io88 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1882. 
THE SEASON IN INDIA. 
(For the week ending 25th April. ) 
Slight rain has fallen in the North- Western Pro- 
vinces and Oudh, in the Central Provinces, in Assam, 
and in the Bombay Presidency. In Bengal, Madras, 
Mysore and Coorg, and British Burma the rainfall 
has been more or 1; ss general, although more is still 
wanted in some places in Bengal. Scarcity of drinking- 
water is still reported from Dharwar in Bombay. 
The recent rain in Mysore has been beneficial as far 
as it goes, but the wet crops continue indifferent. 
Harvesting of rabi crops is in progress in the Punjab, 
with good prospects and has almost been completed 
in the Bombay Presidency and in the North-Western 
Provinces and Oudh, with good or fair results generally. 
In Bengal the spring rice crop, which is now been 
harvested, is expected to yield a good outturn. In 
the Madras Presidency reaping of crops still continues, 
with outturn on the whole an average one. In one 
taluk of the Bellary district the dry standing crops 
are reported to be partially withering. In tue Cen- 
tral Provinces threshing and winnowing of rabi crops 
still go on, and harvesting of wheat is in progress 
in the Central India States. General prospects con- 
tinue to be good throughout the country, and land 
is being prepared for kharif sowing in Bombay, Berar, 
and the Central Provinces ; while in Assam and Ben- 
gal ploughing and sowing continue. 
Madras. — No rain in Kistna, Chingleput, Tanjore, 
and Travancore ; general prospects good. 
Bombay. — Rubl harvest generally completed; pre- 
paration of land for next season begun in a few dis- 
tricts ; slight rain in Dharwar, Belgaum. and Knnara ; 
scarcity of drinking-water in six talukas of Dharwar 
continues; slight fever and cattle disease in a few 
places ; cholera in Rnjkot, Tanna, Belgaum and in 
Satava, increasing in Satara ; prices generally steady. 
Bengal. — Slight rain fell in most parts of these 
provinces during the week ; in some places the rain 
waB comparatively heavy ; ploughing is proceeding, 
and in some places sowing of autumn crops is going 
on ; more rain still wanted in several places ; indigo, 
sugarcane, and other crops on the ground are doing 
well ; boro (spring) rice is being harvested, generally 
with prospect of a good oulturn ; cases of cholera are 
still reported from many places, and small-pox re- 
ported from some places ; the public health is how- 
ever generally fair. 
N.-W. Provinces and Oudh. — Slight rain fell in 
seven districts ; prices haYe risen slightly in Allahabad, 
Cawnpore and Farukhabarl and fallen in Moradabad, 
elsewhere they are stationary ; the markets are well 
supplied ; cholera is still prevalent in Fyzabad, but 
is decreasing in Corakhpur and Sitapur ; a few cases 
are reported from Lucknow, Partabgarh, Allahabad, 
and Kumaun ; small pox continues in Cawnpore, Mo- 
radabad, Agra, and Jhansi, and typhus has appeared 
in Kumaun ; cattle-disease has disappeared in Allah- 
abad, but continues in Lucknow, Kumaun, and Jhansi. 
Punjab. — Harvest prospects and health good; prices 
generally steady. 
Central Provinces. — Weather cloudy and hot, with 
cool nights ; threshing and winnowing of rabi crops 
going on ; preparation being made for kharif sowings ; 
cholera and small-pox in several districts ; prices 
steady. — -Madras Mail. 
Wk take the following remedy for simple continued 
fever from the Scientific American : — " Acid, hydro- 
brom. 1 dr. ; Syr. simplicis, 2 dr. ; Aq. ad. 1 oz. W. 
Sig. — Every hoar. —Fothcrgill. in speaking of the above 
formula Dr. Fothcrgill is reported to have stated that 
it will probably constitute par excellence the/^ver 
mixture of the future. It is especially indicated, be' 
says, where there is cerebral disturbance.— Pionebff- '" •'. 
I Tanning in the Madras Presidency. —The Madras 
Mail, in noticing the operation of a former Government 
tannery, states : — The bark chiefly used was that of 
the cassia auriculata, while the pods of the divi divi, 
and gall-nuts or myrabollams, were employed to pro- 
duce the finishing liquor. 
A Strange Sight. — The Balhurst Free Prees reports 
a singular state of things at Locke's estate, at Locksley. 
In the bush, near the residence, is to be seen a 
strip of country on which every living sbrub and 
tree has, by some mysterious process, been deprived 
of life. The trees, leaves, and undergrowth are all 
dry and hard, as though destroyed by fire, and not 
a blade of grass or a leaf is to be seen with any life. 
The strip of country is about 300 yards wide, stretch- 
ing as far as the eye can reach, running along the plain 
and up the side of the mountain. Opposums lie 
dead at tbe foot of some of the trees, supposed to 
have been killed. A hot wind or an electric current 
or both are supposed to have caused the destruction. 
Major Jacob, of Jeypore, India who superintended 
the erection of the necessary plant, now states that 
he is able to produce a gas from the oil of castor 
beans, which will in all respects bear favorable com- 
parison with the best samples of coal gas. Large works 
have been constructed, from which the entire town is 
supplied with castor oil gas with as much facility as 
though coal were the raw material used. Now that the 
system is in efficient working order it is found possible 
to produce twelve hundred and fifty cubic feet of gas 
of nine-candle power from eighty-two pounds of oil. 
The light is soft, yet powerful, easy of storage, is com- 
pressible, and is said to possess no dangerous explosive 
properties. — Oil and Drug News. [Jeypore, in Raj- 
putana, is far inland, where railway carriage would 
render coal expensive. The castor oil plant grows 
plentifully in most parts of India. Like all oil-yield- 
ing plants the crop is exhausting. The railway com- 
panies have large manufactories near Allahabad for the 
preparation of the oil. — Ed,] 
Ceylon Cofpee Plants .not to be Imported to 
Be'union. — The Gazette contains a despatch from the 
Earl of Kimberley to Governor Sir J. R. Lonaden, 
K. C. M. G., which calls the Governor's attention to 
the following document : — 
The Foreign Office to the Colonial Office. 
Foreign Office, 10th March 1882. 
Sib, — I am directed by the Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs to transmit to you, to be laid before the 
Earl of Kimberley, a despatch in original from Her Ma- 
jesty's Consul at Reunion, transmitting a Decree pro- 
hibiting the importation of coffee plants and berries into the 
colony from Mauritius, India, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra and 
the Fiji Islands. — I am, &c, Chabxes W. Dilke. 
Consul Annesley to Earl Granville. 
Commercial. — No. 3. British Consulate, 
Reunion, 16th December 1881. 
My Lord, — I have the honor to transmit to your Lordship 
herewith enclosed, a slip taken from the " Journal Officiel 
de la Reunion," of the 14th instant, containing an Arrete 
dated the 13th instant, issued by His Excellency the Govern- 
or of Reunion, which prohibits, until further orders, the 
introduction into this colony of all coffee plants and coffee 
berries, and even of all kinds of plants, coming from 
Mauritius, India, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra and the Fiji Islands. 
This measure has been rendered necessary owing to the 
information received from the Mauritius Government of 
the appearance of a disease on the leaves of the coffee 
trees in that colony and in the other countries named in the 
Arret6 ; also upon the recommendation of the Commissioners 
who^were specially named by the local authorities to 
report on the best measures to be adopted for the pre- 
vention of the introduction into this colony of the said 
coffee plant disease. 
I beg to enclose a copy of the report sent in by the 
( 'oiuiiiissicmei-s, — I have, &c, A. A. Annesley, 
H. B. M.'s Consul at Reunion. 
