November r, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
353 
IS LARGE FARMING PROFITABLE IN INDIA ? 
Under this heading a Dative correspondent of tho 
1 ' ail inn Agriculturist writes : — 
The only instance in India of large farming is tea-plant- 
ing. Excepting this solitary instance (and perhaps, I 
should add, the tobacco farm at Poosah), I think I am 
safe in assorting that all attempts in India at large 
farming have failed. Even in theso two instances it 
is the manufacture of tea and tobacco which has 
prevented the collapse of largo farming. The fact 
is that cultivators in India, who are capitalists ami 
labourers combined in the same person, live upon 
their wages, keeping their capital intact. So that 
any farming on a largo scale which calculates the 
return of interest upon the capital invested will 
bo a failure. 
I have had seven years' experience of tea cultiv- 
ation, and I am sure that in merely turning out 
leaf, the ordinary ryots woidd beat tea planters hollow. 
But the growth of leaf and its manufacture cannot 
be separated. And it is this inevitable association 
of cultivation and manufacture which has kept tho 
planters above competition with the ordinary ryots. 
In the case of cotton, tho cultivation and manufacture 
can be separated, and there is not, I believe, a 
single instance in wbich au English capitalist has 
ventured to compete with ordinary ryots in cotton 
cultivation. The next question is, can the introduc- 
tion of machinery so economise labour as to be more 
profitable than hand labour ? I think ou all tea 
gardeus hand labour has been superseded by machin- 
ery in tea manufacture (rolling, drying, aud sorting). 
But *he real truth is, that hand labour ou tea 
gardens is very dear. The planters pay about R4 
to a cooly per month; but taking into consideration 
the cost of importing, housing, and doctoring them, 
the cost per head cannot be less than RIO per 
month. It is tho costly labour which is the prin- 
cipal cause of the introduction of machinery into 
tea-gardens. I do not think rolling and drying machines 
are so oommou in (Jhota Nagpore gardeus as they 
are in the Assam gardens. But then on tea gardens, 
as everywhere else, it is manufacture proper that 
llnllilllll W has touched. It is a regular fashion to 
charge the Indiau ryots with stupidity for not 
living mould-board ploughs ; but in ten gardens you 
see neither mould-board ploughs nor Indian I angola. 
In farming, or cultivation proper, there is not tho 
slightest substitution of hand labor by machinery. 
SWEET SCENTED ROSES. 
Having ascertained that I had sixteon varieties of 
scentless roses in my garden, I made out a list of 
these, aud at the same time, another list of the must 
popular kinds grown which did really possess the 
fragrance so much sought after in the queen of Bowers. 
This list - in which the first thirty mentioned are those 
which, in my opinion, are superior in this respect — 
may be useful for the guidance of persons intending 
to improve or enlarge their collections. I have said 
nothing about tho Moss, Provence, Gallioa, or Tea- 
hci sited varieties, which are all moro or less highly 
perfumed. Amongst tho Tea-scented kinds, Marcehal 
Kiel is decidedly tho sweetest aud most powerfully 
scented of all. My list ombraees Hybrid Purpehuls 
only. 
La Franoe Mario Baumann 
Alfred Colomb Senatonr Envro 
Monsieur Woolfiold Louiso Van Houtte 
Besrie Johnson Souvenir de Julio Gonod 
Madame Tin reso Levct Baroness Louise 1'xkull 
Duchess of Edinburgh Alexander Dickson 
Seimtciir Vaisiio Duke of Edinburgh 
Pierre Nutting Maurice Bcrnardin 
Bxpoait on de Brie \ . lour* Ponipte 
DuVe of Wellington Mudauio Viotor Verdier 
I.e Ithome Leopold Hausburg 
Mndamo Moroau Mdlle. Julio Pereard 
Jules Mnrgottin Due do Boluvil 
Mdlle Mario llady Prinreu M. of Cambridge 
Kill l.aiug Madame Knorr 
40 
The above thii ty varieties may be depended on 
as being amongst the most highly perfumed Hybrid 
Perpetual Hoses in cultivation; the following are 
however, little interior : — 
Madame de St. fulgent Duchesse d' Orleans 
Souvenir de Spa Vicomte A'igier 
Prince Humbert Abbe Girandicr 
Madame Auguste Venlier Ferdinand de Lesseps 
Fisher Holmes Annie Wood 
Charles Lefebvro Madame Chas. Wood 
Jean Oherpiu (Bonnet t) Emilie Hausburg 
Cheshunt Hybrid Camille Bcrnardin 
Lord Clyde Captain Christy 
Madame Marie Finger Madame Derreux Douville 
Xavier Olibo Duchesse de Cij Ins 
Leopold Premier Dupuy Jamin 
Barpnne Haussmann Gabriel de Peyronnv 
Madame Clotilde Roland Mdlle. Marguerite Dombrain 
Claude Levet Felix Genera 
Auua Alexieff Alpaide de Botalier 
Marguerite St. Amand Seinirainis 
Madame Boll Priuce Camille de Rob.au 
Madame Kousset Gloire de Santenay 
Madame George Paul Adolphe Broguiart 
Souvenir du General Douai Eli Morel 
Edward Morreu Beauty of Waltham 
— The Garden. 
THE USES OF ARSENIC IN AGRICULTURE 
AND IN DESTROYING INSECTS. 
I see in your first issue that great trouble is 
experienced on the Mysore Railway by the destruc- 
tion of the wooden ties by white ants. I believe 
we have found in this country a remedy for all 
such ravages. For some years wa have been ex- 
perimenting on the use of arsenic (arseuious acid, 
As''0(j) in agriculture, and with the mos* wonder- 
ful results. We cultivate about 20 to :fn pounds of 
arsenic, mixed in any desirable proportion with 
a fertilizer, to Iheacre of land, la tveri/ t-u.-e, every 
species of worm or insect that lives or hatches in 
the ground was destroyed, aud in the hundreds of 
acres on which we used the arsenic not a sign of 
injury by worms to any of the crops has been 
observed, while iu adjoining fields the crops were 
in some cases completely destroyed. No trace of 
ursentic is found in either roots, vegetables, or 
grain, nor is it injurious to animals pasturing on the 
grass of these fields. I have no doubt you will 
find, by using arsenic in th.) preparation of the 
wood, and probably even by putting some of it in 
the soil around thj ties, the white ants will be 
destroyed. We prefer the crude arsenious acid made 
at a Canadian mine than the English refined, for 
it is liner in the grain and is stronger, but English 
'•powdered white" — uow quoted at XS-II) per tou 
at PI) mouth — will answer, and it is more efficient 
and much cheap t than Paris-green. Should some 
of your readers try this, and lest any should get 
poisoned, I will hen' give the following recipe for a 
prompt and absolutely effectual cure for arsenic 
poisoning, whether internal or external ; for, if 
arsenic gets into cuts or sores, it is very difficult 
to remove it, aud it remains acting even under an 
apparently healing fin-face. 
A On lain Cure for Arsenic Poisoning. — Freshly 
precipitated Hydrated Oxide of Iron, made as 
follows : — 
Take Sulphate of iron ... ... 280 parts 
Sulphuric acid ... ,.. lllO „ 
Nitric acid ... ... ... :i5 ,, 
Water ... ... ... 500 
Dissolove the sulphate of iron iu the water and 
sulphuric acid ; add tho nitric acid very gradually 
towards tho last of the operation until the liirior 
■hOWS a clear red color, keeping the solution hot. 
I .'so capacious vessels. Then precipitate with am- 
monia until the iron i* all down. Filter, and uasli 
the filtrate thoroughly with water ; keep the filtrate 
in water in a closed bottle. It in much m. ire efficient 
when frenh. To apply to an external sore, put 
noine of the oxide of iroD with \vAt*r into the sore ; 
