490 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Janfary I, 18S4. 



ten and t we've feet in diameter. The ancient temple of 

 Osuwa at Nagasaki i.s situated in a migniSceut grove of 

 many hundred grand old eamplior trees, which are of great 

 «ge and size, and are still beautiful and vigorous. I am 

 t lid that there are trees in other places in Kiu Shin 

 m !asuring as much as twenty feet in diameter. The 

 b.idy or trunk of the tree usually runs up twenty and 

 thirty feet without limbs, then branching out in all di- 

 rections, forming a well proportioned, beautiful tree, ever- 

 green and very ornamental. 



The leaf is small, elliptical in shape, slightly serrated, 

 and of a vi\-id dark-green colour all the year round, ex- 

 cept for a week or two in the early spring, when the 

 young leaves .are of a delicate tender green. The seed or 

 berry grows in clusters and r&semhles black currants in 

 .size and appearance. The wood is used for many purposes, 

 its fine grain rendering it especially valuable for cabinet 

 work, wh le it is used also for ship-building. The roots 

 make excellent knees for ships. 



I have sent many seeds of the camphor tree to the 

 United States, in the hope of adding to our own arbori- 

 culture. 



In the manufacture of camphor the tree is necessarily 

 destroyed, but, by a stringent law of the land, another 

 is planted in its stead. The simple method of manufacture 

 employed by the natives is as follows: — 



The tree is felled to the earth and cut into small pieces, 

 or more properly speaking, into chips. 



A large metal pot is partially filled with water and 

 placed over a slow fire. A wooden tub is fitted to the 

 top of the pot and the chips of camphor wood are placed 

 in this. The bottom of the tub is perforated, so as to 

 permit the steam to pass up among the chips. 



A steam-tight cover is fitted on the tub. From this 

 tub a bamboo pipe leads to another tub, through which 

 the inclosed ste.am, the generated camphor, and oil flow. 

 This second tub is connected in like manner with a third. 



The third tub is divided into two compartments, one 

 abov • the other, the diriding floor being perforated with 

 small holes, to allow the water and oil to pass to the 

 low.;r compartment. The upper compartment is supplied 

 with a layer of straw, which catches and holds the camphor 

 in crystal in deposit as it passes to the cooling process. 

 The camphor is then separated from the straw, packed in 

 wooden tubs of 133J pounds each, and is ready for market. 



After each boiling the water runs off through a faucet, 

 loa\'ing the oil, which is used by the natives for illuminat- 

 ing and other purposes. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 



TASMANIAN XOTES. 



There are few more pleasant places for spending a 

 holiday in than Tasmania, which affords the two great re- 

 quisites for exciting interest, viz., the most charming scenery 

 and novelty. It may apjjear far afield, but all places 

 near home are comparatively devoid of novelty, and such 

 thorough and comfortable communication is now estabUshed 

 with the Australian colonies that getting there is merely a 

 pleasant episode of travel. Less than six weeks suffices to 

 make the voyage of 12,00i1 miles— a voyage full of interest 

 in itself, the only part likely to prove at all tedious being 

 the sixteen or seventeen days from the Red Sea to the 

 Australian coast. But it is not so much the voy.age as what 

 may I e seen at the end of it which concerns us now. Riding 

 along these roads, which often pass through lovely valleys 

 inclosed by slopes covered with beautiful ferns and immense 

 trees, having an undergrowth almost trojiical in its luxuriance 

 one comes suddenly on some fine house standing back in its 

 own park, S3 thoroughly Enghsh, that imagination immedi- 

 ately rushes to some well-remembered home spot. Familiar 

 English trees planted around, and English grasses growing 

 luxuriantly, tempt one to an entrance, and, entrance once 

 made, the most unbounded hospitaUty and a thoroughly 

 cordial welcome is pressed on the visitor. From some of 

 these houses in the interior, where I have been so corcUally 

 welcomed, lovely views extend. The island is particularly 

 mountainous, baring very few level tracts of country, so that 

 its scenery is most jncturestjue. There is abundance of 

 timber on all the mount.ains. principally Eucalyptus; all the 

 trees are evergreen, and afford a dark background to the 

 beautiful undergrowth and ferns. 

 As regards Ufe in the country stations, much of course 



depends on the season of the year, but there is always 

 something entertaining going on. Life is generally of the 

 simplest and most healthy description, to bed early and 

 up with the sun being the great rule, as there is no day- 

 light to waste, especially busy attimes. On most stations 

 the management of sheep is the jn-iucipal business, but 

 others are devoted to cattle, and some to horses. Branding 

 cattle, and driving large mobs, is most difficult, but, to most 

 Englishmen who are sufiiciently skilful, it is a novel and 

 entertaining work. No little skill is requu-ed in managing 

 the stockwhip — general];, a lash some 20ft. long on a haudle 

 of 2ft., heavily weighted at the butt for balance— or in 

 avoiding the rush of some infiu-iated animal. Sometimes 

 gentle management induces the animals to go ijuiettv, but 

 no reliance is to be placed on this. Suddenly some 'fierce 

 old bull rushes out from the herd, and, though the rest 

 may be kept together, and so managed, he must be fetched 

 back alone. Away go the stockmen, galloping across the 

 rough country, and if the trees have not been cleared, a 

 good stock-horse (any other horse is useless for this work) 

 will wind in and out between them till the animal is headed, 

 and compelled to go back ; his furious rushes are then 

 avoided by the cmining horse, until at last, thoroughly 

 subdued, the animal is driven in. Many are the narrow 

 e.scapes which these stockmen go through ; it is, of course, 

 impossible to gallop over this rough ground with impunity; 

 but accidents are comparatively few. I have seen some 

 very exciting scenes in the branding of cattle, which are 

 driven into the large and very strongly built stockyard 

 surrounded by an open fence of stout timber some 7ft 

 high. Around the top of this a plank runs, on which those 

 engaged with the cattle walk round, and select the animals 

 which are to be dealt with. The beasts sometimes make 

 the most frantic endeavours to reach those dealing with 

 them, and care must be taken lest some long-horned brute 

 touch the legs, as a fall into the yard would be almost 

 surely fatal. From the yards the animals are driven for 

 actual branding into a narrow race, and there fastened, with 

 ropes round the body, to the side, while the branding uon 

 is apphed. 



Exciting sport may, of course, always be found in riding. 

 There is sure to be a horse which takes some riding, and 

 one may try one's hand. An attempt of this kind should, 

 however, be very carefully considered before being made. 

 Suppose the horse is a real Australian buck-jumper, as I have 

 found to my cost, it is no pleasant thing to find oneself 

 hoisted violently in the air, ani the horse's head and neck — 

 in fact, his whole fore-quarters — vanish suddenly from sight. 

 There is plenty of what may be considered more legitimate 

 sport in the way of shooting to be had, and in some parts of 

 the i.sland it is excellent. Several very good days m.ay he had 

 after kangaroo .and wallaby. Unfortunately, the former 

 wei'e destroyed in such wholesale fashion that they have been 

 driven far 'oack from the haunts of men, and laws have been 

 passed for their preservation. The kangaroo is excellent eat- 

 ing, only the hind-quarters being used ; the flesh tastes some- 

 thing between venison and mutton, and soup made from the 

 tail is very good. The tanned skin makes a very valuable 

 leather, not quite so strong as pig and not quite so soft as kid. 

 A most amusing autl strange shooting experience is opossum 

 shooting. This is in the winter, because then alone the fm'S 

 are valuable, and at night, because then alone is the opossum 

 on the move ; by day he lies pei-dii in some hollow of a tree. 

 The opossum, though marsupial, seems to show an affinity to 

 the cat tribe — at least as regards tenacity of life — for I never 

 found anything yet so hard to kill. I have seen one hit hard, 

 an<l knockedoft' a branch of a tree some 50ft. from the ground. 

 fall to the ground in the shape of a ball, jump at once and 

 scuttle off, tdl brought down by another shot. - 



Some of the bird shootmg is splendid sport, wattlebirds, as 

 they are called, being very good. There is on the rivers some 

 very good wild duck shooting, especially on the Jordan, a small 

 trib\itary of the Derwent, and not far from Hobart. — Y. D. 

 —Field. 



SUGAR-CANE CULTIVATION IN BRITISH BUKMAH. 



The Indian Govenmient is steadily pnrsuing its recent 

 policv of endeavoiu-ing to develop the Sugar industry of the 

 Empire— an imi^ortant fact, considering that the production 

 of India is estimated alreaily to amount to something like 

 5,000,000 tons a year. If this vast weight were proper 



