172 STJGAB. 



the same place. There is a substratum of JcunJcar throughout the 

 whole of that part of the country, and to some mixture of this 

 eartli with the surface soil the fertility of the latter is ascribed : 



123 



Hygrometric moisture, on drying at 212 deg. . 2'5 2'1 3-6 

 Carbonaceous and vegetable matter, on calcination 18 2'1 4-0 

 Carbonate of lime (No. 3 effervesced) . . . 1*6 0.6 3-9 



Alkaline salt, soluble TO 1-1 4 3 



Silex and alumina 94'1 94-1 88 4 2 



100-0 100-0 100-0 



The earths unfortunately were not separated. Mr. Prinsep 

 says the two first were chiefly of sand, and the third somewhat 

 argillaceous. The former required irrigation, but the other was 

 sufficiently retentive of moisture to render it unnecessary. 

 ( Journ. Asiatic Soc., ii. 435.) 



Manures. The sugar cane being one of the most valued crops 

 of the ryot, he always devotes to it a portion of the fertilising 

 matters he has at command, though in every instance this is too 

 small. 



In the Rajahmundry district, previously to planting, the soil is 

 slightly manured, either by having cattle folded upon it, or 

 by a light covering of the rotten straw of the green and black 

 pessalloo, which is here a favourite fertiliser. In some parts of 

 Mysore the mud from the bottom of tanks is employed, and this 

 practice is more generally adopted in other places. Thus the 

 fields being divided by deep ditches in Dinajpoor, the mud from 

 which is enriched by the remains of decayed aquatic plants and 

 animals, forms an excellent manure for the sugar cane, and of this 

 the ryots make use, spreading it over the surface before the 

 ploughing is commenced ; and when that operation is completed, 

 the soil is further fertilised by a dressing of oilcake and ashes. 



Crushed bones would unquestionably be of the greatest benefit 

 if applied to the sugar cane crop. Not only would their animal 

 matter serve as food for the plants, but the phosphate of lime of 

 the bones is one of the chief saline constituents of the sugar 

 cane. 



Salt is another valuable manure for this crop. Dr. Nugent, in 

 a Report made to the Agricultural Society of Antigua, observes 

 that salt has been found a valuable auxiliary in cultivating the 

 sugar cane. Many trials of it, he says, have been made during 

 successive seasons, applied generally to the extent of about nine 

 or ten bushels per acre. It destroys grubs and other insects, and 

 gives the canes an increased vigor and ability to resist drought. 

 It is a singular remark of the intelligent traveller, M. de Hum- 

 boldt, while speaking of the practice adopted in the Missions of 

 the Orinoco, when a coco-nut plantation is made, of throwing a 

 certain quantity of salt into the hole which receives the nut ; that 

 of all the plants cultivated by man there are only the sugar cane, 

 the plantain, the mammce, and the Avocada pear, which endure 

 equally irrigation with fresh and salt water. 



