652 THE TROriCAL AGEICULTURIST. [April 2, 1900. 
habit o£ making notes was inveterate ; and his 
itinerary diaries" are full of information not only on 
the Botany, but also on the zoology, physical geo- 
graphy, meteorology, arohffiology, and agricultare of 
the countries through which he passed. His mann- 
scripts and drawings, although left in rather a chaotic 
state, were published after kis death under the editor- 
ship of Dr. McClelland, at the expense of the en- 
lightened and ever-liberal East India Company- They 
occupy six volumes in octavo, four in quarto, and 
one (a 'Monograph of Palms') in folio. 
Another Botanist of much fame, who died prema- 
turely in 1822, after an Indian career of only nine 
years, was Dr. William Jack. In 1814 15 Jack ac- 
companied Ochteiiony's army to the Nepal terai. 
He was transferred in 1818 to the Company's Set- 
tlement in Sumatra under Sir Stamford Raffles, and 
during the four years of his residence in Sumatra 
he contributed to Botanical litersture descriptions of 
many new genera and species which were published 
in his ' Malayan Miscellanies.' His collections, un- 
fortunately, were for the most part lost by an ac- 
cident, but those which were saved are now in the 
Herbarium Delessert in Geneva, 
{To he continued.) 
COTTON CULTIVATION. 
, The following is the translation of an article speoi- 
ally contributed to the Egyptian Gazette by M. Y. K. 
Agathon, farm manager to H. E. Boghos Pasha 
Nubar:— 
In accordance with your laudable desire to point 
out to land owners who grow cotton the means 
which science and agricultural experience show to be 
necessary to fight against or at least attenuate the 
disastrous effects which the scarcity of water this 
year might occasion, I will hear trace some of the 
means which each might employ. My own personal 
opinion with regard to the bad condition of the Nile, 
is that a large number of land-holders will lose the 
whole of their cotton crop. 
In order to allow the cotton plant to resist with- 
out water for a reasonably long time I would give 
the following bits of advice to cultivators: 
1. On sweet lands {Ard Eelou), it is necessary to 
plough well into the ground. For this purpose 
European ploughs might be employed. If these are 
not available, the native plough (MiTirat Beledi) may 
be dragged over the furrow which has already been 
opened by the same instrument. The effect of this 
deep ploughing will be to allow the roots of the 
cotton plant to penetrate rapidly into the sub-soil, 
which, being always damp, will furnish the water 
necessary for cultivation. 
It has often been remarked in Europe, especially 
in the south of France, in Italy, and in Algeria, that 
during years of drought good crops were always ob- 
tained on lands which had been deeply ploughed, 
whilst on those superficially ploughed the crop 
was almost nil. 
2. Sow cotton seed as soon as the climate of the 
region allows of it, as the plant, sown in time and, 
not suffering from scarcity of water in the first phases 
of its vegetation, will send out numerous and deep 
roots which might well resist the dearth of water 
when the time of drought of long duration comeT. 
3 Dress and weed out the cotton fields as often 
as possible. It is usual to give three second dress- 
ings to the cotton plant during its vegetation, but 
I think that this year five and even six second 
dressings should be given. A popular adage has it 
that " two dressings are worth one watering or one 
dressing is equivalent to half a watering." This 
dictum is quite right as by dressing the earth we 
destroy the cappihirity of the soil, the effect of v/hich 
is to "pump" its humidity. On clay lands in Lower 
Egypt, in about ten days after irrigation the earth 
cracks and shows fairly wide crevices ; the strong 
rays of the sun penetrating into these crevices quickly 
evaporate the little humidity which the soil possesses, 
but when the earth is dressed frequently, these cre- 
vices no longer show, and owing to the solar rays 
in June and July — the most critical time for cotton 
— not having any more hold on the sub-soil, the 
humidity which remains there prevents the drying- 
up, and, in consequence, the d ath of the plant. 
■i. When in June and July it is known that owinR 
to tile programme of rotation the cotton-fields will 
remain for 40 or .50 days without water on estates 
whpve there are chips or reeds, I would suggest 
that after irrigation the surface of the soil should 
be covered with a light bed of chips or reed. This 
bed would form a sort of shade, the earth begin no 
longer uncovered, the evaporation of the soil would 
be prevented, and the water given with the last 
irrigation would allow the plant to vegetate about 
fifty days without watering. 
5. The digging of sakieh wells might render great 
services on lands where water may be obtained pretty 
abundantly to a depth of five to six metres. Half 
a watering furnished by the sakieh m'ght in certain 
cases save the crop, which otherwise would be 
lost without fail. I have myself just had recourse 
to this means At Seguine near Mehallet Boh at a 
depth of six metres the water spouted out, like the 
creater of a volcano, and in less than half-an-nour 
the whole of the well, whose holding capacity was 
,S00 metres, was filled with water. 
These are a few means which I modestly put be- 
fore Egyptian cultivators. The country, happily, does 
not lack in enlightened agriculturists much more 
qualified than I am, and if each of them, in the 
interest; of the public, would indicate through the 
medium of the Press the means, other than thoae 
I have given here, of remedying the disastrous effect 
of the scarcity of water, he would assuredly render 
an inestimable service to the country. I trust that 
your confreres of Alexandria and Cairo will follow 
your laudable example and will themselves make an 
appeal to the enlightenment of agriculturists to Fava 
the country from a disaster without precedent in 
the history of Egyptian Agriculture in this century. — 
Egyptian Gazette, March H. 
BURNINa WEEDS. 
It is a mistake to let weeds gc po seed in the 
garden or around the fa,rm, under the impression that 
they can be destroyed if gathered in the fall and 
burned. In the first place, the job is apt to be 
forgotten until most of the weed seeds have been 
scattered. Even if a weed is burned its seeds m%j 
not be destroyed, unless a hot fire of brush is first 
made and the weed seeds are thrown on a mass of 
burning coals. If weeds are piled in heaps they 
burn slowly, and, as the seed falls to the ground it 
protected from burning by the stratum of car- 
bonic-acid gas that is found at the bottom of v I 
slow-burning fires. — Amirican Cultivator. 
♦ 
A LOUSB-PKOOF KOOS 1'. 
The accompanying diagram from the American 
Aqriculturist depicts a ratting good idea for pro- 
tecting hen-roosts from invation by lice or ticks, 
which are becoming so troublesome in many parts 
of this Colony. The plain is simply to suspend the 
roosts with wire, as recommended a little time ago 
by Mr. McCue ; but, instead of using, as he suggests, 
a bit of keroseney rag, get an old jnm tin soldered 
on to each wire, forming a cup which can be kept 
filled with crude or pure kerosene, or even greasy 
water. The same arrangement might be used for 
hanging safes, to prevent the inroads of ants. — 
Agricultural Gazette. 
