THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1882- 
mould. The disease is originally due to Bacterise, and 
another parasite is often present at the same time. 
Wet rot, I forgot to say, differs from dry rot in 
thin respect, the interior of the tuber is partially 
liquid and the outside coated with mould. During 
rotting, the potato loses half its nitrogenous con- 
stitutions and the whole of the sugar. 
The Sweetwort is formed by a parasite called Mucor 
mucedo. The mycelium of the parasite travels to a cert- 
ain distance inside of the potato, and then disappears. 
Bacteria rapidly destroys the plants. There is another 
parasite, called Aspergillus niger, which produces a 
similar result. It seems rather uncertain as to 
whether cane sugar or glucose is formed : some chem- 
ists say the one, others the latter. 
We all are familiar with frozen potatoes, but not 
many of us know in what manner the frost affects them. 
Frost has the effect of dojUiuig the amount of sugar in 
the tuber, the starch diminishing in proportion ; part 
of the protein passes from the congulable to the 
soluble form. 
To prevent rot in potatoes, the tubers, whether 
sound or diseased when .taken from the ground, are 
left in a weak solution of calcium chloride — one part 
to a thousaud of water— for half-an-hour. They are 
then transferred to a soda solution of the same strength, 
after which they are washed with clean water and 
air dried. Half kilo of calcium chloride and the same 
amount of soda is sufficient for 250 kilos of potatoes. 
A kilo is a little over 2 lb. 3 oz. 
Even though potatoes are badly diseased, they are 
still useful for cattle food. They are best cut up 
and boiled or merely scalded, mixed with chopped 
straw or chaff, and stored in narrow trenches covered 
up with clay. So stored, they will keep for many 
years. If steamed, they should be kept in casks, as 
there is more adhering moisture. If it is not con- 
venient to heat them as above, they should at once 
be sent to the distillers. 
With regard to the best kind of potato for yield 
and quality, there seems to be a good deal of differ- 
ence in opinion, as the following examples will show. 
1. For quality and quantity : Champion, Richter's 
Iinperator, Eos, &c. 2. Richter's Imperator for yield 
is far the best ; is of a hardly -nature, smooth, and 
the stalk is tall and straight. Next in order are 
Violet, Victoria, Irlachin, Richter's Snowrose, &c. 
3. For starch and yield : Eos, Aurora Alcohol ; 
lower in yield but very high in starch, Achilles and 
Ceres. Richter's Imperator Early Rose, &c, very 
heavy yields. The above forms three opinions of 
three chemists ; they all seem to agree that the Im- 
perator is the largest yield er. 
The most successful way of manuring is to partially 
dig the manure into the ground. The application of 
nitrogenous and phosphate manures without farmyard 
manure is much less to be trusted on a poor soil 
than on a rich one. Manuring on fertile soil is not 
productive of any great gain. Sheep-dung produces 
a yield of 50 per cent higher than any other arti- 
ficial manure, and 60 per cent higher than if no 
dung be applied at all. Extra supplies of ammoniacal 
and superphosphates produce no increase. Compost 
has the same effect as if the land were unmanured, 
except that there is an in^rea=e of starch. The un- 
manured plots are highest in disease. A good mixture 
is Chili saltpetre and Baker's superphosphate in the 
promotion of ore of the former to two of the latter 
mixed with stable manure. Bone meal, one author 
says, increases the weight of product, and it is also 
very'likely that the whole plant likewise increases in 
W'ight. There is another substance which has been 
tried, viz., peat, and good peat is found to give even 
better retultB than good stable manure.— F. C. S.— 
GOVERNMENT GARDENING AND FARMING. 
The report of the progress and conditions of the 
Government Botanical Gardens as Saharanpur and 
Massoorie is an interesting record of the progress of 
botanical science in Northern India. Mr. Duthie 
remarks :—" There is no hard-and-fast line of di- 
vision between results of scientific and those of practical 
interest, so that one set of facts could be grouped 
as scientific, and another of practical, for science 
does not cease where practice commences, but is 
rather made manifest by its application. There are, 
of course, certain subjects which may be rightly 
termed practical, and others unmistakably scientific ; 
there is also a third set which may be said to par- 
take of the characters of both. It is the preponder- 
ance of this latter in my present report which has 
made it impossible for me to divide it satisfactorily 
into the two sections as desired." 
With Australian grasses we note the usual failure 
in an economic point of view, none of them equalling 
the common Indian dub, or hurrialee. Indeed, when 
properly treated it would be difficult to find its equal, 
either green, or as hay in any country, for though 
we miss in it the sweet Authoxanthum oderatum of 
English pastures, we know its aroma to be excellent, 
while its nutritive qualities are incontestable. In the 
hotter parts of Australia which most resemble India, 
both dub and guinea grass are decided acquisitions] 
so it is doubtful whether any great assistance can 
be given from the Adelaide Gardens to those in 
India in furnishing improved forage or fodder plants. 
In South Australia one is struck with the fact that 
the fields once ploughed are for years weedless, and 
only at length become weedy with the inroad of 
imported plants run wild ; yet the greatest friend to 
the hurrialee is the plough, when used in moderation. 
But if Dr. Schomburg cannot send grapes from his 
lovely Gardens at Adelaide, he has contributed in the 
earth almond what may be a most desirable tuber. 
Although Australia has not so far yielded a grass 
of marked value we note no deficiency from other 
countries. The guinea grass, for which Jamaica now 
pays taxes on over 100,000 acres is at Saharunpore, 
as elsewhere in India a success, just in proportion 
to the attention it receives. Tambokie grass is also 
reported favorably on, as having been received from 
the Cape of Good Hope, and as being relished by 
cattlo, and Lucerne is valuable as a perennial. 
We now turn to the report of the Cawnpore Ex- 
perimental Farm Operations for 1880-81, and learn 
that during the Rabi season, the farm was the means 
of bringing to light some interesting agricultural 
facts. With a rainfall amounting to only 221 inches 
in eight months, irrigation had to be employed to 
germinate the crops, most of which were sown be- 
tween October 15th and November 7th. As a natural 
consequence 'patchy' crops were the result, a defi- 
ciency of the moisture in the subsoil being inimical 
to healthy root growth. The effect of two kinds of 
manure were brought very prominently into notice, 
both of this being nitrogenous. Tbese were, first 
enriching the land by green soiling, that is ploughing 
a leguminous crop into the land before it begins to 
form seed; and secondly, using human excreta. As 
both were highly successful, and were contrasted 
with cattle dung, and the ashes of cattle dung as 
well as other manures, the following results of the 
experment are worth attention. The figures show the 
increase per acre. 
Grain 
Per cent in gros? outturn. 
Manures yielding nitrogen 
Green soiling 
Poudrette 
Cattle dung 
151 
166 
83 
Straw. 
91 
Cattle dung plus gypsum 73 
Net profit. 
R. a. p. 
26 0 9 
25 4 5 
6 0 2 
Loss Rl-U 
