382 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [October i, i88r. 
of Western Australia find it pays them better to ex- 
port sandal at £7 a ton than to till the ground, 
anil thy sandal trade lias been credited with atroci- 
ties in the Southern Ocean and with the present 
backward state of Western Australia. This wood, 
however, is inferior stuff. Indian sandal stands as 
far above all other kinds in the China market as 
does Indian opium. It is stated that the profits of 
the middlemen are enormous, and that £200 a ton is 
a common price for first class Indian wood in China. 
Be this as it may, is there any other wood in the 
world which will fetch a steady nett price at the 
place of production of £45 a ton ? 
Kad -Handi. 
MAIZE. 
(From the Indian Agriculturist, 1st Sept. 1881.) 
Tli is cereal is second only in importance to rice. 
It is grown largely throughout the American contin- 
ent, from Canada in the north to Patigonia in the 
south: throughout the islands of the Pacific, in the 
West India Islands, in Australia, throughout the 
whole of Africa, in Spain, Portugal, Southern Prance, 
Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, 
Central Asia, India, China, and the islands of the 
Indian Ocean. To use the words of the author of 
Tropical Agriculture, "no grain cocld secure such 
favours from all parts of the world, except from its 
intrinsic value. Its flexibility of organization makes 
it easy of adaptation to climate and soil. Though it 
prefers moist and rich soils with strong heats, there 
are varieties of it which can be raised in tropical 
climates at a height of more than 9,1)00 feet above 
the level of the sea. The warmest regions of the 
Torrid Zone produce maize in abundance where thrte 
crops can be taken in a season, while the short sum- 
mers of Canada have a variety suited to them. This 
cannot be said of rice which requires great heat and 
cannot endure a climate of a high latitude." 
The uses of Indian corn are numerous. It serves 
as food for nearly one-third of the human race. As 
a fodder for cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and poultry 
it is invaluable. The dried cobs and stalks serve as 
fuel, and in South America a kind of beer is largely 
distilled from the corn. 
In Germany, Austria, and Hungary, a very superior 
kind of paper is made from the leaves and sheaths 
of the cob, aud it is to be hoped that the day is 
not far distant when English capital will be forth- 
coming with a view to establishing this industry in 
India. "Maize paper" has none of the brittleness 
peculiar to ordinary straw paper. Maize paper appears 
to be the most unexceptionable of all the pap-rs not 
made from rags. Not only is it remarkably tough, 
but it is devoid of all the siliciouB matter which 
proves so embarMssing in ordinary straw paper caus- 
ing great brittleness when folding and rapidly de- 
stroying the face of printers' type. The extreme tough- 
ness of the paper makes it particularly eligible for 
bank-note paper, aud for the purpo.-e of envelopes. 
Tn ■ colour is somewhat yellowish, but it is easily 
bleached. 
In India, maize is a summer or kliarif crop. Where 
irrigation is available it is sown in May or the end 
of April, but otherwise not until the monsoon sets 
in. After the first showers of rain, the ground is 
In 1842 the crews of two English vessels landed at 
Sandwich Iblandi, one of the most luxuriant in the 
Archipelago of the new Hebrides. The Islanders, 
when resisting the destruction of their woods, were 
set upon by the whites, who killed twenty-six, and 
driving a great number into a cave, suffocated them 
with smoke till not one remained. 
ploughed up, the surface of the soil being scarified 
by a native plough. Manure insufficient in quality 
and quantity is ploughed into the soil, and the seed 
sown in parallel rows about one foot apart. A heavy 
beam of wood called a ewaga drawn by two bullocks 
is pasaed over the field to close the furrows, and 
the seed is left to its own devices. As soon as the 
plant has attained a height of a out five or six inches 
above ground, the field is hand-hoed ; this operation 
being repeated twice or thrice. About the beginning 
of October the crop is cut, and large sheaves are 
heaped up all over the field, after standing for a week 
or ten days the cobs arc broken off, the stalk and 
the grain shelled. The mtive method of shelling is 
truly barbarous ; three or four men sit round a heap 
of the cobs and beat the heap with short heavy sticks, 
au immense amount of grain is thereby lost and 
damaged. The average yield seldom exceeds 25 to 
30 maunds per acre. The amount of seed sown does 
uot fall short of 23 lb. per acre. 
Iu Algeria the main yield on unirrigated laud is 20 
cwt. per hectare (2 - 471 acres), whereas in American 
maize cultivation has attained its highest development, 
an ordinary crop is 60 bushels and 100 bushels, or 75 
maunds is not an uncommon yield. 130 bushels or 
7,800 lb. per acre have been raised. 
The New York State Agricultural Society require 
a yield of 80 bushels of corn to the acre to be en- 
titled to a premium. 
The results of two experiments on the Saidapct 
Model Farm are herewith given. 
No. I. 
Maize Early American. 
General nature of soil Sandy loam. 
Area of land sown ... ... ... 2 '83 acres. 
Cultivation of soil before sowing... Twice ploughed, bor- 
rowed and ridged, 
and again ridged 
over manure. 
Kind and quantity of manure used 42 loads of farm-yard 
dung. 
Pounds of seed sown ... .. 181 lb. 
Date of sowing 21st September. 
i ultivation during growth of crop Twice hand-hoed. 
Rainfall and number of wet days 
recorded during growth of crop.. 31 wet days, 24-00 in. 
Date when harvested ... ... 29th December. 
Number of cobs 7,390. 
Weight of straw when dry ... 5, S24 pounds. 
The foregoing, it must be remembered, is the pro- 
duce of only half the ground, as the muize was sown 
in lines alternately with lines of cotton. 
The weight of manure is not given, but allowing 
20 maunds per load, it would be a little over 10 tons 
per acre. 
No. II. 
Maize "Yellow Flint." 
General nature jf soil ... ... Sandy loam. 
Area of land sown 1£ acre. 
Cultivation of land before sowing Ploughed, harrowed, 
and ridged. 
Pounds of seed sown 19 pounds. 
Date of sowing ... ... ... 25th September. 
Cultivation during growth of crop Twice hand-hoed. 
Rainfall and number of wet days 
recorded during growth of crop 31 wet days, 24'00in. 
Date when crop was hai vested ... 5th January, 1876. 
Number of cobs 4,050. 
The remarks made with reference to the area of 
laud actually cropped apply equally to both experi- 
ments. 
Professor Symmonds enumerates seventeen varieties 
grown in North America. " They may be distinguished 
by the number of rows or grains on the cob, and 
the size, colour, shape, &c, of the kernels." He 
