June 27, 1878J 



NATURE 



219 



necessary to point them out at length, as a second 

 edition will certainly see the greater number corrected. 

 The book unquestionably supplies a need : it attempts 

 to do for industrial chemistry what Mr. Watts' s well- 

 known work does for the theoretical part of the science, 

 and we can wish it no higher measure of success than 

 that it should meet with the favour which that work so 

 deservedly enjoys. T. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



Annual Report of the Superintendent of Government 

 Farms. (Madras, 1877.) 



This report of Mr. W. R. Robertson is one of great 

 value ; it comprises an account of the present state of 

 native agriculture in the district of Coimbatore, and a 

 statement of the work carried out at the experimental 

 farm at Sydapet. 



The information respecting native agriculture was 

 obtained during a three months' tour of inspection. The 

 general condition of the country is clearly most deplor- 

 able, and unless improved methods of farming are 

 adopted there is apparently nothing but starvation and 

 ruin before the majority of the ryots. The land irrigated 

 from rivers and tanks forms about i-2Sth of the area 

 under cultivation ; this land receives scarcely any manure 

 save that supplied by the water ; it nevertheless maintains 

 good crops, and its money value is 20 — 25 times greater 

 than that of land unirrigated. Mr. Robertson complains 

 of the great waste of water : an ordinary crop of paddy 

 will receive during its growth about twelve feet of water. 

 If the crops were manured, far less water would suffice. 

 A still greater saving would be effected by growing crops 

 requiring less water ; four or five acres of wheat or maize 

 could be produced with the water required for one acre 

 of paddy. Irrigation by means of wells is employed to 

 some extent ; the wells being private property, the water 

 is used with far greater economy than is the case with 

 river irrigation. Mr. Robertson strongly recommends an 

 improved form of water-lift known as the " double 

 mhote ; " by this a single bullock can raise as much 

 water as, on the native plan, is accomplished by four 

 bullocks. Facilities for sinking wells should also, he 

 thinks, be increased. 



The unirrigated land has of late years very con- 

 siderably decreased in fertility, and the number of battle 

 per acre is now only about one-half the number main- 

 tained in 1838. "The curse of Indian agriculture" is 

 the employment of cattle manure as fuel, and this custom 

 increases as the jungle is destroyed and brought under 

 cultivation. The author strongly recommends the com- 

 pulsory planting of fuel trees throughout the country ; 

 these would improve the climate as well as furnish the 

 much-needed fuel. A striking feature of the unirrigated 

 land is the entire absence of weeds, a true indication of 

 the poverty of the soil. The greater part of this land is 

 never manured, and is cultivated chiefly for grain crops, 

 Pentcillaria spicata, Sorghum vulgare, and Eleusine cora- 

 canaj fodder crops and pasture are rarely met with. Were 

 fodder crops more largely grown, the live stock increased 

 in proportion, and the cattle manure all returned to the 

 land, a great increase in fertility would be effected. The 

 addition of organic manures to the soil, or the ploughing 

 in of green crops, would also considerably increase the 

 power of the soil to retain moisture, humus being 

 of all the ingredients of the soil that which possesses 

 the greatest water-holding power. Artificial manures 

 are never employed : saltpetre may be purchased at a 

 low price, but it is all exported, and never applied to the 

 land. 



It is pleasant to find, towards the conclusion of the 

 report, that a School of Agriculture has lately been 



opened at Sydapet. Now that the causes of the agri- 

 cultural depression have been clearly pointed out, we may 

 hope that active steps will be taken to provide a remedy. 



R. Warington 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



\The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters at 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even op com- 

 municatiens containing interesting and novel facis.J 



The Size of the Indian Tiger 



In a book recently published entitled " Thirteen Years Among 

 the "Wild Beasts of India," by Mr. G. P. Sanderson, of Mysore, 

 at pages 272, 273, the following remarks occur regarding the 

 size of the tiger, and in reference to certain measurements of 

 that animal given in a small volume entitled " The Royal Tiger 

 of Bengal : his Life and Death," published in 1875. 



The author (Mr. Sanderson) says, — " Regarding the size of the 

 tiger, once a much disputed point, all careful observers are, I 

 believe, agreed in accepting Dr. Jerdon's view ('Mammals of 

 India') as thoroughly correct. He < ays, ' The average size of a 

 full-grown male tiger is from 9 to 9^ feet,' but I fancy that 

 there is little doubt that occasionally tigers are killed 10 feet in 

 length, and perhaps a few inches over that ; but the stories of 

 tigers II feet and 12 feet in length, so often heard and re- 

 peated, certainly require confirmation, and I have not myself 

 seen an authentic account of a tiger that measured more 

 than 10 feet and two or three inches. I know," con- 

 tinues Mr. Sanderson, " two noted Bengal sportsmen who 

 can each count the tigers slain by them by hundreds whose 

 opinions entirely corroborate Jerdon. My own experience can 

 only produce a tiger of 9 feet 6 inches and a tigress of 8 feet 

 4 inches as my largest. Of course writers start up now and 

 again, as the author of the * Royal Tiger of Bengal ' did two years 

 ago, and give us something like the following : — ' The full grown 

 male Indian tiger may be said to be from 9 to 12 feet or 12 feet 

 2 inches, the tigress from 8 to 10 feet, or perhaps in very rare 

 instances 1 1 feet in length.' It is only fair to the author to 

 state, however, that in the next paragraph he looks with doubt 

 upon Buffon's tiger of 15 feet, and would only 'with greater 

 hesitation accept the recorded statement that Hyder Ally pre- 

 sented a tiger to the Nawab of Arcot that measured 18 feet. 



A portion only of the paragraph in my book is quoted ; the 

 most important, the first part, being omitted ; it is as follows : — 

 " The statements as to the length they (tigers) attain are con- 

 flicting, and errors are apt to arise from measurements taken 

 from the skin after it is stretched, when it may be 10 or 12- 

 inches longer than before removal from the body. The tiger 

 should be measured from the nose to the tip of the tail as he 

 lies dead, before the skin is removed, Ofie that is 10 feet by this 

 measurement is large, and the full- grown male does not often exceed 

 this, though no doubt larger individuals {males) are occasionally 

 seen ; and J have been informed by Indian sportmen of reliability 

 that they have seen or killed tigers over 12 feet in length." 



This account of the size of the tiger really, therefore, sub- 

 stantially agrees with Dr. Jerdon's, except that he says, " The 

 stories of tigers of 11 feet and 12 feet in length, so often heard 

 and repeated, certainly require confirmation." This confirmation 

 is supplied. The following examples may be adduced : — 



Lieut. -Col. G. Boileau killed a tiger at Muteara, in Oude, in 

 1 86 1, that was over 12 feet, the skin, when removed, measured 

 13 feet 5 inches. 



Sir G. Yule, K.C.S.I., has heard once, at least, of a 12-foot 

 tiger fairly measured, but 1 1 feet odd inches is the largest he 

 has killed, and that twice or thrice. 



Col. Ramsay killed a tiger in Kumaon, 12 feet. I have 

 myself seen and killed tigers over 10 feet, and have notes of 

 some : one, for example, killed in Purneah, in 1869, 10 feet 

 8 inches in length. 



Gen. Ramsay mentions the skin of a tiger partly killed by 

 himself near Benares that measured over 12 feet. This had no 

 doubt been stretched, but it was a very large tiger. 



Col. J. Sleeman does not remember having killed a tiger 



