October I, 189T,] 
Supplement to the '^Tropical Agncultmist.” 
29 s 
profit. With its abuudant crops of mangoes 
Ceylon might soml almost an unlimited supply 
of the preserved fruit, but until it bo proved 
that the manufacture will pay — and an attempt 
has already been made with this object in view 
— no one is likely to start the indu-stry. 
Oeuoral Fisher, R. E., writing of water reejuired 
for rice cultivation, says The quantity used 
in the Godavery and Kistua Deltas, I'iz., ’Olij c. ft. 
per second per acre, or '2 c. yards per hour, 
has been found, from many years' e.xperienco, 
to be ample, ami immense volumes go to waste 
for wbich drainage works have to be provided. 
So fur, tbon, ns South India is concerned, in such 
localities everything appears to have been done 
which i.s at all necessary, so far as relates to 
tlie quantity of water required for such irrigation. 
A correspondent, however, states that in Italy 
the quantity given varies from •O.’ifi to ’l l c. ft. 
per second per acre. The former is more than 
double tlie quantity usually allowed in India, 
about 4‘05 c. yards per liour per acre, and the 
latter in upwards of 18’7 c. ynnls per hour per 
acre ; the (|uestion then is how would it be 
practicable to .secure such supplies of water in 
the dry moutlis in India ? To store water for 
-1,000 acre.s, sny for 120 days’ supply at the 
rate of 7'12 c. yards per hour i)er acre, we 
want nearly oO million c. yards to be stored 
in order to iirovidc for evaporation, leakage, 
He., and for sucii extent of laud as we have 
in the deltas the quantity required W'ould be 
2.),000 million c. yards of water. It is quite 
plain, then, that the Government could never 
go to such an e.xpeuse. If the Italians do obtain 
such quantities it must bo from rivers which 
are siqiplied in the hot months by natural 
reservoirs from the snows melting in the hills 
or lakes. So far as my knowledge and experience 
go, I .sliould say they use too much instead of 
too little water in India, and this is confirmed 
by the practice of the natives in using well- 
w'nter when it is said a field requires to lie 
irrigated once in 3 or 4 days ; and I have 
always found that it w'as (piite easy in tank 
irrigation to cut off the supply largely during 
the nights. The waste which now goes by no 
one attending at all to the sluices of a tank is 
enormous ; these are allowed to discharge day 
and night through their appertures, exactly in 
the same way whether the heads over them are 
A feet or 20 feet. Now the velocity in the one 
case would be 21A'3 inches i)er second, and 
430'(i inches per second in the other theoretically. 
The loss of w'ater in tanks 1 believe is not 
due so much to evaporation as to this huge 
waste l>y more carelessness and negligence. If 
the rice W'ere cultivated in Imlia ns it is in 
South Carolina, very much loss water would 
be required, and the yield be much greater. 
There is apparently no tliflereuce in the seed 
ns South Carolina had this conveyed there 
originally from the Alauritius, but the Yankees 
allow of no such thing ns “raamool” to keep 
them sticking in the mud." 
The Cow-tree which is found grow'ing in the 
rocky arid plains of South America to a height 
of more than a hundred feet, and first described 
by Baron Humboldt, yields a rich nutritious 
milk. The juice is obtained from the stem by 
making incisions, and is collected by natives 
in gourds. It is used with cassava and Indian 
corn bread, and for several months in the year 
is the principal food of the natives. 
