Dec. 1, 1893.] Supplement to thi ''Tropical AgricuUanst." 
in 1:2 seers of water. A seer of the strained decoc- 
tion after it is cooled should be administered 
every three hours. 
As was mentioned before, medicines are not so 
important in disease of this nature, but experience 
lias shown us that with proper treatment 
•20 % and more of the cases recover, and hence the 
cheap and easily obtainable medicines cannot 
but be of some use. 
W. A. D. S. 
Bombay, 2nd November, 1893. 
[The real Chiretta is got from Swertia (Ophelia) 
Chirata, found, but rarely, in Ceylon. The Sin. 
Biu-kohomba (Muronia pumila) is, however, a 
good substitute for Chiretta. — Ed.] 
GHOU^'D NUTS AS A FEEDING MATERIAL. 
The plant which produces the ground nut (also 
known as eartluiut and peanut) is botanically 
known as Arachis hypoycca, and is a common crop 
in South India, where about 30,000 acres are annu- 
ally sown with it. The plant is grown both under 
irrigation and as a dry crop, and the leaves are 
also useful as fodder. Frequently the whole 
pods, with their contents are crushed in the oil 
mill, but the superior varieties of cake are made 
from the so-called nuts only, Prof. Church, in 
his F<)od Grains of India, gives the following 
analysis of ground nuts : — 
Water . . . . 7 o per cent. 
Albuminoids . . . . 24-5 „ 
Starch . . . . llv „ 
Oil . . . . 50 0 „ 
Fibre . . . . 4'5 „ 
Ash . . . . 1-8 „ 
The cake is the residue left after the extrac- 
tion of the oil by means of the common oil mill 
used in Eastern countries. 
An allowance of 6 lbs. of cuke a day is sufficient 
to keep a horse in good working condition ; for 
horses the cake has to be broken up and steeped 
for 24 hours in cold water. An allowance of 4 lb. 
per head for working cattle, with forage, keeps 
the animal in perfect health and condition. As 
a food for dairy cows it is admirable, both in 
increasing the yield of milk and in improving 
its quality. The butter of cows so fed is firmer 
and keeps much better than that of cows fed on 
any of the ordinary oil cakes. A daily allow- 
ance of 4 to 6 lbs. of oil cake given in the form 
of a paste, after soaking, and mixed with 2 or 
3 lbs. of bran constitutes a perfect food for 
milch coA\'s. 
INDIAN JOTTINGS. 
We are accustomed to see in Ceylon only the 
palmyrah and the coconut plam utilized for 
toddy drawing, but here in the Bombay Pre- 
sidency the chief palm from which this sap is 
obtained is the date. The manner in which the 
sap is extracted from the date differs altogether 
from that adopted in tlie case of the coconut, 
After clearing away the dry leaves and petioles 
from the stem of the date tree, the leaves from 
one quarter of the tree are cut off, exposing a 
portion of the tender stem. Tlic exposed stem is 
next punctured and a pot hung up at the place, 
j§ la done ou flower o£ the coconut, The 
toddy drawer daily chips off a small portion of 
the tender stem and fresh sap is gathered every 
day. 
The scene presented to a traveller in Central 
India is quite different from any thing we see 
in Ceylon- Here there is no stately coconut, 
and the jak which gives a wooded appearance to 
every village is absent ; neither are there any green 
rice-lields to relieve the eye. All tlirougli the 
ground is flat except where Ihere are hills, and the 
hillsides are nowhere utilized in these districts 
for the purpose of cultivation as is done in 
Ceylon. The cultivated lowlands extend for 
hundreds and hundreds of miles. The soil is a 
rich loam but verj' shallow, and hence, perhaps, 
the scarcity of larger trees or bushes. 
The crops found growing in these places are 
almost all annuals, and even where perennials 
are grown they are treated as annuals. 
Another noteworthy thing I observed was the 
variety of crops grown. Nowhere have I seen 
such a variety of plants grown in the same tract 
of land and sometimes in the same plot. It is not 
uncommon to find a plot of ground covered 
with alternate lines of cotton { G. Herbaceum) dhall 
(cajanvs indicus), sorghums, cholums, millets, 
Indian corn and hemp (cannabis). There are 
also closely-sown tracts of crotolaria ( sun hemp ) 
and ramie ( Gvizotia o/eifera), with its sparkling 
yellow flowers appearing as if the whole plant 
was covered with a sheet of burnished gold. 
Ramie {Guizotia oleifera) was quite a new 
plant to me, and I was a little surprized that a 
plant so easily and almost carelessly grown has 
never been introduced into Ceylon, where our 
goyiyas would be too willing to grow a crop 
which did not require much care or trouble. The 
plant was growing well even in the poorest soil ; 
and excepting the necessity for preparing the 
land before sowing no further care is taken of it. 
The ramie belongs to the composite order, 
and grows to the height of two to three feet. Thw 
stem is thin and branched towards the top. 
The ovate leaves remind one of the sunflower on 
a small scale. The flowers are borne on the top 
as well as from the axils of the upper leaves, 
and have a bright yellow set of outer petals ; 
in fact the whole plant resembles the sunflower 
on a small scale. The seeds are small and are of a 
shining dark color. They yield an excellent 
oil much resembling the Gingelly {sesamum ) and 
it is largely used for culinary purposes. Baron Von 
Mueller, in his work ou sub-tropical plant, says 
that Guizotia oleifera is found in India and 
probably Abyssinia, The ramtil oil is pressed 
from the seeds of this annual herb which yields its 
crop in three months. The oil is much used like 
sesamum oil as well for culinary as technic 
\ purposes." 
I could not obtain any definite infonnatiou as 
to the yield per acre, 
« 
POINTS ON BUTTER-MAKING IN INDIA. 
(By Mr. T. AV. MoM-tsox, it.n.A.c, Superin- 
tendent of Farms, Bombay Presidency. t 
A cool, well ventilated dairy kept scrupulously 
clean and freo from any taint and un^nnitnrj' 
i odour is necessary, 
