March i, 1884. ) 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



647 



Tree of the Canaries, which derives it common name from 

 a resinous exudation known in commerce as dragon's 

 blood. 



i'>. M;irsiphylUiiii asparaijokits. — This is a pretty twin- 

 mg plant with glossy mjTtle-shaped leaves (or rather 

 metamorjihosed branches, very suitable for pot culture in 

 verandahs. 



43. Amongst other seeds obtained fi'om Madeira were :— 

 OreodnpliHc JaUins or Tel Tree ; Ci/tlsiis virijata ; and 

 Eruthrinu spp. 



44. From the Island of St. Thomas, through the kind- 

 ness of Baron Eggers, I obtained several specimens of 

 Pontaderea ccerulea, an interesting and ornamental aquatic 

 plant not jireviously in .Jamaica. This is described as "a 

 singular plant from the West Indies (Porto Kico) having 

 roundish heart-shaped leaves, borne on a thick swollen 

 petiole full of air cells, by which the plant floats on thii surf- 

 ace of the water. It produces cffseta freely, soon extend- 

 ing itself over a large surface. It rarely flower.s in this 

 state, but when it becomes attached to the soil its foot- 

 stalks become long and narrow, and it then produces its 

 pretty blue flowers " For the present the plants have been 

 placed in the tanks at the Parade Gardens, Kingston, and 

 the Oastleton Gardeus. 



4,5. Other plauta obtained from Baron Eggers were : — 

 Miilpiykiu cottifera, a small ornamental holly-like plant 

 suitable for the plains ; Chloro2)huiHm sp., a handsome piece 

 oi miodeiuiruii .SjU. ; and the interesting prohferous orchid 

 OiH'idium Leni'jfuanifiii. — I have, &c., 

 D. Monnis, Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. 



The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Kingston. 



[Note added.] — I would mention as of special interest a 

 pot containing about 50 plants of /'racffHa Ciiinaliari, which 

 was brought out from Kew by the mail of November 2nd. 

 These plants are valuable as yielding the true Dragon's 

 Blood collected in the island of Socotra. Dr. Bayley Bal- 

 four, who obtained the seeds from which these pknts were 

 raised, refers as follows to the " Kinnabari," or the resin 

 of the Dragon's Blood tree of Socotra : — " This ' Kinnabari,' 

 which Dioscorides mentioned, was obtained from a spi <- 

 ies of liracitna (now named D. Cinimhari) that grew ( u 

 the island of Socotra, belonging to the family of the Liliricif. 

 All the species of that genus did not jncld resin, but fo'ir 

 only, which belonged to a very peculiar type of the family, 

 which branched very freely and formed a thick tnmk. The 

 peculiarity of this species was that not only did the trees 

 branch freely, but the leaves were curiously stirt' and sword- 

 like, and it formed a very thick stem. The resin was se- 

 creted from the stem in the form of tears, exuiliug natur- 

 ally from small cracks or crevices, and forming a large red 

 mess. In Socotra it exuded most abundantly immedi- 

 ately after the rainy season. This was the true Dragon's 

 Blood as collected in the island of Socotra, referred to by 

 Pliny and many other old Authors." — {See Fluinn. Journ. 

 and Trans., No. 09H, pp. 372-374.) 



Dragon's Blood is largely used in the arts : and about 

 ■id, OHO pounds weight reaches England every year. The 

 lich polished mahogany, in such great request, owes a 

 great deal of its beauty to the colouring properties 

 of Diagon's Blood.— D. M. 



CULTIVATION OF THE SHUMAC TKEE IN 



ITALY. 



Tao leaves of the shumac tree are extensively used through- 

 out Europe for tanning purposes, and a large amount of 

 care aud attention is expended on the cultivation of the tree 

 in Italy, with considerable profit to tho planters. It thrives 

 best in Southern exposures and hot temperature; its life 

 is from twenty.five to fifty years, according to the con- 

 ditions of the ground, climate, and culture. It spreads 

 through shoots rising from the bottom of the tree, and 

 it is for this reason that plants two or three years old 

 are selected for transplanting; the price for which they 

 are to be obtained in Italy is 50 centimes per 100. 

 In preparing a shumac plantation, ditches are dug in the 

 ground about three feet three inches apart, with a breadth 

 and dei)th of about 17 inches. In stony ground the plant 

 is set in holes, the shoots are placed at a distance of about 

 three feet from each other, so that every hectare (2^ acres) 

 will have 10,000 trees. In digging the ditches, and more 



especially the holes, great care is always taken to prevent 

 water remaining in the bottom, aud when there are no 

 other means to provide against it, the ground is cut 

 transversely. The tree iloes not flom-ish in heavy or damp 

 ground, especially when the substratum is impermeable. 

 The plantation is made in December, aud then, dui-ing the 

 first year, the ground is dug up from four to six times, 

 to preserve it from weeds ; manure is but sparingly used. 

 The first digging, which is the deepest, is made in January, 

 and the following in March, May, June, August, and October. 

 In September of the first year, the leaves are stripped 

 otf witli the hands, a little before their falling. It is 

 better, however, not to touch the young bark, but to allow 

 them to fall oft naturally. Young trees are sometimes too 

 (piickly stripped and damaged, while the crop of leaves 

 will bring, when sold, half the price of that obtained in 

 the following years, in which the shumac ground is 

 dug over more fretjuently; this is done between December 

 and January, and March and Miy, when the earth is heaped 

 up round the stem, at the time of the first digging, and 

 then smoothed down. In Sicily, they heap up the earth 

 among plants, cultivated as vines, to ventilate it by in- 

 creasing the sm-facc through hills, to make the running 

 off of water easy, and to facilitate the future trausplant- 

 ings. In the time of the greatest dryness the hills are 

 always levelled. In the second year, open spaces left by 

 dead plants are filled up. The harvest is made when the 

 leaves have acquired all their development aud consistency, 

 and are about to change colorrr ; it takes place between July 

 and August, yet before the month of May the leaves of 

 the lower branches grow yellow, and fall, and these are 

 also, gathered. L^sually, in coUcctmg the crops, secondary 

 branches are cut oif, lea\"ing only the trunk of the tree 

 for the new buds. Some planters strip off the leaves by 

 hand in July, and lop the trees in December, but this has 

 the disadvantage of causing the new buds to grow too 

 soft and the leaves too flabby. The branches are either 

 left in bundles on the ground, for two or three days, after 

 which they are carried to the threshing-floor; or they are 

 brought at once to the threshing-floor, where, after two 

 or three days, according to the season, they are ready for 

 thi-eshing, and are beaten out with flails, or by means of 

 horses. "When beaten with flails, the twig is fairer and 

 less torn, and sold in bales, but when trodden out by horses, 

 it is crushed into minute particles before it is exposed for 

 sale. ^A'hen long leaves are required for the bales, the 

 bales are threshed early in the morning, before the heat 

 of the day has dried up the leaves ; but for cr\ishiug, the 

 operation must be done in the hottest hours, when the 

 branches already threshed once are threshed again. Square 

 linen sheets, six feet square, with a ring in eacli comer, 

 to pass a rope through, aie generally used for 

 carrying the dried branches and leaves to the storehouse. 

 The leaves for bales are carried to the storehouses, and 

 the rest to the mill, which is similar to that used for 

 olives. After being ground, the large lumps are sifted out, 

 and the branches aud other impurities thrown awjiy. and 

 the leaves, if any, are ground again. In this work, the 

 leaf loses a seventh part of its original weight. The 

 threshing-floor is always kept in good coudition, paved and 

 covered with cement or bricks, aud the storehouse is gen- 

 erally exposed to the sun. When the shumac becomes old, 

 and its verdure scanty, another crop is cultiv.'ited, and for 

 this the vineyard is especially adapted by the previous 

 preparation, — Journal of the Society of Arts. 



AGIUOULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF EUKOPE. 

 (Special Letter.) 



Paris, January 26th. 

 Alimentary combiuatious for the feeding of stock make 

 rapid progress, siuce farmers club together to purcha.se 

 the materials at the fountain-head, through the banks 

 which alFord them accommodation ; the analyses of the 

 agruiKimic stations prove also a powerful means to have 

 sound products, as the latter are analysed in sample, and 

 then in bulk, before delivery be accepted. It is thus that 

 cotton cake is makiug now way, not only mixed with 

 maize flour for fattening, luit with various meals — pea, 

 vetch, and barley for milch-cows. The only cotton cake 

 jn favom' is that from decorticated cotton beeAs ivoux 



