26 



Origin of some kinds of Kunkur. 



Newbold does not appear to have examined either the saline 

 contents of either the water or the soil, a latitude for spe- 

 culation may be assumed, and I am inclined to think it pro- 

 bable that the garden may have owed its fertility to the 

 deliquescent salts in question, and that these being decom- 

 posed by the possibly alkaline water of the well, have made 

 the soil unproductive, in consequence of its being deprived 

 of a supply of moisture absorbed from the air ; or from no 

 longer being able to retain the moisture supplied to it. 



From the facts above stated, I am inclined to think that 

 deliquescent salts in soils may produce considerable effect 

 upon the fertility of land in tropical climates, and as I am 

 not aware that the remark has ever been made before, it may- 

 be as well that experiments should be made upon this sub- 

 ject. For this I have myself neither leisure nor opportunity, 

 but to any person who will take up the enquiry, I would 

 suggest, in the first place, to try if muriate of lime produces 

 any deleterious action upon the roots of a plant. This might 

 be easily done by setting a plant growing in a flower pot 

 in a saucer filled with a strong solution of the salt, which has 

 been exposed for several days to the atmosphere, and in the 

 next place, the effect of weak solution should be tried. The 

 muriate of lime for the purpose may be readily made by 

 adding quick lime to a solution of the sal-ammoniac of the 

 bazars, and boiling it until no more ammonia is given off. 



Mr. Liston in his remarks at page 236, vol. i. of this work, 

 alludes to a kind of soils which he terms i( banjar" and men- 

 tions that they require to be irrigated. If they are incapable 

 of producing crop without being irrigated, there must be a 

 very remarkable difference between the soils of Bengal and 

 of the South of India, for every kind of soil in this part of the 

 country is productive, except when it is too sandy or too 

 stony. Our soils therefore resemble more what Mr. Liston 

 calls " bhat," which possibly derive the power of retaining 

 moisture from the deliquescent salts they may contain. This 



