Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture, 
of  an  adhesive  and  locomotive  sucker  at  one  or 
both  extremities.  The  leeches  are  mostly  aquatic, 
chiefly  inhabiting  freshwater.  The  body  is  ringed, 
as  many  as  a hundred  annulations  being  present 
in  the  common  leech.  The  two  species  used  in 
medicine  are  the  Sanguisuga  medicinalis,  chiefly 
imported  from  Germany,  Bohemia,  and  Russia, 
and  the  S.  officinalis,  the  Hungarian  leech.  The 
second  order  of  Annelida  is  Oligochceta  which 
includes  the  earth-worms  ( lumbricidce ).  Of  the 
animals  which  dwell  in  the  soil,  none  approach 
the  earth-worm  ( lumbricus ) in  the  magnitude  of 
their  effects.  Earth-worms  feed  upon  the  organic 
matter  of  the  soil ; and  in  order  to  get  sufficient 
food,  they  have  to  pass  large  quantities  of  earth 
through  their  bodies.  This  earth  is  ejected  in 
the  form  of  castings,  which  may  often  be  seen 
as  little  mounds  on  the  surface  near  the  entrance 
to  the  burrow.  Through  these  burrows  air  and 
water  penetrate  more  freely  into  the  soil, 
and  the  work  of  decomposition  progresses  more 
rapidly. 
It  has  been  calculated  that  an  acre  of  ordinary 
agricultural  land  contains  about  50,000  earth- 
worms. The  effect  of  their  combined  labours  in 
reducing  the  soil  to  a finer  condition  is  great, 
whilst  they  also  enrich  the  surface  soil  in 
nitrogen.  In  old  grass  land  the  production  of 
a close  compact  green  sward  is  largely  due  to 
the  fine  earth  which  is  brought  up  by  earth- 
worms, to  be  afterwards  crumbled  down  and 
levelled  by  the  action  of  wind  and  rain.  The 
action  of  earthworms  has  been  fully  studied  by 
Darwin.  He  shows  that  their  burrows  penetrate 
5 or  6 feet  or  even  more,  and  that  the  worms 
are  continually  bringing  up  finely-levigated  soil 
to  the  surface  which  is  removed  to  lower  levels 
by  rain,  so  that  a kind  of  constant  circulation  of 
soil  is  going  on — the  loss  at  the  surface  being 
made  good  by  material  brought  up  from  below. 
Humus  acid  is  generated  in  the  bodies  of  the 
worms,  and  thus  is  enabled  to  act  upon  the  rocks 
and  rock  fragments  at  some  distance  from  the 
surface,  while  the  small  particles  of  stones  are 
triturated  in  the  powerful  gizzards  which  the 
worms  possess.  “ In  many  parts  of  England,” 
says  Darwin,  “a  weight  of  more  than  10  tons  of 
dry  earth  passes  through  their  bodies,  and  is 
brought  to  the  surface  on  each  acre  of  land  ; so 
that  the  whole  superficial  bed  of  vegetable 
mould  passes  through  their  bodies  in  the  course 
of  every  few  years.” 
PALMYRA. 
Bulletin  No.  25,  issued  by  the  Agricultural 
Department  of  Madras,  deals  with  the  “Palmyra 
Palm  and  its  uses.”  The  age  at  which  the  palm 
begins  to  yield  sap  or  fruit  is  variously  stated  at 
from  15  to  30  years.  From  6 to  20  fruits  will 
grow  on  a single  spadix,  and  a palm  will  bear 
from  4 to  12  spadices,  thus  producing  from  40 
to  200  fruits  in  one  season. 
The  average  contract  on  which  palmyras  are 
let  in  Tinnevelly  is  2 annas  per  tree  ; of  this  sum, 
which  represents  the  gross  profits,  the  climber 
gets  half.  The  average  number  of  trees  tended 
by  each  climber  is  40,  the  average  height  of  the 
trees  is  at  least  40  feet,  and  each  tree  has  to 
be  ascended  and  descended  twice  a day,  morning 
and  evening,  during  eight  months  (the  hottest) 
of  the  year.  The  palm  sometimes  reaches  90  feet, 
bnt  40  or  50  feet  is  the  average  height.  Its 
girth  is  about  of  flat  at  the  bottom,  and  2|  feet 
at  the  top. 
The  British  Government  at  present  take  an 
average  rate  of  5 pies  per  tree.  Palmyras  are 
divided  into  four  classes : (1)  female  palmyras 
not  allowed  to  bear  fruit,  but  tapped  for  juice  ; 
(2)  male  trees  tapped  for  juice;  (3)  fruit-bearing 
females^  (4)  leaf-yielding  trees.  Eaeli  palm  has 
from  25  to  40  fresh  green  leaves  at  a time,  of 
which  12  or  15  are  cut.  In  times  of  drought, 
the  green  leaf  is  used  extensively  as  fodder  for 
cattle.  The  refuse  of  the  leaves  and  stalks  forms 
fuel  and  manure.  The  ripe  fruit  is  also  given 
to  cattle.  In  a recent  report  the  Head 
Assistant  Collector,  Madura,  says  regarding  the 
fibre  exported  from  Pamban  to  Ceylon 
“The  fibre  appears  to  be  used  in  Ceylon  for 
making  brushes  for  rough  use  and  for  rough  hats, 
mats  and  baskets.  Pamban,  however,  is  the  only 
place  in  this  division  in  which  the  trade  is  carried 
on  at  all.  Its  existence  there  seems  to  be  largely 
due  to  the  efforts  of  an  agent  of  a firm  in  Colombo, 
who  has  been  actually  engaged  in  encouraging 
the  natives  of  the  island  to  prepare  and  sell  to 
him  the  fibre.  He  tells  me,  however,  that  it 
is  with  great  difficulty  he  can  induce  the  people 
to  undertake  an  industry  that  is  new  to  them 
and  was  not;  practised  by  their  forefathers,  and, 
in  many  instances,  instruction  in  the  method  of 
preparing  the  fibre  and  even  advances  of  money 
to  be  repaid  in  fibre  were  not  productive  of  much 
extension  of  the  trade.  Were  it  not  for  this 
difficulty,  the  quantity  available  in  this  division 
would  be  very  large,  as  palmyra  trees  grow  in 
great  numbers  in  every  part  of  it.  This  might, 
however,  be  surmounted  if  instruction,  as  to  the 
method  of  preparation  of  the  fibre  and  information 
as  to  the  high  price  it  fetches,  were  sufficiently 
disseminated.  The  present  price  in  Pamban 
island  is  R10  a cwt.  The  method  of  preparation 
simply  consists  in  detaching  from  the  trunk  of 
the  palmyra  tree  the  lower  part  of  the  stalk  of 
the  leaf  which  remains  clinging  to  the  tree 
after  the  leaf  has  been  cut  off  or  had  died,  beatiim 
this  with  a wooden  hammer,  and  pulling  out 
the  fibre  which  is  so  detatched.  The  best5  trees 
for  the  purpose  are  young  ones  from  12  to  15 
feet  high,  as  in  these  there  are  usually  more 
of  these  leaf  stalks  attached  to  the  trunk.  They 
fall  off  as  the  tree  gets  older.  The  stalks  require 
to  be  of  a certain  and  particular  state  of  decay, 
in  which  the  fibre  in  them,  when  hammered  out, 
will  be  of  a black  colour.  The  white  fibre,  which 
is  obtained  from  immature  stalks,  is  less  pliable 
and  more  brittle,  and  fetches  an  inferior  price 
jn  the  market. 
“ As  explained  above,  the  quantity  which  would 
be  available  in  -this  division  depends  less  upon 
the  number  of  palmyra  trees  here  than  upon 
the  extent  to  which  the  people  could  be  induced 
to  undertake  the  industry.  Palmyras  abound 
everywhere  along  the  coast,  and,  were  sufficient 
hands  available,  the  supply  would  be  very  con- 
siderable, but,  at  present,  and  for  these  reasons, 
I can  give  no  more  definite  information  than 
that  158  cwts.  have  been  exported  from  .Pamban 
