April i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGBICtTLTURIST. 



lii 



A SOUTH SEA ISLAND SILO. 



(to the editor of the "field.") 



Sir,— It may interest many of your readers at the 

 present time to know that the silo system has been long 

 known and practised by the natives of the South Sea 

 Islands. 



lu many of the islands of the Southern Pacific the 

 natural products of the soil, such as cocoanuts, bread 

 fruit, bananas, taro, and yams, are almost the only means 

 of subsistence; and, as a year of plenty is tiequcntly 

 followed by a year of great scarcity, the iidiabitants pro- 

 vide for the latter season by preserving the surplus of 

 the former. Their mode is as follows; — 



A large rectangular pit. 6 ft. or 7 ft. deep, is dug iu the 

 ground, and the sides well lined with plantain or other 

 thick leaves sewn together. The fruits or vegetables are 

 then stripped of their skin and thrown into the pit, which 

 is then covered with more leaves, and heavily weighted 

 with large stones. 



Small spaces are left between the stones so as to 

 allow the gas generated by fermentation to escape, and 

 tliis fermentation is sometimes assisted by the introduc- 

 tion of pungent fruits and strong-smelling herbs. 



Sometimes the pits are very large, and iu one of the 

 Samoan Islands I was shown one 8 ft. square and 14 ft. 

 deep, belonging to a chief, and, when orders were given, 

 it had to be filled from the contents of the smaller pits 

 owned by his subjects. I was told that its contents would 

 remain good for three or four years, and that " mai " 

 (as it is called in Samoa), like good wine, improves by 

 age. 



In allusion to the stones employed, the Samoans have 

 a proverb, " Wise chiefs are the ' mai ' stones that repress 

 the evils of societj'." 



In Fiji the contents of the pit are called " madrai." 



The smell arising from the pits is very disagreeable, 

 but when " madrai " is cooked it forms a favourite native 

 dish. In taste it is slightly acid, and not unlike a sour 

 cream cheese. 



The different sorts of "madrai" are .said to possess 

 diffi-rent qualities, but the Fijians prefer that made from 

 taro, as they say it makes them dive well. "Madrai" 

 is not eaten in its raw state, but is taken out of the pit 

 i n small quantities, mashed up. mixed with coconut [milk, 

 wrapped up in leaf packages, and baked in an oven. — J. 



\Y. BoDDAM-AVlIETnAJI. 



AGKIOULTUKE ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 



(Special Letttf.) 



Paris, February 23. 



Discussion is taking place as to the relative value of 

 carbolic and salycylic acids in tho treatment of foot and 

 mouth disease. There really does not appear to be much 

 difference, save, that the carbolic acid is five times less 

 dear. The salycylic acid is applied in the form of a solu- 

 tion, 5 grammes to a quart of water, for the mouth, and 

 applied to the nose and foot ulcers in the form of pow- 

 der. The solution of the carbolic acid is employed two 

 or three times a day, following the gravity of the disease ; 

 ten hours after the first application, the fever diminishes 

 and the appetite returns. 



A veterinary surgeon writes that the Pasteur process of 

 preventive vaccination has not always succeeded with him 

 ill the case of pigs; that the cause might be attributed tu 

 difference of race, degree of fatuess, and nature of food. 

 Indeed, he has found that the terrible malady, rougd, 

 disappeared where the pigs were let run on a grass field 

 and fed on a vegetable, not a milk diet. The same gen- 

 tleman draws attention to the astonishing fact that a 

 farmer in the neighbourhood of Vervins, who introduced 

 the most improved breed of English pigs, was refused the 

 first prize by the Local Farming Society, because the pigs 

 bad too small ears ! 



The Commission appointed by the government, to try 

 all the remedies they believe practicable, for combating 

 the phyllo.xera, and if a perfect cure was found, to recom- 

 mend the payment of the reward of 300,000 fr., his made 

 its annual report. Some eccentric remedies were addresseil 

 to the committie. such as the secretions of snails in salt 

 water, thf^ employment of venomous plants, of electricity, 

 and lastly, blessing the seeds of the grape before sowing. 

 91 



The committee recommends tho employment of the only 

 efficacious means known thus far, viz., submersion, sulph- 

 uret of carbon, and sulpho-carbouate of jotassium. It 

 draws attention to the astonishing results obtaini'd by M. 

 Mares, that of strong manuriugs of the vineyards followed 

 by "summer" — not "autumn" which is the Faucoii pro- 

 cess of irrigation. The same body has com-ageously admitted 

 the beneficial advantages resulting from employing American 

 stocks — for heavy lauds the wild Kiparia, Solonis, York- 

 Madeira, Vialla and Jacquez. The stocks are best to 

 employ, as they resist, by their roots; grafting /Vmericau 

 cuttings is not so good. 



In Sweden there are villages with low houses who.sc 

 roofs are covered with grass, and which serve to graze 

 goats. In Norway trees are planted on these grass roofs, 

 so that at a distance the vilKago looks like a Uttle wood. 

 Often the roof is a kind of kitchen garden. 



Fodder iu Germany frequently ruus short for .sheep ; 

 in such a state of affairs, hay and much straw are cut 

 up, .and mixed with chaff, leaves, and some roots .sliced; 

 all is placed in a vat, water pom-ed in, the cover pressed 

 down and weighted, lihen steam is turned on. A handful 

 of hay at night will correct any tendency to laxity in 

 the animals. 



FORMATION OF GUM IN TREES. 



Sir James Paget, whose interesting papers on abnormal 

 growth of plants attracted so much notice some time 

 since, has drawn attention iu the MkIicjI Times (Feb. Ui, 

 p. 206) to some remarkable investigations made by Dr. 

 Beijerinck iu connection with the formation of gum in 

 trees, lately published by the Koyal Academy of Sciences 

 at Amsterdam. Dr. Beijerinck found that in the peach, 

 apricot, plum, cherry, or other trees bearing stone fruits, 

 the formation of gum may be caused by inserting a portion 

 of the gum under the edge of a wound through the bark. 

 The observation that heated or long-boiled pieces of gum 

 would not produce this effect, and that wounds made in 

 the bark of the tree did not produce gum unless a portion 

 was first introduced into it, led him to suspect that thp 

 formation of gum was due to the presence of bacteria or 

 other living organisms. On micropscopical investigation 

 he found that only those pieces of gum containing spores 

 of a highly organized fungus, belonging to the Ascomi/cetes, 

 had the power of conveying the gum disease or gummosis, 

 and that these spores, inserted by themselves under the 

 bark, produced the same pathological changes as did the 

 pieces of gum. The fungus has been examined by Professor 

 Oudemans, who has ascertained it to be a new species, 

 and has named it CotyneumBcijerinckii. Its chief characters 

 consist in the fact that it has a cushion-like stroma, 

 composed of a bright brown parenchyma, on which stand 

 numerous conidia having colourless, unicellular and very 

 slender stems, about as long as themselves. The conidia 

 are small, cask-shaped, about one-thirtii th of a millimetre 

 in length, and usually divided by slightly constricting septa 

 into four cells, of which the two terminal are longer than 

 the two middle ones. From these cells germinal filaments 

 may proceed, from which are develojied yeast-(like?) cells, 

 or brown thick-walled and many-celled mycelia. The first 

 symptom of the gum disease is the ilevelopment of a 

 beautiful red colour around the wound due to the form- 

 ation of a red pigment in one or more of the layers of the 

 cells of the bark. Dr. Beijerinck believes that the fungus 

 produces a fluid of the nature of a fei ment, which pen- 

 etrates the adjacent structures, since tb" disease extends 

 beyond the parts in which any trace of the fungus can 

 be detected. This ferment he believes to act on the ceM 

 walls, starch granules and other coustitmnts of the cells, 

 transforming them into gum and even clianging into gum 

 the Cori/Reuvi itself. The influence of this fluid is also 

 exerted in the cambium, causing the formation of morbid 

 parenchyma, the cells being cubical or polyhedral, thin- 

 walled and rich in protoplasm that is in its turn trans- 

 formed into gum. It is further stated that "a similar 

 disease produces gum arable, gum tragacaiilli, and probably 

 many resins and gum resins." Gum tra;"icaiith is kuowai 

 to be produced by the pith as well as the bark of the 

 stem, and to ooze out from the pith when 'lie .stem is cut? 

 ami if it be indeed duo to a disease if would seem] as 

 if the disease infects the whole plant. Gum moreover, may 



