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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Feeeuary I, 1884. 



during the year 1882, by the forty-oue companies which 

 h»ve struck balance-sheets for the year, were, therefore, 

 R1,84,1G6, or only 15 per cent, on their total i^pital of 

 K1,27.S4,443 ; the twenty-four companies which made a 

 profit obtained a retium of 5 8 per cent, on a capital of 

 R76,95,903 ; while the seventeen losing concerns lost at the 

 rate of 4( per cent, on their capital of K51,91,540. [Unless, 

 therefore, the increased consumption of Indian tea leads to 

 better prices, or unless cost of production can be largely 

 reduced, it is clear that many Indian " concerns" must be 

 soon closed up. — Ed.] 



A Coffee G±i.4ding M.^cuixr. — A new machine for 

 grading cofifee has jutt been produced iu America. A 

 blast tf air is made to strike a sheet of fall.ng coffee, so 

 that stones and heavy impurities fail into one pipe, the 

 large berries into another pipe, tiie small on' 3 into a 

 third, and the broken bei-iies, husks and shells into a 

 fourth. -South of India Observer. 



liANTANA Fibre. — Says the Wynaad corres|jondeut of 

 the iiadras Times : — I have often wondered why an 

 enterprising company has never been raiseil to do some- 

 thing lucialive with Lantina. It stretche": aw;iy by the 

 mile ove- s me oistricts. 1 he sti m^ are f a tough, 

 fibrous consistency, and would, I should imagine, be 

 well adapted fur mmy purposes. At present it is 

 merely regarded as the grave of by -gone glories and the 

 renovator of worn-out land. 



Australian Fnurr in India. — A test shipment of 

 Australian Iresh fruit, consisting of oranges and lemons, 

 is now in the market. This liuit was put on board 

 the P. and 0. Co.'s. Sltamer at S'ducy, - and not- 

 withstrnding a fortnight's delny at Colombo, arr-ve^ 

 at Calcutta in excellent condition. The result 's so 

 encor'aking that an attempt will be made with peaches 

 and apifcots which are now in season iu Australia, aud 

 can be supplied in unlimited quantity. — C. and M. 

 Oazette. 



AoRiccLTtJKE IN BuRMA. — In agricultural ma'ters 

 the progress made is not very great, but fairly s.T.is- 

 factory from all the data placed at cur disposal. We 

 need not refer to the cultivation of rice which, be- 

 ing easy and understood by the people, requires no 

 fostering care to procure a yeuly increase. The 

 people like their own old fashioned mode ol cultivatron 

 an I will none of the — to them — new tangled pk.ngiis 

 and reaping machines. The form of agriculture which 

 lequircs the encouragement of Goveinniert is that 

 which from the laziness of the people lather than 

 from the uasuitability of the soil or climate, is foi-e- 

 is;n to the country. We are glad to tind that c fffee 

 planting is making rapid ailv.ince* at Tavoy and in 

 the Karen Hills. There is nothing, .so tar as we 

 can tee, to prevent coffee tliriving on the plains in 

 and about Rangoon. Mr. Fowle has abo't lOH 

 plants of the Liberian species, about a year-and-a- 

 half old, which could n-a be excelled. Mr. Addis' 

 farm in Maulmaiu, conduc'edon thorough. y scientific 

 principle?, should, in a short time, show most satis- 

 factory results. Mr. Lucas, who is now devoting his 

 attenticn to the growth of the nmlberry with a view 

 to the production of silk, a few years ago used tc 

 turn out fiom his land splendid silky jute. We notici 

 that the Oovernmeut have experimented in Arakai 

 by phinting 6'2.3 acres with the pepper vine. Mr 

 Fnwlr's plantation at the Lakes, where he has pro 

 duced this year 10,001) Havana tid)jcco plants, besides 

 ground-uuts, beans and ses=n amum thows plainly 

 enough what can be d"ne with care and enterprize. 

 Mr. Mirtiv>i'3 little hrochuie on maize al-o points out 

 another channel into which agricultural enterpri-se 

 might be profitably directed .,n a large scale ; but 

 the ijuestion of cheap labour is the point on which 

 the success of everything turus. lea, ciacboua, suj^ar. 



potatoes, and all sorts of peas and vegetables, could 

 be grown successfully enough but for the cooly ques- 

 tii^n ; for all that has been done to increase immi- 

 gration by subsidizing steamer Companies has not 

 helped iu the least to lower the rati 3 for labour. — 

 Rangoon Gazelle. 



"What Kills Fel-it Thees. — Deep planting is one error 

 — to plant a tree rather shallower than it formerlv stood 

 is really the right way, while many plant a tree a they 

 would a post. Roots are of two kinds — the young aud 

 tender rootlets, composed entirely of cells, the feeders of 

 the trees, always found near the surface getting air and 

 moisture, and roots of over one year old, which serve only 

 as supporters of the tree and conductors of its food. 

 Hence the injury that ensues when the delicate rootlets 

 are so deeply buried in the earth. Placing fresh or green 

 manure iu contact with the young roots is another great 

 error. The place to put manure is on the surface, where 

 the elements disintegrate, dissolve aud carry it downward. 

 Numerous forms of fungi are generated and reproduced by 

 the application of such manures directly to the roots, and 

 they immeeliately attack the tree. It is very well to enrich 

 the soil at transplanting the tree, but the manure, if it 

 be iu contact with or very near the roots, should be thoroughly 

 decomposed. — Plouyhman. 



Insecticides. — The three most important and valuable 

 materials now in common use as insecticides in the United 

 States are — (1), arsenical compounds; (2), emuLsions of 

 petroleum; i3), Pyrethrum. 1. Arsenical Compounds; ¥a.r\% 

 green and London purple may be used in suspension in 

 water iu the proportion of from half a pound to 1 lb. 

 of the powder to 40 gal. of water. "When mixed with 

 flour or other diluent the proportion should be oue part 

 of the poison to twenty-five or more of the diluent. 2. 

 Petruleum E/nulsions: A satisfactory emulsion may be made 

 in the follonnng proportions: — Kcrosine, 1 quart; condensed 

 milk, 12 fluid oz. ; diluted with water, 3C oz. This is 

 emulsified by violen t churning, and before use it may be 

 diluted with water from twelve to twenty times. Equal 

 parts of kerosine and condensed milk may also be thoroughly 

 mixed or churned together, and then diluted ad libitum 

 with water. 3. Pyrtthrum: Pyrethrum can be applied, 

 (1), as dry powder; (2), as a fume; (3), as an alcoholic 

 extract, diluted; (4), liy simply stirring the powder in water; 

 (5), as a tea or decoction. As a powder it may be mixed 

 with from ten to twenty times its bulk of wood-ashes or 

 flour, but before use should remain for twenty-four houi's 

 with the diluent in an air-tight vessel.— Riley, in " Eu- 

 ci/clopaJia Americana." — Gardeners Choronicle. 



De.u) Wood on Trees. — The editor of this magazine, 

 stated in these columns some years ago that a dead branch 

 ou a tree makes almost as great a strain on the main 

 plant for moisture as docs a bring one, and many of the 

 practical directions in this magazine have been liased on 

 this fact. Some good people, not satisfied with the .luthority 

 called Prof: Bessey's attention to the statement, who thus 

 rephes in the New York Tribune: — " I have been asked 

 whether the statement lately going the rounds of the 

 American papers that 'a dead branch on a tree makes 

 almost as great a strain on the main plant for 

 moisture as does a living one' is accmate or not. 

 The statement is coupled with another referring to its 

 practical application in tree culture, the conclusion 

 being that every dead branch 'should be at once cut away.' 

 Briefly it might be answered that "the fii-st statement is 

 true in the main, and that, without any doubt at all. the 

 conclusion is a wise one, and ought to be followed in 

 practice. To explain this matter will take considerably 

 more ."^pace, and in order to understand it we must go 

 to vegetable physiology and inquire into the nature of 

 the evaporation of water from plants. It was long sup- 

 posed to be a physiological process, and was con.sidered 

 to be entirely different from onlinary physical 

 evaporation. As' long as this view was held the process 

 was caUed transpiration, to distinguish it from the physical 

 process. The breathing pores, the stomata, which occur 

 in the epidermis of all leaves in great numliers, were 

 supposed to be organs of transpiration, which was coij- 

 sidered to be one of the most important functions ?>£ th» 

 \e»,i."—Uttrdeners' Monthly. 



