Feb.  1,  1897.] 
Sujjplement  to  the  “ Tropical  Agriculturist." 
585 
We  give  below  an  extract  from  the  report  of 
the  Director  of  Land  Records  and  Agriciil'  n-! 
in  the  N.W.  Provinces  and  Oude,  India,  is 
interesting  as  giving  the  experience  with  most 
of  tlie  various  devices  for  the  protection  of 
trees  in  roadside  ai’boricnlture.  The  tree  called 
“ hahiil”  in  the  report  is  the  Acacia  arahica, 
which  is  found  chiefly  in  the  drier  parts  of  the 
Island,  hut  which  can  he  replaced  hy  other 
thorny  acacias  that  are  more  common  than  the 
species  named.  We  have  seen  the  troublesome 
“ lantana”  pressed  into  service  and  grown  as  a 
protection  for  coconut  plants  without  any  ap- 
parent injury  to  the  latter  : 
The  district  reports  give  evidence  both  of  the 
difficulties  connected  with  this  most  important 
part  of  the  work  and  of  attempts  in  several  dis- 
tricts to  provide  a cheap  and  effective  guard.  In 
Mainpuri,  tree  guards  of  wood  were  tried  ; in 
Garhwal,  stone  fences  ; in  Meerut  and  Basti, 
brickwork  guards  ^ and  in  Meerut,  Muzaffarnagar, 
Dehra  Dun  and  Jnlaun  wire  guards  have  been  con- 
structed. In  Dehra  Dun,  tree  guards  of  barbed 
wire  fixed  to  four  rough  wooden  posts  are  used 
and  nre  said  to  be  effective  ; but,  as  stated  last 
year,  the  u,se  of  barbed  wire  should  not  be  encour- 
aged on  public  roads.  The  guard  costs  R2  and 
lasts  only  four  years,  the  time  a single  tree  should 
ordinarily  want  protection,  so  that  it  is  far  too 
expensive  for  general  adoption.  I do  not,  there- 
fore, consider  this  guard  a success.  The  brick 
guards  costing  R2  each,  intioduced  by  the  Collector 
of  Meerut  last  year,  are  reported  to  have  done 
very  well,  though  to  protect  them  from  being 
knocked  down  by  animals  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  sun-ound  them  with  thorn  fences.  The 
bricks  are  available  for  erection  at  another  place 
when  the  tree,  round  which  they  were  erected,  is 
established,  and  the  brick  guard  is,  therefore, 
cheaper  than  that  of  barbed  wire  above  referred 
to.  I doubt,  however,  whether  their  liability  to 
collapse  on  a cart  coming  into  contact  with  them 
and  the  expense  of  re  erecting  them  does  not  make 
them  also  too  expensive.  Mr.  Wyer  has  this  year 
introduced  another  guard,  costing  Rl-5-0  eacli, 
made  of  wire  netting  supported  on  an  iron  frame. 
He  considers  it  preferable  to  the  brick  guards  on 
account  of  its  being  cheaper,  neater  and  equally 
efficacious.  It  gives  better  ventilation  and  is 
available  for  a second  tree  when  it  can  be  moved 
from  its  first  position.  Filled  with  thorns  to  pre- 
vent goats  getting  at  the  trees  over  the  top,  it 
ap))ears  to  mo  as  satisfactory  a guard  as  could 
be  devised.  A somewhat  similar  guard  has  nj)- 
j)arently  been  tried  in  l\Iuznffarnagar,  but  the 
information  at  my  disposal  is  not  sufficient  to 
permit  me  to  describe  it.  It  is  said  to  be  a wire 
framework  intended  to  protect  and  keep  together 
a hedge  of  dried  thorns.  For  districts  with 
ample  funds  at  command  Mr.  Wyer’s  guard  might 
probably  be  adopted  on  a considerable  scale.  In 
the  East,  however,  it  is  improbable  that  even 
Rl-o-0  can  be  paid  for  each  tree  guard,  and  the 
cheaper  methods  of  protection  by  ditches  and 
mounds,  by  growdng  c.actus  plants,  or  by  dry 
babul  thorns,  must  be  continued.  The  ditch  and 
mound  is,  where  the  soil  is  stiff  and  the  road  wide, 
probably  the  least  troublesome  but  on  the  majo- 
rity of  roads  it  is  impracticable,  and  the  choice  lies 
between  babul  thorns,  which  have  often  to  be  car- 
ried for  miles,  and  the  cactu.s.  1 have,  during  my 
late  tour,  seen  very  excellent  results  obtained  by 
means  of  cactus  fencing.  It  is  troublesome  to  es- 
tablish, but,  once  established,  last  till  the  tree  pro- 
tected is  well-grown  and  affords  material,  when 
destroyed,  for  many  other  guards.  It  might  be 
feared  that  injury  would  be  done  to  the  young 
tree  by  the  air  being  shut  out  by  the  close-grow- 
ing cactus,  but  the  very  flourishing  young  trees 
one  sees  when  they  are  well-protected  by  cactus 
and  properly  tended  sufficiently  prove  I hat  this  is 
not  the  case.  Wlien  babul  thorns  have  to  be 
employed  the  advantage  of  having  a temporary 
avenue  of  babuls,  as  suggested  by  the  Government 
review  on  last  year’s  report,  is  obvious. 
CATTLE  DISEASE  IN  THE  VILLAGES 
OF  THE  WANNI. 
Rinderpest  is  enzootic  in  certain  parts  of 
Ceylon,  * especially  in  the  interior  adjoining  thick 
jungles.  During  the  past  few  months  I have  had 
ranch  to  do  with  this  disease  both  in  tbe  Sin- 
halese and  the  Tamil  Wanni.  It  seems  to  prevail 
in  one  village  or  other  all  the  year  round.  Its 
vdrulence  and  the  rapidity  with  which  it  spreads 
varies  in  different  parts  of  the  year.  During  the 
rainy  season  it  is  observed  to  be  more  virulent. 
Wlien  it  is  hot  and  dry  the  outbreak  is  of  a more 
benign  type.  Heat  is  said  to  have  the  tendency 
of  attenuating  the  virus. 
The  degree  of  malignancy  is  greater  in  certain 
animals  than  in  others.  For  instance,  the  mor- 
tality among  buffaloes  is  proportionately  greater 
than  among  neat  cattle.  It  will  be  interesting 
to  have  reliable  statistics  as  to  the  percentage 
of  deaths  cau.sed  by  rinderpest  among  these  two 
species  of  cattle.  Certain  wild  animals,  such  as 
the  deer  and  the  elk  are  attacked  with,  probably, 
a comparatively  mild  form  of  the  disease ; and 
tliey  form  a means  of  keeping  up  and  spreading 
the  disease  although  this  fact  is  often  overlooked. 
Prevention  and  Suppression. — Animals  that  re- 
cover from  one  attack  of  rinderpest  are  proof 
to  subsequent  attacks  at  least  for  a period  of  six 
or  seven  years.  The  general  belief  is  that  one 
attack  confers  immunity  through  life.  Even  the 
most  ignorant  Ceylon  goyiya  and  Indian  ryot  that 
owns  cattle  is  aware  of  this.  On  account  of 
this  protective  xiower,  experiments  were  carried 
on  by  Veterinary  Surgeons  with  a view  to  find 
out  whetlier  inoculation  with  tlie  virus  will 
answer  as  a preventive  measure.  Tlie  results 
Avere,  however,  unsatisfactory  as  inoculation  tends 
to  reproduce  the  disease  in  as  malignant  a form 
as  that  contracted  in  the  natural  way. 
In  Europe,  when  any  outbreak  of  rinderpest 
is  detected,  it  is  at  once  stamped  out  by  des- 
troying the  infected  animals  and  burying  or  burn- 
ing their  carcases.  But  such  a method  of 
suppression  is  unsuitable  to  most  parts  of  Ceylon 
for  two  reasons,  viz.,  (1)  It  is  antagonistic  to 
the  religious  feelings  of  most  of  the  people.  (2) 
The  disease  is  so  common,  so  frequent  and  so 
scattered  that  a large  number  of  animals  will 
have  to  be  killed. 
In  village.s,  however,  where  only  a few  solitary 
cases  occur,  this  jilan  may  be  adopted  if  the 
