June 2, 1884,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



889 



THE PROPAGATION OF HOUSE PLANTS. 



Nothing about plant culture is more fascinating than the 

 multiplying of plants from cuttings. It is the making of 

 a new plant, and one takes a!l the more interest ma plant 

 thus produced. Florists, with tlieir propagating benches, 

 turn out plants by hundreds and thousands. Their propagat- 

 ing houses are regular plant factories, in which the raw 

 material of cuttings is turned out as the fiuished product — 

 the rooted plants. Several years ago we published a method 

 by which the amateur could multiply his plants iu all needed 

 numbers, and with something like the certainty that attends 

 the larger operations of the florist. The method alluded 

 to is known as " the saucer system," and, as it will be new 

 to a large number of our readers, we give it in brief. The 

 out-fit needed is sharp sand — if from the sea shore, let it 

 be thoroughly washed, to deprive it of all salt — and a saucer, 

 fioup-plate or other dish, that will hold an inch in depth of 

 sancL. Cuttings are made of the tender growth of house 

 plants, an inch or two long, and set in the sand so closely 

 together as to touch one another. The dish of sand contain- 

 ing the cuttings should be set in a sunny window fully ex- 

 posed to the light, and the sand, from the beginning must 

 be ''sopping wet," and kept in the state of mud continu- 

 ously. If the sand is allowed to get dry, most of the cuttings 

 will be lost. Some cuttings will be rooted in a week, others in 

 two or three weeks. As soon as roots are formed at tlic 

 base, the cuttings should be potted off in rich, light soil. 

 Shrubs that do not root readily from cuttings of the ripened 

 stem, will often grow readily in the saucer if a tender shoot 

 be tiiken. — A.acric.tn A'/ricidturist. 



KEROSENE TO KILL INSECTS.— AN EMULSION. 



Since the illuminating oil obtained from petroleum, known 

 in this country as kerosene, and in England as paraffine oil, 

 came into general use, it has been employed with variable 

 success as an insecticide. That it would destroy insect life 

 was long ago established ; that it would also destroy plant 

 life was sometimes demonstrated in a manner more con- 

 vincing that pleasant. The oil in its concentrated form can 

 -be tolerated by but few plants. The first improvement in 

 ■its use was to add a very amaU quantity to a bucket of water, 

 enough to make but a mere film upon the surface: then 

 diffuse it through the water by violent stirring, and apply 

 before the oil and water had time to separate. This an- 

 swered fairly well, but was troublesome. The next step was 

 to divide the kerosene, not by dissolving it. but by diffusing 

 it in the form of an emulsion. It is well known that oils 

 may be suspended in water by means of gum, sugar, etc., and 

 may be kept thus for some hours or even days. It has been 

 discovered that milk, either fresh or soured, is a convenient 

 medium to unite kerosene and water. Mix together kerosene 

 and half as much milk, stirring them thoroughly to form a 

 creamlike mixture, AVlien the two are so completely united 

 that no oil is visible, dilute the mixtiu-e with twelve times 

 its bulk of water, adding the water gi-adually, and stirring 

 thoroughly. This emulsion has been found especially use- 

 ful in the treatment of the various scale insects, so difficult 

 to destroy by ordinary iu.secticides, and is used for various 

 other insect pests. For trees use a syringe or force pump, 

 and for house-plants, often injured by scale insects, apply 

 with a sponge or swab. — American Agriculturist. 



RENDERING SHINGLES WEATHER AND FIRE 

 PROOF. 



Some of our eastern exchanges have of late contained 

 articles on the use of crude petroleum on roofs to increase 

 their durability. While there is no question of the pre- 

 servative properties of petroleum when applied to wood 

 of any kind, its use on the roofs of farm buildings is 

 certainly dangerous because it increases the danger of 

 fire from sparks from the chimney. A much better pre- 

 paration of shingles is that used by some of the railroad 

 com])ani('s whose depots are especially liably to take fire 

 from sparks from the engine. The shingles' in the bunch 

 are hoilnil for a half hour in a solution of lime and salt, 

 wliich penetrates every particle of the wood and renders 

 them in a large measure fire proof, besides adding to their 

 durabihty. In laying tliese shingles the roof boards are 

 laid close together and covered with a thin layer of 

 113 



hydrauhc cement and the shingles laid upon this, thus 

 forming a fire-proof layer between thehme and salt saturated 

 shingles and the roof boards. Any farmer the owner of 

 a cauldron kettle could, at a small expense, give shingles 

 which he proposed to use, this lime and salt saturation, 

 though of course a large lank would do the work more 

 cheaply and expeditiously. The use of cement between the 

 shingles and roof boards is also an easy matter. It is mixed 

 up thin in small quantities, as for plastering a cistern, and 

 spread evenly with a trowel upon the roof boards about 

 a half inch thick, keeping jiLst ahead of the shingles so that 

 the shingles will be partially imbedded in the cement before 

 it becomes hard. With such a roof the entire shingles might 

 bum oS without the fire being communicated to the roof 

 boards, though as a matter of fact it will be hard to start a 

 fire on the lime and salt saturated shinglea. — Farmers^ Review. 



GINGER BEER PLANT. 



The Editor of the Gardeners^ Chronicle has several times 

 been requisitioned by correspondents (mostly anonymous) for 

 a scientific description of the " Ginger Beer Plant." The 

 correspondents wants to know its botanical name and native 

 country. The writer of this note has also been tormented 

 weekly, almost daily, on the same subject for two or three 

 years. Every one has been asking him for the " regular 

 Latin or Greek name " of the " Ginger Beer Plant." Bene- 

 volent old ladies, clergymen and officers of the Blue Ribbon 

 Army, have called upon him, or written for a scientific 

 explanation, hoping to make the *' Ginger Beer Plant" a 

 boon for the poor. One person wished to feed paupers 

 with it ; another hoped by it means to knock all the pub- 

 licans on the head; a third to send it in barrels for the 

 army in the Soudan. A\Tien such persons have been told 

 it is merely a form of German yeast they have turned 

 away disappointed and di.sgusted. Something more must 

 evidently be done for this rum shrub, of which I have re- 

 cently had applications for slips, rooted cuttings, and seeds. 



The last letter sent to the Gardeners' Chronicle was to 

 this effect : — " I cannot learn anything more about it than 

 that it is an American plant. Cannot find out where it is 

 procured — only how to make it. Empty the contents of 

 the small bottle into the wine-bottle. Bruise about half 

 an ounce of ginger, two table-spoonfuls of white sugar, put 

 in a jug, pour boiling water over it, let it stand till nearly 

 cold, then put the plant in the bottle of ginger, sugar, 

 and water. Cork it tight, aud when it begins to ferment 

 the cork will fly out. The plant "will grow if fed every 

 day, and soon be enough for two bottles. It is best to 

 empty it once a week into a pan and wash it "witlTcold 

 water, then put it in the bottle again." 



To the unaided eye the i^iinger Beer Plant looks like a 

 lump of paste, and when placed under the microscope it 

 is seen to consist of more than one of the Yeast fungi, in 

 a mucilaginous medium. It belongs to the group of fungi 

 termed Saccharomyces, of which there are many species, 

 the one used for beer being S. cerevisise. Mr. Berkeley, 

 Mr. Hoffmann, Mr. Huxley, and many other gentlemen, Brit- 

 ish and foreign, have written about yeast in its different 

 forms and conditions. 



The "Ginger Beer Plant" like all other yeast fungi, ex- 

 cites fermentation in sweet solutions and sets free carbonic 

 acid gas. The carbonic acid gas formed in the process of 

 fermentation at length causes the cork of the ginger beer 

 bottle to fly out as a sign of maturity. 



As all the correspondents insist on this " American plant " 

 being a new species, I propose to humour them by calling 

 it Zingibeerophora spumacephala ! — W. G. Smith. [Mr. 

 Smith favours us with a Latin description which, to avoid 

 possible perplexity, we omit. — Ed.] — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



NETTLE-FIBRE. 



In the Dettische AJIgemeine Poh/technische Zeitung, Dr. 

 J. Moeller gives a report of experiments on the histological 

 character of the fibre of the common stinging-nettle, I rtica 

 dioica, and its applicability to technological purposes. 



The primary bast-bundles of the stem do not form a 

 connected ring, and its fibres are mostly separated by in- 

 termediate parenchyma. The cortical parenchjona is not 

 eclerenchjTiiatous. At the base of the stem the fibres are 

 mostly about 012 mm. iu diameter; higher up they are 



