478 On the Cullivatwn 



[No. 36, 



irrigation, than crops produced almost solely from the effects of the 

 monsoon, without so much of the congenial warmth and ripening pro- 

 perties of the sun. It has occurred to me that a still more ready 

 mode of cultivation than either of those mentioned might be adopted, 

 viz., with the common country plough, let the planter follow imme- 

 diately on the plough, and lay the roots lengthways in the furrow, 

 the next plough buries the roots and makes a new furrow, which is 

 again planted by a man following and so on, any number of ploughs 

 and planters may be employed according to the expedition required, 

 and the size of the ground ; care should be taken to eradicate at an 

 early stage any other description of grass or weed that may appear, 

 and for this purpose the crop should frequently be carefully examin- 

 ed' throughout. If weedy grasses should, in spite of every care, 

 spring up, and be only discovered when in seed, remove the spikes 

 carefully, and by so doing, you will at all events prevent their in- 

 crease by seed, and can eradicate the plants thereafter in their early 

 stage of sprouting. 



It may here be added with regard to the success of the applica- 

 tion to Major Ottley for seed, that by the last steamer two large 

 bales of seed, in the ear, were forwarded to Ceylon, being the pro- 

 duce of Major Ottley 's grass fields at Vellore and kindly forwarded 

 by that Gentleman to Madras for the use of the Agri-Horticultural 

 Society. 



F. A. Reid, 



Secretary. 



Agri-Horticultural Society's i 

 Gardens, 22d October, 1849. J 



Vellore, 17 (h July, 1849. 

 I should be most happy to comply with your requisition for Hur- 

 riallee Grass seed, were it possible to obtain any : a crop of grass 

 must be raised in the first instance, and when full ripe a collection of 

 tops will furnish the requisite, and this shall be attended to, as soon 

 as possible with great pleasure. No one in Vellore besides myself 

 has ever attempted its cultivation, and for three years I had little 

 success, although the ground Avas dug, cleaned, and manured to the 

 fullest extent from pits 20 feet square and five feet deep of cow dung 

 at least a year old, and all the watering was to little purpose, for it 

 never exceeded six or eight inches in height ; at the rucomracnda- 



