Jan; 1908. J 65 Miscellaneous- 



Plantains : flour and other uses.— Plantain meal. Jamaica Bull. V. 1898, p. 200. 

 Plantain flour. T. A. Jan. 1899, p. 515 ; Mar. 1899, p. 603. 

 Composition of the fruits at various stages. Jamaica Bull. 1900, p. 24. 

 La farine de bananes. Rev. Cult. Col. 6. 1900, p. 52. 

 Production et debouche de la farine de bananes, do. p. 442. 

 La farine de bananes. do. 1901, p. 11. 

 Plantain meal. Ind. Agric. 2. 9. 1901, p. 280, 

 Plantain meal or flour, T- A. Mar. 1899, p. 607. 

 Bananas as a diet in typhoid cases- Jamica Bull- 1901, p. 145. 

 Pour servir a l'enquete sur la farine de banane- Jour. d'Agr. trop I. p. 143. 

 La farine de banane de la quinta da Thebaida. Journ. d'Agr. Trop. I. 

 1002, p. 9. 



Sucre et alcool de bananes, do- 30, 6. 1903, p. 165. 

 Banana flour. T. A. Dec. 1904, p. 428. 

 Banana flour. T. A. Mar- 1906, p. 140. 

 Bananenmehl. Tropenpfl. July 1907, p; 474- 

 Plectranthus,— Notes sur la cultivation de Plectranthus. Rev. Cult- Col; 1900, p. 444. 

 Les Plectranthus; Journ. d'Agr- trop. II. 1902, p. 112. 



, JUTE VS. RICE. 

 The question whether the expansion of the jute industry has led the culti- 

 vator to forsake the growing of paddy for a more profitable crop is one which is 

 often asked, and which has been answered by a section of the Indian public with an 

 indignant affirmative. There are many good people who are much distressed at the 

 thought that the food supply of Bengal is being neglected for the sake of the larger 

 gain which can temporarily be derived from jute. So greatly are they concerned at 

 this diversion of the energies of the agriculturist, that they have been endeavouring 

 in speech and writing to induce the ryot to take what they regard as a more 

 patriotic view of his selection of crops. " The country," they say to him, " must have 

 food, and it is your duty to provide cheap rice even if it pays you better to grow 

 dear jute. Already the fatal effects of the fascination exercised by jute are to be 

 seen in the curtailment of the rice-growing area and the unprecedentedly high price 

 of rice." Further, to assist in keeping down the price of rice they have started a 

 movement which has, as one of its aims, the prohibition of the export of this leading 

 article of food supply. That the intentions of these alarmists are excellent need not 

 be disputed, but the fallacious character of their argument is obvious. Cheap rice 

 necessarily means a small return to the grower for his trouble, and the suggestion 

 deliberately made by those who deprecate jute cultivation is that the ryot should 

 grow rice on such a scale as to reduce his own profits to vanishing point. The 

 contention is palpably unfair. No one would venture to tell a merchant or a lawyer 

 that it is his duty to carry on his business at a loss or at a margin of profit which 

 yields a bare living wage, Why is the ryot alone to sacrifice himself for his country ? 

 If it be argued that the advice given is designed for his ultimate advantage, the 

 reply is that he, like every other man, must be allowed to judge for himself where 

 his true interests lie. Any attempt to check the free play of economic forces can 

 lead only to injustice and disaster. Happily, it is unnecessary to discuss the expedi- 

 ency of measures to encourage rice-growing and discourage jute-growing, for it has 

 just been shown that the assertions of fact upon which the alarmist views of the 

 anti-jute agitators are based are wholly inaccurate. On this ground we look upon 

 Mr. Oldham's " Note on the Present High Prices of Pood-grains and Possible Causes 

 therefor " as deserving of a more prominent place than the Supplement to the 

 Calcutta Gazette, In our judgment it is a most important pronouncement which 

 should have a reassuring effect in rural, if not urban, Bengal. Mr. Oldham does not? 



