566 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1889. 
which is described as being grown in low muddy 
ground near water, so that the fields can be watered 
if the rainfall is insufficient. The weeds and stubble 
of the last crop are ploughed up, and when, after 
about ten days, these are rotted away, the fields are 
watered either by rain or by hand. After being made 
smooth the young plants are plauted out. Three 
months after planting the Rice blossoms, and in four 
months it is fit for cutting. The mode of sowing is 
as follows: — "The grain is soaked for several days, 
and then sown in the finest soil. The first crop is 
ready for planting out in twenty days, and the se- 
cond is about a month, when shoots are dug out 
with a trowel, a handful at a time together with 
the earth, and planted in the fields about 9 inches 
apart. In the second crop the shoots, which are 
allowed to grow much longer than in the first, are 
cut off at the top when planted out." The fields 
are very freely manured just before the blossoming 
period, and thoroughly irrigated. " Threshing is done 
in the fields. A large tub is taken, \yi:h an ins- 
trument like a ladder of four rungs inside it, against 
which the grain is beaten, being taken up in 
bundles with both hands and threshed against it. 
Another plan is to take the paddy into the village 
and beat it out with fails. About 80 lb. of Rice 
grain is used for sowing- 1 acre, and this yields, on 
an average, about 4000 lb. on the first crop, an 1 
5O0Ulb on tha second. In the most favourable years 
as much as 8000 lb per acre has besn harvested, but 
this is the limit. In bad years, again, the yield may 
be next to nothing." 
Sesamom (Sesamcm indicum). 
This plant is grown best on high dry ground— excess 
of moisture is very detrimental to it. It does not 
require watering — the dew alone is sufficient to nour- 
ish it. In making the beds, therefore, the centres 
should be higher than the sides, so that the water 
may run off. In the first month of every year it is 
sown broadcast, not in lines, nor does it matter 
whether thickly or sparingly sowd. In about ten days 
it begins to shoot, and in two and a half months 
it blooms, and at the expiration of another two and 
a half months it is ready for harvesting. The entire 
plants, roots and all, are carefully taken out of the 
ground, put on a cement floor, and threshed with 
a flail. Two kinds are known — one with black, and 
the other with white seeds. Sdsamum does not 
generally require manure, but in the poorest soils 
ashes and ox-manure may be used. 
Gbound Nuts (Abachis hypogjea). 
This plant is best grown in a soil of coarse sand 
and mud. They should be set deep, and the ground 
pressed down firmly over them. The grounrt is 
ploughed about April, and trenches dug about 10 
inches apart, into which ashes, lime, and rubbish are 
thrown. The seeds are sown about 10 inches apart, 
and, as each is put in, the sides of the trench are 
turned over it with the foot, and stamped down firm. 
About every ten days the ground is weeded, and in 
about two months the plauts are sufficiently grown 
to be sprinkled with liquid manure. In four months 
they come into flower ; the flower-stalk then bends 
over, and as the flower falls off, the flower-stalk buries 
itself in the ground, and produces the pods, which 
ripen about the end of October, bearing the well- 
known seeds known as Ground-nuts. The harvest, 
however, takes place at a later date, when the seeds 
yield more oil, and a better price can be obtained for 
it. Ground-nu f s are harvested by ploughing them up 
with an ox-plough, when the stalks and seeds clinging 
to the plough aro gathered into heaps. For the 
remainder which are still left in the ground two men 
lifl e earth with a large liamboo sieve. The pods 
arc, perfectly dried in the sun until the thin skin which 
covi-nt the seed can be broken by rubbing, when they 
can b'i stored. Groat care has to be taken to 
thoroughly dry the seeds to prevent their germination, 
in which case they are useless. Tlie residue of the 
HOfldi after the expression of the oil is made into 
cake*, which are used for manuring the land. 
Coconut (Cocos nucifeba'. 
The Coconut does best near salt water. The 
ground is ploughed up aud the weeds removed, and 
Coconuts which have already sprouted are put in 
several feet apart. Salt is put in with them, but no 
manure. They bear fruit after ten years. If they 
do not flourish salt is again put to the roots. For 
the first few years after planting sweet Potatos are 
sown on the ground, but when the trees grow tall and 
the foliage shades the ground, this cultivation is given 
up, and cattle are turned out to feed on the ground. 
Each tree bears from seventy to eighty nuts per 
annum. 
Indigo. 
This plant, it is stated, can be grown on the hill- 
sides and in the poorest soil. It uoes not appear, 
however, whether the plant referred to is Indigofera 
or Polygonum, from which some of the Chinese indigo 
is prepared. About July or August the plants attain 
a height of 2 feet, when they are takeu up, root aud 
all, and put into the vat, and soaked together with 
stone lime. This is stirred several times a day, aud 
in ten days it is drawn off as liquid indigo. — J. R. J. — 
Gardeners' Chronicle. 
♦ 
Ficus Roxburghii. — This species of Ficus was named 
by the late Dr. Wallich in honuur of the illustrious 
Roxburgh, for many years the Superintendent, and to 
a large extent the founder of the Uotamc Garden at 
Calcutta, and the father of Indian botany. Ficus 
Roxburghii is a native of the lower and outer Him- 
alayas from Nepal to Bhotan, being found at elev- 
ations of from 1000 to 3000 feet. It is a tree from 
15 to 25 fett in height, and with a wide spreading 
head. The leaves are large, measuring from 1 to 1J 
foot in length, and from 12 to 15 inches in breadth. 
The most striking feature iu the tree is, however, 
the great abundauce of its handsome russet-red t igs. 
These Figs iu shape aud size much re»emble Dutch 
turnips. They are carried in enormous bunches on 
the stem, especially near its base, and smaller bunches 
on the main branches. The mass of Figs borne at 
the collar of the stem on this singular tree at the 
time when it was photogaphed, weighed, as Dr. King 
informs us, about a hundredweight. It must, when 
in full perfection, have presented a remarkable spec- 
tacle, and one which would have produced a sen- 
sation at a fruit show iu this country. The fruit, 
however, although eaten by the unfastidious Indian 
labourer, is quite unpalatable to a European being 
insipid and sloppy. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Coffee. — The Department of Agriculture, in its 
last annual report, says it has for nearly a quarter 
of a century made yearly distributions of coffee plants, 
sending them to the w aruiest localities iu the 
United States, but the returns have not been of a 
nature to warrant further continuance of the dis- 
tribution of these plants so far as relates to the 
object in view of establishing a profitable industry. 
It is true that several years ago a small quantity of 
ripened berries were produced on the coffee plants 
growing near the Manatee River, but it was under- 
stood that these plants were in a very weii-sheltered 
position, and received additional protection during the 
severest weather in winter. Subsequently these trees 
were frozen to the ground by a cold of unusual seve- 
rity for that locality. It is quite certain that coffee 
cannot become a profitable crop at Sanford, Fla., 
where a lowering of temperature down to or below the 
point of freezing occurs almost every winter. Al- 
though the freezing point may not be reached, yet 
occasional low temperatures iu the fall or early win- 
ter months retards the ripening of the fruit, even 
when the plant is apparently uninjured. A tropical 
climate means something more than mere exemption 
from frost. Experit need coffee-growers state th it the 
culture is nob commercially profitable in a climate 
where the thermometer talis below 50 deg. F. at any 
time during the year. The plant will survive a Uiuen 
lower temperature than the above, but the above 
estimate refers to the value of the crop. — American 
Grocer- 
