370 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



ON A LARGE SCALE. 



Fifty acres were agaiu set apart for the experi- 

 ment, but unfortunately I fell ill and had to go 

 on leave. Yet my Icoum tenens cultivated 

 the land. We found that by protective works 

 of a primitive kind we could g9t double the 

 harvest that other ryots reaped. Our experi- 

 ment was keenly watched by the ryots, and now 

 there are thousands of applications for lands in 

 the Kutcherry, and the question is how are 

 Government going to satisfy all the thousands 

 who are anxious to get swamp land for cultiva- 

 tion. Village officials tell me that since I began 

 my experiment the 



INCREASE IN REVENUE PAID TO GOVERNMENT 



in three villages alone is about R12,000 a year. 

 There is no reason in the world why the increase 

 in revenue from this swamp should not be over 

 Rl lakh when the D.P.W, finish the protective 

 and drainage works that are all ready now to be 

 taken in hand. But even when these public 

 works are finished, yet it will be 



WISE FOR THE RYOTS TO DIKE THEIR LANDS, 



for the following reasons : — 



(a) Dikes are the best fences in the swamp, and 

 on the dikes much can be grown that will be 

 valuable. Unless the lands are protected the cows 

 and buffaloes, but especially the sheep, will be 

 driven on to the lands and eat away any green 

 shoot they find, I have had more than one 

 crop thus destroyed. Dikes will enable the 

 ryot to reap at least two crops from his field 

 every year, while without dikes he will find it 

 very difficult to get even one good crop ; 



(6) then the ditches solve the question of drain- 

 age of the field. In swamps there is great danger 

 of zoudu, or salt, destroying the soil, because 

 this dangerous salt rises to the surface where 

 there is stagnant water on the fields. The 

 ditches also contain enough water to supnle- 

 raent the supply from the irrigation channels 

 in time of drought. 



THE LESSONS LEARNED 



by my experiments so far in swamp cultivation 

 have been first that swamps can be successfully 

 cultivated if dikes are built, and any ryot can 

 dig these dikes because the cost is not prohibi- 

 tive. Then the ditches offer the only solution of 

 successful drainage, even if Government should 

 dig large drainage channels. Thirdly, the water 

 in the swamp oughtto be kept in the ditches as 

 much as possible, for water is too valuable to 

 waste on this land. Only surplus flood water 

 ought to bo permitted to flow away Sluices 

 ought, therefore, to be placed in the drainage 

 channels. Again, the ryots need object les- 

 sons in cultivation more than anything else. 

 When it is demonstrated to them, in their own 

 fields, that one can grow two blades of grass 

 where now, with difficulty, only one blade grows, 

 he sees how advantageous scientific cultivation 

 of the soil is, and he will imitate the teacher who 

 has given him a practical lesson in agriculture. 

 The ryot is not so conservative that he is not 

 willing to learn. He is only too willing to go 

 ahead, only he first of all wants to be sure that 

 he is right. 



My experiments in swamp cultivation could 

 never have been so successful, in spite of many 

 failures, if I had not had the sympathetic help of 

 Government. ...India today isripefor arev lution 



in agriculture This revolution has changed 



farming in Germany, Australia, and especially 

 in America. The revolution so much to be de- 

 sired in India is cooperation in agriculture. At 

 present I am only waiting for Government to 

 approve of my plans. Then I shall form the 

 Bapatla Co-operative Agriculture Association, 

 a co-operative Association that will demonstrate 

 that by the cordial co operation of brain and 

 brawn wealth can be produced. 



Geo. N Thomssen. 



—M. Mail, Aug. 20. 



THE OTHER NEW RUBBER 

 COAGULANT. 



Discovery op Great Commercial Interest. 



The publicity given to the discovery made 

 by Mr Aubrey Elias, f.c.s., of a chemical 

 re-agent which will quickly and effectually 

 coagulate rubber milk without imparting any 

 deleterious effect to the finished product, has 

 aroused considerable interest in scientific circles. 



Mr C T Gardner, dispenser at the Miller 

 General Hospital, Greenwich, who has given to 

 the public the result of his analysis of speci- 

 mens of rubber treated under the new process 

 said the standard of rubber qualities was fine 

 Para hard cured, which consisted principally 

 of caoutchouc, a substance bearing the chemical 

 empirical formula (ClO Hl6)n, with about 1*3 

 per cent of resin, a little water— say, about 0*75 

 per cent— from 3 to 4 per cent of proteid, and 

 yielding from 02 to 1 per cent of ash. There 

 was also colouring matter present and some- 

 times foreign impurities. Inferior rubbers 

 might contain as low as 50 per cent of caoutchouc. 

 The presence of proteid matter in the latex 

 might be shown by a very pretty test known as 

 the xanthoproteic reaction. In this test nitric 

 acid was added to the latex, and the liquid was 

 boiled, when it turned yellow, the ohange in 

 colour being due to the formation of xantho- 

 proteic acid. Ammonia added to the fluid 

 caused it to become a rich orange. Rubber cop- 

 taining proteid, when diffused in chloroform, 

 left an insoluble eoagulum, varying in amount 

 according to the quantity present ; in other 

 words the proteids were non-diffusible. Those 

 proteids were highly complex bodies which in 

 the tree were built up from the simple chemical 

 compounds acting as nutritive material to the 

 tree. The particular kind of proteid in the 

 latices of rubber-producing plants was an 

 albumen coagulable by heat f>t 70 degrees. The 

 coagulant invented by Mr Elias seemed to prac- 

 tically, if not altogether, eliminate the un- 

 desirable proteid. " For this reason," added 

 Mr Gardner, "I believe this coagulant will 

 produce a revolutionary effect on the rubber 

 world." — Financial Times, Sept. 3, 



