714 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." [April 2, 1894. 
No fodder crop of the ceroal order, except 1 
guinea grass, can be grown, in rotiitioii, ! 
and general experience i)oints to tlie necee- i 
sity of growing leguminous crops in rota- ' 
tioii. On a dairy farm it i.s, fiutlier, an object ' 
to HecLire for the rotation a crop which gives 
good fodder. The leguminous crops tried were, 
besides lucerne, already mentioned, Iculthi 
(Dolichos uni/torus), till (D. lablab), chavli (I). ^ 
catianff), vetches, and sainfuin. Liltle need be 
&:aid as regards the last two, both failed ; and 
less need be said as regards LothyruH nylventrisf \ 
•which was Avorse than a total failure, for it : 
took up ground which might otherwise have 
been profitably utilized. The common peas of j 
the locality were also tried unsuccessfully. The 
other pulses did well- Yal and chavli '\n good 
deep soil throve excellently, and though clearly 
better fodder than kulthi, the coarye stems of 
which are rejected by milch cuttle, they will 
not grow on light soil as well as kullki. Radical 
(or hot-weather irrigated jov.ari of several 
varieties) was not tried again, the trial of last 
year proving it inferior to m/id/tia. Sundhia 
is a variety of jowari unknown in the Deccaii. 
It is a rain crop, but also thrives well as nn 
irrigated hot weather crop, and though it will 
not oust the local kadical, it seems likely to 
prove a profitable introduction from Gujarat. 
Rye was tiied in the hope of proving its 
utility as a source of charcoal for gunpowder, 
for which the straw is largely used in England. 
It grew fairly, but instead of .^ending up 
straight shoots tillered freely, forming a thick 
sward. This trial is sufficient to show that, 
in Poona at all events, it cannot be made 
useful for the manufacture of gunpowder. 
In spite of famine rates for fodder in the 
early part of the year, the dairy herd on the 
Poona Farm yielded a very good profit, which 
would have been much larger had the farm 
Tjeen provided with a grazing area for dry 
cows and young stock in a locality where they 
could be fed with greater economy. A suit- 
able area has been selected about six miles off, 
the possession of which is very desirable. An 
addition to the herd Avas made by the pur- 
chase of some well-selected Sind cows. They 
liave proved to be docile and very good milkers, 
■with a characteristic type and a breedy appear- 
ance. Last year it was noticed that the per- 
centage of butter fat milk was greater in the 
hot weather than in other seasons. By giving 
green fodder throughout the year this difference 
has been greatly decreased. The new industry 
of dairying has continued to develop. The 
Bombay agent of the Dairy Supply Company 
has sold 47 more separfttor?. A lart^e dairy has 
been started at Hyderabad (Deccau). Some com- 
rpetition with the Dairy Supply Company by 
other similar companies has arisen. Separated 
■jnilk now finds a ready demand. Cream 
fseparated from milk in Nndiad in Gujarat is 
I largely taken by rail to Bombay to be made 
.' into butter, while the separated milk goes by 
j rail in large quantities to Baroda and Ahmeda- 
/ bad. Butter made from Nadiad creim is sent 
. from Bombay as far as Hyderabad. Incidentally 
■.■an important success in keeping butter for a 
• ■ long period quite sound and fresh was secured, 
jvift April J^stj (icoa.«dmWQ quantity of butt§r 
was salted with about A per cent of good table 
salt and was })acl<ed in earthen-ware jars titt«d 
with close-fitting lids. The intention woe to 
sell this butter to District Officers iu the fair 
season, but in July a sudden demand aro.se for 
fresh butter. The salted butter, carefully 
washed to reduce the percentage of 6ult with 
the help of the l)Utter-worker, was found to be 
perfectly good, and equal to butter freshly 
made. The number of private dairies has in- 
creased, and the Government dairj- at Poona, far 
from acting as a hindrance to private enter- 
prise, has taught a new industry which hat- 
already reached dimensions which were un- 
anticipated. 
♦ r 
THE AVAILABLE MINERAL PLANT 
FOOD IN SOILS. 
Dr. Dyers important paper on his researchef^ 
into this subject, read before the Ciiemical 
Society, is being reviewed by Dr. Aikman in 
the Scottish Farmer. The following is the first 
notice : — 
Dr. Dyer begins his paper by pointing out 
that, wliile the fact that a soil contaias much 
less phosphoric acid, for example, tlian is con- 
tained iu average soils, it is a probable indi- 
cation that such a soil is in need of pho6i>hatic 
manure ; yet such an indication iti not alwavfe 
to be relied on. In many cases the difference 
in the amount of phosphates contained by two 
soils is very slight, and yet the one is found by 
experience to benefit very much by the addition 
of phcsphatic manure, while on the other 
api)lication of such manure is fraught with 
little results. The inference, therefore, to be 
drawn from a consideration of the total amount 
of phosphoric acid or potash in a soil is seen 
to be too often practically valueless. Where 
tliu analysis of a soil is often found to be of 
great value, is iu determining whether it is 
likely to be benefited by an application of lime, 
or whether it is in need of organic matter, &c. 
As was pointed out last week, the need of 
some more discriminating analysis than that 
in which merely total amounts of ingredients 
are stated is obvious, if soil analysis is to be 
of any great service to the farmer. What is 
wanted is some process for estimating the relative 
proportions of the fertilising ingredients iu a soil 
immediately available for the plant. It may be 
said frankly, at once, that an exact estimate of 
the amount of available mineral food in a soil 
will in all probability never be attained by 
chemical analytical processes. Nor does Dr. Dyer 
claim that his suggested test is an accurate 
estimate. Its merit consists in its giving a very 
fair though only a veiy approximate indication 
of the amount of available mineral food. Treat- 
ment of a soil by dilute acid solutions of the 
kind Dr. Dyer has experimented with can only, 
even at best, indicate the amount available at 
the time of testing; but as the present writer 
has pointed out in a work recently published 
\_See "Manures and Manuring," by 0. M. Aikman 
(Wm. Blackwood & Sons), p. 90]," thanks to the 
numberless complicated reactions going on iu 
the soil, this amount of available plant food, it 
is to be presumed, is constantly being added ta 
