Feb. 1, 1900. J 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST, 
535 
THE UTILISATION OF SEWAGE. 
The improvement of agriculture, through 
the aid of sewage is, of course, by no means 
a new question ; but it is of particular in- 
terest to us at the present time, when Col- 
ombo is considering a scheme for the dis- 
posal of its sewage, and the rate-payer is 
threatened with a burden which may prove 
intolerable. Nor does the fact that the Nag- 
pur Experimental Farm lies within British 
territory, on the iidjaceat continent, lessen 
onr interest in its experiences. On the con- 
trary it should stimulate the desire of our 
Municipal authorities to make enquiries 
with a view to ascertain how far those ex- 
periences can be reproduced here. The 
matter is one affecting both sanitation and 
finance, with an important bearing on agri- 
culture, whicli, too, has lately demanded 
special attention locally. The Friend of India 
writes :— 
Progress in the difficult task of elucidating the 
complex ways of Indian agriculture continues 
to be slowly made at the Nagpnr Experimental 
Farm. The report for last year shows that a 
complication has been introduced by what seems 
to be some insidious form of plant disease which 
affects alilie wheat, tu'); and linseed. Tlie ex- 
periments have been persevered with steadily, 
however, and in more than one direction en- 
couraging results have been obtained notably in 
the success whicli has attended the application 
of fresh sewage manure, on the plan devised by 
Lieutenant Meagher of Allahabad. The Commis- 
sioner of Settlements state that tlie yield otjitar 
which this method gave last season on the farm 
was phenomenal — nearly three thousand pounds 
of grain to the acre ; while bumper cotton crops 
were picked on fields that had been thus treated. 
He thinks that, if extended to all municipal 
areas, it should enable large crops to be grown 
in their vicinity and give Municipal Committees 
some income from the disposal of sewage. The 
same experiment, it seems, had been tried with 
success at Deoli, in Wardha, and steps are now 
to be taken, througli the Central Provinces Gov- 
ernment, to try it elsewhere also. The system 
is described as simplicity itself, the sewage being 
merely deposited in very shallow furrows and 
covered up lightly with earth. Another success- 
ful experiment made last year was that of 
treating juar seed with cupric sulphate before 
sowing, as a preventive against smut. Valuable 
results were also obtained with an improved 
variety of wheat which is being introduced through 
the agency of the Farm. Special attention, we 
learn, is now to be da-ected to the last-mentioned 
branch of the operations, the introduction of 
varieties superior to those already in the hands 
of the cultivator being one of the most promising 
of the means of utility open to an institution 
like the Nagpur Farm. The Eeport does not say 
much about experiments in the direction of the 
selection of seed. Such extraordinary results, 
however, have been obtained in Europe hr this 
means, in the case of all sorts and descriptions 
of agricultural plants, that it wil) b'' of the 
greatest interest to see it taken up more widely 
in India. 
VANILLA DUTY llEDUCED IN FRANCE. 
With the idea of fostering the vanilla trade, 
the Fiencli Government have resolved to reduce 
the present duty on tlie importations from 
Tahiti and its dependencies into France by fifty 
per cent. Tliis applies to the extent of 
the first 10,000 kilos. — Chemist and Druggist, 
Jan, 6. 
THE BALLAD OF THE RAILWAY 
SLEEPERS. 
How do the sleepers go down to the plains? 
I went to discover this once on a time : 
And blessed with some leisure, I'll tell yon in rhyme. 
Up on the mountains so blue and so far 
T!iey are felliag the cedars and stout deodar. 
For yearly in Delhi the Managing Staff 
Demand good sleepers, a lakh and a half, 
For their metre gauge railway which via Ajniere , 
Bears back the exile toward England dear. 
The sawyers liave shaped theni with axe and saw 
Six feet of length without knot or flaw, 
And the coolies have borne them a mile or so 
Down the steep home of the buck and doe. 
Another mile round the mountain side 
On a man-pushed tramway the sleepers ride. 
Hence to the plain how shall they go? 
Far it's still six thousand feet below. 
Here down the steep is a sledge-car road 
Fifteen sleepers make a load. 
Give them a push and away they fly 
A hundred feet in the twink of an eye. 
Or if you prefer it on wire of steel 
They can cross a valley with even keel, 
For twenty seconds liyiiig there 
Through twice seven hundred feet of air. 
Now they meet an aqueduct 
Neatly against the mountain tucked ; 
Brefidth ten inches, joining strong, 
Downwards ever it leads along. 
So let water do its part. 
Throw them in and give them a start 
Sometimes swift, and sometimes slow 
With the water, along they go. 
Here at length, they reach the shoot. 
A thousand feet from top to foot. 
See the water leap and gush 
Startled out by their downward rush ; 
Once again on a gentler grade 
On they speed through the forest shade 
Now they're nearing the valley bed 
Stream of the Kulni watershed ,^ 
Over the stage like boys at school 
In they plunge to a limpid pool 
Now beware of an awkward block, 
Full six miles, of shallow and rock. 
Line the sides with built-up sleepers 
And make the channel narrow, but deeper- 
Then when the rest of tlie Army's gone 
Pull down the sentries and pass them on 
Yet twice the moan must wax and wane 
E're the stream assumes its wont again 
And the last of the fifteen myriad hoard 
Launches forth on the river Broad. 
So from Kulni to Tons and Gons to Jumna 
Sails the mountain's late alumna : 
Past the Siwaliks and througli the plains, 
Till the Delhi ramparts at length it gains. 
Now take it over you Railway lot ; 
Let the sleeper sleep in its ballast cot. 
Lay it to rest, (it has travelled far) 
In the permanent way of the R. M. R. 
— Indian Forester. E. F. E. W. 
Cocoa Butter was discussed at the Society 
of Chemical Industry on June 5th. Dr. J Lewko- 
witsch pointed out that all text books stated 
that it could not «o rancid, which was dis- 
tinctly wrong, and he said that the error 
had arisen from confounding acidity with ran- 
cidity, while as a matter of fact they were 
not synonymous.— Sri^isA and Colonial Druamst, 
Dec. 29. " 
