232 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct.  I,  1896. 
St.  Michael’s, — A good-sized  fruit,  a little  over  the 
common  Malta  in  size;  has  a thinner  skin  excel- 
lent flavour ; a good  orange. 
SiLVEu. — Bather  a small  fruit ; skin  a pale  orange 
colour ; hence  probably  the  name  “ silver.”  Skin 
thin,  flesh  juicy,  of  moderate  flavour. 
8.  A plant  of  the  China  bitter  orange  bore  several 
fruits  : they  were  most  taking  to  look  at,  being  large 
and  well-formed.  When  ripe  tliey  were  highly  charged 
with  juice,  but  too  bitter  in  flavour  to  be  at  all  pala- 
table. 
9.  A Japan  orange,  named  sr^-in-kom,  also  fruited. 
It  seems  to  be  nothing  else  than  what  has  been 
long  in  the  garden  under  the  name  of  the  Mandarin 
orange. 
10.  Ten  of  the  strongest  plants  of  the  Malta  lo- 
quats  were  planted  out,  and  are,  so  far,  doing  well 
11.  A few  years  ago  a packet  of  loquat  seeds  was 
received  from  California;  the  trees  raised  from  this 
seed  fruited  this  year.  I regret  to  say  the  fruit 
proved  to  be  very  small  and  very  much  inferior  to 
varieties  long  grown  in  the  garden. 
12.  The  plants  of  the  Mauritius  Ber  have  not 
made  much  progress,  and  arc  still  being  grown  in 
pots ; so  many  as  room  can  be  spared  for  will  be 
planted  out  in  the  coming  year. 
13.  Plants  were  received  of  the  following  new 
kinds  of  mangoes  from  the  Government  Agri -Horti- 
cultural Garden,  Lahore : — 
1.  Mango  Erinnura.  | 2.  Mango  Alphonsa. 
3.  Mango  Khusi. 
14.  There  is  still  hope  of  establishing  the  straw- 
berries imported  in  1894,  as  plants  of  all  are  still 
existing  in  Mr.  Beid’s  garden  at  Naiui  Tal,  and  also 
in  the  Muktesar  Nursery,  Naini  Tal. 
15.  At  Naini  Tal  they  have  not  done  well  owing 
to  having  been  planted  in  poor  shaley  soil ; in  a 
suitable  soil  they  would  no  doubt  do  well  enough. 
At  Muktesar  some  fruit  was  obtained  and  efforts  are 
now  being  made  to  increase  the  stock  of  plants. 
II. — Vegetable  and  Fabm  Culture. 
20.  The  usual  selection  of  country  vegetables  was 
grown  for  the  purpose  of  yielding  seed. 
21.  The  hot-weather  section  did  well,  with  the 
exception  of  “ kakri  ” {cucuniis  melo  var  ulilisaimus), 
the  fruits  of  which  suffered  severely  frem  disease, 
which  attacked  and  destroyed  them  when  at  a mature 
stage  of  growth. 
22.  Imported  vegetables  were  also  grown  as  in  pre- 
ceding years  ; pears  did  moderately  well  only , the 
excessively  dry  atmosphere  which  prevailed  all  through 
the  cold  weather  was  most  unfavourable  to  this  crop. 
Carrots  were  to  a large  extent  a failure,  owing  to 
the  seed  germinating  badly.  With  these  exceptions, 
the  results  obtained  with  other  vegetables  were 
satisfactory. 
23.  As  early  vegetables  are  usually  in  request 
by  the  general  public,  it  may  bo  stated  that 
Sutton’s  earliest  cabbage  proved  itself  the  earliest 
out  of  the  undermentioned  kinds  by  fully  two 
weeks  : all  were  sown  at  the  same  time  and  re- 
ceived identical  treatment  afterwards  : — 
Cabbage,  Sutton’s  Imperial. 
,,  Wheeler’s  Imperial. 
,,  Sutton’s  All  Heart. 
,,  Sutton’s  Earliest. 
24.  Through  the  kind  offices  of  Ur.  Bonavia,  I 
received  a large  packet  of  onion  seed  from  Egypt, 
but  I am  sorry  to  say  none  of  it  germinated.  In 
forwarding  the  seed  Dr.  Bonavia  expressed  the  opi- 
nion that  it  was  prob.ably  the  same  variety  (silver- 
skin)  which  has  been  so  long  cultivated  in  this 
Garden.  It  is  matter  for  regret  that  this  could  not 
be  ascertained. 
25.  The  non-success  of  previous  years  has  again 
been  repeated  thi.s,  in  tim  attempt  made  to  raise 
sugarcane  from  seed.  Tho  repe.ited  sowings  made 
all  ended  in  blank  failuies.  Tlio  plantation  made 
in  1893  having  exhausted  tho  soil  and  got  into  an 
unsatisfactory  condition,  a now  one  has  been  made 
of  the  same  kinds. 
23.  The  Japanese  fodder  plant,  /‘oli/yonuni  sacha- 
linanse,  has  so  far  proved  a failure,  the  plants  got 
sickly  in  the  rains  and  died  down  to  the  ground  be- 
fore the  cold  weather  set  in  : growth  commenced 
again  in  February,  and  the  plants  have  a few  weakly 
stems  upon  them  now.  The  appearance  of  the  plants 
afford  no  ground  for  thinking  that  this  plant  will  be 
of  any  use  as  a forage-producer  in  a climate  like 
Lucknow. 
27.  Two  consignments  of  Bum  plant  {Strohilanthes 
flaccid ij'olius)  wore  received  from  the  Assistant  Direc- 
tor ; the  plants  in  the  first  consignment  all  died,  but 
from  the  second  lot  eleven  are  alive  ; nine  plants  in 
the  ground  under  lichi  trees,  and  the  other  two  in  pots. 
They  are  only  a few  inches  high  and  not  vigorous, 
but  appear  healthy  and  afford  some  hope  of  succeeding. 
28.  Sufficient  seed  has  been  secured  of  tho  Italian 
grams  mentioned  in  last  year’s  report  at  paragraph 
•12  to  admit  of  a sowing  being  made  of  each  on  a 
scale  large  enough  to  afford  a fair  test  of  the  out- 
turns they  are  capable  of  yielding.  This  I hope  to 
carry  out  next  year. 
29.  The  plants,  or  rather  roots,  raised  last  year 
of  “ canaigre”  survived  the  hot  weather  and  rains 
underground,  and  started  into  vigorous  leaf  growth 
as  soon  as  the  cold  weather  arrived.  They  were 
much  stronger  and  more  robust  than  last  year,  and 
again  have  seeded  freely. 
30.  From  the  seed  secured  last  year  a number  of 
young  plants  were  raised  and  planted  o it  on  a plot 
measuring  33  square  yards  ; this  contains  259  plants ; 
they  have  done  well  and  give  promise  of  a good 
yield  of  roots ; it  has  been  considered  advisable  to 
let  them  have  a second  year’s  growth  before  test- 
ing the  yield. 
31.  Anyone  wishing  to  experiment  with  this  plant 
can  be  supplied  with  seed  for  the  purpose.  So  far 
as  the  trial  with  it  here  has  extended,  there  is  good 
ground  for  thinking  that  it  can  be  successfully 
grown  in  this  climate. 
32.  The  clover  seed  sent  by  the  Assistant  Director 
was  sown  in  the  horticultural  garden  on  good,  well- 
cultivated  soil.  The  seed  was  sound  and  germinated 
satisfactorily,  but  proved  to  be  largely  mixed  with 
*■  kasni  ” {Cichorium  iiUyhus)  the  proportion  of  clover 
plants  in  the  crop  appeared  to  be  about  one-fourth 
of  the  whole. 
33.  Both  plants  reached  full  growth  early  in  April, 
when  the  entire  crop  was  cut  ; it  was  weighed  at 
once  while  green.  The  total  weight  was  7j  maunds, 
or  at  the  rate  of  95J  maunds  per  acre. 
34.  Comparing  this  with  lucerne,  which  is  said  to  yield 
3j  tons  or  8,400  lb.  per  acreat  onecutting,  the  yieldof 
this  clover  and  “kasni”  crop  is  less  by  589.2  lb.  per 
acre.  The  season  was  not  very  favourable ; but, 
after  making  due  allowance  on  that  account,  it  may 
still  be  safely  assumed  that  lucerne  would  give  a 
higher  yield,  and  I should  certainly  think  lucerne 
vastly  superior  in  nutritive  qualities. 
35.  There  is  nothing  in  this  experiment  to  justify 
the  belief  that  such  a crop  can  be  usefully  grown 
for  fodder  in  this  part  of  India. 
33.  A plot  of  ground  partly  vacant  and  partly 
planted  with  Eucalyptus  trees  has  been  cleared, 
levelled,  and  made  available  for  the  cold  weather 
crops  : this  will  give  some  relief,  as  often  difficulty 
was  experienced  in  finding  space  for  crops  of  an- 
nuals and  vegetables.  The  area  made  available  is 
3,133  square  yards. 
IV.— Arboriculture. 
53.  The  demand  for  Eucalyptus  leaves  was  nearly 
the  same  as  last  j^ear.  Forty-seven  maunds  of  leaves 
w-ei'e  sent  out  during  the  year  against  37  maunds  last 
year. 
54.  The  effects  of  the  flood  of  September  1894  are 
gradually  disappearing  ; and  as  no  damage  was  done  by 
flood-water  this  j'ear,  the  young  stocks  of  trees  have 
had  nothing  to  impede  their  growth. 
55.  As  shown  in  column  4 of  the  following  statment, 
distribution  during  tho  year  was  very  small ; this  is  due 
to  the  want  of  trees  of  a size  large  enough  to  plant  out 
not  being  available,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  all  trees 
of  a useful  size  by  the  flood  of  1891.  This  year  trees  of 
several  kinds  are  availahh',  so  that  1 anticipate  a larger 
issue  during  the  coming  year. 
53.  '.L’he  trees  enumei-ated  as  missing  in  column  5 
were,  chielly  overgi'own  trees  which  had  become  loo 
largo  to  transi)lant,  so  wmv  upi'ooted  to  clear  the  s])ace 
they  occui'.ied. 
57.  Attention  is  given  to  raise  only  sucii  number  of 
each  kind  as  are  likely  to  be  required  each  year ; on  this 
