A¥G. 1, 190L] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
I have left out of consideration a large number 
of varieties of the Citrus tribe which, are to be 
found in India, snoh as Lemous, Limes, and Citrons 
(fee. The latter might be utilised m India and else- 
where for making candied citron-peel. On one 
occasion I gave lome Citrons to a lady friend, and 
explained to her how this preserve was made. She 
turned out a candied peel which was much liner 
than any I could obtain in the shops, and the liite 
Mr. Philip Crowley of Waddoa always had most 
excellent home-made citron-peei. 
The number of varieties of Citron to be fonnd in 
India is astonishing, as a glance at the ' Oranges and 
Lemons of India and Ceylon ' will show. 
There is one fruit which must not be omitted in 
this sketch. It is the red fleshed Pummelo of Bombay. 
When out across, its pulp is of the colour of raw 
beef, and it is the thinnast-skinned Pummelo that 
I ever came across. It is fine-flavoured and juicy, 
and when the large juice vesicles are taken out and 
mixed with sugar they are delicious. This Pummelo 
ii of the size of a child's head, and sometimes of the 
size of a child's head affected with hydrocephalus ? 
I have done with these fine fruits, but there is one 
plane which should be grown largely in India itself 
— I mean the Date Palm. In Imperial Gardens 
expariments might be systematically undertaken 
with the innumerable varieties of the Date Palm 
which are known in Asia and Africa ; about 150 at 
least, although not all of first-class qu»lity. The 
BuccesB obtained with these trees by the Superintendent 
of the Saharunpore Garden proves undoubtedly that 
the notion th»t the Date tree cannot be grown 
auccessfuUy ia India for its fruit is an antiquated 
anperstition. India is written with five letters, but 
it is as large as Europe without Russia ? The 
Date tree experiments, if undertaken, should be 
under the care of a practical Date-grower imported 
from the Persian Gulf. 
It is not intended in this sketch that Imperial 
Gardens should have anything to do with growing 
flower-plants and vegetables. That is already done 
in provincial horticultural gardens. The object should 
be to collect in one place, and under one super- 
vision, as many of the choice fruit trees that can 
be grown in that locality, for the purpose of study- 
ing them, describing them, classifying them, and 
discovering the best mode of cultivating them, with 
the object of disseminating them throughout the 
Empire in suitable localities, for the health and 
enjoyment of the people, and for commercial purposes, 
— Reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. 
IRRIGATED COFFEE. 
The subject of improved coffee culture having 
been freely discussed in our columns, we requested 
Mr. Meeuashaya, a retired Judge of the Mysore 
Chief Court, and now engaged in the interesting 
occupation of growing colJee under a system of 
irrigation at Gouripuram, near Tumkur, Mysore, to 
favour us with a description ot his estate, methods 
of culture and other particulars. He has very kindly 
complied with our request, and we feel sure that 
all coffee planters will be interested in what he 
has to say. His estate is a small one of 40 acres 
and when the trees are mature he estimates that 
he will obtain 12 tons of coffee a year. The 
value of the crop he places at the modest figure 
of JEls. 10,000, or say Rs. 40 (53s) per cwt., while 
the cost of production, including everything, is 
estimated at only Rs. 3,(i0(> on Rs. 2,700 under tank 
irrigation. Thus the net profit on the 40 acres is 
Rb. 6,400 or Rs. 7,300 per anuum. Multiplied by 5, 
to make 200 acres, which ought not to be difficult 
to obtain under tanks, and the profit is Rs. 36,500. 
This does not, of course, include capital account 
and the necessary adjustments, but is ihe net profit 
of it matured estate. There are many other details 
which prospective irrigation coffee planters would 
have to look into for themselves ; but even if we 
halve the prospective net gain the return is still 
at the rate of say Rs. 1, 500 a month, a profit that 
IS not to be despised. Of course, it remains to be 
seen ;vhat the life of coffee trees will be under the 
irrigation system, but it does not seem unreasonable 
to cMoulate upon at least as long a hfe as trees 
which have to depend solely upon the lifegiung 
rains for their vitality. How irrigated coffee would 
fare in a famine year is another question that 
remains to be solved ; but even iu famine years all 
the rivers do not ran dry, and the Cauvery certainly 
IS a perennial stream whose waters might be always 
relied upon. Tne prospect of irrigated coffee cer- 
tainly pleases, but the performances on » large 
scale, may, conceivably, be vile. However " nothiu" 
venture, nothing win " is a maxim that has a good 
deal to commend it, and as the capital necessary 
to start a fair-sized irrigated coffee escate would not 
be very larga if the worst came to the worst the 
the loss would not be very heavy. At all events 
the subject seems to merit the attention of practical 
planters, and we hope that, if any of them resolve 
to make the plunge, they will be rewarded on i, 
scale proportionate to their merits. 
Mr. C. Meenashaya writes : — 
I have an experience of about 15 years in the 
culture of coffee under irrigation, both in Bangalore 
(Rook-Dale Park), and iu Gouripuram, near Tumkur 
where I aow reside. In Bangalore I had planted 
1.0 acres, and here, during the last five years I have 
planted 40 acres. Having sold Rock-Dale Park six 
years ago, I have no precise information about the 
state Of the coffee there. But, as far as my 
experience goes, the results ha»e proved to my 
satisfaction that, with a never-failing supply of 
water and careful management, an acre of coffee 
trees planted 6ft. apart, and five years old, ought 
to yield from 6 to 7 cwts. The plants when three 
years old giva a crop of from 4 to 5 cwts. an acre 
a crop much too large and exhausting for their age • 
the next year they rest for recuperation, producing 
little or no crop,' and from the following year they 
give a steady crop of 6 to 7 cwts. year after year. 
Oi the 40 acres I have planted here, eight are 5 
years old, ten 4 years and five 3 years ■ the 
remaining 15 acres need not be considered, being too 
young My five-years-old 8 acres gave me in 1898 a 
crop of 2 tons, i.e., at the rate of 5 cwts. for the wnole 
eight acres, and this year 1 hope to get about 3 tons 
My 4-year-old 10 acres gave me last year a ton and 
half, at the rate of 3J cwts., but I hardly hope to get 
more than 10 or \ 2 cwts. this year, but the tries 
have thrown out an immense quantity of excellent 
wood, and are just now looking so healthy that even 
a crop of 4 tons next year would not surprise me 
My three-year-old plants (5 acres; have a coo in 
different stages which I estimate at about I ton 
My experiments in Bangalore produced similar 
results. 
My system of cultivation is as follows. I plant my 
coffee 6ft. apart, and plant simultaneously quick- 
growing shade-tree seedlings, silver-oak etc Coffee 
grows more sturdily and with a much larger number 
of primaries under the shade, but when the trees 
begin to bear the shade-trees grow sufficiently 
high to afford protection. After two or three good 
showers in the Sout"- West .Monsoon I get the plan- 
tation (lug up like a potato garden or apple orchard 
Wheathat is completed, the plants are manured 
pretty heavily with a compound of cattle manure 
lank-silt, and leaf-sweepings. When the North-East 
Monsoon sets in I give oil-cake, about a ton for five 
acres ; but this is given only to plants whxh have 
commenced to bear. I start irrigation in the latter 
part of January and each plant is watered once a 
week The irrigation is stopped with the advent of 
the South-West Monsoon. I commence picking in 
July, and this lasts off and on till January. But I 
mast admit that the berries picked till about tho 
