THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1891. 
13S 
and Trading Company (Ld,), which, aooorcliiig to the 
progpootus, proposes to eff iot tins very <1f8irabl« reform. 
The ospiial of the company is X60,000, dividoi? into X5 
shares, of which the prospectns inform us £30,000 
worth have already been subtcribed for in Eni?ln.iid. 
The directorate includes tho names of Dr. Gporffo 
Yeatos Hunter, late Civil Surgeon, Kurracbe#*: Gmeral 
McT-eod Innes, U. E., late Arcouniiin’-General to tho 
Government of India; Colonel Kruost Sohrciber, of 
Woking ; Captain W. F. Aniieslev, of Fast Pheen ; 
and Mr. John Griper, Managing Dirrctrr in India; 
and a local Board of Dir^'Ctors is in conrso of formation, 
Mr. 8, W. Anderson, Kurrachee, being tho Secretary 
proUm, The Company pi*opo<c9 to pnrcbnse a»’a going 
concern the cotton-ginning tactory, and Ihe b'li’ding^, 
atores, plant, machinery, tool». applianoes, and all 
effects ooDueoted with it, at Kh* ker. Sind ; to erect 
two other ginning tactoriea of a atmilar kind at D ra 
Gazl Khan, and at Mor.affarg.trh, in tho centre of 
neighbouring cotton districts in the Sonth Punjab, 
and to develop and work the same under one control ; 
and to take over the biiginoss of Mr. J. Griper of 
steam irrigation and the supply of water to ryots 
for the cultivation of cotton and other produoo, 
together with the cultivation leases rf about S2,00() 
acres on the Sarfrsz, Imamva, and other Gfivernment. 
irrigation canals of the rich lands of the Delta of the 
Indus, and to irrigate and cultivnte them. Ginning 
operations last roughly from Deo'-mber to April, and 
in that time, according to the prospectus, esoh factory 
working twenty of Me's-r-*, niRoh^n*>H fnr six 
days a we«k, with an output of I'lQ mauuds of 
marketable cott' U per dsy, < make n not 
profit df R27,000, at ap exchange of I*?. 5il., or 
say, £1,912, or £5,730 cn the intended three 
eRtablishments for giuuing alone. Added to this is 
the merchont’s profit on the purchnso of the cotton 
from the grower of about nne rupee per manud — or 
on tho three factories £2,550. making a total profit 
on the two items of giuoing and purchasing coitcu 
of £8,285 nett. At the termination of the cotbm 
•eason, the euglces, which arc portable, are removed 
to the irrigation works, whern it is ostiraatrd 
by the promoteis very profitable employment wi I 
be found for them. The cultivator in Sind during 
tho irrigation lea^iou usually takes up for culli- 
tioD a small area of about 20 gheriba (10 acrep), 
which ii named a Huvl«, if worked by a Per- 
sian wheel. Ho requires three pairs of huHocki*, 
or two camels and one pair of bullocks, for this 
area, and two men and a boy. Two pairs of bullocks 
are employed day and night at the wheol rsiung 
water, and one man is empltyed^ iu moking small 
obatinels to convey the water raised over the land. 
After about a month it is moistened Hufliounily to 
allow of ploughing being comuituoed. Ibe third 
pair of bullooki is then aet to plough; but water is 
still required to be continually raised day nud night 
until the oloae of the season. Coos* queut u i the 
limited area for which a Persian wbeolcan provide 
water, only land imoiodintely udiact-nt to the canals 
can, as a rule, be cultivated by bit irrigation, and all 
beyond 1,000 jards or thereabouts is fallow virgin 
soil. Lift cultivation is open to such enormous risks 
owing to tho riao and fall of tlie Indus and con- 
sequently of the canals, that the ryot is nt on‘i time 
raifiiog water from possibly a two to throa feet lif^, 
and the next week ten to twelve feet, niuking a 
difference of two-thirds of the quantity of «ator 
raised, the loss on the ernp, as remarked by 
General Fife, in his Note on this subject, bung 
corrcsponaingly great. An aveiago kliarit crop m 
Sind reqniren about 20 incho., and au ordinary 
Petaian wbecl under (livourablo circumstanwa an to 
height of tbo Indus, &c., it la computed can oniy 
provide 12 to 16 inches. On tho^ other hand, when 
steam irrigaliou comes into use, it is claimo H y i ho 
promoters of the company under notice ibat a 
15-iDoh centrifugal pump raising 4,000 gallons 
(makers guarantee 6,000 galloDB) of water ner minute, 
at lifts of 16 to 20 feet can raise 633,000,000 gallons 
iu 110 days, cr one season. I'his equals 21 inches 
to 1,000 acres and 22.622 gallons is equal to one inch 
to ono acre. One ongiue and pump will irrigate 800 
acres, while one Persian wheel will only irrigate 
10 acres, so that it would require eighty Persian 
whouls to do the work of one steam-pump. To do the 
work therel'oro of whioli oue engiuo and pump aro 
capable, the ryot, according to thu prospectus, at flrat 
spends K3,200, in wheel, pots, pans, Ac., without io* 
eluding the value oi the 480 bullooka (about HiO.OOO 
in Sind) required, and their food for the entire year. 
Steam irrigation will roloisa his tiullocks from the 
main part of their toil, and enable him to plough 
forty-five tieres instead of ten ; and for doing this 
woiK the ryot 's, it is stated, willing to pay soven- 
twclfths of the crop produced. The company irrigate 
his land, bnt it is cnllivatcd entirely by the ryot 
himself and at hi.s own erponae. In oonnootion with 
this project it ie poiotrd out that tho Hyderabad- 
0 merkote Rsilwny is already commenoed, and passes 
ai hin eight miles of the factory and land proposed 
to be irrigated, while the Delhi-Kolri Railway has 
been eurvey-d, and a company is about to bo formed for 
it. Ai to giuniiig, it is also to be noted that the average 
rate obtained in the Borubv Presidency per maund of 
82 lb. is R1..6 as against il2 t ■ 112-4 in Sind, while the 
float of wood fuel in the Jiombay Fresidenoy averages 
B19 per mauud,audin Sind R13 per maund. 
[Mr. Akbar of Negombo, the enterprising coooDut 
planter, who first systematioally applied irri- 
gation to palm trees on a big scale in Ceylon, 
utilizes the steam engine— devoted tc tho pjmpa 
in the dry season,— in tho wet season, to tun a 
sawmill. — En . . 
C' FERE D: ; ' . 1. 
Dn.in yiii, — C ■ff ■ ‘ I •- ■ 1,1 -> 0 i -o lO 
on the tiipin again I Mr. Pringle’s letters to tho 
Observer ara interesting and his oonolusiona rea- 
sonable, but his propoeed remedies appear to be 
impraotioable. I am iiiolined to believe with tleneral 
Braybrooke, who, it I mistake not, wrote m your 
journal yours ago, that the disease was to bo looked 
for at the root of the coffee tree, due to some 
unfavourable condition of the soil; for there can 
be no doubt that thoro is a very groat diminution 
and in sorai- instances total absenoo of the white 
throad liko rootlets which -..'ere in former days so 
abundant just below the surfaoe all round the 
foot of healthy ooffeo trees. In wriiing to one cf 
your contemporaries a few days ago, your “ alpha* 
helical ” friend expressed the opinion that ha thought 
tho value of salt in agrioultura was .somewhat ex- 
aggerated. It may ho so, yet 1 mention that some 
time back I procured a cask of oomprosaad sea- 
word and applied it ns a manure to a few coffee 
trees growing in my compound in Kandy, and it 
had a very beneficial effect as regards the appear- 
ance of tho trees; but unfortuaatoly I left Kandy 
before the time of fruiting, and am unable 
to say the after resalts. Examination, however, 
of the roots of trues a short time after 
the applioation of^ tho seaweed showed that 
numerous little white rootlete were pormeating 
the cakes of ssa-weed in every direction. An 
experienced plnntsr told me tho other day that 
bug and leaf-disease ara repugnant to enoh other. 
That however bad bug may he, it disappears im- 
mediately heviileia puts in an appearanos. There 
must be some ohange ooming over our seasons, 
for leaf-disease has como several weeks earlier 
than usual this year, and bug accordingly took its 
departure oorrcspondingly early. This change is fur* 
Iber indicated by tho very unusual phenomon n of 
albatross being seen in the latitude of Ceylon! an 
occurrence I imagine never before heard of. — 
Yours faithfully ,_ g. p. TBANOHELL. 
TE.\ TruNING. 
July 8th. 
Deab Sib, — W a do not want an “ Arboriculturist” 
to teach us tea-pruning. Tho soienoe of forcing 
bushes to give us tho maximum amount of Hushes 
