i6o 
THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, i8go. 
pleased with the Government House garden at Ganesh 
Khind, which were for many years under the manage- 
ment of an old Kew student, Mr. Woodrow, now 
Professor of Botany at the College of Science. The 
Band garden, too, struck me much, both on account 
of its design — a series of terraces — and for the high 
keeping of it by a native superintendent. 
At one time the best gardens were confined to 
British territory, but in future we shall have to go 
to the native States for fine gardens. Already great 
progress has been made, doubtless the outcome of the 
periodical visits to Europe of the native princes, who 
have seen for themselves what English gardening is. 
Among States that can boast of famous gardens is 
Oodeypore, under the direction of Mr. Storey, who 
has, I hear, done wonders in making the State gardens 
there what they are now. I have not yet seen them, 
but a friend who has travelled throughout India tells 
me that they are really fine, enriched by magnificent 
tree growth, and embeldshed in a costly yet tasteful 
way. I am told that the lakes alone are worth the 
70 miles ride on camelback to see, being of great 
extent, and have delightful surroundings. The view in 
the Oodeypore Gardens (see Supplement in present 
issue) shows a fountain of simple yet massive design ; 
and doubtless Mr. Storey has it full of Water Lilies, 
that give such a charm to water basins in India. The 
trees in the back ground are Tamarinds, which are 
among the finest trees in India, as stately and mas- 
sive as an Oak, yet as graceful as au Acacia. I have 
measured some with boles 27 feet in circumference. 
Noteworthy gardens in other States include that of 
Jeypoor, over 70 acres in extent, designed by Dr. De 
Eabeck ; Durbuugha, which was at one time under the 
direction of Mr. Maries, but who is now, I hear, doing 
a great deal in gardening at Gwalior, also a native 
State. There are also fine gardens at Patiala and 
Chikalda, while I hope that the various palace 
gardens and parks that I am designing and laying out 
for H. H. the Gaekwar of Baroda will in time com. 
pare with any in India. I have said nothing about 
native gardens pure and simple. Judging trom what 
I have seen, there is very little to say about their 
design ; the native idea of a garden is a square plot 
with his bungalow in the centre of it. The plot- 
varies in extent according to the importance of its 
owner, but there is no variation from the straight 
lines and symmetrical figures he delights to portray 
on the ground. After the diamonds, squares, and 
trapezoids are cut out and duly edged, he proceeds 
to plant them with masses of the things he most 
requires ; but the stock things are Limes, Guavas, 
and such like fruits, and with flowers like .Jasmine 
and Roses, of which a prodigious quantity are required 
for religious festivals and ceremonies. But there is 
a good deal of commonseuse in all this, for a garden 
so laid out is easily irrigated and kept in good order. 
He is not troubled about esthetics, “ breadth of 
effect,” or “picturesque skylines.” A garden to him 
is a place to grow things to eat, or use in some way, 
and that is all that he wants. In the unregenerated 
gardens around the palaces, you see much that is 
absurd according to our canons of taste, but invariably 
there are fountains, often of beautiful design ; but 
as a rule, out of all proportion as regards size to 
extent of the garden. I thiuk it was Bishop Heber 
who said that the natives of India built like giants, 
and finished their work like jewellers, and this is 
true of their buildings; but in the matter of gardens 
they seem to be like pigmies, incapable of originating 
any broad design, which alone can set off to the ful- 
le.st .advantage their wonderful buildings. 
Gardening in India, as an art of culture, is such a 
wide subject that I will not attempt it here. The 
methoJs of cultivation aud propagation, which, though 
primitive, are often highly ingenious, and altogether I 
have a good opiiii n of the native mollee. He is skiltul, 
and generally vrry painstaking, but it takes him some 
time to get into European ways of doing things. Mr. 
Woodrow, in his bi ok. Hints on Indian Gardeniny 
deals with ihu practical part of gardening in a very 
thorough way, which caunot fail to influence the future 
eonditiau of gardcnin;,' in India.-.-W. Goi^DitiNQ.— 6f«(- 
dtHsrs' Chi‘onicl<i, 
Planting of Trees in Streets, from a sanitary 
point of view, cannot be over-estimated. Trees 
not only afford shade and shelter, but adorn the 
landscape and purify the air. They improve the 
heart as well as the taste ; they refresh the body 
and enlighten the spirit, and the more refined the 
taste is, the more exquisite is the gratification that 
may be enjoyed from every leaf-building tree. — 
South of India Ohserter, 
I^Carriee Pigeons.— An interesting |experiment to 
test the utility oi Pigeons is about to be made in 
Canada. Ten pairs of birds are being shipped to 
the Dominion this week, and then itention jis to train 
them for the purpose^of estublishing and maintaining 
a line of communication between Sable Island and 
Halifax. Sable Island lies in the Atlantic Ocean, 
about 90 miles Irom Nova Scotia, and in the track of 
vessels passing between the American Continent and 
Europe. A station is maintained on the island with 
provisions and other necessaries for the relief of ship- 
wrecked mariners, but there is no regular commu- 
nication between it and the mainland. The ex- 
periment has been initiated, as likely to be of service 
in cases of emergency, by the Canadian Minister 
of Marine and Fisheries. — H. and C- Mail. 
Tea in Oevlon. — Mr. John Brown, of the Uva Coffee 
Company, is well pleased with all that ho saw during 
his long tour in your island, where he travelled fully a 
thousand miles, having visited every tea district. He 
has great confidfc nee in the capabilities of the Uva dis- 
tricts for the production of good tea ; but, as regards 
quantity per acre, he believes that in all parts of the 
island tbe longer an estate has been under coffee cul- 
tivation the slower will be its progre.ss to full bearing, 
ana the less will be the annual yield, especially in those 
cases where a long course of mamoty-wecding has de- 
nuded an estate of most of its top-soil. There is rea- 
son in this opinion for, though it is true that tea is a 
deep feeder, which coffee is not, time must be allowed 
for the tea roots to make their way down to a good 
feeding soil, and of course the quality ol that soil will 
always be a matter of uucertainiya Mr. Brown regards 
the fuel and timber questions as of serious import, ;nd 
agrees that materials tor packages should be imported, 
and that where water power exists in quantity it, siiould 
be utilized as a motive-power for machinery. He is 
thoroughly well satisfied with the averages of his Com- 
pany’s teas, but on many of the old coffee places patience 
will be needed before ample yields are secured. — 
London Cor., local “ Times.” 
Tobacco in India is thus referred to in the 
Official Report on Inland Trade in 1888-89 
This narcotic is widely cultivated by the agricultural 
population for domestic consumption and in most 
provinces for inland export also ; but it is only in tracts 
possessing a moist hot climate and a rich soil that the 
finer varieties suitable for European consumption can 
be grown. Such conditions occur in the coast districts 
of Madras and Bengal : and it is from these tracts that 
most of the tobacco exported from the country (a small 
quantity) is obtained. The principal barrier against 
a larger trade lies in the ignorance of the natives of 
the art of curing the leaf. A sufficiently profitable 
market might be found for ordinary Indian tobacco if 
it were properly cured ; but the manner in which the 
narcotic is usually consumed by the natives themselves 
does not encourage a knowledge of curing. It is either 
chewed as a dry powder mixed with lime, or smoked in 
the form of a conserve or paste mixed with treacle and 
other ingredients. In either case pungency rather than 
aroma or delicacy of flavour is the chief desideratum. 
The best prospect of improvement in Indian tobacco 
manufactures lies in the steadily increasing consump- 
tion among the richer classes of natives as well as the 
Europeau population, of the country cheroot and pipe 
Jpbacco. Measures are being taken to introduce a know- 
ledge of American methods of curing in Madras, and 
the cigars of that Presidency are gaining in reputation. 
The area cultivated with tobacco in all India is 
put down at 800,000 affii-qe ; the crop at 406,000 
tons, or over ^ ton per acre. 
