462 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January 2, 1888. 
son; That is, I intend to begin my first experi- 
ment in November or December, when the soil re- 
tains the moisture of the inundation, which will be 
sufficient to stimulate the earlier stages of growth, and 
from that period till March or April there will be 
sufficient rain and moisture from dew to bring the 
plant to maturity. A second crop will be sown in 
June; but artificial irrigation will be required till 
the Nile comes down in flood in July, August, and 
September. In Russia I was told the plant requires 
very little rain, and the only objection to the cul- 
tivation was the exhaustion of the soil, which scarcely 
applies here. — Wm, Geant. 
Translation. 
"There are two kinds of Sunflower seeds — those 
for eating and for oil extraction — Polish and Saratov. 
Saratov Sunflower seed is superior to Polish as it 
contains more substance, but the latter has a better 
form. Saratov seed is heavier than Polish, and from 
it more oil can be extracted than from Polish 4J to 
5 poods (36 lb. Eoglish equal 1 pood) of good Saratov 
Sunflower seed being required to extract 1 pood of 
oil, whereas to get the same quantity of oil from 
Polish Sunflower seed 6£ to 7 poods are required. 
The Sunflower requires strong and well prepared soil; 
for this reason the soil must be prepared as carefully 
as possible in autumn. It is generally sown broad- 
cast and covereu with seed-covering plough and har- 
row. In sowing about 26 lb. on the desiatina (desia- 
tina eqa 1 27 aCies) are used. The seeds of the Sun- 
flower must be changed very often, as tbey soon 
degenerate. As soon as the sprouts of t he Sunflower 
are grown a little it is necessary to remove weeds 
and extra plants. The moulding and cleaning of the 
soil is done with a hoe, which at the same time 
moulds up and turns the soil well over. (This hoe 
is more like a small heart-shaped shovel set on a 
shaft like a hoe. Ed.) On good farms they look 
well to the removing of the extra plants, as they 
should stand for three-quarters to 1 arshin (21 to 28 
inches) apart. The Sunflower plant cannot endure 
the presence of any other plants in its neighbourhood, 
and as soon as such appear they should be removed. 
Two cleaniDgs of the soil are usually necessary, but 
the land is sometimes hoed a third time. It occurs 
very often that some seeds grow up later; these 
when hoeing a second time should be destroyed. If 
it be desired to obtain an extra good crop of Sun- 
flower seed the land must be hoed three times and 
ridging be well attended to. The following is an 
account of the crop of the Sunflower seed for oil ex- 
tracting during the following years: — 1879, 70 poods, 
1880, 40 poods; 1881, 80 poods; 1882, 45 poods; 1883, 
65 poods; 1884, 97 poorls; therefore the average of 
the Sunflower seed is 66 1/6 poods=2387 lb. per 
desiatina." — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
— ■ 
A TEA PLANTATION IN THE SUMMER. 
Assam " swelters " for half the year. During tbat 
period the sun does not rise. He leaps at a white 
heat up from the nether world over its eastern rim, 
beginning his day's work in fire and haste, without 
preface, prelude, or preamble. The clouds melt and 
vanish into space. The wild animals rush away pant- 
ing into the dark cool recesses of the woods. And 
the birds, who, poor things, mutt improve the shiniug 
hours or starve, open their beaks and gasp for breath. 
He lays his fiery hands upon your bungalow, and 
in five minutes it is an oven. He glides on along your 
tea house's iron roof, and it flashes, shimmers and 
glows until life is a burden beneath it. And unwary 
crows get their poor feet blistered when they alight 
upon it. He beats into your coolie lines, pours his 
shafts down the straight rows of the tea beyond, 
fires the stately forest crests, and flashes at last into 
the soft haze that hides the tranquil grandeur of the 
distant everlasting hills. All this is done in a trice, 
in the twinkling of an eye, at a glance, any second 
between five and six o'clock a. m. , during these six 
mouths aforesaid. It is a wonderful phenomenon, and 
all your coolies «ae it every mora. For two hours 
before it happens all the cocks begin to crow, while 
their throats are cool, and set everyone astir. For 
if one man stirs all must stir, because all coolies are 
made alike, think the same thoughts, do the same 
tbings, eat the same food in the same unsociable way, 
wear the same fashioned clothes, tell the same lies, 
and get drunk on the same kind of liquor on the 
same day. 
There is a beautiful uniformity about everything 
concerning them which would delight the Socialist 
and all oiher men of equally-balanced minds. Every 
hut is turned out of the same mould, with two pump- 
kins sleeping on its roof of thatch. A little garden 
behind it, so many feet from north to south, so many 
feet from east to west, climbing beans trailing over 
poles, plantain trees with ragged stems and tattered 
leaves, and lowly pot herbs of wondrous form and 
taste. And in each hut are a man and his wife, and 
two children, brass pots, and fowls, and a g<at or 
two, and nastiness they call medicine, and hoe s , and 
leaf baskets, and money buried in the same place 
under the floor. Thus the dream of the Socialist 
comes to be realised at last. First comes out to catch 
the sun the oldest of the coolies, because his blood 
is thin and his joints are stiff, things he was not 
told to expect at the banquet of life. A century or 
so of similar habits has thickly corrugated his ancient 
knees; his hair is mostly grey, his skin is tight, 
and in colour like unto a duck's leg. He is a most 
admirable and useful being. At his withered feet the 
new arrival picks gleefully up all the tricks, dodges, 
deceptions, frauds, wiles, and impostures whereby the 
virtuous cooly sweetens his daily toil, and baffles his 
natural enemy the sahib. He has sold his daughters 
in marriage to two or three different suitors in turn, 
and farmed out his sons until they were old enough 
to know better. And he is now living in much com- 
fort on the proceeds of their cash transactions, and 
od the approval of spotless conscience. He will squat 
there at his door, pensively scratching his shrunken 
hams, until he gets warm and feels young and lusty 
again. Then he will go inside and thrash his only 
remaining daughter for overboiling his rice the day 
before. 
Meantime men and women have come out, and 
keen-eyed boys, and bright-eyed litte maids and brown 
babies, naked as cannon balls, tumble about among 
the goats and fowls. The full-fed shopman who Jives 
apart has roused himself from dreams of pice, and 
rolls yawning to his door. Therein he frames his 
convex bulk, the programme of the goor and ghee 
he sells, and the envy of all clever men who have 
not shops. And the sun glares, and the babies cry, 
and the girls and boys chatter, and the dogs finish 
the barking the leopnrds would not let them do at 
night, and the women quarrel and scream at one 
another many matters. Histoires defemme, my masters, 
matters of bangles, of betel nut, of umbrellas, of 
witchcraft, of drawing water, of a thousand things 
one comprehendeth not. The men get ready their 
hoes for the daily task, and the two or three who 
want to go a fishing, get ready a lie for the native 
doctor, who will now be going round. But these 
score not, and the lines chaukidar will subsequently 
shake them out from the inside of their huts, and 
drive them off, hoe, on shoulder, in sorrow but not 
in shame, scornfully likening them to the vil'age pigs 
of their native country. But they will tell the same 
lie again tomorrow, and the next day, and until they 
get their fishing because they cannot help it, and 
because hope is eternal. The gong at the factory 
booms out its summons, and then sirdars shoot forth 
vociferating. " Come out ! all ye men and women, come 
along !" And the men and women saj to one another 
many times " Come along, brother." But no one 
moves, and each looks at the other as though he had 
just dropped from a distant planet, and lost his way. 
At iast the men remember tbat they must go and 
hoe, and the women remember that they have to 
go plucking leaf. So all doors are shut that casuals 
may not fall into temptation, and all depart to work. 
Then the cattle are driven out to pasture, the dogs 
coil themselves down in (he shade, the goats wander 
