June i, i888.j THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
8S3 
last year's forest report the Government observed 
that •' the successful cultivation of this valuable 
palm in this Presidency is nou' placed beyond the 
region of experine nt, ami extruded operations may 
be undertaken without further delay.'' A subject 
of much interest in Bengal is the eradication of 
the disease amongst silk-worms. Various causes 
have led to the decline of the Bengal silk industry, 
hut the most potent one is, the .spread amongst 
the worms of a disease known to the rearers at 
K/lttt, and pronounce 1 to be identical with /lubrine, 
the disoase which has do ie so much injury in the 
south of Europe in recent years. Mr. Wood-Mason 
and Baboo Nit , a Gopal Mookerjee, a distinguished 
Cirencester graduate, were deputed to investigate 
the question, and deci ed to Lift oduoe the Pasteur 
system of microscopically examining the moths in- 
tended for seed, and rejecting the eggs of those 
that were diseased ; and the introduction of healthy 
conditions IB the rearing of coco ins — that is, fresh 
air, cleanliness, plenty of space, and exercise, all of 
which are ignored by the rearers iu the existing 
system. Mr. Mookerjee has brought up three experi- 
mental crops in accordance with this system, and 
believes that he has eradicated the disease from 
bis stock of silk worms. The native rearers show 
a preference for the seed raised by him, and in- 
curred the expense of buying at his advice untainted 
mulberry leaves at a high price so as to avoid 
using the tainted leaves in their own possession. 
It is now intended to send Mr. Mookerjue to Paris 
to study the disease under M. Pasteur. 
The more strictly agricultural experiments made 
in Bengal are of eomparitively litfclo practical interest 
here. A large series of experiments were made on 
manures with very varying results. The great effect 
of bone dust on certain corps especially on potatoes 
was clearly sli iwu, and by nothing more strongly 
tbau bj tlio anxiety of the ryots, amoug whom it 
had been distributed gratis last year, to obtain 
a supply. The attempt to introduce improved 
agricultural implements into Bengal have not been 
very successful. An iron plough costing even so 
little as lis. o' is found to he too expensive, and 
attempts are neiug made to introduce a Very cheap 
form, which looks very much like an ordinary ryot's 
plough but has a good wrought iron share. Ploughs 
which invert the soil are not found to be satisfactory, 
since the ordinary bullocks are not strong enough 
to draw them, ami they cannot be usod in paddy 
cultivation. Special attention is called to the subject 
of improving the bri ed of cattle by inducing the 
Zemindars to take an interest iu the matter aud 
import some good hulls. Even isolated efforts cau 
do much gooil in this direction, as is shown by 
the fact that the improvement effected about Patna 
by Mr. Taylor when Cumm ; ssion> r there, by introdu- 
cing ono or two good English bulls, is still strongly 
marked iu that district. — Madras Mail. 
♦ 
THE LIME. 
Its Oultuue ix xbb West I.ndibs. 
[By II. A. Allord Nicholl-, M. D., F. L. S. for Au. 
t .| ue ( 'hurchman. ' 
The lime tree is not a native of the West Indies. 
It is believed to have come originally from the south of 
India, and to he closely allied to, it not descended from 
the citron. The tr»o was introduced into this part of 
the Mow World by the Spaniards about thn beginning 
of the seventeenth century, and it quickly became 
nntiiralixed in the West Indian Islands. Atwood, in 
history of Dominica, published in 1771. mentions that 
limes were exported from Dominici to the neighbor- 
ing islands U Well as to Europe, and this lae' i-.de- 
sevcriny of special notice, initMii teh in it is the earliest 
record i d Iu unco of a fruit trade between the West 
Indies and tin Mother Country. 
The lime fruit is now, however, principally- grown 
for the fliike of it* juice which la shipped from 1) unmiea 
and Moiitsttrrat iu a conceiitr ited form, and from 
the-e two island i— as m il as I loin . I mi uri and Trin- 
idad— it is sent to Europe and the I'oited States iu its 
natural or " raw " state. The concentrated juice is 
the source of a considerable portion of the citric acid 
used in medicine and the arts, and the natural fruit 
juice is bottled up and sold in Europe and America as 
a refreshing and wholesome beverage. It is also used 
as an antiscorbutic— i. e. to prevent the outbreak of 
scurvey on hoard ships— and all English vessels leaving 
Great Britain for long voyeges are bound to have a 
good supply of lime juice on board. The spread of 
temperate habits among many of the nations of the 
world is calculated to iucroase the demand for the juico 
of the lime, for it makes a most grateful and perfect- 
ly innocuous drink in hot weather, and iudeed at auy 
time. A sip of lemonade made from pure lime juice, 
allays better perhaps than anything else the ragiug 
thirst of fever, and many distinguished medioa] men 
recommend a decoct ion of the lime as a very efficient 
febrifuge. 
The cultivation of the tree is very simple, aud the 
plants are raised without difficulty from seed, and they 
are usually of a very hardy nature. They are planted 
at distances of from twelve to twenty feet from each 
other, hut, of course, the fertility of the soil has a great 
deal to do with the distances. In poor and dry lands, 
aud on steep hill-sides where the trees do not grow 
very large, the proper distances would be from twelve 
to fifteen feet, but in rich flat lauds twenty feet may 
be even too close. 
In very windy places it is advisable to plant shelter 
belts of trees at distances of about two hundred feet. 
Pois doux (Inylaurimq), Bois immortelle (Eri/thrina 
velutiuu) and Galba [Caluphyllum Calaba) are about the 
best kinds of trees for these shelter belts, but fast- 
growing indigenous trees may be and are used, caro 
being taked to select these not liable to he broken by 
strong gusts of wiud. 
Iu poor soil it is necessary to hole the laud ; that is, 
holes two feet square and two foet deep should he dug at 
the proper distances, aud left open for a few weeks in or- 
der that the soil may be thoroughly oxygenated. Iu fill- 
iug up, none of the soil taken out is to be put hack, for 
the holes should be refilled with weeds and surface eirth 
Vom the vicinity, aud some manure may be put in with 
advantage. The earth should he raised in a mouud 
where the hole was; for no matter how well the fill- 
ing process may havo been done there will always be a 
subsidence of the soil, aud the young lime plant will 
then be left growing in a hole — which is a thing to be 
carefully avoided. 
When planted in good laud and kept free from weeds, 
the lime trees will commence to bear in about three 
years from the time of planting; and as the plauts are 
generally about a year old before they nr.! put out into 
the lield, this gives four years from the planting of the 
seed to the first bearing. Fu 1 crops cannot, however, 
be expected before the plants are seven or eight years 
old; and in poor soil, it will take a long time for the 
planter to get anything like a return out of the estate. 
In some parts of Dominica the lime trees grow so 
luxuriantly aud so quickly that a goo 1 crop may be- 
expected in about five years from the time of planting 
or even earlier — but this is of course exceptional and 
only occurs iu places where forest land has been opened 
up, or where the system of holiug has bc*u properly 
carried out. 
The yield per tree of course varies consi lerably, 
according to soil, rainfall and climate ; but with care- 
ful cultivation, a fair average toil) and a rainfall of 
about til) inches p- r annum, from three quarters to a 
barrel of lime can be reckoned ou from each tree plant- 
ed at the wider distances. 
In Dominica the flowering usually begins in Bfaroh, 
and the crop commences iu Juuo or July, and continues 
t i December. 
But a fow limes may be gathered nil tho yt ar muiid, 
exoopt at the end of tho dry season — during which time 
the trees arc praetic illy at re.'. 
The limes ought nut to be picked otf the trees. They 
should bo allowed to full to the ground ; aud. iu this 
way. one can only rely on getting tho fruit when it i- in 
the best condition lor obtaining the juice. The work 
of gathering the liniuit is umi illy done hy weuun and 
thiidrou who are paid from three peuoe t) four pauc 
