94 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1883. 



and value of the tree, and necessitate, should it be found 

 desirable to remove later such excrescences, wounds two 

 or three times as large as an original cut close to the 

 trunk would have made. 



The custom of jiruning pines is very general in France, 

 and is ofteu carried to ex'-ess. The removal of all branches, 

 with the exception of a few at the top of the tree, must 

 greatly interfere with the growth i ■ diameter of the trunk; 

 and healthy branches shouM not be removed for the sake 

 of creating a clean trunk of more than oue-half or at the 

 most two-thirds of the entire height of the tree. The 

 general rule of pruning already explained in the case of 

 deciduous trees, and whicli establishes a portion between 

 the number of braiiclies which should he removed and the 

 size of the tree, might with advantage be more geaeraly 

 applied in the treatment of pines. 



The StiN AS a Sofrce of Power. — Of the enormous 

 power of the sun's rays few readers have any adequate con- 

 ception ; hut as the time appears now to be approaching 

 when they will be capable- of being made directly available 

 in place of coal and steam for the production of power 

 and light, the question is beginning to assume something 

 more than a theoretical interest. The French electrician, 

 M. Deprez, in a recent work, makes some calculations 

 which illustrate the enormous fund of force which the 

 sun's heat is capable of su])ph'iug. Franco, he says, poss- 

 esses an area of about half a million square kilometres. 

 In one hour the sun's heat will absorij or dry up 21b. of 

 water per square metre ; and so on a fine summer day the 

 quantity of water the sun is capable of absorbing in one 

 hour over the entire area of France is not less then a 

 thousand milliards, or a million millions of pounds avoirdupoLs. 

 If we had to raise this quantity of water to boilling point 

 in boilers we should require no less tl'.an sixty million tons 

 of coal, which is one-fifth of the entire annual production 

 of coal throughout the world. The sun's rays falling on 

 Pi'anee would be able to turn so much water into steJim as 

 would keep going eighty million locomotive engines of 

 collcctiviily forty milliards of horse-power.— I^uildeb. — 

 frardeiier.t' Chronicle. 



Economic Plants. — Under the title of Tnhel/nrhnlie 

 Nebensicht der Wicht'uisteii Nut-.pilanzen, &c.. Dr. Ooeze, of 

 the University Botanic Garden, GreifswaM, has drawn up an 

 enumeration of the more important useful plants arranged 

 according to their productions, aud then geographically and 

 systematically. The first thing that strikes us in turning 

 over the pages of this u.seful Uttle compilation is, that there 

 is still a very wide field for research in determining the 

 sources of vegetable products, and the correct names and 

 important .synonyms of the plants furrdshiug them. Then 

 again the authorities for names are so uncertain, in con- 

 sequence of the loose manner in which many authors im- 

 mediately following Linnjeus cited him and each other, and 

 in a less degree subsequent writers. It so often happened 

 that citations refeiTed to works in which descriptions of the 

 species were to be found r.ather than to the authors who 

 founded and first described the .species. During Linuosun' 

 lifetime, aud after his establishment of a system of universal 

 nomen<dature, other writers. Jacquin for instance, named, 

 described and published many species, which Liuu,-eus took 

 up in the second edition of his Species Plantariim, and in 

 other works, duly giving the authors' names ami the places 

 of pubhcation. In spite of this a large num'ier of such 

 species have been and still are erroneously ascribed to Lin- 

 naeus. But tn return to Goeze's little book. He has divideil 

 the plants under the following heads.: —1, Cereals ; 2. edible 

 tubers and bulbs; :i. edible pods atid seeds ; 4, edible herbs; 

 5. starch (Sago. Arrowroot, &c.) : 6, edible fungi; 7, etlihle 

 fruits ; 8, plants yeilding beverages ; 9, substitutes for Tea 

 and Coffee ; in, plants yeilding sugar : 1 1 , spices ; 12, bee- 

 plants; 13, fodder plants; 14, me licinal plants; 1-5, oils; 111 

 wax: 17, gums and gum-resins; IS, caoutchouc and gutta- 

 percha ; 19, tanning plants ; 2(1. dye plants ; 21, fibre plants ; 

 22, plants forrai.sing silkworms ; 23. plants used in perfumery; 

 24, valuable woods : 2.=i, miscellaneous, followed by an index 

 to the natural orders and another to the substances under 

 their popular nam"S. It would lie easv enough to point out 

 errors of the nature inJici ted in the foregoing remarks. There 

 are also a few unaccountable omissions, while other plants of 

 comparativclv little importance are included. Yet as a whole 



it will be found a very useful guide, of which we may expect 

 to see successive editions. Under each category the sub- 

 divisions are indicated by numbers. Thus under plants used 

 in perfumery we have the parts used indicated in the fol- 

 lowing way: — Flowers, 1 ; leaves, 2; wood, 3 ; root. 4 ; fruit 

 5. — Gardeners Chronicle. 



Pumpkin Soup and Putupkin Pie. — From letters to a 

 Queensland Housekeepcrin the Brisbane Flaater and Farmer, 

 we quote as follows:: — Having pumpkins you can make a 

 most delicious soup; it is very common with the French 

 their favorite potiron. AVhen I first ate it I could not 

 imagine what it was made of ; do try it. This is the recipe 

 of a good French cook: — Two pounds of pumpkin cut in 

 large dice, put it into your pan with three ounces of 

 butter or good fat; add two teaspoonfuls of salt, the s.ame 

 of sugar, a little pepper, and half a pint of water; set 

 on the fire and stew gently for twenty minutes. When 

 in pulp add two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir round and 

 moisten with three pints of milk or milk aud water, boil 

 ten minutes longer and serve with toasted bread cut in 

 dice. Try also some pumpkin pies, famed in American story. 

 They say only an American woman can make good pumpkin 

 pies, but with care we can turn them out at least edible ! Boil 

 the pumpkin first till soft— as you would for the dinner- 

 table, press through a collander tiU you have about half a 

 pint of the pulp. Beat up three eggs, add one by 

 one while beating a tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoon- 

 fuls of sugar, half a pint of milk and the pulp; flavom- 

 with essence of lemou and a quater of nutmeg grated, and 

 a little cinnamon and ginger. The secret of excelleuce, I 

 think, lies mainly in the flavouring ; some hke a prepond- 

 erance of one spice over the rest, as ginger for example, 

 but anyway the flavor of the lemou and spices should be 

 quite perceptible, giving it a spicy, aromatic taste. Bake in 

 shallow dishes or tm plates lined with puff paste in a 

 slown oven. — Planter and Fanner. 



Facts .UionT Leaves.— [The following paragraph, showing 

 the importance of a large leaf surface for tree growth, 

 proves that the loss of leaves, as the result of Hcmileia 

 mstatri,r,is, -what mainly "ails or coffee trees." — Ed.] In a 

 lecture liy Professor Beal of America upon this subject, the 

 following remarks occur: — As is well knonni, a tree cannot 

 grow without leaves. These are put forth every year^ and 

 are a contrivance for v.astly increasing the surface. ' An Oak 

 tree of good size exposes several acres of surface to the air 

 during the growing season. It has beeu estimated that the 

 "Washington Elm at Cambridge, Mass., not a very large tree, 

 exposes about 5 acres of foliage, if we include both sides of 

 the leaves. Leaves are more nearly comparable to stomachs 

 than to lungs. A leaf is a Laboratory for assimilating or 

 manufacturing raw materials into plant fabric. The cellular 

 structure of the leaves, wood, and bark of a tree is a com- 

 plicated subject to treat in a popular way. It requires a vast 

 sni-face of leaves to do a little work. By counting the leaves 

 on a .seeiUmg Oak, and estimating the .s'urface on both sides 

 of each, we can see how many inches are needed to build 

 up the roots and stem for the first year. After the first 

 year the old stem of the O.ik bears no leaves. It is depend- 

 ent on the leaves of the branches, or its children, for support. 

 A tree is a sort of community, each part having its omi duties 

 to perform. The root hairs take up most most of the 

 nourishment. The young roots take this to the larger ones 

 and they in turn, like the branches of a river, pour the 

 flood of crude sap into the trunk, which conveys it to 

 the leaves, which are the work-shops of the plant body. 

 The trunk and main branches also support and hold out 

 the young branches, which put forth the leaves. The as- 

 similated or digested sap passes from the leaves to all growing 

 parts of the plant, and a deposit is ma le where most needed. 

 If a branch is much exposed to the winds, the base of it 

 has a certain support or certain amount of nourishment. 

 8o with the trunk of a tree. If the base of a biauch or 

 the main trunk is much exposed to the winds aud storms 

 a much thicker deposit of food is made there. The 

 winds give a tree exercise, which seems good to help make 

 it strong. Our toughest wood comes from the trees growing 

 in exposed places. The limbs of a tree are all the time 

 striving wi}h each other to see which shall have the most 

 room an! the most sunshine. While some perish in the 

 attempt, or meet with only very indifferent success, the 

 strongest of the strong buds survive. — Journal of Hm-ticidt- 



