Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-22

posed countervailing duties against Euro
pean sugar but there has been no percepti-
Bile effect from this policy as yet.
The indigo trade has been very important,
but is also in peril because of the manufac-
ture of chemical dyes in Germany and
France Artificial indigo and other dyes can
be produced in a laboratory much cheaper
than it can be grown in the fields, and, nat
urally, people will buy the low-priced arti-
cle Twenty years ago India had practically
a monopoly of the indigo trade, and 1000, :
600 acres of land were planted to that prod
uct, while the value of the exports often
reached $2OOO0.OOO The area and the prod
uct have been gradually decreasing until,
in 1902, only little more than 100000 acres
were planted and the exports were valued
at less than $7,OOO,OOO
The quinine industry is also in a deplora-
BILE state. About thirty years ago the In
dian government sent botanists to South
America to collect young cinchona trees.
They were introduced into various parts of
antly until the export OF bark ran nearly to
100000 pounds year. but since 1899 there
has been steady fall. Exports have de-
clfned, prices have been low and the gov
eminent plantations have not paid expenses
Rather than export the bark at a loss the
government has manufactured sulphate at
Its own factories and has furnished it at
cost price to the health authorities of the
native states, the British provinces, the
army and the hospitals and dispensaries
One of the most interesting places about
Calcutta is the Royal Botanical Gardens,
where many important experiments have
been made for the benefit of the agricul-
tural industry of India. 1t is one of the
most beautiful and extensive arboretums in
the world, and at the same time its eco
nomic usefulness has been unsurpassed by
any similar institution. 1t was established
nearly $50 years ago by Col. Kyd, an ar
dent botan1st, under the auspices of the
East India Company, and from it's fOunda-
ton it was intended to be, as it has been, a
source of botanical information a place for
botanical experiments, and a garden in
which plants Of economic value could be
cultivated and issued to the public for the
purpose of introducing new products into
India. 1t has been of incalcuable value IN
all these particulars, not only by introduce
ing new plants. but by demonstrating which
could be grown with profit.
The garden lies along the bank of the
Gauges, about six miles south of the city
and is filled with trees and plants of the
rarest varieties and the greatest beauty
you can imagine. No other garden will
equal it, except, perhaps, that at Columbo.
1t is 272 acres in extent, has large num-
Der of ponds and lakes. and many fine ave-
nues OF palms. mahogany, mangos. tam
arinds, plantains and other trees, and it's
greatest glory is a banyan tree which is
claimed to be the largest in the world.
banyan. as you know, represents min
1aIure forest rather imam q Single Tree, De-
cause it has branches which grow down
ward as well as upward, and take root in
the ground and grow with great rapdity.
This tree is about 135 years old. The cir
conference of its main trunk five and a
half feet from the ground is fifty-one feet
Its topmost leaf is eighty feet from the
ground 1t has 464 aerial roots, as the
branches which run down to the ground are
called, and the entire tree is 93S feet in cir
conference. 1t is large enough to shelter
an entire village under its foliage.
1 wish / had time and room to describe
several other remarkable trees in that gar
den. One of them is called 1.-The Crazy
Tree" because about thirty five different
varieties of trees have been grated upon
the same trunk and, as a consequence, it
bears that many different kinds of leaves.
Its foliage suggests crazy quilt