386 THE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. 1, 1903. 
" Gal-annasi."— Similar to the latter in appearance 
and flavour. 
We shall be glad to receive Mr. Lnoaa'9 list of 
all the varieties he cnltivates in Jamaica, and some 
remarks on his methods of cultivation, the soil, etc. 
and the respective qualities of the different varieties 
and their merits as regards flavour and exportation 
values will prove of considerable interest. 
Mr. Pearson, of Colombo, is cultivating pines with a 
view to exporting, and when a trial shipment has been 
made we shall hope to have farther information on 
the success of the experiment. 
IRKIGATION IN INDIA, 
According to a report of the United States Geologi- 
cal Survey, India stands pre-eminent for her gigantic 
engineering undertakings. No other country has so 
vast and so fertile an expanse of territory, with such 
convenient elopes for the construction of canals, and 
; ithe same time such an abundant water supply 
The average annual precipitation rarely exceeds thirty 
inches. At the close of 1901 the area of India, inclaa- 
ing native states, was 1,559,603 square miles, the total 
population was 294,266,701, and the total expenditure 
upon all classes of irrigation works by the government 
of India had been £67,570,000. In the year 1900-01 
the expenditures on account of irrigation amounted to 
£2,300,000, and the revenue was £2,415,000, showing a 
profit of 7'5 per cent, on the capital outlay for con- 
struction. The total area cultivated in India the same 
year was 180,151,093 acres and the total area irrigated 
was 18,611,106 acres ; or, counting areas double cropped, 
or those irrigated more than once in a season, the area 
irrigated was 33,096,031 aces. The estimated value of 
the irrigated crops in 1900-01 was £30,000,000, and of 
these it is interesting to note that the area under culti- 
vation in wheat amounted to over 16,000,000 acres and 
in cotton to over 8,333,000 acres, and that the total 
value of the latter crop alone was £10,554,600. 
COCONUT CULTIVATION IN THE COCOS- 
K.EELING ISLANDS, 
Mr. A, S. Baxendale, of the Federated Malay States 
Service, who has prepared the Colonial Office report 
on these islands for 1903, gives some interesting details 
of palm cultivation in the islands as practised by Mr. 
William Boss. Seed nuts are taken from any palm of 
the sea islands species without regard to its age. 
IRREGULARITY IN LINE PLANTING, 
Eighty trees are planted to the acre, care leing 
taken to avoid regularity in "liniog. " The reason for 
this is that wind does less damage when the trees are 
not in rows. Another very wise precaution to prevent 
the palms being uprooted by wind is to plant the seed 
nuts at the bottom of holes 3 feet deep. 
DEEP PLANTING. 
The holes so dug are not filled up by hand seeing 
that the light sandy soil fills up the hole in course of 
time. The roots of palms planted in this manner are 
naturally deeper and better covered than are those of 
trees grown from seeds embedded in the usual manner, 
immediately below the surface. 
It is stated by Mr, Eoss that a series of experiments 
has proved to him that nuts which are allowed to fall 
contain an average o£ 10 to 12 per cent, more copra than 
an equal number of carefully picked nuts. 
Though at times the islands have suffered to some 
extent from the ravages of the coconut beetle, yet men 
are never employed to capture and kill these pests. 
The trees which show signs of harbouring beetles are 
cat dQwu and burnt. 
PLANTING AND OTHER NOTES. 
A QAEDeN OP Medicinal Plants is to be estab- 
lished at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Calif. 
The fark Commissioners have set aside about eight 
acres of ground in a well-protected part of the park, 
and have asked the park superintendent and the 
authorities of the California College of Pharmacy to 
further the nlans of such a garden. Climatic and 
other conditions are exceptionally favourable, and it 
is believed that fully 90 per cent, of all medicinal 
plants may be grown in the open. Other plants will 
be cared for in suitable greenhouses. — B. <£• C. Druggist, 
Bengal Government Agricultural College, — 
The buildings for the new Government Agricultural 
College and Institute at Pusa, Bengal, are to be begun 
without delay. They are to be of considerable size, 
their total cost being estimated at from five to six 
lakhs of rupees. We understand that Mr. Bernard 
Coventry, Manager of the Dalsing-Serai indigo con- 
cern, who is a recognised expert in agricultural 
matters, has been appointed Principal of the Central 
Government Agricultural College about to be estab- 
lished at Pusa (Behar), Proposals have been made, 
says the Indian Agriculturist, for opening an Agri- 
cultual Farm in the Rajahmundry District, and the 
selection of a suitable place is now under considera- 
tion. Biccavole,Dwarapndi, and Samulkota are thought 
of, but if it is intended that ryots should be bene- 
fited by having frequent opportunities of visiting the 
farm, Rajahmundry will be an ideal place, being in 
the centre of the district. 
Artificiac Pearl Production in Japan. — A report 
from the Osaka, Japan, exposition, published in 
European papers, says a Japanese, has devised a 
plan for the artificial production of pearls. His method 
is to put a grain of sand or foreign substance forcibly 
into pearl oysters, which he afterwards puts back in 
the beds. In this way he get^ pearls so like the 
natural pearls that connoisseurs cannot tell them 
apart. It would be strange,, thinks one writer, if they 
could, for the method employed by the Japanese is the 
one employed by nature. It is a well-known fact 
that pearls are produced by a grain of sand or some 
other foreign substance falling into the open oyster 
and being covered by the same substance as the interior 
of the shell. The pearls thus produced are being sold 
so cheaply that a fear is gaining ground that they may 
afiect the market for " real " pearls — that is for pearls 
produced by accidents to the oysters rather than by 
the efforts of man. The "artificial" pearls are being 
put to exactly the same uses as the "real" ones. 
Water Divining.— An interesting demonstration 
was given of " water divining " at the site of the new 
works which the Clyde Rubber Works Co., Ltd., are 
erecting at Porterfield, Renfrew. A small company of 
gentlemen had been invited to see " how it was done." 
The diviner was Mr. Wells, of Weston-super-Mare, 
He WAS armed with a V-shaped twig of green thorn, 
says the /. B. Journal, and he grasped a leg of the twig 
in each hand, depressing the ends so that the V-shaped 
junction pointed to the earth. After a walk of about 
60 or 70 yards the point of the twig was seen to curl 
up, and there the diviner stopped, a stake being 
erected in this position. From this point Mr. Wills 
circled round and round until the twig began to curl, 
and another stake was fixed in the earth, about 20 
yards away from the first. Between these two stakes 
lay the line of running water. Mr. Wills has been 
engaged in his present work for about ten years, and 
in this country and abroad he has in hundreds of cases 
located water supplies, and he claims never to have 
h?d a failure. He admits that the depth of the water, 
its quantity and its quality are matters of conjecture. 
On this occasion h-e calculated that the water is 
800 or 400 feet under the surface, and he believes that 
it is abundant. At the close of the.demonstration Mr. 
Wm. Ewing Birrol referred to the interesting nature 
of the demonstration, and expressed the hope that it 
' would tura oqt tp |be successfal. 
