80 
NATURE 
[May 28, 1885 
able rival in the matter of wheat-growing. A short seven 
years has greatly altered his feelings in this respect, and 
we are probably right in considering that the far East is 
destined to do its part in forcing down the price of wheat 
to as great a degree as the land of the setting sun. The 
brochure before us is a thoroughly dry statement of facts 
composed of numbered despatches, letters, and tables, all 
bearing upon the capabilities of India as a wheat-pro- 
ducing country. The reader will not, however, obtain 
information as to extent or area, except in a more or less 
incidental manner. The principal matters dealt with are 
(1) the quality and comparative values of the various 
wheats grown; (2) the modes of cultivation pursued ; (3) 
the nature of the soils on which wheat is grown; (4) the 
average yield per acre; (5) the effects of continuous 
wheat-growing in diminishing yield; and also other 
matters relating to the details of wheat-cultivation in 
India. 
With regard to the quality of Indian wheats there is no 
room for doubt. The conclusions arrived at are based 
upon actual weight per bushel, value upon the Corn 
Exchange at Mark Lane, and an elaborate report upon 
milling and bread-making results furnished by Messrs. 
McDougall Brothers of 10, Mark Lane, London. From 
whichever of the above points of view we test the quality 
of the Indian wheat, the result is equally satisfactory, and 
the more so when we find that from year to year the 
samples and bulk continue to improve. Messrs. 
McDougall Brothers go so far as to sum up their 
experience by saying, “glancing at all the facts, it is 
evident that these wheats afford a larger margin of 
profit both to the miller and baker than any other.” 
The modes of cultivation adopted are of great interest. 
They usually exhibit vast pains, and are in this respect 
superior to the system of wheat-cultivation employed at 
home. Such elaborate cultivation would indeed astonish 
an English farmer accustomed to plough his lea land or 
turnip land once for wheat. The comparison is less fair 
if we take into consideration the fact that one thorough 
English ploughing may be worth half-a-dozen of those 
“ticklings” of the soil which, under Indian skies, are 
sufficient to make it “laugh.” Under the head of Sys- 
tems of Cultivation we read :—“ Ploughed in July, and 
again six or seven times until October. Watered in 
November. Again ploughed twice, rolled, ploughed 
again, and the seed sown through a tube attached to a 
plough-handle. After twenty-five or thirty days, again 
watered ; and this is repeated until the plants appear 
fortnightly where irrigation is by lift, and every twenty- 
five days where it is by flow. In February, when the ears 
have appeared, water is given weekly until the ears begin 
to mature.” In Armritsar ;—‘ Six months before sowing, 
the land is ploughed five to ten times. After sowing, the 
crops are watered not less than six or more than nine or 
or ten times.” In Gujrat:—‘ Land is broken up and 
ploughed many times between May and September, 
manured and ploughed and levelled.” The average pro- 
duce per acre after this system of cultivation varies from 
seven to fourteen or even twenty maunds (nine to twenty- 
seven bushels of 61 lbs.), and yet it is calculated that it is 
grown at from 8s. to 11s. per quarter! Wheat-growing 
appears to be carried on upon all sorts of soils. Upon 
stiff loams, sandy loams, hard clay, and “ every kind of 
soil.” In reply to the question, Has the productive 
power of the soil begun to fail? the answers are usually 
in the negative, or that it is not apparent. Still, as might 
be expected, better crops are grown upon manured and 
irrigated soils and upon those newly broken up from 
pasturage. 
After reading the details of wheat-cultivation in India 
and compared its results with those obtained in England 
with a fifth part of the labour, we are inclined to wonder 
greatly that this remote field should be able to compete 
with us. Why do they plough five to ten times? Howis 
it that in that sunny land, and after all this expenditure 
of labour and irrigation, twenty-seven bushels should be 
a maximum return, while in some cases seven bushels is 
all that is reaped? A painstaking farmer in England 
hopes for from thirty-two to forty bushels per acre after 
once ploughing and pressing his clover leys,and yet he 
cannot make both ends meet, nor yet compete with the 
Indian Ryot. JOHN WRIGHTSON 
THE REPORTS OF THE UNTITLED ST Ages 
COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES 
FOR 1881 AND 18821 
HE Report for 1881 was presented to the Senate and 
Congress of the United States on March 17, 1882 ; it 
is to be regretted that so long an interval was allowed to 
elapse before its publication. The volume is a large one, 
three inches in thickness, and containing nearly 1200 
pages. Scarcely any of this large quantity of letterpress 
is without interest and value, and we here give an 
account of the work described in it. 
The Commission began the second decade of its exist- 
ence in 1881, and the present report shows how greatly 
the organisation has extended itself, and w...2 large 
results it has achieved in its first ten years. The central 
offices of the Commission are at Washington, and up to 
the year 1881 were confined to the private residence of 
its public-spirited chief, Mr. Spencer Baird, who devoted 
the greater part of his house to the State service without 
remuneration. In 1881 a building was-erected next to 
the Commissioner’s residence, at the public expense, to 
provide space for the increased administrative work, The 
stations where the varied operations of the Commission 
are carried on are scattered throughout the United States 
territory. These operations fall naturally under three 
heads: (1) Economical statistics and historical data con- 
cerning the fishing industries ; (2) the applied science of 
regulating fish supply and distribution; (3) the pure 
science of marine zoology. The part of the work belong- 
ing to the first of these divisions is conducted partly at 
the central offices, partly at the seats of the industries in 
question. The two other fields of work are, of course, 
not always distinctly separate. Since 1878 buildings at 
Fort Wharf, Gloucester, Mass., had been occupied for 
hatching operations, but in 1881 they passed into the 
possession of a private firm, since which time only re- 
ports on the fisheries and records of ocean and atmo- 
spheric temperatures have been obtained from Gloucester. 
The principal site of the purely scientific work during the 
summer season was Wood’s Holl, Mass., where the Com- 
mission possessed a sea-side laboratory. Researches on 
the artificial propagation of oysters, &c., were carried on 
at St. Jerome, Md., near the mouth of the Potomac. 
Cultivation of the land-locked or Schoodic salmon was 
practised on the Grand Lake Stream, near Calais, Me. 
The Penobscot or Atlantic salmon (Sa/mo salar) simi- 
larly received attention at Buckport, Me. Another 
station, where lake trout, brook trout, California trout, 
&c., were hatched, was at Northville. The principal 
hatchery for the Californian salmon was on the McCloud 
River, a branch of the Sacramento. Shad eggs were 
hatched at Battery Island, Md., at North-East River, 
Md., near the mouth ot the Susquehanna, at the Central 
Station, Armory Buildings, Washington, at Washington 
Navy Yard, on the Potomac river-barges, and at Avoca, 
N.C. Carp ponds were maintained at Monument Lot and at 
the Arsenal, Washington. The Commission acknowledges 
valuable assistance received from almost all departments 
of the Government, but especially from the Navy Office, 
which, in compliance with decrees of Congress, has de- 
tailed steamers fully manned and equipped, lent launches, 
and executed work and repairs at the navy yards. Steam- 
* Washington, 1854. 
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