April 1908.] 



367 



Miscellaneous. 



and sold for anything between Re. 1 and 

 Re. 3. The Botanic Department has 

 warned the public against allowing the 

 plant to escape from cultivation and 

 become the nuisance it is in Australia. 



G. de S.— You will find a reference to 

 the Senegal groundnut in the last Pro- 

 gress Report published in the T. A. & 

 Magazine for March. Apply for seeds 

 early if you wish to have any. 



J. C. D.— Yes, I am glad to say the 

 seeds of grape-fruit received from the 

 United States Department of Agriculture 



have germinated fairly well, and will be 

 ready for giving away iu a month's 

 time. 



M. F. — The cow pea is an improved 

 form of Vigna sinensis which is botani- 

 cally identical with the different kinds 

 of " me ' " we have in Ceylon. It is an 

 excellent soil renovator, and, as it pro- 

 duces heavy crops of edible beans, should 

 prove a popular green manure. The 

 Florida velvet bean is, on the other hand, 

 unwholesome, but all the same it is hard 

 to beat as an improving crop. The 

 native Wandurume (which produces a 

 hairy bean) is closely allied to it. 



Correspondence. 



"MELILOT," OR " PEA CLOVER" 



(Melilotus Officinalis) : 

 A Great Fertilising Fodder Plant 

 For Plantations. 



Sir, — Having frequently read of the 

 great trouble and expense planters have 

 in maintaining the fertility of their land, 

 kindly permit me to give a description 

 of the above plant. 



It grows on an Island off the coast of 

 Tasmania and constitutes 75 % of the 

 feed for stock there. In growth it re- 

 sembles lucerne, with shamrock-shaped 

 leaves, but has very small yellow flowers ; 

 and when cut lor hay in the flower 

 stage, it has a beautiful aroma, and 

 horses, cattle, sheep and pigs eat it gree- 

 dily and thrive thereon. It grows from 

 2 to 3 feet high and yields from 30 cwt. 

 to 2 tons of hay per acre, when not used 

 for grazing. It makes good fattening 

 and dairying fodder. A writer says, in 

 one of our Government Agricultural 

 Gazettes : " This seed has been sown in 

 raw white sand, and in the course of 5 or 

 6 years it has converted it into dark, 

 almost black rich soil. We are growing 

 splendid crops of lucerne (which requires 

 the very best soil) now where it would 

 have been impossible to do so without 

 the use of ' Melilot.' It is a very rich 

 nitrogenous plant of the leguminous 

 order, and should prove a great boon to 

 planters." An American expert of 

 Botany declares that ' ' a fully developed 

 plant of ' Melilot,' conveys to the soil 



fully I lbs. of nitrogen, and it is un- 

 equalled either as a great soil fertiliser 

 or fodder plant. The cattle could also 

 be grazed thereon, and the land doubly 

 enriched thereby." 



1 have lately been reading that J. B. 

 Carruthers, Esq., Director of Agricul- 

 ture and Government Botanist for the 

 Federated Malay States, has been search- 

 ing for a plant for this purpose, and so 

 far has succeeded only in procuring a 

 dwarf thorny species ot Mimosa (Pudica), 

 a native of Brazil, which he says, "ful- 

 fils to a much greater degree than any 

 other the required conditions." This 

 plant adds only from 150 to 250 lbs. of 

 nitrogen to the soil per acre per annum, 

 and is unsuitable for other purposes. 

 It cannot for one moment be compared 

 with •' Melilot," which, apart from its 

 unrivalled fertilising qualities, can be 

 utilised for pasture or hay. Mr. 

 Carruthers further says : ' ' The introduc- 

 tion of a leguminous plant in rubber 

 estates, to take the place of the weeds 

 which grow so vigorously and are so 

 expensive, means an automatic manuring 

 of the soil, and a conservation of surface 

 soil which will otherwise be washed 

 away. " Melilot" would prove equally 

 valuable on coconut plantations. 

 Another writer in" Tropical Life" on 

 "Coconut Culture," says: "When the 

 land is poor or sterile, it can be greatly 

 improved by planting leguminous crops, 

 which, besides producing an abundant 

 supply of succulent fodder, manure the 

 soil by increasing its supply of nitrogen. 

 Cattle are an invaluable help to the 

 coconut estates, as they give valuable 

 manure, and the grass that is provided 



