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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[May 1, 1884. 



pliates, lactophopphates, and hypopboephites of lime, aiul 

 various niucilftgiuous substances, experience shows that, for 

 the ordinary practical purposes of the farmer and fruit 

 grower, soap and milk are among the most available sub- 

 Btances for the production of pttrolemn emulsions. 



Ordinary bar soap scraped ;uid rubbed into paste at the rate 

 of twenty parts soap, ten parts water, thirty parts kerosene, 

 and one part of fir balsam ■will make, when dihited with water, 

 an emulsion stable enough for practical purposes, as the 

 slight cream which in time rises to the surface, or the flaki- 

 ness that often follows, is easily dissipated by a little shaking. 

 Soap emulsions are, however, less satisfactory and efiicient 

 than those made with milk. Emulsions with milk may be 

 made of varying strength, but one of the most satisfactory pro- 

 portions is two parts of refined kerosene to one part of sour 

 milk. This must be thoroughly chiu-ncd (not merely shaken) 

 until a butter is formed, which is thoroughlj' stable and will 

 keep iudefiuitely in closed vessels, and may be dUnted ad 

 libitum with water when needed for use. The time required 

 to briug the butter varies with the temperature, and both 

 soap and milk emulsions are facilitated by heating the 

 ingredients. Ordinary condensed milk may also be used by 

 thoroughly stirring and beating it in an equal or varying 

 quantity of kerosene. 



The diluted emulsion, when prepared for use, should be 

 finely sprayed upon the insects to be killed, its strength varj'- 

 ing for different insects or plants, and its effect is enhanced 

 when brought forcibly in contact with the insects. 



Of mucilaginous substances, that obtained from the root of 

 Zamia iutef/rifolia (a plant quite common in parts of Florida, 

 and from the stems of which the Florida arrowroot is obtain- 

 ed ) has proved useful as an emulsifier. 



These petroleum emulsions have been used with success by 

 Dr. J. C. Neal, of Ai'cher, Fla., against the cotton worm, with- 

 out injury to the plant; but their chief value depends on their 

 efficacy against the different scale insects which affect citrus 

 plants. Kxperience so far show^s that such plants do not 

 suffer from its judicious use, but that it must be applied with 

 much more care to most deciduous fruit trees in order not 

 to injure them. — Scientijic American. 



FLORIDA, PEK CONTRA. 



Just at present, Florida is advertised as a sort of second 

 paradise, though in reality in summer one is more forcibly 

 reminded of a place celebrated for the ijeculiarity of its pave- 

 ment, because the insects make it a place of torznent, and 

 some of the views really look something like the backgrounds 

 of Gustave Dore's illustrations of Dante's Inferno. The 

 whole present idea of Florida is to get up a boom. Fully 

 three-quarters of the State is sp 'culated. Land, dear at 5 

 dols. an acre, is sold at prices ranging up to 50 dols,, and 

 eometimeseven higher. Hence the conlcHr-de-ro$est2itQmQiiis 

 in the papers about products, which are either gross ex- 

 aggerations or pure fabrications. Orange groves, for instance, 

 take an immense time to really pay; lemons, besides takuig 

 time to bear, want a lot of knowledge as to proper time for 

 picking; limes are too pnrishable ever to have a very active 

 demand; citrons cannot pay unless there is a factory near for 

 the peel; pomeloos and shaddocks do not seem to be in much 

 demand; guavas are only useful for their jelly, and in America 

 it would probalily be found cheai^er to buy up hoofs from 

 some knacker's yard, and boil them down with some flavour- 

 ing extract of tar. More money is lost thnn made on 

 \'egetab!eR, as they require much skill, work, and fertilising ; 

 and to talk of them paying so much an acre is really 

 almost as absurd as saying that framn cucumber.'^ and 

 melons pay so much an acre in England. Sugar is not 

 much grown, neither is tobacco, and I doubt if labour 

 could always be got to pick off the toltacco worm; cotton, 

 of course, never pays well; cocoanuts only grow along the 

 most malarious shores of the extreme .south. As to Florida 

 being tropical in vegetatinn, it would be equally reasonable 

 to call London article; this year many oranges were frozen 

 on the trees, and the thermometer went down to 21 '^ at 

 Leesburg, Sumter county, killing every plant that had any 

 pretensions to being tropical, and cutting peas down to 

 the ground. 



In th^ winter of 1835 nearly every orange tree in the 

 whole State was killed down to the ground, As to the soil, 

 qv rather eand, it wants fertilising abundantly and frequently, 



because it leeches readily, while everything wants manure 

 In summer Florida swarms with insects, a kind of small fly 

 rendering work impossible out of doors dm-ing the day, and 

 iu-doors can oidy be made bearable by darkness, since nothing 

 can pi-event them from entering the house. Duriug the 

 night the niggers love to yell, apparently just when one wants 

 to go to sleep. The health of Florida is certainly not as 

 good as it is .said to be. Ague and malarial fevers are com- 

 mon, dysentery is frequent, and often fatal, while yellow 

 fever seems always ready to break out. even in the interior, 

 and everyone seems to lose flesh and energy. 



Food is bad and dear, partly because so very little to eat 

 can be raised in the State; consequently, canned goods are 

 the chief means of subsistence, and the gi'ocers make about 

 30 per cent profit. Furniture aud clothing are equally dear, 

 besides that they are utterly rotten and uusuited to the 

 climate. Taking it altogether, Florida affords more openings 

 to the speculator than the agriculturist.— PEn Damna Peb 

 Cjedes. — Field. 



THE QUININE MARKET. 



"Whatever may be the true history of the latu urdamented 

 quinine syndicate, it is certain that the trade and the pub- 

 lic generally are to be congratulated on its mitiraely dis- 

 solution. "Vilien the manufacture of a staple of commerce 

 is in a few hands there is always a temptation towards 

 combination with a view of establishing an artificial rate 

 of profit. On this occasion it is doubtful whether the ring 

 had been completely formed, but certainly some negoti- 

 ations had been entered into, and a good deal of money 

 had been sunk in the effort to buy up a large proportion 

 of the floating stock so as to pave the way for the stand- 

 ard price. It seems, likely, however, that the promoters of 

 the scheme, who are understood to have been some of the 

 foreign makers, had under-estimated the quantity of quinine 

 held in second-hands both in Europe and America. Over- 

 production had l.)een going on for some time, and at each 

 fresh fall small spuculators came in and stocked themselves. 

 Agents for the syndicate, however, bought largely, both 

 here and in New York, and in many quarters thu per- 

 manence of the agreement was confidently asserted. In our 

 own trade report, however, doubts as to this permanence 

 were freely expressed, and the tumble came .sooner than 

 was anticipated. The bark growers and dealers naturally 

 objected to an arrangement which would have checked con- 

 sumption, and in the profits on which they would have had 

 no share. It is possible that their discontent, which was 

 not to be despised, had some influence, and it seems to 

 be understood that the makers, even if they had all given 

 their conditional adhesion to the plan, consented to it with 

 varying degrees of cordiality. "Whether the disagreement 

 came about on principle or policy has not been proved, 

 but it occurred coincidently with the attempt to unload 

 some of the superfluous stock controlled by the syndicate. 

 For some reason, which is more their own business than 

 anyone else's, Messrs. ?Iowards saw fit to strike at this 

 moment, and they did so most effectively. By a sudden 

 reduction of Is 6d. per o?.. just after an auction of 10,000 

 oz. of a foreign make had bf_'t'n announced, they no doubt 

 reduced the proceeds of that auction by something be- 

 tween £500 and £1,000, and, of course, they shattered the 

 combination at the same moment. The quinine put up 

 sold at 5s to 5s 3d per oz., and afterwards, for a few 

 weeks, large quantities of foreign were sold, and, to a great 

 extent, stocked, at 5s and under. A somewhat stronger 

 feeliug has been growing since, and a legitimate advance 

 liad been established when the news came of the destruc- 

 tion of Messrs. Powers h "Weightman's works, in Philadel- 

 phia, with a consequent sudden jise in the price of quinine. 

 In this rise the hand of the speouhttor was very visible, 

 and again Messrs. Howards seem to have checked an 

 iqtwai-d niovement here by refusing to be influenced in 

 their quotations by the news. 



It is certainly not desirable, after sucli great efforts 

 have been made to provide an abundant .-supply of cin- 

 chonas, that the advantage shoid<l be intercfjitcd bj^ some 

 six or seven intermediaries; and though thc^e cornerings 

 may occasionally secure a fortune, they are universally 

 recognised to bo unhealthy excrescences on trade generally, 

 •^Chemist and Druggist. 



