9 



Calcutta. — The Commission visited the 

 Indian Museum, interviewing |he Director, Dr. 

 N. Anmandale, and his scientific staff, who were, 

 however, unable to materially assist in the 

 inquiry. Mr. D. Hooper, Acting Botanist to the 

 Botanical Survey of India, kindly allowed an 

 inspection of the Cactacese in the Herbarium. 



A visit was paid to the Calcutta Botanic 

 Gardens at Sibpur, where the Deputy Director, 



Mr. Calder, and the Curator, Mr. G. T. Lane, 

 showed the Commission the small collection con- 

 taining the species found naturalised in India, 

 this having been made and named by Mr. Burkill. 

 The four species are 0. monacantha, 0. nigricans 



(labelled as 0. elatior), 0. dillenii, and Nopalea 

 cochinelifera* 



Mr. Lane mentioned that specimens of 

 certain of Luther Burbank's varieties had been 

 imported by the authorities at the Gardens for 

 Mr. J. Laurie, a tea-planter at Akbarpore, South 

 Sylhet, Assam. In reply to a letter from the 

 Commission, Mr. Laurie stated that, with the 

 exception of one variety, " anacantha,"t the 

 imported cacti developed -spines and were not 

 made use of by him for feeding to cattle, and 

 that, moreover, the excessively wet climate did 

 not favour the spreading of cacti; besides, they 

 soon rot when hoed under ground, and hence 

 are easily kept in check. 



In the neighbourhood of Calcutta, Opuntias 

 are not common, 0. monacantha being the species 

 more usually met with, especially at Serampore. 

 0. dillenii and 0. nigricans are much less fre- 

 quently seen. 



No information regarding the presence of 

 cochineal or of fungoid diseases affecting Prickly- 

 pear was available. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Annandale, the 

 Comniission was able to meet Mr. Wm. Kirk- 

 patrick, of Messrs. Bird and Co., Calcutta, who 

 had had experience in regard to the feeding of 

 Opuntias to his ostriches near Delhi. His infor- 

 mation is summarised later under the heading of 

 " Utilisation." 



Calcutta to Delhi. — Prickly-pear was noticeti 

 more or less frequently along the railway route, 

 also as hedges surrounding villages and fields, 

 between Mokameh and Allahabad. In certain 

 centres Opuntias were fairly common, such as at 

 Bukhtiarpur (0. dillenii) ; Patna (0. dillenii and 

 0. nigricams) ; Bankipur (0. nigricans, 0. 

 dillenii) ; Dinapur (both species) ; Arrah (both 

 species); Buxar (both species); Sakaldiha (0. 

 dillenii) ; Moghal Sarai (0. dillenii) ; Mirzapur 

 (0. dillenii); and Allahabad (0. dillenii). 

 Between Allahabad and Delhi scarcely any 

 Prickly-pear was seen along the line. 



Delhi. — A visit was made to Delhi in order 

 to present the official credentials, the Commission 

 being courteously received by the Hon. Sir 

 R. W. Carlyle, and the Hon. Sir B. D. Maclagan, 

 Memibers of the Government of India and of the 

 Department of Public Revenue and Agriculture. 



* Mr. Burkill has recorded the occurrence of another 

 Opuntia, O. decwmana, a large jointed, more or less spine- 

 less species. As we shall see later, there is a widespread 

 Opuntia not listed by Mr. Burkill. 



t A variety resembling O. decumana in its general 

 characters. 



These Officials had caused a letter to be 

 circularised amongst the chief officers of the 

 Department of Agriculture and Foresty through- 

 out British India, asking them to render the 

 members of this Commission any assistance 

 within their power. Besides, the Governments 

 of certain of the native States were also invited 

 to further the inquiry. ' Sir Edward Maclagan 

 had gone to the trouble of collecting certain 

 literature relating to Opuntias for our infor- 

 mation. 



The Prickly-pear in the Delhi district was 

 examined, but the presence of disease could not 

 be detected. There were two very common species 

 — 0. dillenii and 0. nigricans, the former being 

 plentiful on the outskirts of the tawn and 

 amongst the ruins near the citfy, while the 

 common form on the Delhi Ridge was 0. 

 nigricans, 0. dillenii'- iheing met with less fre- 

 quently there. The latter species was, however, 

 extremely common for some miles along the rail- 

 way line across the river to Shahdara and 

 Ghaziabad. 0. nigricans occurred quite fre- 

 quently to the north-west at Jahazgarh, and to 

 the south at Gariharsura and Paruknagar, atten- 

 tion to the " salt-wall," consisting of this 

 particular species of Prickly-pear, planted to 

 prevent the smuggling of salt, having been 

 called by Mr. Wm. Kirkpatrick during the Com- 

 mission's visit to Calcutta. 



Cawnpore. — Prom Delhi a journey was made 

 to the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa. On 

 the way thither, a halt was made at Cawnpore, 

 where the Agricultural College and Experiment 

 Station at Nawabganj were visited. Some infor- 

 mation was given by the Principal, Mr. A. W. 

 Premantle, and the Botanist, Mr. H. M. Leake, 

 regarding the experiments carried out with, 

 Prickly-pear at Cawnpore, as well as at a branch, 

 station at Oral, in Bundelkund, Central India.' 

 These are referred to later. 



Opuntias are very rare in the Cawnpore 

 district, the only species seen being 0. mona- 

 r-antJia, of which there is not sufficient to be used 

 for making hedges. 



Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, 

 Behar. — Here the Commission was afforded 

 assistance by Mr. B. Coventry, CLE., the 

 Director of the Institute and Agricultural 

 Adviser to the Government of India, as well as 

 by the officers of his scientific staff, especially 

 Dr. E. J. Butler, Mycologist, Mr. P. Howlett,. 

 Pathological Entomologist, and Mr. A. Grove, 

 Acting Entomologist. As there had not been 

 occasion to deal seriously with the question 

 of Prickly-pear since the establishment of the 

 institute, no information of value for the purpose 

 of the inquiry was available, with the exception 

 of some notes by Dr. Butler on a disease occur- 

 ring in Southern India, and partly investigated 

 by him (see later) . 



A hurried journey through parts of Behar, _ 

 the United Provinces, and Bengal revealed the 

 fact that cacti are not by any means common 

 plants in these districts, where the agricultural 

 population is very dense. Practically the only 

 species seen was 0. monacantha, which occurred' 

 usually as isolated plants. It was seen at 

 Parbatipur, Katihar, Lakhminia, Narayanpur, 

 Waini, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Sonepur, &c. 

 Some 0. dillenii was seen near Barauni. 



