April i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



745 



of a cultivation or domestication of plants throughout 

 America, and a care and curious coucern about forms and 

 colours which must have caused selection to have been exer- 

 cised ; at any rate, when we have so-called wild species of 

 the same varieties, the variability of these wild species in 

 the portion which finds use is noticeable. 



Incjeed, the careful student mustrecognise that the Americ- 

 an Indians were an agricultural people wherever natural 

 conditions and tribal strength would admit, and that they 

 were efficient agents, not only in the geographical distribution 

 of certain plants, but also in the producing of varieties. 

 Circumstances, as iu European nations in times past, made 

 the tribes usually hunters and agricultiu-ists, often agricultural 

 solely, and again devoted wholly to the chase, and h\Tiig 

 on wild productions. 



The history of the origin of our American vegetables 

 must come from a close study of the history of a people, 

 as well as from a study into the causes and effects of variations. 

 These two methods in time may admit of certain generalis- 

 ations, and it seems safe to assume that the results of such 

 a study will not be in accordance with accepted notions. 

 The physiological method will bring a certainty so far as 

 it accomplishes a conclusion, which the method of systematic 

 botany does not supply. Until we can separate escapes 

 ti'om natural species — that is, until we can determine species 

 apart from changes impressed upon plants by man — it seems 

 unsafe to refer our cultivated plants to localities wherein 

 occur wildings of like species. Far preferable the agrument 

 from historical mention of the habits and movements or 

 migrations of peoples. It seems probable that variability 

 or trueness to seed may become the test as to the sutfici- 

 ency of a cou'-'nsion in favour of or against an assigned 

 species. This tact is an interesting one for the scholarly 

 botanist, for it onlj* needs the reading of De CandoUe's 

 work to realise the uncertainty at present existing. — E. 

 Lewis Stuetevaxt, M.D., in Botanical Gazette. 



A Texan Plague-plant. — According to gentlemen who 

 have recently come to this country from Texas, a plant 

 of which they have brought specimens to Kew is fast 

 becoming the terror of graziers. Unfortunately the said 

 specimens were not in flower, but as far as can be judged 

 from the long silky pinnate leaves and the general aspect 

 of the plant, it may be Astragalus Eigelowii; of course 

 without flowers it is impossible to venture a possible opin- 

 ion in such a case. The plant, whatever it is, is spread- 

 ing rapidly from the south iu a northerly direction. Great 

 patches from half an acre to an acre in extent occur 

 frequently, and, to render matters worse, cattle are very 

 fond of it. As soon as they begin to feed on it, how- 

 ever, they lose flesh very rapidly, their eyesight is effected, 

 and they soon die. A friend of the gentleman who fur- 

 nished these details lost nine horses recently through their 

 having fed on this plant, about which it would be desir- 

 able to have more information. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Plants and Axdials. — The analogy found to exist be- 

 tween plants and animals is remarkable, and to a great 

 extent corroborative of the modern doctrine that the entire 

 universe is composed of the same few simple elements, 

 and ruled by the same correlative laws. It appears to 

 be the case, both among ourselves and the lower creatures 

 arround us, that those which have been raised in scant 

 pastures, and inured to hardships, succeed much better on 

 being moved to better places than those grown in the 

 midst of abundance of rich food, when, afterward, they 

 encounter restricted supply of what is poorer. It is argued 

 that plants manifest a similar behaviour, that seed taken 

 from poor groimd to rich succeeds better then if it had been 

 raised on good soil. It is an opinion very generally held, 

 and one that seems to have reason in it. Many potato grow- 

 ers advocate the policy of raising sets for seed by them- 

 selves, in unmanured ground, and with late planting; and 

 for nursery work it is admitted that soil of medium or 

 poor quality is better for raising plants to send away than 

 a rich soil which would bring them on more rapidly. 

 Short-jointed cane also, the produce of poor land, makes 

 better cuttings than when it is long-jointed. The rule is 

 good and worth watching by all, and its principles can 

 generally be applied advantageously. — Queenslandjir. [The 

 principle seems plausible, but doubt its general applicability. 

 From cinchona nursery beds, for instance, we think it 

 would be hazardous to withhold good forest mould. — Ed.1 

 95 ^ 



Makking Gaeden Labels. — ^In spite of the various in- 

 genious adaptations of wood and metal, we do not seem 

 to have got anything better, cheaper, and easier dealt 

 with at short notice than zinc labels with an iron stem, 

 such as were figured in the Gardeners' Chroniclcy and those 

 made of strips of lead to be stamped with letters or 

 figures. Writing may be assumed to be not indeUble, Let 

 the makers of ink that is reputed to last as long as the 

 metal say what they please, it does become obliterated, 

 or at leftst to such a degree that the reading of the words, 

 &c., becomes a work of difficulty. That being so, the next 

 best method is that of stamping the letters or figures into 

 the label by means of steel dies, which work is best done 

 when the letters are arranged on the limbs of a pair of 

 shears or pincers, eight or nine letters on each. .Some- 

 times the whole alphabet is arranged on one pair, but then 

 the letters furthest from the fulcrum can have but little 

 force exerted on them, and the impression is therefore 

 faint ; but by having one-third of the alphabet on each, 

 the jaws are not made needlessly long. The figures can 

 be treated in similar fashion. As we know from experi- 

 ence loose dies are constantly getting mislaid, but pincers, 

 being larger objects would be less likely to be missing 

 when wanted. Lender each die on the opposite limb a 

 little boss or anvil is placed, upon which the label is held 

 in making the impression, and the handles of the instru- 

 ment being made of considerable length and strength, a 

 great amount of pressure can be obtained, and which can 

 be so regulated by the operator as will fit it for use oa 

 either lead or zinc. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Asphyxiating Flting Foxes by Means op Sctlphub 

 Fumes. — The large bats known popularly as "flying foxes" 

 are destructive to forest in Ceylon, but so few persons 

 make their living by orchards, that much attention is not 

 excited by the savages of these creatures. The case is dif- 

 ferent in Australia where fruit-growing is a most impor- 

 tant pursuit, and in a very interesting account of an 

 Orchard in Queensland, we find the following statement : — 

 This orchard contains fine specimens of most tropical fruits; 

 the mango in particular proves to bo quite at home here, 

 and the proprietor thinks so much of it that he purposes 

 to plant much more largely with it. The persimmon in 

 several of its varieties is also thrifty hero, and from all 

 the trials which up to the present have been made with 

 this fruit it promises to suit any part of the colony equally 

 well, for it is healthy, vigorous, and fruitful, north, south, 

 and west; in fact everywhere that it has had a fair trial. 

 Many varieties of the custard apple are grown in this 

 orchard, and my attention was arrested by a cross between 

 anona squamosa, the common rough-skinned one, and anona 

 reticulata or glabra, the cross being a variety of very great 

 promise. Its specialities are a very superior flavour, more 

 than ordinary productiveness, and the tree attains quickly 

 to a very great size. None of the custard apples known 

 to me have so many good points as this, aiul all lovers of 

 the fruit should endeavour to add this to their collection. 

 In foUage and general appearance the tree resembles anona 

 squamosa, the common rnn^h varipty, hut it is much better 

 in flavour, and as a giant to a dwarf in comparison to its 

 size. Loquats bear profusely, but cannot be harvested 

 owing to the ravages of that abomination, the flying fox. 

 A war of extermination will need to be waged against 

 this noctiumal pest before fruit-growers will be able to enter 

 upon their industry safely. Arid it may not be so diffic- 

 ult of accomphshment as many suppose. A settler in New 

 South \Vales once wrote a private letter to a friend in 

 Central Queensland stating that he had made a success- 

 ful raid upon these animals by following them to their camp 

 with furnaces extemporised out of old nail cans and a 

 quantity of common sulphur. Choosing a calm day he 

 kindled charcoal fires in his furnaces immediatelj' under 

 the foxes, and burnt sulphur iu them, retiring to watch 

 proceedings, and succeeded in bringing them down by 

 thousands. I was relating this to the manager of a sugar 

 plantation once, and he told me that he was in company 

 with an aboriginal at one time where the foxes had a 

 camp, and the nigger — true to his instincts — said, "Bud- 

 geree ! me like 'em ; plenty fat that fellow !" and set to work 

 collecting rubbish to burm and raise a great smoke ; the 

 result of which was that the foxes began falling around 

 stupefied, and the black had a good time of it bagging his 

 spoil. — Queenslander. 



