JUNE 2, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



935 



clearing for the cultivation of various products, and the 

 forest supply of timber suffers most materially if the occup- 

 ation of the land is not permanent but temporary. ThuS 

 a tract of laud ha\'ing been secured, the primeval forest is 

 cut or burned down, and the timber left to rot. Between 

 the fallen trunks, gambler, pepper, rice, tapioca or other 

 products are raised, and after a few crops have been taken 

 off, the ground becomes exhausted. To procure and clear 

 a fresh spot is often cheaper than manuring the old soil, 

 so the previous plantation is abandoned to white ants, sec- 

 ondary jungle — as a rule of laiang grass — low scrub, with 

 here and there small and useless trees. This laiang grass 

 (Androjjogan car!cosu^)^vfhen once it gets possession of the 

 ground, stifles everything else, and its long fibrous and 

 tough roots resist all native efforts to eradicate it ; even 

 a praiiie plough would possibly reclaim the land at too 

 great a cost.* The pretty little sensitive plant (Mimosa) 

 soon carpets the ground with its flaming yellow flowers, 

 and it is most diflicult to eradicate. 



Singapore hardly cuts any timber at all for her own use, 

 being chiefly supplied from Rio and the adjacent islands, 

 and- also from Johore. In Malacca a great quantity can 

 be cut, but from want of roads or streams, it is very diffic- 

 ult to get timber from a gi'eater distance than fifteen to 

 twenty miles from the town. Penang and Province "WeUesley 

 cannot cut much timber, unless the risk of cHmatic dis- 

 turbance be run. The Straits Settlements exports no tim- 

 ber to speak of ; what little Tampinis and other hard woods 

 which have been shipped occasionally to Oeylon and Blaur- 

 itius, being chiefly from other islands. 



With the territory of Johore, the case is different. Some 

 years ago, H.H. the Maharajah erected extensive steam saw 

 mills, and these mills, under the enlightened and able manage- 

 ment of Mr. James Meklrum, have placed in the markets 

 a large quantity of fine timber. 



The following figures have been suppUed me by Mr. 

 Meldrum. Exports of timber from Johore, 1864-1S74: — 



Loads. Value. 



To British India 15,000 ... $115,000 



„ China 7,000 ... 84,000 



„ Mauritius 3,000 ... 36,000 



„ Ji^va .-. 2,700 ... 27,000 



Taking in " sundry places," about 40,000 loads of hard 

 wood has been exported, principally in the form of logs or 

 railway sleepers ; the trade in the latter has fallen olf , 

 through the more general employment of iron cradles. 

 About 60,000 loads of soft woods, in the form of logs, 

 planks, boards, &c., have been exported. Of these soft woods, 

 25,000 loads were taken by Sinagpore, at a value of $270,000. 

 Mr. Meldrum states, as the result of about twenty -years' 

 experience, that the Johore forests are diminishing rapidly, 

 that the sea-shores, islands, and other easily attainable 

 localities are cleared, and that a good supply cannot be 

 hoped for, till the rivers are made more navigable, and 

 good roads pushed into the interior. 



As will be seen, no steps have been taken as to con- 

 servancy or cultivation, and this calls for immediate atten- 

 tion. As to how this is to be managed, need not be 

 entered on ht-ro, but in parenthesis, we may state that 

 following in the lines of the Indian Forest Conservancy, with 

 a few modifications, would amply meet the case. 



As to the climatic changes brought about by the clear- 

 ance of forests in this part of the world, very little cau 

 be said. The late Dr. Randell, Principal Medical Officer, 

 S. S., in his Annual Meteofological Abstract for 1873, has 

 the following: — 



"The only causes that appears to me to exist, or have 

 existed, to which this great decrease of rainfall may be 

 attributed, is the extensive clearing of forest on the main- 

 land of Johore, contiguous to this island (Singapore), which 

 has been effected principally during the period under notice; 

 and I would suggest that the conservancy of portions of 

 forests may be taken into the consideration of Government." 

 Certainly, many old inhabitants have informed me, that 

 the heat is greater and the rainfall less in the Straits Settle- 

 ments than it used to be. One thing, however, has done 



* The laiang would, I believe, prove one of the best sand- 

 binding plants. "When coming through the Suez Canal, I 

 could not help thinking that if this were planted along the 

 Iianks, much dredging would bo saved, and render the passage 

 through nmch more endurable. 



largely to mitigate and render less apparent the great 

 destruction fo forests, and that is the enormous extent to 

 which the cocoa-nut palm and other fruit trees are cultiv- 

 ated. — Journal of the lyocittt/ of Arts. 



To Destroy Sldgs. — Take one ounce corrosive sublimate 

 and dissolve it, in a close vessel, in a quart of boiling water 

 When thoroughly dissolved, add to it six gallons of cold 

 water, and with a rose watering-pot apply it to the places in- 

 fested. It will have still more effect it every ounce of sublim- 

 ate is made into only four gallons of mixture and the ground 

 gone over the day after with a second watering of pure water 

 which will carry the destructive power deeper into the ground! 

 This plan not only destroys the perfect slug, but the eggs, 

 jarvas and pupa of everything which it teaches.— Justialasian. 



Kehosene Emulsion. — The following is Dr. Riley's 



formula, which has proved useful in practice: 



Kerosene, 2 gallons=ti7 per cent ; common soap or whale 

 oil soap, J lb.=33 per cent ; water 1 gallon. Dissolve the 

 soap in boiUng water, and add, while still boUing, the kero- 

 sene ; churn or stir the mixture very thoroughly for five or 

 ten minutes. The emulsion, when properly made, forms a 

 thick cream, which adheres without oiliness to the surface 

 of glass. When required for use, one part of the emulsion 

 should be diluted with nine parts of water. The above 

 formula gives 3 gallons of emulsion, and makes, when diluted 

 30 gallons of wash. — Leader. ' 



The Olive Boom in Califoenia. — For the last few weeks 

 no Uttle competition has been going on between large buyers 

 of cuttings, and several local proprietors who have had oUve 

 trees available have been besieged by the agents or princi- 

 pals of future olive orchards. Load after load of the beauti- 

 ful green branches have passed through town, some to the 

 wharf to be sliipped away, others to convenient places to be 

 rooted and thence transported to neighbouring places. The 

 Santa Ynez, judging by the olive branches intended for that 

 place, will be a great producing country for fruit and oil in 

 years to come, and the elaborate preparations being made at 

 Sunoi, Alameda county, and the thousands of cuttings being 

 shipped there would indicate that much may be expected of 

 that place when time brings fruition. The main source of 

 supply of the cuttings is several old places about town and 

 near here. The prices range from eight to twelve dollars per 

 thousand, with a lively dem&ad.—^anta Barbara Independent. 



Charcoal as Food. — Whatever increases the power of 

 laying on fat or promoting the rapid and healthy production 

 of flesh must be food or an equivalent thereto. This pure 

 charcoal does most effectually, as was recently proved in 

 the East by taking the live weights of two lots of sheep 

 and simply separating them by an ordinary net, the arti- 

 ficial food, corn and cake, being carefully weighed out to 

 each lot aHke daily, one pint of charcoal being added to 

 one lot only. When reweighed. prior to selling to the butch- 

 er, the increase in weight was in favor of charcoal by 16^ 

 per cent. Sanitiition causes easy and rapid digestion, and 

 assimilation only can account for these results, which char- 

 coal alone can accomplish. The charcoal should be given 

 mixed with food, except m urgent cases, when it may be 

 mixed in water or thin gruel and given as a drench. The 

 dose is one pint to every twenty-five head of sheep or 

 lambs; one quarter pint per head for full grown cattle 

 horses or pigs; half the quantity for young cattle, and' 

 two teaspoonsful to one dessert spoonful for young calves 

 daily, when .suffering from disease or in ill-conditiou. To' 

 keep in good health .and fortify agaiust disease the dose 

 should be given two or three times a week, according to 

 the class of food they are having and the state of the 

 atmosphere. The best plan is to wet a quantity of bran 

 pollard or malt combings ; mix the charcoal with it and then 

 with the food you give them. For rapid and healthy fat- 

 tening of cattle it should be used daily amongst their food. 

 Charcoal for internal and medicinal purposes must be pure 

 vegetable charcoal, free from all irritating and injurious 

 foreign matter. Charcoal when coming into the user's poss- 

 ession must be perfectly dry and free from any ill smell- 

 ing sm-rouudings, such as the vapors of a stable, artificial 

 manures, &c., or it will absorb them, and thus become 

 septic aud of no medicinal value. It is better kept in a 



closed bin or tin canister with a closely fitting cover. San 



Francisco JVeekli/ Chronicle, 



