July 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
35 
ECONOMIC GARDENS FOR INDIAN 
TEA DISTRICTS. 
Althougli we have no wish to underestimate the 
va!ue of the several botanical gardens scattered 
throughout India, they must be considered more 
in the light of public pleasure grounds and 
museums, of little use to the commercial world. 
One of tlie mistakes usually made is that of locat- 
insr these places in the vicinity of the sudder 
station, in provinces where variations of soil and 
climate are as diversified as they are in Assam, the 
Dooarsand Darjeeling districts, as results obtained 
in one case are apt to be regarded as infallible 
tests for the whole ; thus many plants that would 
receive fair play in congenial situations receive 
condemnation, being considered of no account. We 
have an instance of this in 
VANILLA, 
which many planters, including a Kew gardener, 
have endeavoured to raise in the hot steamy plains. 
Had the habitat of the plant been taken into con- 
sideration and operations conducted in accordance 
with it adhered to, many places in Assam would 
now have been exporting the pods, or their essence, 
in considerable quantites ; but those who have 
hitherto essayed this cultivation have, for con- 
venience sake, attempted to do so at least 3,000 
feet below the elevation, in similar latitudes, 
where it attains the requisite marketable qualifi- 
cations. To ascertain the real value of the pro- 
ducts of a province it will, we believe, be conceded 
that the sites for these must be 
SELECTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE HABITS OF 
THE PLANT, 
instead of forcing, or attempting to, the latter to 
conform to unaccustomed conditions. Many 
plants have been sent down to Sibpur that no 
amount of skilful treatment has been able to 
induce to yield the product they do in tne loca- 
lities whence they are obtained; Chalmugris one. 
Ficus elastica grows luxuriantly enough in Gov- 
ernment House compound, the Eden Gardens, and 
many private grounds, but no one in his senses 
would endeavour to argue from this that a 
rubber plantation would prove remunerative in 
Lower Bengal. It is therefore incumbent that each 
ol the plantations many people are suggesting 
should be stocked with such plants as are 
indigenous to the elevation, aspect, and climate. 
TO RENDER THE PROPOSED ECONOMIC GARDENS 
COMMERCIALLY VALUABLE 
there must be a series of them, and as Assam, 
more especially, possesses the prototypes of most 
plants known in the commercial world, besides, as 
has been recently pointed out, enjoying a perfect 
epitome of climates, there should be no difficulty 
in choosing eligible sites tor each ; but, if it is 
sought t J clump all together in one spot for the 
convenience of forest or district officers' inspection, 
we have no hesitation ih prophesying that tvi'O- 
thirds of the experiment will turnout abortive. 
"What is more essentially required to make 
the proposed plantations of real benefit, produc- 
tive of revenue alike to Government and profit to 
the cultivator, is a close study of all the bounti- 
ful vegetable wealth of the provinces, for though 
both the Dooars and Darjeeling districts have 
been in the past most ruthlessly ransacked anit 
exploited, there still remains sufficient relics to 
show what they once produced and so indicate 
suitable localities for propagation. Assam has 
not been so much denuded, so there is no difficulty 
there. It is not enough -to argue that, becauss 
oranges, pineapples and other fruits are found 
growing from the plains up as high as 2,000 feet 
and more, a plantation of them will thrive 
equally well anywhere between these elevations ; 
but we must ascerrain at what height the best 
are produced, selecting the proper zones aocord- 
ingly. No great expense need be incurred, as 
there are tea plantations already at various eleva- 
tions on which a few acres could be set apart for 
experiments. Just 
AT PRESENT THERE IS A RUSH FOR FIBRES, 
the quotations for the most valuable have been 
lately given, and there is an enquiry for Manilla 
hemp, great doubts having been expressed as to 
the ^Genuineness of the plants sent up to South 
Sylhet some years since, yet this plantain or some- 
thing very closely allied to i*^, is, if we mistake 
not, to be found in the damp terai ravines under 
the northern hills from Mymensingh to the Jerii. 
Thus no great exercise of judgment is required in 
seleeting fields for its cultivation. The best 
pines, either for fruit, or leaves from whifch 
latter tlie hill people's carrying bands are made, 
come from between 1,.560 and 2,000 feet, 
which would also correspond to the height at 
which the Socotra aloe grows ; sarsaparilla, 
ginger, turmeric, though generally considered 
the product of the plains, attaiq much greater 
perfection in the jhums at the same elevation, 
while salep, though inferior to the Afghan tuber, 
as also a course trufHe, may be found among the 
roots of the stunted oak in the scattered woods 
from 4,000 feet upwards. To gather these 
in the hot plains or high up in cloud, 
land, and expect each and all to attain 
perfection nnder such conditions, is manifestly 
absurd.— /».(Zia?i Planters' Gazette, May 25. 
CONCERNING ELEPHANTS. 
In the January Number of the Indian Forester, 
Long Tom sums up his curious article on Cowardly 
Elephants " with the sweeping assertion that the 
elephant has always appeared to him to be "the slowest 
in thought of all animals that are trained by man, 
and to be absolutely lacking in reasoning power 
* * No doubt, a number of Forest Officers, 
who are friends of the patient beasts that do so 
much work for us, (and that I think with snffici- 
ent cleverness,) will come forward to prove, at 
length, that eleplants are quite as sagacious and aa 
capable of reasoning as, and even more so than, many 
domestic quadrupeds — like the horse— of whose in- 
telligence we generally hold a high opinion. 
Leaving such authorities on the subject to dir- 
cuss the question to its right conclusion, I would 
like to just throw in a few observations of my own, 
in order to add weight to such arguments as may 
be forthcoming in favour of elephants and their de- 
cided ability to think. Perhaps Long Tom does not 
mean his article to be taken seriously, and, prob- 
ably, wrote it to relieve his feelings after that old 
" female elephant" had smelt another dead green 
pigeon- But now that 1 have begun to write, I may 
as well go on for the sake of argument. 
Firstly, it is beyond dispute that wild elephants 
show much cleverness, whioli is more of the nature 
of thoughffulness than of common instinct. The 
way they collectively aid or defend their young ; 
the practical manner in which they choose their 
feeding grounds and travel by well-selected permanent 
paths from one ground to another, just, as it seems, 
at the right time; the cunning manoeuvres of the rogue. 
— all go to prove this. So do^the incidents befalling 
at any Khedda. 
