140 
Supplemmi to the " Tropical Agnculturist.^' [Augtwt 1, 1893. 
symptoms supervene ; and, where privation of 
water is absolute, exhaustion and death occur in 
a few days. Occasional, or even, continued, 
shortage of the fluid nutriment does not ahvays 
produce notable immediate effects. The hair or 
wool may be observed to be dry ano harsh, the 
animal does not grow or gain weight, the bowels 
are usually torpid, the urine may be high colour- 
ed and concentrated, and hence will irritate the 
excretory passages. Unless, however, the restric- 
tion is of short duration, more serious and per- 
manent mischief results, especially in young cattle 
and sheep. Tho animals become gradually more 
thriftless, there is gastro-intestinal derangement, 
the skin is scurfy, the mucous membranes pallid, 
frequently jaundiced. Change of food, good 
nursing, and medicinal treatment in such cases 
are seldom of raucli avail. The patient pines, and 
: perhaps six months after tlie mischief has been 
done dies, and tlie chief morbid condition dis- 
covered is a shrunk, hardened, fibroid liver. 
Protracted drouglit not only affects the quant- 
ity, but also the quality, of the water supply. 
In a densely-populated country, the risks 
of sewage contamination are greatly increased. 
As rivers, streams, springs, and pools rapidly 
evaporate under the solar heat, and are freely 
absorbed by the dry-baked soil, tlie water is apt 
to contain a larger percentage of imjiurities, 
notably of injurious organic and organised mute- 
rials. It is thus that springs, wells, and more 
especially pools, particularly if they have no 
fresh stream constantly passing through them, 
become dangerous sources of drinking water. 
Such contaminated water produces diarrlnea, 
often of a serious, sometimes of a fatal, choleraic 
type. Not infrequently such supplies become 
deadly from admixture witli anthrax virus, and 
the increase of such cases recently reported from 
■various localities may probably be thus accounted 
for. Many instances are on record of pools, 
■which for years had with impunity been used for 
watering the stock of the farm, becoming during 
dry seasons so impregnated with putrefaction 
products that fatal antlirax occurred, not only 
in cattle drinking therefrom, but in the hor.^es, 
hogs, sheep, and even in the poultry.. 
When any particular variety of food fails, 
others may usually be substituted for it; but 
there is no substitute for water. Practically, 
there is also but one source of it, namely, the 
clouds. Notwithstanding American ])rojects, 
neither electrical nor other methods will coerce 
them to part with their contents. The best must, 
accordingly, be made of available supplies. In 
Tiew of dry seasons like the present, live stock 
farms must be better furnished with such a prime 
necessary. An adequate permanent supply must 
be got, even if the cost be considerable. Streams 
and springs must be more carefully and economi- 
cally utilised. Loss and waste must be guarded 
against. 
ARROWROOT SUBSTITUTES. 
The true arrowroot flour is, as is well known, 
got from the tuber of Maranta Arundinacea, but 
many other tubers are said to yield a very 
similar product. 
Curcumn p-^eudo-montana, a yellow flowered 
yariety belonging to Ziugiberacese, is found spring- 
ing up all over the Eonkan in the rainy bmsoo. 
From its oblong bulb there grow, hanging by 
fibres, small potato-like tubers, which are perfect- 
ly white in the inside. 
Arrowroot was manufactured from the tubers 
at one time, but now they are boiled and eatea 
in times of scarcity. 
Curcuma anguetifolin, " East Indian arrow- 
root," is also yellow-flowered, and common in 
India. What is known as " Travancore arrow- 
root" is prepared from the bulbs, and a good 
deal of it is imported. This flour is often mixed 
with that of Maranta arundinacta or the flour of 
Cassava. 
CttroMnn Icucorr/iiza. — lioxburgh mentions that 
a kind of arrowroot is prepared from the tubers 
of this plant. 
L'ureuvia caulina. — From this arrowroot is 
manufactured in the Bombay Presidency. 
Aresofmn turtnositm (var. heliborefolium) and 
other species of .\resamii' are used in the same 
way as arrowroot tubers in parts of India. 
Aru7n maculatum produces Portland Island 
arrowroot. 
Tncca Finnatijida, according to Hooker, affords 
the South Sea arrowroot. Its tuberous roots, as 
large as a fair-sized mango, yield a great quantity 
of beautiful white starch, of which it is said the 
best flour for confectionars' and puddings is pre- 
pared. Drury says the fecula much resembles 
arrowroot and is very nutritious. 
Species of Aracea; are also mentioned as 
sub.slitutes for arrowroot ; among these come the 
panu-ala and kidaran of the natives of Ceylon. 
GRAmxC} ORANGES. 
The process of inarching or grafting by ap- 
proach, by its simplicity and perfect adaptability 
to the atmospheric and other cultural conditions 
obtaining in the tropics, is .said to recommend 
itself, above all other modes of grafting to the 
non-professional operator. Inarching has been 
before referred to in the pages of the Magazine in 
connection with the propagation of mangoes, and 
on a recent visit to India we saw the ijrocessmost 
successfully carried on in the neighbourhod of 
Bombay and Poona. Dr. Nicholls, in his work on 
" Tropical Agiiculture" mentions inarching as the 
most certain of all kinds of grafting, and as being 
extensively employed in the West Indies for the 
multiplication of plants of the better kind of 
mangoes. In the Bulletin of the Botanical 
Department of Jamaica, issued last April, the 
following description of the method is given: — 
Procure seedling orange plants, sweet or sour, 
one to two years old, from the thickness of a goose 
quill to half an inch in diameter. Place them 
singly in good soil, well compressed in bamboo 
pots and nurse them until properly established. 
They mil then be ready as stocks on which to 
inarch the improved or favourite variety. Tie 
each pot separately to a branch of the favourite, 
strong enough to bear it up, and at the same 
time, at a point from whicli the middle portion of 
the stock can easily, and without much pressure, 
reach and lie parallel to a twig or small branch 
of the tree of or about the same diameter. The 
