^18 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NAT ORAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XlT 



■feush were received by the Superintendent of the Government Botanical 

 Gardens at Saharunpur, from Dr Schomburgk, Director of the Botanic Garden ^ 

 Adelaide. But the attempt to estabhsh this plant on the saline or " usar " 

 lands in North-Western India was unsuccessful ; and after repeated efforts the 

 Superintendent, Mr. Duthie, reportfd in 1887 that " it is needless to make 

 further attempts to cultivate the sheep-bush in this part of India." The 

 reasons for the failure are not stated. Experiments with the Australian Salt- 

 bush were more successful. In the North-West Provinces and the l^unjab 

 there are large tiacts of land rendered more or less sterile by surface deposits 

 of efflorescent salts, known as " reh," " kallar," and "usar"; and in 1880, 

 seeds were obtained from the Melbourne Botanical Gardens for experimental 

 cultivation on such land. In his Saharunpur report for 1882, Mr. Duthie 

 wrote, " The Australian salt-^bushes and their aUies have been only very lately 

 sown, but the progress they have made is so far in their favour. There are 

 several plants of A. halimoides, nummular iu, and of two other species thriving 

 Very well." In 188.3, " the small plantation of salt-'bush plants continued to 

 thrive. The plants were 4 to 6 feet high," In 1888, the report regarding the 

 A. nummidaria was as follows : " the plantation of this fodder plant continues 

 to exist in a healthj state. The seeds produced last year by the plants in the 

 plantation proved to be the soundest lot we have as yet obtained from them. 

 Formerly the seeds collected from these plants germinated very sparingly, 

 but this season nearly every seed came up, with the result of a stock of 

 3,500 young plants. These have all been bespoken by the Director of the 

 Botanical Department, Northern India, for planting out next autumn in the 

 ' usar ' reserves. The whole stock is therefore being retained for that pur- 

 pose, " Experiments with salt-bush were also carried on by the Director of the 

 Department of Agriculture of theNorth-West Provinces and Oudh, The plants 

 were put out on " usar " soils, and the reports upon the early experiments 

 were encouraging. In the report of 188.?, Mr. W. J. Wilson stated that plants 

 ■of A nummularia and other species were received from the Saharunpur Gardens 

 in July 1882, and again in July 1883: " of these plants A. nummularia promises 

 to be the most valuable as it has an abundant leaf gi'owth and should 

 yield a large supply of fodder." In 1884, the plants were thriving. In 1885, 



Mr. Wilson reported that " the Australian salt bush gave promise even 



in bad ' usar V' In 1886, the Awa " usar " plantation was handed over to the 

 Raja of Awa, and the further experiments were transferred to the " usar " land 

 near Cawupore and Aligarh. In 1889, the Director of the Botanical Depart- 

 ment inspected the Aligarh plantation, and made the following note : " The 

 sale-bush {A. nummularia) promises to be a success as far as the soil is con- 

 cerned, the most healthy specimens being those which were planted in soil 

 strongly infected with ' reh ' salts; but being essentially a desert specits the 

 excessive damp to which it is exposed in the Doab during the hot rainy months 

 is prejudicial to its nature. At this season also it is liable to attacks of innu- 

 tolerable caterpillars, which devour the leaves and weaken the plants," 



