January i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
4«S 
Snow. — This injures the trees, both from cold and 
its weight. Should the storm be heavy and the 
fall great, this bears down the branches and 
in many cases breaks some. As regards the cold 
occasioned by it, this does not always do harm, but 
when it does do so it is very frequently confined to 
the young shoots. Should tho weather be fine both 
before and after a snow-storm, the cold water produced 
on thawing producos its effects on tho young branches, 
for which reason no time should be lost in shaking all 
the snow off them before nightfall, for should it be 
condensed on them, the harm occasioned would bo of 
much greater importance. The system of placing heaps 
of damp straw at fixed distances between the trees, so 
that on sotting said heaps on fire in order to obtain a 
smoke between the sun's rays and the trees, lias pro- 
duced a magnificent result. If after snowing the 
weather continues threatening, or there be heavv clouds 
floating about, neither the trees nor the fruit will suffer 
any harm, although the thermometer might bo below 
zero. 
Humidity, Dews, and Frost.— An excess of humidity 
in the atmosphere during the fecundation of the 
blossom generally produces bad results, especially in 
suoh plaoes where tho ventilation is limited, should 
the temperature at night decline to any extent. Frost 
with an east wind occasions a deal of harm, but 
should the wind be from the north it is not 60 bad. 
Little that is economical can be availed of in large 
orohnrds, but in reduced ones the harm is lightened 
at small cost by availing of certain materials for shelter, 
of little value, which in certain distriots are 
plentiful. 
Hail. — This causes a deal of damage to tho fruit. 
Should the storm be of short duration and the wounds 
occasioned by it be of slight profundity, these will 
soon heal up and everything oontinue well, but certain 
black stains will remain which reduce the valuo of 
the fruit. Should the storm bo heavy, it completely 
destroys the orange, which quickly enters into a state 
of putrefaction. 
Wind. — This exercises its influence on the orange 
trees in two different ways, viz., by its force and by 
its temperature, the injury caused beiog greater or 
less according to tho position in which the orchards 
may lie. North, north-west and west-northwost winds 
aro the most dangerous in certain places on account 
of their temperature, for as a rule they dry up the 
extremes of the branches exposed to their influence, 
besides whioh the shoois of certain specie* beoorae un- 
sound. Those that cause most harm in the South 
of Europe, by reason of their impetuosity, are the. 
south, south-southwest, and south southwest, accord- 
ing to the position of the valleys. All these wiuds 
oonie with puffs of extraordinary strength, and destory 
the branches unable to resist them. The only remedy 
iu these important occasions is to cut off everything 
that lias been destroyed and dried up. With the 
object of partially avoiding these misfortunes, the 
custom of producing trees of shortened growth has of 
late years vastly extended. 
TBI Hubninu and RusT. — The disease known as burn- 
ing is due in great part to the too abundant dews 
that fall here, which aro ovaporated with tu excessive 
rapidity by a burning sun. To the same cause may 
bo traced tho disease vulgarly called " rust," or a 
class of mildew on the lotives of tho orange trees. 
This manifests itself on tho fruit by a red stain, 
which, us it increases, becomes much darker and finishes 
by disorganizing the pulp and rotting the fruit. The 
cleaning and pruning of the trees is the bo.-t known 
method acaiust this evil. 
Chlorosis. — I'll" ehlorosis or yellowing of the leaves, 
and also tho withering, are generally attribute I either 
to the superabundance of humidity in t I* siil, to an n. 
cetaivo quantity "I brandies having but little ventil- 
ation, to thu want of iron in the earth, to a species of 
torpor in th^ absorption of t ho mineral matter! exist- 
ing in them, and to tho alteration of tlio roots, if old. 
The remedy to bo employed to ooinbat this evil is dis- 
tinct aceordiog to the causo by which it is produced. 
— Victorian Furmtn' (inti'ttt. 
< f.i ki . xnti uii.1.) 
THE LABOURING CLASSES IN SOUTHERN 
INDIA. 
[As so very large a proportion of the labour em- 
ployed in Ceylon oomea from South India, the following 
details are specially interesting. It will be seen how 
the influence of Ceylon on Madura is acknowledged. 
—Ed. T. A ] 
Their Material Condition. 
On tho 17th August last year the Government of 
India called for reports on the material condition of 
tho lower classes of the population in India. The 
Madras Government replied on the 27th May last. 
In a resolution under date the 19th instant, the 
Government of India remarks: — 
The Madras report is preliminary and the enquiry 
will be continued. The opinions of the district offi- 
cers aro not supported by ooncrete instances, but in 
many cases they reflect tho views of men who have 
for years observed the conditions of agricultural life 
in Madras. The conclusion of these officers which is 
concurred in by the Board of Revenue and by the 
Madras Government, is that no considerable proportion 
of the population suffer from a daily insufficiency 
of food in ordinary years. 
Iuthe Ganjam ^area 3,106 sq. m., population 1,603,301) 
district, though the income of agricultural labourers only 
just meets their expenditure, they have enough to eat. 
In Vizagapatam (area 3,477 sq. in., population 
1,790,408), the Collector says, the agriculturists live 
miserably, and cannot afford a sufficiency of food. 
With two and sometimes three meals a day a cloth 
to cover himself and a hut to live, " the labourer is 
probably the poorest creature in the world." But as 
pointed out by the Madras Government the Collector 
admits that the inhabitants are an unusally sturdy 
and muscular class of men, and this is hardly com- 
patible with a want of food. Further, it may be added, 
that two or three meals a day is quite up to the 
average; that clothes iu the Aladras climate are super- 
fluity ; and that the hut is the oustomary and 
traditional house of the peasant. 
In Qodavan (area 0,525 sq. m., population 1,780,613), 
there is no deficiency of food among adults. 
In Kistna, (area 8,471 sq. m., population 1,548,480), 
prosperity is universal. 
In Ncilorc (area 8,739 sq. m., population 1,220,238), 
the Oollector denies any insufficiency ; but the Civil 
Surgeon supports the insufficiency dictum on tho 
ground that criminals always increased in weight 
after they had been in jail some time, and that a 
large number did not get sufficient food to develop 
their musoles to their full extent. The Board of 
Revenue remarks that the Madras jail dietary is the 
most liberal in India, and that the bard labour of a 
prisoner in jail is by no meaus such hard work as 
that undergone by the labourer iu the fields. This 
question of rise in weight during incarceration is 
one of same importance and has beeu noticed in 
other provinces. Mr. Crook, in the North-Western 
Provinces, suggest that a newly-admitted prisoner has 
just passed through tho ordeal of arrest, and that he 
has probably been remanded more than once or marched 
about the country after a Magistrate in camp. A 
man like this naturally loses weight in the interval 
between arrest and conviction. Tno Iudian convict is 
not iu solitary confinement: he is a cultivator, he 
is free from the labour and anxiety of field watch- 
ing at night. He is pormptly attended to for the 
most trifling ailments. Dr. Lothbridge, Inspaotor-Gen- 
orul of Jails, Bengal, also considers that the deep anx- 
iety and often distress which preoede conviction oausu 
loss of weight. It may be added that a convict 
does not indulge in tobacco and opium Mr. Burditt, 
a missionary, says, that tho lower olaasei in Nellore 
do get enough to eit, and that they »»vo n • ay. 
In Cuddappah (an a 8,74-5 sq. m., population 1,121," 18 . 
except from the 2 Ith April to 20th June, every one 
gets regularly moro than enough and oven in tho 
slack season there is little demand for work. 
Great weight in attached by the I; >ard and tho 
Oovernmcnt'.to tho opinion of Mr. Nicholson, Col- 
lector of Anantapur (area 5,<tM sq. in., population 
.V.H'.SHU). lie says, that the y y> nr. N a itcOn | 
