berar (the kowri, kaoria, and vedi mad of the 

 Deccan) as a small tree with deeply cracked and exfoliated bark, broad marginato 

 pods, and stouter spines than the ordinary form which in Akola is distinguished 

 as telia babul (the godi (sweet) babul, according to Fagan, Shuttleworth, etc.). 

 Another variety is the cylindrical babul known as ram-kanta (possibly the Kabul 

 or cypress babul of certain writers. [Cf. Panjab Oaz. (Sialkot), 1894, 11 ; 

 Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 292 ; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bomb., i., 444.] The kaulia 

 or kauria is a smaller tree, grows on poorer soil, and affords a much less valued 

 timber than the ordinary or telia babul (Brandis, Ind. Trees, 204). It would 

 seem that the well-known variability of Acarla arabirn in merit of gum tan 

 and timber afforded, may to a large extent be dependent on this question of 

 tho varieties or [climatic conditions of the species, hence the subject is well 

 worthy of careful consideration. 



Cultivation. The babul is raised from seed, bears transplanting indifferently, 

 and according to some writers may be propagated by cuttings. It can bo sown by 

 drill or by being broadcasted, and in either case just before the rains or, say, in 

 June and July. The seeds germinate slowly, for they are exceedingly hard, and it 

 is customary to soften them by steeping for a day or so in water or in liquid cow- 

 manure. The seed is generally gathered in April, and by the Native cultivator 

 is often coated with cow-dung and kept in that condition till July, then sown 

 on the spot where intended to be grown. Most writers affirm that germination 

 is best effected by making goats or sheep first eat the seeds. This, however, 

 would seem to be a mistake, for these animals will not eat shelled seeds and 

 do not care much for ripe pods ; they prefer green pods with immature seeds. 

 When mature the animals eject them from the mouth during rumination, 

 and the seeds thus never actually pass through the alimentary system. If, 

 however, they chance to be retained for some hours in the first stomach of a 

 ruminant the seeds would no doubt be found to germinate freely. 



The plants have to be thinned out about the third year until the healthiest 

 occupy distances of from 10 to 20 feet apart. In the third year they will flower 

 and bear fruit ; and according to the experts of the tanning industry in Cawnpore, 

 the bark is in its most perfect condition when the trees are from 4 to 6 years 

 old. Curiously enough, however, many Natives affirm that the older the trees 

 are the stronger the tanning property. This does not appear to be the case, for 

 according to European tanners the colouring principle develops but the tanning 

 value decreases with age. If, therefore, babul plantations be raised with a view 

 to returns from tanning-bark and fuel, the trees should be uprooted after from 

 to 10 years, in order to secure the best financial results. At one time it was 

 supposed that a system of pollarding plantations might be the most remunerative, 

 but plants so treated have been observed to grow so very slowly afterwards 

 that it has proved preferable to uproot and replant. The bark is sometimes 

 stripped off tho living plants, but the wounds heal so very badly that this is by 

 no means an approved method of procedure. [Cf. Fagan, Ind. For., x., 393, 441 ; 

 Lushington, Ind. For., xxi., 252.] 



Cost of Production and Profit. Mr. Ozanne (Letter No. 607, dated July 1884, 

 para. 10) furnishes returns given by a Parsi gentleman of Gujarat. Briefly 

 those may be said to give the cost of cultivation and rent of land for 10 years 



3 



ACACIA 



ARABICA 



Cultivation 



ifcir. 



Indigenous. 



Three r..nm. 



Conclusion 



n-y:ir.li:iL; 

 Varieties. 



Cultivation 



Methods of 

 Bowing. 



Weeded out. 

 Perfect 

 Condition of 

 Bark. 



Pollarding 

 Plantations. 



Stripping Bark. 



