THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST [June t, 1888. 
Agents recommended a change of management, the 
chances being that the incoming manager was quite 
as big a duffer as the man he relieved. As likely 
as not, they exchanged billets. 
A Native establishment is most essential to a 
garden, but a manager must be wide awake, and 
not allow himself to be swindled ; and to do so, 
he requires to know the Native character well, and 
to study and also to know the value of money, 
and how and where to spend money. A few exam- 
ples of different styles of working may better show 
how one man works expensively and another man 
economically. One planter finds he requires a number 
of new lines, as well as to do a lot of repairs to 
buildings in the cold season. He has a good labour 
force. Well, he picks out 10, 20, or 30 good coolies 
for this work, and puts a sirdar over them, and 
from time to time supervises all their works, and 
allows of no scamping. Or agaiD, perhaps he is short- 
handed: he then gets in Bengali contractors to do 
the work, arranges rates, and if he be a man of 
any experience, he will know what the different 
kinds of work should cost, and not allow his Baboo 
to pocket "feesh" in the barefaced manner a garden 
Baboo is accustomed to do ; and then sees all the 
work measured up, as well as seeing that work 
done is good, and not allow the contractor to build 
and repair so that his services will be required the 
following reason. Another planter calls up his fac- 
totum the Baboo : " Wei), Baboo, any building or 
repairs necessary ? " With the usual result that it 
is all left to the Babno, who, from past experience 
of his manager, knows to a nicety to what extent 
he can bleed him. In consequence, the estate pays 
the piper. Baboo shuts his eyes to all bad and scam- 
ped work the contractor does, divides the spoil, and 
arranges for a similar campaign the coming season. 
This sort of thing goes oa year after year on the 
second man's garden, whilst the other, with a little 
personal supervision, saves all this. 
How is it to be accouuted for that one garden 
locally manufactures for 4 annas and the neighbour- 
ing garden requires 5 annas ? I will explain it. 
There is a very prevalent idea ruling amongst ma- 
nagers and agents, that a large yield can be mani- 
pulated cheaper than a very small one. This is 
all very good and well, but there is no earthly 
reason why a little more saving and care should not 
be exercised on a poor estate, and this is where 
the shoe pinches. A manager who has always had 
an assistant is inclined to think he cannot do with- 
out one, and if agents deprive him of his assistant, 
he increases his Native establishment, though by what 
right he does so 1 do not very well see. Locally, 
with care, teas cannot, and ought not, no matter 
how small the yield, to cost more than 3 annas G pie; 
and given that as the maximum cost per pound, good 
estates should be able, if deemed necessary, to work 
under it. I mean a good estate, where it is allow- 
able to have a fairly large establishment. A poor, 
worn-out estate cannot be expected to claim this as 
a right. The fact that some mauagers object to do 
their accounts and writing is surely no concern of 
the estate, as long as the English writer employed is 
paid by the manager ; but on a poor estate, on 
which large sums of money have been expended, pro- 
prietors have a right to dictate what is allowable and 
what is not; and when this is more generally ac- 
knowledged encoooniical working will be the order of 
the day. and not the exception. Local expenditures 
have been now brought down considerably, and what 
we want to see is Calcutta expenditure also brought 
down. One anna a pound, or five rupees a maund, 
should be the limit of Calcutta expenditure. That 
matters are tending this way there can be no doubt. 
Competition for agencies is strong enough now-a-days 
to insure economy. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
AGRICULTUEE IN BENGAL. 
The Second Annual Report of the Agricultural 
Department of Bengal though dealiug with a period 
of only eight months, records progress in many 
useful experiments which, if carried on long enough 
must prove of great value to the country. Warned, 
however, by the want of continuity in agricuitur.il 
experiments in Madras it is not eaay to feel con- 
vinced that any series of experiments not leading 
to immediate results will long be allowed to con- 
tinue. An important part of the work of the Director 
is the organization and maintenance of village re- 
cords, including the supervision of survey:-, and the 
preparation of records of right. The cadastral sur- 
vey is similar to that carried ou . in Madras by the 
Revenue Purvey, but the greiter part of the work 
was stopped by order of the Secretary of State and, 
for the present, the survey and record are to be 
confined to estates which are the property of Govern- 
ment, or on which those interested offer to pay for 
the advantages of a settlement. As things now 
stand it was found that in the great majority of 
villages in the Mozufferpore district much uncertainty 
prevailed as to the existing rent, anl the ryots 
appreciated the work of settlement in spite of 
attempts made to deceive them by interested parties. 
The survey actually enhanced the valu-; of the ryots' 
holdings as has been shown in some sales that have 
taken place iu settled villages, so when the survey 
was stopped the ryots in some cases even offered to 
pay for the continuance of the work. The cost of 
the cadastral survey is reported to have been only 
about 6| annas per acre. The amount of survey 
actually completed was not very great, still the 
results obtained would probably not differ greatly 
for the rest of Behar. If this be so there is cer- 
taiuly not much room for the expansion of agri- 
cultural operations in that district, though there 
may be ample room for improvement. From the 
statistics of the 235 villages of which the final 
record has been published it appears that 78 per 
cent, of the whole area is under cultivation. Of 
the remaining 22 per cent., which is returned as 
uncultivated, 3 per cent, is rent-paying land under 
thatching grass, 5'3 per cent, is under orchards, 
and 7 per cent, is unfit for cultivation, so that 
only 6'7 per cent, of the whole area included iu 
these villages is left for pasture land, and most of 
this is of an inferior quality. The average rental 
per acre is a little over Bs. 3. This Mr. Finucane 
believes to be higher than for any other province 
in India, when account is taken of the fact that 
this is the average for the whole rent-paying area 
which, as all culturable land has been brought 
under cultivation, includes land of the most inferior 
descriptions, while the average of other provinces 
is struck on only the comparatively small percen- 
tage of the entire area brought under cultivation, 
in which land of the most inferior qualities is not 
included. " 
The subject of the reclamation of lands impreg- 
nated with saline substances does not concern Bengal 
so much as some other provinces, still there are 
considerable areas in Behar which are rendered unfit 
for cultivation by excess of salts. Experiments on 
these are now being made in accordance with a 
plan found to be very successful by Mr. Maries, 
the Superintendent of the Maharajah of Durbhunga's 
Gardens. He dug up the soil to a depth of two 
feet, and then planted it thickly with trees which 
had been thoroughly established in pots before 
planting out. The trees which he found most 
successful were laqci Soman, (rain tree), and Albiazia 
Procera. In three years the ground was completely 
filled with roots, and the salt was to all appearance 
gone. It is probable that salt lands on a large 
scale are best treated by drainage, but it is not 
always possible to apply that cure, while the planting 
of suitable trees is a comparatively easy matter. 
The interest caused by Dr. Bonavia's book " The 
Date-palm in India " led to attempts being made 
to introduce the cultivation of the tree in the 
Patna, Burdwau, Orissa, and Bhagulpore, but the 
results were everywhere unsatisfactory. Probably 
the climate of Bengal is too damp for this plant of 
the desert. The experiments made in Madras have 
been much more satisfactory, for in the review of 
