740 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTLTRIST. [MAv t. 18^4. 
tering a local oil manufactaring industry. Indeed 
the coiiditionii under which Bgrieultur«l produote find 
their way to market offer every cpportuuity for 
aiulterfttion, and in ench % case opportunity is not 
Ji(;htly focKOQe. R»ilw»yB are generally supposed to 
offer a fair guarentre agBinst adulteration, though it 
w»B at a railway station that Dr. Voelcker wituei'SPd 
the deliberate tnixing of wheat with earth and foreign 
seeds. But railways are Btill few and far between. 
The grain consigned by tbe petty village merchant 
to tbe exporter has generally to spend days and 
nights in a country cart before ever it is put in tbe 
goods wagoD. Tbe carl man is always impecunious; in 
every village there is a " receiver," ready to buy 
and a^k no quegtioDS. What wonder if the percent- 
age of dirt increases fivefold iu its passage from 
the threshing-floor to Ite ship's holdP In this 
Presidency we are fortunate in possetBing soma fine 
inland waterways. The Kistna and Godavery Caoals 
have been au enormous boon to the trade of the 
DietrictB they serve. It is the mora nufortunate 
theralore that the feeling is gaining grooud that 
in goods transit over them are not safe. These 
canals are tbe property of Oovernmect and managed 
entirely by Government officials. It is worthy of 
coi)Bideration whether steps cannot be devioed to 
keep the traffic on them free from snob damagiug 
imputations. 
We noticed above how Dr. Voelcker absolves tbo 
ryotfs method of tbreehiog from blame in tbe matter 
of adulteration. In regard to wheat his experiment* 
showed en average of only 1'32 per ctnt of impurity 
ooniiROied on the threshing floor. Dismissing this 
therefore as the chief factor in adulteration be fell 
back on the hypothesis of intentional admixture 
effected by the vations middlemen. He does not 
seem to h^ve considered the various accdeotal dan. 
gers to which agricultural produce is subjected be- 
fore it reaches tbe exporter's hands. We have very 
briefly indicated some dangers that occur on tbe road 
and the oaual. There is another most fruitful source 
of oontamiuation, iu the granary. It is remarkable 
that Dr. Yoelcker's attention does not seem to have 
been drawn to tbe native methods of storiog agri- 
cultural produce. All tbe damage that tbe grain 
BoSers on the threshing floor is bat a bagatelle to 
tbe perils of the granary. An instraotive little 
bulletin was issued in 18a0 by the Madras Agri- 
onltural Department on "The Storage of Seed Grain 
in the Ouddaph and Karnool Districts." The onl- 
tivatiag classes, or at least the Eeddiea of those dis- 
tricts, are well known to be among the beat husband- 
men iu this Presidency ; and naturally they take more 
care of their seed grain than of that intended for 
home consumption or far sale. Seed grain in these 
districtp, we are told in the bulletin, is kept either in 
bamboo baskets coated inside and out with cowdnog ; 
or in ganoy bigs or earthen pots ; or in baskets lined 
with paddy straw. Whatever method of storage 
is used the grain is liable to damage either 
by insects or damp. But the bulk of the 
grain harvested, which is that intended to be 
used as tood stuff, or for export, is nowhere 
treated with the <saro bestowed on the seed 
grain, " A-i a rule," says the bulletin above referred 
to, " the grain which has been stored in uuder- 
grouiid pits or in garisalu (overground bins) is not 
used for seed, as it is found to {muggiponnu) have 
become heated and been rendereu unfit for that 
purpose. Grain is gi uerally btored in these pits when 
it is desired tO' preserve it as a food stuff only." 
The granaries used for storing the bulk of the 
ryot's grain are in general of the following descrip- 
tiODS. First there is the large room _ or godown of 
mud walla and floor, or br.ck and mud wals and 
mad floor. Generally the floor is plastered with 
cowdang, and the rjof is an open tiled or tbatoked 
one. In a godown uf this description tbe grain is 
either heaped loosely on the floor, or is kept in 
bags. Another variety of the godown is the isolated 
granary built apart from tbe house, raieed on stones 
or brioka or logs of wood above tbe ground level, 
with walla of mad, and conical thatched roof. A 
very commoi receptacle, met within in most di 'trio t« 
in the ProFi'^eney is a large bamboo basket. coat«d 
inside and out wit|i cowduup. Iu tbia thti grain is 
kppt loose. — Tbe last form of granary which we nee i 
mfntioQ here is the grain pit ro cotDmon in tom"- of 
the Nortbejrn Districts. This is a mere boU dux 
in tbe ground, usually on an elevated rite, the sides 
snd bottom of which ara lined with paddy »traw 
aod the grain then poured in, in bulb. It would 
be bsrd to say which e>f those reoeplaoloi ia 
the leest suited to. preserve the grain from duteriora- 
tioii. Each of tbem ii liable to damp, whether of 
air or actual witer, and it is only tbe tliriftient of 
ryots that will go to the trouble of taking bis grain 
cut aud airing it periodically. To each of thesu 
granaries rata and ioiieots o'jtaiu eaay access. It is 
melxiicholy to reu tlie dreadful havoc that han been 
wrouKbt after tbe goduwo or grain pit has been closed 
for a couple of months, Mildew iiod weevila aie the 
greatest devastator*, and none of tbe precaatioos 
known to the ordinary cultivator — socb as margosa 
leaves, gram pods, cowdaog— suffice to keep these ene- 
mies out. And so, daring tbe weeks or months tbe 
grain may be lying in the ryot's garner, ti tbe 
modicum of dirtbr .Dght with it from (be tbreshiog 
floor there is now added a score of other iraputititie 
— dead inteots; dast; scraps of household refuse; 
fra(;ment8 of slicks, straw, bricks, chatties; mould; 
animal and ioBcot excreta; the empty buska left by 
tbe weevils; and the miioellaueous dirt iotrodueed 
by rats and equirrels. 
We d) not wish to be underaitocd as implying 
that all this dirt acoompaoies tbe grain that is offered 
to buyers for foreign markets. Tbe coartcr and more 
obvious impurities are winnowed or cleaned ont. 
Nor do we consider the mere adalteration of 
the grain the most serious contideration. Tbe 
worst feature in this primitive method of stor- 
ing grain is tl^e very te-rious loss of food etoffa 
involved by it. Paddy and raggi enjoy a com- 
paraiive immunity, but the lose of oholum and of 
all the different pul es is enormous. We have seen 
samples of cbolum and horsegrim taken from a grain 
godown wbeiein scarcely one g a^u in fifty had es- 
caped the attacks of weevils- This implies an 
enormous annual Iob^ tf wealth. The Agricultural 
Departments of the different Provinces have for aome 
years devoted a more or le:s spasmodic attention to 
the insect pests that attack tbe itandtng crops. We 
woul 1 commend to their notice the desiraoility of 
devising menas to protect the gathered crops also- — M. 
Mail. 
FACTS ABOUT BANANA MEAL. 
A COMING INDOSIBY. 
A Mr. Hartog, who went in the beginning of last 
year to Surinam (West Indies), is in possession of 
a method of preparing fine dry meal from bananas 
and plantains. The chemical analysis of both sorts 
of meal have proved that the chemical composition 
of different banana aud plantain kinds is almost 
identical. The principal stuff the meal contains 
coneista of 80 to 85 dega. of starch. This composi- 
tion induced him to seek the adoption of the meal 
for purposes where other staffs containing starch are 
employed, and he choose, in the first place, the fabri- 
ficaiionof alcohol and glucose (grape sugar). As he did 
not dispose of very large quantities, he was forced to 
apply to luiboratorium experiments that were made at 
the Government Inatitate of Alcohols in Switzerland 
fixed at Berne. The gentlemen there made alcohol of 
the meal, and wrote as follows : — 
" II resulte de ce qui precede, qu'il vaat tout a fait 
la peine d'atiliser oes sarines pour la fabrication 
d'alcool. La qualite de 1 alcool de f arine de bananes 
peat auisi etre eavisagee comme bonne." In the con- 
versation about the object with those gentlemen, 
they gave their opinion that the value of tha meal 
would at least be that of maize, the starch quantity 
of the meal being greater. Thn same opinion was 
, given by some mauufacturers of alcohol in Switzer- 
land and Holland. Aa proof of how many staffs 
