April t, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
657 
SOIL INVERTING PLOUGH IN INDIA. 
The following note is from a report on " the Dura- 
raon Farms: what they teach," by Mr. B. C. Basu, 
Assistant to the Department of Land Records and 
Agriculture, Bengal. 
Different kinds of inverting ploughs have been used 
on the Dumraon farm ; but they are all built on the 
same principle. They are, generally, made wholly of 
iron, and fitted with a broad curved piece called a 
mould board, which inverts the furrow slice, that is, 
turns it upside down. The beam is of wood, like that 
of the country plough, and is connected with the yoke 
in the usual manner. The ones in use on the farm 
go just as deep as the native implement. It is said 
that soil-inverting ploughs are too heavy of draught 
for country bullocks ; but the idea is unfounded, as on 
the farm they are drawn by cattle with the same care 
as the country plough. In fact, the farm ploughmen 
prefer to plough with the former'. 
To compare the soil-inverting with the country 
plough, two plots, each 800 square yards (a little over 
5 local cottahs), were ploughed up and both cropped 
with wheat, and treated exactly alike in all other res- 
pacts. The cost of cultivation was the same in both 
plots. The increase in out-turn, obtained by means 
of the inverting plough, over the out-turn obtained by 
means of the country plough is shown below :— 
Grain per Acre. Straw per Acre. 
Increase. Decrease. Increase. Decrease. 
Mds. 
s. 
Mds. s. Mds. 
s. 
Mds. s. 
1885-86 . . 
2 
16 
3 
21 
1880-87 . . 
1 
14 
1 
8 
1887-88 . . 
1 
35 
0 " 14 
1898-89 . . 
1 
4 
1 
*35 
1889-90 . . 
2 
4 
4 
16 
1890-91 . . 
0 
30 
0 
19 
Average 
..1 
24 
2 
12 
0 14 
Both the plots having been continually under wheat 
for several years, and received no manure, their out- 
turn was gradually decreasing. In 1891-92 it was, 
therefore, thought desirable to change the crop ; and 
the experiment was, accordingly, discontinued on the 
two plots which had been hitherto reserved for the 
trial. It was, however, made on two other plots, with 
the result that the inverting plough gave 1 maund 26 
seers of grain, and 3 maunds 1 seer of straw more per 
acre than that of the country plough. The result 
leaves no doubt that the out-turn of wheat can be in- 
creased to a certain extent by the use of the soil-in- 
verting plough. 
The effect of soil inversion was equally conspicuous 
on paddy. The trial with this crop was carried out in 
exactly the same way as witli wheat. The results are 
shown in the following statement : — 
Increase of Increase of 
grain per straw per 
acre. 
acre. 
Mds. 
l S?>'l 
Mds. s. 
1886 
1 
6 
8 16 
1887 
0 
35 
2 38 
] SNS 
1 
8 
2 8 
1889 
3 
8 
6 2 
1890 
0 
24 
3 20 
Average . 
. 1 
15 
4 33 
The experiments are specially instructive, and may 
dispell the generally accepted idea as to the unsuit- 
ability of soil-inverting plough in India. 
Dr. J. W Leather, Agricultural Chemist to the Gov- 
ernment of India, informs the editor that "at Cawn- 
pore an improved plough, h dying an iron share, and 
ploughing ."> inches deep, has been tested against the 
country plough since 1881. Six years' experiments, 
during four of which they were made in duplicate, 
showed, with one exception, a distinct increase in the 
cotton crop ; and eight years' experiments, of which 
seven were made in duplicate, and in which wheat was 
tho crop, showed with one exception an increase, ap- 
parently duo to the improved plough. 
"Leaving out of consideration the actual increase 
obtained, which varied considerably, it must be re- 
marked thai, assuming no effect on the crop, there is 
still a saving of half the labour. The improved plough 
is drawn perfectly well by even a ' small ' pair of bul- 
locks, and the number of ploughings necessary is re- 
duced to half." — Agricultural Ledger Series, 1893, No. 11 
(Cn leutta) 
INDIAN TEA IN AMERICA. 
Mr. Bleehynden writes from Brooklyn under date 
19th January : — 
"Whether by reason of the advertisement they 
have had, their own intrinsic merits, or some other 
cause or causes Indian teas are getting to be well 
known here now. When I came here first, two years 
ago, all the people I spoke to regarding teas were 
certain we were wasting money in trying to intro- 
duce them here. Even small firms with nothing to 
lose and every thing to gain by such a connection re- 
fused to have anything to do with an agency even on the 
most favorable terms. Now all this is changed, and not 
only is Indian tea well known, but I have been re- 
peatedly asked if I would take orders and ship 
small trial consignments from Calcutta. A man here 
who sent a small trial ordor to Calcutta at my 
suggestion finds he can sell the whole lot straight 
off and is going to cable for more at once. As it 
is a new thing to him and he feels he would be 
wiser; not to go into it too largely without more ex- 
perience, his order will not be very large, yet he 
thinks he could quite easily place some 500 packages 
per month. The difficulty is to induce large houses 
which are the best equipped for the work to take 
up and push Indian tea, but I feel that our busi- 
ness at present is to get grocers to stock the tea 
and to try and create a demand for it amongst 
the consumers. The grocer will follow the consu- 
mer and the importer will follow the grocer." — 
Indian Planters' Ga:ette. 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
Ceylon Tea in America. — We call attention to 
another long letter (see page 682) from Mr. Bierach, 
giving interesting details respecting the Atlanta 
Exhibition and other topics connected with Ceylon 
tea in America. 
Coconut Planting in Fiji.— The Fiji 
Times in an article as to the necessity for means 
being adopted to induce the natives to repair the 
damage occasioned by the late storm to the coco- 
nut groves, — the number of trees broken down 
and uprooted being estimated at many tens of 
thousands — says : — 
One fact is certain, without the coconut 
palm the Native Taxation Scheme would become 
extinct, and. if for no other reason, it be- 
hoves the Native Department and its staff 
of Eokos and lesser salaried chiefs to be 
up and doing, in the way of devising the 
best method of replacing the lost palms.* * * 
A3 the past year has been one of plenty, coco- 
nut seed should be plentiful, and the time a 
seasonable one for the edict to issue that so 
many nuts in each district be saved to vara for 
future planting. Let each male over 10 years of 
age plant his tale of nuts — the smaller the youth 
the greater the chances are that he will bene- 
fit by the fruit thereof. Arbour Day in the 
United States'is quite an institution; an institution 
which recommends itself as worthy of be ng imitated 
and closely observed in such a community as a Fijian 
one. Communal and socialistic as it is, such an in- 
stitution should appeal strongly to his sympathies 
and his hearty support would doubtless be secured 
to such a measure, were it faithfully administered 
from one end of the group to the other, on one or 
more days of the year. Twenty thousand males plant- 
ing ten nuts each on one day, and an addition of 
•200,000 fruit trees, will he blessing tho natives with 
their produce in from five to ten years. This re- 
praU'ii yearly for a decade and the native will be 
able to contribute more largely to the revenue — if it 
bo only derived from duties on foreign luxuries. 
