Dec. 1, 1894.] 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist. 
435 
of leaves, while common salt favours the de- 
velopment of stem. The latter will, therefore, 
be useful also for those fields where the paddy 
stalks are too weak to support the weight of the 
corn and leaf at the top. 
It was with a view to place such a useful 
substance within easy reach of the Indian Ryot 
and the Ceylon goiya, that attempts were made 
some years back at the "denaturalization" of 
salt, so as to make it available for agriculture 
and cattle, without deteriment to the pub ic 
revenue; but ultimately it was found that the 
problem was insoluble by chemical or mechanical 
means, and that its real solution must be found 
in increased facilities for transport, reduced 
prices, &c. 
It is, however, to lands that naturally con- 
tain too much salt, that I wish to direct special 
attention here. The cultivators of lands near 
the sea coast have very often to contend with 
difficulties arising from an excess of salt in the 
soil. I know of many paddy tracts of brackish 
soil in the North of the Island. When the 
crops on such lands have been liberally irrigated, 
either naturally or artificially, they tend to im- 
prove greatly, as the 3alt gets diluted and much 
of it is washed out ; but it is during a scarcity 
of water that salt lauds suffer most, because the 
salt is then in a concentrated form, part of it 
being sometimes seen at the surface as an 
efflorescence. The crops have a withered, scorched 
appearance, and in extreme cases die away al- 
together. 
There are various ways in which we can get 
rid of an excess of salt in a soil :— 
1. TJnder-draininy the land. — This supple- 
mented by subsoiling, is by far the best method, 
as the salt is effectually drained off the land 
from the whole stratum of plant-feeding soil. 
But in our country, agriculture has not yet ad- 
vanced sufficiently for tinder-drainage to receive 
any serious thought from the land owner. 
2. Surface draininy or washing out the land 
by allowing water to flow over it at intervals. 
This method, of course, necessitates the washing 
out of some manuvial matter from (he surface 
along with the salt: but this result must, lie 
accepted as the lesser evil of the two, the alter- 
native one being the death of the crops owing 
to the presence of too much salt in the soil. 
3. Green manuring tends to diffuse and modify 
the brnckishness of the soil, and is very commonly 
practised in Jaffna. Some time before the sowing 
season, whole coconut fronds are buried in the 
soil and allowed to remain till all the softer 
tissue has been converted into humus and 
absorbed by the soil ; and then the midribs with 
the eekels attached to them are withdrawn. 
Palniyrah olas, especially old ones which had 
first served for covering the roofs of houses, are 
similarly utilized, being thus put to a second use. 
Other leaves, both green and dry, are also employed 
for this purpose. 
4. Liminy the soil will also cure brackishjiess 
toa certain extent by the chemical action of t he 
quicklime upon the salt; an interchange takes 
place between the elements of the Eoruoer and 
tin latter, calcium chloride and cm-tic soda 
being formed. But liming i- not to be recom- 
mended in the case of a poor sandy soil. 
By a due combination of even any three of 
the above methods, many brackish soils under 
cultivation can be fairly cured. But where these 
methods do not answer, the land may be planted 
with salt-feeding crops both for the sake of 
lessening the salt in the soil as well as for 
utilizing the land which would otherwise lie 
iiojless. The Australian Salt Bush (Atripler num- 
mui'tria), a crop which has done well in Madras, 
may be tried in Ceylon too. An indigenous fodder 
crop called " Avalkeerae (Obione koniyu) growing 
on the salt beds near Jinnore in the neighbour- 
hood of Madras, is also cultivated on saline 
soils. A fine grain known as "Mondi" is grown 
in Jaffna and Mullaittivu by way of improving 
as well as utilizing brackish soils. The ragi (or 
kurakkanj plant is looked on by Indian ryots 
as a salt-feeder. There are, besides, certain 
varieties of paddy which are specially suited 
for brackish lands, and cultivators of paddy 
fields of that description are very familiar with 
them. 
When, however, a soil contains so great an 
excess of salt that it cannot be improved by 
any of the means mentioned above, or cannot 
be profitably placed under other Salt-feeding 
crops, it would be best to plant it with coconuts 
as they thrive well on extremely brackish soils. 
Casuarinas also do well on them. 
IS. T. HOOLE. 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
In an article on " Poisonous Fodder Plants" i lie 
Chemist and Druyyist remarks that Tephrosin 
Purpurea (Sin. Pila.) and T. Rosea are said to be 
very deleterious to stock. 
The favourable influence of proper attention 
to the skin of milch cattle has long been lniown. 
but by no means looked after as ii should be. 
German experiments decidedly show that both 
the yield of milk and the percentage of fit in 
milk are increased by attending to the coat. 
Similar investigations carried on in Holland with 
10 Dutch cows, led to the conclusion that the 
attention to the coat by brushing &c. increases 
| the yield of milch by nearly 4 per cent, and 
the amount of dry substance nearly 2'5 per cent. 
As a proof of the efficacy of deep cultivation 
— which does not mean deep ploughing, as it 
may be attained by other means : for example, 
by digging with the hodali, or in accordance 
with the Madras method of digging the ground 
over with crow-bars — it is stated ihat by inversion 
of the soil, crops of cotton, pulses, and oil seeds 
were raised without irrigation on the C.iwnpore 
Government farm, varying in value from R9 to 
R33 per acre, while on the ryot's fields round the 
farm, under exactly the same conditions, the out- 
turn of crops was barely worth a rupee an acre. 
I The efficacy of deep cultivation in seasons of 
1 drought cannot therefore lie over-estimated. 
The Scottish Farmer reports a case that enme 
I on in a London Police Court, in which a black- 
smith was prosecuted by the Royal College <>f 
: Veterinary Surgeons for using the words " Veterin- 
ary Shoeing Forge and Infirmary for Horses," 
