India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace].

  • Robert Wallace
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: India in 1887 as seen by Robert Wallace / [Robert Wallace]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    462/550 page 376
    plants. It is generally a grass of small growth, though I have seen it grow up to nearly 2 feet in height with heavy dressings of manure. It has a wonderful power of remaining green, being the grass of all Indian grasses which retains its succulence throughout the extreme heat of summer. It is greatly appreciated by those in charge of horses. In the cold weather its growth is completely suspended, and it is now known that a number of more bulky grasses afford quite as good fodder, and more abun- dantly during the monsoon. It spreads by throwing out creeping stems, which bud and root at the nodes. These are grubbed up for fodder from all sorts of waste lands by a small iron spud or trowel, kurpa, which is made to pass through the soil about an inch or less below the sur- face. The early part of the season before the June rains come is the time when this produce, which is partly grown on the surface and partly below it, is most valuable owing to the scarcity of green fodder from other sources. The operation of skimming the land is the best method of cultivating a good sward of this grass, and establishing it evenly. Dub, on account of its fine habit of growth, is a favourite on tennis lawns, which require to be spudded over at least once in two years, else the plant becomes weak and irregular or patchy. It is extremely difficult to clean out of cultivated land in virtue of the character of its stems ; each minute joint left becomes a plant, consequently it is impossible to get rid of it entirely by hand picking. It is usual to feed the cattle at work in clearing land of dub on the weeds that are collected and removed. As a pasture grass it is the better for a certain amount of shade, either afforded by trees or by larger grasses growing with it. It is at times planted by chopping the roots and spreading the fragments over the surface, and then ploughing to cover them ; but this method of propagation is not always thoroughly satisfactory. At Allahabad it is most success- fully cultivated, where it springs up naturally without any
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3