i88 

 Outturn. 



Rs. A. P. 



Grain, 8 maunds 26 seers Rs. 3 2 per maund = 27 6 

 Straw, II maunds 28 seers Oi annas 2 per maund = I T 6 



Total ... ... 28 8 



Balance ... ... 17 4 5 



or Rs. 34-8- per acre, which, after deducting a half-year's rent, leaves 

 a vtry satisfactory profit. 



(Mr. Percy VV. Goodwin, in Quarterly Journal of Bengal Agricul- 

 tural Dept). 



NOTES ON 'SOIL AND PLANT SANITATION" 

 ON CACAO AND RUBBER ESTATES. 



This is the title of a small work by Mr. H. Hamel Smith, the 

 Editor of Tropical Life, which has recently been received by us. The 

 book opens with an introduction by Professor Wyndham Dunston, of 

 the Imperial Institute, who calls attention to the proposals to found 

 an Agricultural College in the Tropics, for training young men in 

 tropical agriculture. The book itself consists of notes and articles 

 on the hygiene and sanitation of plants in the tropics, chiefly of 

 Cacao and Rubber, with special articles by Fawcett, Hermessen, 

 Johnson and others on rubber and its cultivation. The question of 

 protective belts is dealt with and their use and value shown. Stump- 

 pulling forms another chapter and some of the machines used are 

 described. Somehow machines for extracting roots have not proved 

 very suitable for the forest trees of the Malay Peninsula, and most 

 planters seem to prefer the wo"k with thechangkol. Green manuring 

 is next dealt with and the different plants used are mentioned. Valu- 

 able as this form of manuring is, it is difficult to understand exactly 

 what is meant by Tephrosia being a suitable plant for "clearing the 

 land of troublesome or dangerous weeds." It may be used as a 

 substitute for other weeds and as a green manure cut down at 

 intervals and dug in, and as a nitrogenous plant ma\' prove useful, 

 but it certainly will not kill out lalang, the only '-weed " which seems 

 to be really injurious in the east. 



A considerable list of green dressing plants is given, especialh' 

 of those used in the West Indies, and looking through the list in 

 which such cold climate plants as Cickory, Melilot, Vetches, Rape and 

 Cabbages appear, impresses upon the reader ,the fact that what will 

 be successful in one part of the v»rarmer regions of the world will be 

 undoubtedly a failure in the hot equatorial regions. The same idea, 

 strikes one on reading of the machinery, manures, etc., recommended 

 throughout the book. How often have we of late years seen in various 

 agricultural Journals the strongest recommendations of valuable 



