183/.] Transactions of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India, 337 



would have done much, with the assistance of Ainsley's Materia Medica 

 Indica, to relieve us from this difficulty. 



D 



Agriculture. — In this division the first papers are two short ones on 

 the introduction of American maize. These are in continuation of 

 other two printed in the preceding volume, from which it appears that 

 this variety is not only much better in quality, but is reckoned to pro- 

 duce 20 per cent in return better than the variety in use in this country, 

 and with less culture. " The introduction of maize on a large scale 

 might I think be successfully followed up without more labour than the 

 planting between the stubble when the paddy is cut. The proper 

 season for planting in Bengal appears to me about the middle of April. 

 The corn should be steeped in water 12 hours, then buried in a cloth 

 underground until the germs appear. Three seeds in each hole, about 

 four feet apart, will be found the proper distance." — Bell. 



On the Coromandel coast where our rice crops are so subject to 

 failure from irregularity of the monsoons, it appears very desirable to 

 introduce largely the culture of so hardy and prolific a grain, and de- 

 serving the attention of the Agricultural Society. Small parcels of 

 seed, of the best foreign varieties, might be sent all over the country for 

 trial, and no doubt it would spread if the natives found it a profitable 

 crop. 



Guinea grass. — There are three short papers on the culture of this 

 very valuable grass by "Messrs. Bell and Hurry, explanatory of the 

 mode of propagating it by both seeds and cuttings. The mode I adopt- 

 ed (for propagating by seed) is this, I prepare a small plot of ground, 

 shaded from the morning sun, being well pulverized, the seed is then 

 freely scattered over it, when the mallee (gardener) kneads the surface 

 with his fingers so as loosely to bury the seed. If the weather is very 

 hot, I cover the plot with mats for a few days without watering, and I 

 have never once failed to have abundant returns. When the young 

 grass is about 3 inches, high I have each plant carefully pricked out, so 

 as not to disturb the root, and transplanted into regular beds two feet 

 apart, watering them for a few evenings, until they have taken firm hold 

 of the soil. I have sown guinea grass in every month of the year, and 

 the results have always been successful." Bell. — " Having success- 

 fully cultivated this grass for seven years I cannot too strongly 

 recommend it to all planters who require substantial food for 

 cattle.*** The conditions necessary to success in this cultivation 

 are that the lands should not be inundated, nor water stagnate 

 on it, that the crop be kept clean and the land well manured, 

 and after two years the crop changed. The quantity produced 

 from good land, with a little care, is quite prodigious, and four or 



