300 
Sup/dement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." [Got 1. 1898. 
"It is rather remarkable" (the report con- 
\ <<th!t in tlie .s<.il about the roots of these 
to the ylantb, one oi ,>.,,^«ifif..,ilv on C43ituiii 
'^^St n vSiff he oSS b^i-g found 
brown, rotten cauneb tliu plant, 
between the sl.eutnes of ^ % f^;."; vhere 
,„a in some cases «;;;';f^; ^ white, 
the tissues appeared to be « -° " four 
U will tl-re^on. be .e. . ^ thej^^^ 
separate causes for ''" '^ j.,,„,,,,, causing rot 
:«*r''^;. - 
nematodes. suggested in the present 
,,:;rs^ri:^Se^--j^^'''«^ course, isiu- 
'^^^f Sat" i^^' l.e hananas -e cultivated a 
3.U about tl.l;a,.ana i,^^^^^ 
extraorama.v f^'^^ ' „ io„gh deeply, or 
it is best, in ^ f;.;^; . d. Th^se nematode. 
toocca.xonallysub„oUt e^ and exist largely 
nttack ^!'«. J, of tl'e surface. As they be- 
^vithuv e'Kl't 1''^^^*^=^^^!^ „,e «oil increases 
come rarer as ^1*^ ifp ,Ued deep and 
it follows ^l''^\'\J''Vm he iil exactly bottom 
^^^^•"::f ^.oTl :;.7-v:uTvel - free from nematodes 
time, the , ; ' 'ca do much less 
damage than^ tnej ^^^^^ difficulty in dealing 
" r.l-,nt« is thought to be due to the 
^ith these Pl-'^ - ..entioned above, and here 
l^^'^'V^t reme^ly to recommend is great carem 
the best reme.ij in making new plan:a- 
-^"■'^tSSJS:'tlS;"e":ceofthe\un^ 
ticns. As rii.r>olouratiou in the root-stock. 
^"'"f:a sL£S aTe °t off from the eld 
I^ow, when suckers ^^^^^^^^^ inspected, 
plant with a spaue u i .^ij.jg gliould be 
at^d all ^^-o-" suck rs from which 
carefully '^^'''''^> ^^iZ.^^ portions cannot be 
in,, should ^J^^^Xot access to the .lumber 
niir^efened to in the above extract, 
of the Bulletin ret^neu it exisis in Fiji, 
^hich describe the d^ e.^so a» ^^^.^ 
^'^IJt of our bserving the result of an 
the tact ot ou ^ g,o,v.ng 
apparently '^if^'^;';" . school of Agriculture, 
ifthe grounds f^^^^ ^^pparently healthy, 
''^'l" J"ai\f fmitS doei^lot 'mature its fruit 
robust, ana praduallv shrivel up and 
a Sci S'coS Tlfe parent tree from 
assume a blaciceneu ^ ^^^^ 
^,.ich the P'fJ^ j^°;',\iSFarm where the soil 
the g-^^^^^f.tfiS clayey loam. There the same 
is a pretty ^^''^_,y.development of the fruit 
peculiarity in f /^^^^^ Z School of Agri- 
— " observed. ibe_iiee i 
and at its lust fruiting a few wcyk*; ago tl e 
results were as before disappointing. It should be 
remarked that the di^e ised tree both at the Model 
Farm and at the School grew among a number 
of other plantain trees which produced e.\celleut 
fruit. 
It would be interesting to know wliether the 
di-iea'^e m the tree referied to is anything 'like 
tlia'. which occurs in Fiji, and we are taking 
steps to ascertain this fact. 
HOW INDIA HAS SAVED llEIl FORKSTS. 
rxhis is tlie subject of a paper by Mr. K. K<iy 
Robin.'iou in the August number of The Century. 
The pajier opens with an accu^ t of the origin 
of tlie Forest Department, which ii siid to owe 
its existence to the pinch whieh was experienced 
just tifty years ago, in providing timber for 
building warships in Bjmbuy. Major-Oeneriil 
Michael, still alive, made a beginning of Forest 
Conservation in the Madri-; i'reeidency, and lie 
was followed by Dr. 11. Clegliorn and Sir D. 
Brandis. These three, the authors of Indian 
F.avstry, succeeded in eatablishing a department 
which now eKi'rci>es complete control over one- 
eighth of the entire Peninsula, producing a revenue 
■A about .tl,<X)t),000 a year. This >Mim. says 
Mr. Robinson, may be r.'garded as the lowest 
possible interest from a growing cipital created 
entirely for tha benefit of posterity by the Forest 
Department of India, whose guiding principle it 
still the same as it ever was, viz., the sub>>rdinatiou 
of current prolits to the impro\emjnt of State 
properly for the benefit of the people. 
The writer refers to the timidity of Government 
ill incurring expenditure a8 thi bane of successful 
undertakings, and how even the evidence of the 
mi-chief wrought by past neglect of forest pre- 
servation will not teach the lesson it should teich. 
The history of the Indian Forest Department 
is of particular interest just at this juncture, 
when it is reported that Forest Conservancy in . 
Ceylon is to be reported on by a Commii.-ion. 
We quote the latter part of the paper referred to.] 
The three great dilUculties in the way have been, 
first, the neglect of forests in the past, causing the 
denudation of laud who.se reafforestation has 
become a Sisyphean task ; secondly, the tradition* of 
the villagers who had assumed a right of user 
ill the matter of timber, fuel, and grazing to 
all forest land; and, thirdly, the habits of the 
people, who conceive that the best way of paying 
uff a grudge against the Government, of securing 
a tender crop of f ,dder for their cattle next 
season, or in the case of jungle tribes, of pre- 
paring the ground for agriculture, is to sec fire 
to alforest. Consequently, the preservation of 
reserved forests from injury by fi e has come to 
be regarded, due allowance being made for the 
natur^oi the inhabitants, as the criterion by which 
successful forest work in India is judged, even 
mo.e than by the maintenance of seed-bearing 
trees, the reproduction of valuable timber, or the 
pecuniary protit accruing to the State. 
Is, is, however, the curse of forestry in India 
that its large domain of remunerative, scieatiflc, 
and philanthropic public work should be dragged 
at the tail of the procession of political fi^nctious 
