August i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
HZ 
many herbs. The lines are kept clear. The plant- 
ation is sheltered on all sides except the east. It is 
open to the north-east monsoon, but somewhat 
sheltered from the south-west. The same remarks 
apply to insolation ; it gets the morning sun fall, but 
the forest shelters it duriug the hottest part of the 
day. The majority of those plants which survive are 
looking very healthy and on the whole growth has been 
rapid. The average height now is about 3i feet, some 
plants are between 4 feet and 5 feet, while one 
is 6 feet and has a girth of about G inches. The 
crowns look healthy, and the leaves are of a good 
green. In most cases the plants have a bush of leading 
shoots instead of one healthy one, and in some instances 
the stem has forked from the ground. This is clue 
to browsing by sambluir and jungle-sheep. The plants 
must have great recuperative power, judging from 
the quantity of new shoots. The plantat : on is fenced 
rouud with a bamboo fence except on the eastern edge, 
where, as before mentioned, the rocks crop up and it 
is impossible to drive in stakes. 
4. Tho second plot lies about a furlong from the 
first on the other side of the stream. It is also a 
clearing in the bamboo brake, about 1 ^ acres in extent, 
and protected on all sides. The plants here were 
planted in 1884-85. Out of seventy-one plants put 
down, some fifty survive. The soil is not so free as 
in the first plot. The average height of the plants 
is about 2£ feet. The stems in all are very thin, 
and they do not seem to be doing very well, and 
are not so healthy-looking as the trees in the other 
plot. This plot is also subject to the attacks of deer. 
In other respects what was said of the first plot 
also applies to this one. 
5. Cost. — A special watchman is employed on 116 
per mensem. His duty is to free the plants of 
weeds, keep the feuce in order, hunt off wild animals, 
and in the hot weather to water the plants. There 
is water in the stream all the year rouud. The plants 
are hand-watered. The whole cost to the end of 18S6 
has been about RtiOO. 
ti. PallegundalamaduyH plantation. — This plot is 
situated at the foot of the Velligonda hills in the 
Settigunta reserved forest, within and near the north- 
ern bouudary of the old Balapalle east reserve. It 
covers an area of 30 acres and lies on fairly level 
ground with a gentle slope away from the hills. The 
soil is a clayey loam^ dark and moist, and in some 
places nearly akin to humus. On the top of the 
slope it is not quite so good as in other places, for it 
is stiffer, lighter in color and thcro are more stones. 
No regular clearing has been made here as in Are- 
manibanda. The mahoganies are planted in suitable 
spots in a bamboo brake not pure, some of the com- 
panion trees being Terrainalias, Anogeissus, Eugenias, 
Vit;e, Plerospermum subi rifolium, and species of Ficus. 
The undergrowth consists of Murraya Kosnigii, Indigo- 
fera, and dense grass in places. In sumo spots 
there is no undergrowth at all, the soil being covered 
with a good layer of dead and decaying leaves. 
The plant itiou is open to the south-west monsoon 
and partly sheltered by the hills from the nortb-east 
monsoon. It does not seller from excessive insolation 
at any time of the day, as the brake is pretty dense 
and there is a good deal of shade. 
7. In this plantation 1,650 plants woro put out in 
baskets in 2-cube pits ; 51)0 of them came from tho 
Agri-Horticultural Society's garden at Madras, the 
rest were raised and basketted in the neighbouring 
Balapalle nursery. They were planted in the begin- 
ning of July 1886, when the average height of the 
plants was abmit !> inches. Their average height now 
is about 12 feet, somo individuals being over 3 feet. 
There are a good many failures, due partly to bad 
basket ting. VVbitc-ants abound, but their depredations 
seem to be confiued to a small area. For tho first 
two months or SO the plantation got little or no 
rain, uud probably a good many plants Buffeted 
In eonsequeuce. Those that survive nro lojkiny; 
healthy, and a great many are putting forth new 
leaves. The crowns are full and the leaves of a 
rich green color. One or two plants havo been dug 
up by bears. Mr. Toussaint noticed one plant that 
had been bitten clean off from the root eolluni, and 
the stem had marks on it of very sharp teeth, as 
though the animal wanted to get the epidermis off. 
The marks looked like those left by the teeth of 
rodents. 
9. Cost of upkeep — Maintenance operations. — No 
special watchman is employed here. The plants are 
not watered. Maintenance operations are confiued 
to clearing cover above the plants and thinning the 
brake generally, which is done by the watchmen of 
the adjoining forest. The cost up to the end of 
1886 may be put down at R150. 
10. Means of communication, — A bandy track runs 
from the village of Settiguuta to the plantation and 
another from Balapalle nursery. By the latter track 
carts can bring plants to fill up blanks, which are 
to be filled up with more mahoganies, Xylia dolabri- 
formis, red sanders. and Aeroearjius fasim if alius. 
11. On the 20th and 21st September 5 lb. 
of mahogany seed were sown in the Balapalle 
nursery. By the middle of October nearly all 
had germinated, and are now about 4 inches or 
5 inches high and are looking very well. The failures 
are not many, and probably about 1,000 or 1,500 plants 
will be reared. 
(Signed) A. W. B. Higgkns, 
District Forest-officer. 
Resolution— dated 20th May 1887.— The results of 
the experiment appear on the whole to be fairly 
satisfactory, though it seems likely that better 
results would have been obtained in the Ouddapah 
district and elsewhere if more attention had been 
paid to the protection of the young plants from the 
attacks of deer and insects. The Board support the 
Conservator's proposal in paragraph 7 of the foregoing 
letter, but consider that as the results in the Kistna 
district seem to promise well, the experiment should 
be continued there also. It is obvious, however, that 
much closer and more careful supervision of the young 
plantations than they seem to have received in tho 
Northern Circle is essential if the plants are to be 
successfully reared. 
The Beligedi or Bael Fruit. — According to a 
London market report in the Chemist and Druggist, 
this fruit was without demand. At auction 450 
whole fruits, with soft pale pulp, were offered 
and bought in at 3d. each. 
The Eurasian , and Anglo-Indian Settlements 
are thus referred to iu tho Madras Report of the Agri- 
cultural Dept. for 1885-86 : — Mr. Glenny, when acting 
as Director, visited the settlements in the Mysore terri- 
tory formed by the Eurasian and Anglo-Indiau Associ- 
ation of South India and found them iu a prosperous 
condition. The settlers are men of moderate means 
and have taken to cultivation the ordinary cereals of 
the country, fruit and vegetable growing, preserving, 
poultry-farming, pork and bacon curing, &c. Mr. 
Glenny obtained the permission of Government to 
lend, tor the common use of the settlers, an Aden 
bull and a donkey stallion. 
Fin UK Machines. — 'With reference to plantain stems 
tho Madras Agricultural Report states : — It was found 
in these experiments that tbecost of extracting the fibre 
ran up to about 3'6 as per lb. — a price quite prohibit- 
ing the extraction of the fibre commercially. As has 
been uoted in previous reports, what is required is a 
simple machine to squeeze the stems and extract 
the fibre ; such a one has, it is believed, been devised 
by Major Johnston of Mettupulaiyam, but has not 
bi in yet introduced to the public. Inquiries in 
Mauritius resulted during tho year in a decision 
of Government that, looking at the dangerous 
character of the machines, it was not advisable to take 
any steps to iutroduce the " Cassiteti and " Gratteuse " 
for the purpose of extracting fibre from tho aloo and 
other plants. It appears also that the cxtractiou of 
fibiv From tho aloe is still iu its experimental stage in 
Mauritius. 
