Vol. III. Xo. 51. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



109 



ITALIAN 



CHESTNUTS AND 

 TREES. 



CHESTNUT 



The following short report on the cultivation of 

 chestnuts by the United States Consul at Turin, Italy, 

 is taken from the Manflili/ Confiulii,r Rcpoii'i of the 

 United Sfatfj-s Department of Cominerce and Labour 

 for February 1904 : — 



The die.stnuts e.xported from Tumi to the United States 

 during tiie year ended .June 30, 1903, were valued at 

 .fl 2,762. The oroii tills year, I am informed, while not large, 

 will be excellent. 



Chestnuts form an important article of food in Italy. 

 Thty are large and four or five times the size of the chestnuts 

 grown in the fnited States. This, I think, is mostly the 

 result of cultivation. They are immerous in variety and 

 flavour, and I have often wondered why they have not been 

 inti-oduced and grown in some sections of the United States. 



In Italj- the peasant takes great care of his chestnut 

 gi'ove, more than some .\mericans do of their apple orchards. 

 Old and barren trees are removed and in their places young 

 ones are planted. The young trees, when of sufficient growth, 

 are carefully budded. The following is the manner and 

 system of budding : — 



In the spring, when the sap is fully matured and flowing 

 freely, the cultivator climbs the tree he wishes to reproduce, 

 selects a young and tender limb, say, about ^ inch in 

 diameter, cuts off the end of the branch, turns the bark down 

 a little, then with his finger and thumb, by gentle twists, 

 loosens the bark the entire length of the branch, circles the 

 branch about i inch either way from the bud, {lulls off the 

 rings, puts them in a pocket which he carries before him — 

 same as carpenters carry nails — and, when he itroceeds to the 

 young trees, cuts off the ends of limbs or branches that he 

 wishes to tmd, jpulls down the liark to the desired place and 

 then just as a ring is put on the finger, he puts one of the 

 rings on the end of that branch. This he does snugly, for it 

 must not be too tight or too loose, but tit so that the sai) from 

 below will connnunicate with and circulate under it. The 

 bud on the ring will then grow and in due time reward the 

 intelligent operator with the same kind of chestnuts borne by 

 the tree- from which he took the buds. In this manner 1 have 

 seen wild, worthless trees budded and made to bear excellent 

 fruit. The same process is practised in the jiroduction of 

 elastic willow twigs, for in these grape-growing regions willow 

 twigs are much used in tying the grape vines to trees or 

 frames. 



As the chestnut tree is not native to Italy or to any 

 other country in Europe, being an importation, there is no 

 reason why the tree cannot be imported into the United 

 States and thrive equally well. 



Pearl Fishery. A correspondent writes : ' It ajipears 

 that a successful pearl fishery industry is being carried on at 

 Margarita Island riff the coast of A'enezuela by an English 

 conijiany known as "The Pearl Fisheries Limited," whose 

 address is 19, Swithin's Lane, London, E.G. I am of opinion 

 that it might l)e possible to transfer some of the pearl 

 oysters from Margarita and eventually establish a pearl 

 fishery at Antigua or elsewhere in the neighbourhood of the 

 British islands. The subject is worthy of consideration and 

 it is desirable that some action be taken in that direction. 

 As a first step it would be necessary to arrange for the 

 ■oysters to be carefully taken up by the company at Margarita 

 ixnd conveyed under suitable conditions to thy locality where 

 it is proposed to establish them.' 



THE YAM BEAN. 



Roots of this plant {Parhi/rhr.m tiiberosus), exhibited 

 at the Dominica Agricultural Show, were recently 

 forwarded by ilj-. .J. .Jones, the Curator of the Botanic 

 Station, to the Imperial Department of Agriculture. 

 Mx. Jones writes that in Dominica the jilant is known 

 as the 'Tapioca plant.' This name, which is also employed 

 lu .Jamaica for the Tous-les-mois {Caiuia edulis), is very 

 misleading, since tapioca is the product of the cassava 

 plant. It is also stated by :\Ir. .Jones that the plant is said 

 to have lieeu l)rought to Dominica from Cayenne. 



The Yam bean is not particularly connuon in the West 

 Indies, although plants are to be found in cultivation in 

 several of the islands. 



The following description of the plant and its uses is 

 taken from Macfayden's Flora ofJaiimioi (p. 286) : 



'Flowers white. Seeds red. The root is formed of a 

 number of simple cord-like fibres, stretching under the 

 surface of the ground, bearing in their course a succession of 

 tuliers. 



' The beans are poisonous ; but the root aftbrds a very 

 plentiful supply of a very wholesome food. The i>roduce of 

 these plants is usually sufficient to fill a bushel basket. The 

 tubers may be either boiled plaiii, in which state they are a 

 very good substitute for yams or other roots in common use; 

 or they may be submitted to a process similar to arrowroot, 

 and a starch obtained. This starch is of a pure white, and 

 is equal in every respect to arrowroot. To the taste it is 

 very jialatable for custards or puddings. Even the trash 

 left after obtaining the starch, and which, in the preparation 

 of arrowroot, is lost, may, when thoroughly dried, be formed 

 into a palatable and wholesome flour. A very excellent flour 

 may also be obtained by slicing the tubers, drying them in 

 the sun, and then reducing to a powder. 



' This plant is deser\ing of being more generally 

 cultivated than it has hitherto been. It ought in a great 

 measure to supersede the arrowroot in cultivation. It can be 

 planted at any season of the year and the roots are fit for 

 •ligghig i« the course of four or five months ; the return is 

 infinitely greater than that from arrowroot, and the proportion 

 of starch also is more abundant, so that it can l)e brought to 

 market at so cheap a rate as to admit of being eniploycd by 

 calico [irinters in place of potato starch.' 



In an article on this plant in the Ktw Bulletin (1889, p. 

 1 7) reference is made to the use of the young pods ' as 

 a vegetable, served like French beans, to which, however, 

 they are superior owing to the absence of any fibrous strings. 

 Although the mature beans are poisonous the young beans can 

 safely be eaten when cooked. It is stated in the BidMiit of 

 the Botanical Diqmrtment, Jamaica, (No. II, p. I) that from 

 one seed sown at Hope Gardens five yams were dug, wei"hinw 

 altogether 14 lb. ° " 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



Dr. Longfield Smith, Lecturer in Agricultural 

 Science at Harrison College in connexion with the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture, will proceed to 

 Bermuda to deliver a course of ten lectures on 

 agricultural subjects to the teachers in elementary 

 schools and others in that colony. It is probable that; 

 Dr. Longfield Smith will embark S. S. ' Ocamo ' on 

 April 5 next and return in time for the re-opening of 

 Harrison College early in May. 



