4S 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1886, 



Farmebs should plough their lands a trifle deeper 

 every time they are worked to thereby secure more 

 of its dormant fertility. The deeper the land is 

 ploughed the more productive it will be. — Planter 

 and Farmer. [A rule with marked exceptions. In no 

 cftse should the subsoil be brought to the surface, 

 and ploughing or digging deeper than 18 inches, is 

 generally a mistake. — Ed.] 



About Hardiness. — Many kinds of trees quite 

 hardy after they attain some age are very tender 

 when young, and need protection until they are five 

 or ten years old. It is hardly to be supjjosed that the 

 growth of the previous season is better fitu-d to 

 withstand cold on an old tree than on one five years 

 planted. The fact seems to be that most young 

 trees have an excess of plant food. This produces 

 a vigorous though sappy wood, wich does not ripen 

 and cannot resist cold. In a few years the tree 

 becomes partially starved, and grows no more wood 

 than it can ripen. The moral of this experience should 

 be to manure and cultivate young trees somewhat 

 less, and old trets more. — ISovthrrn Planter. 



Silk Cultuke. — There are hundreds of families in 

 A'irginia who might add a good many dollars each year to 

 their annual income by engaging in siik culture, liaising 

 a few pounds of cocoons each will not materially 

 interfere with household duties, and how many far- 

 mers' wives and daughters would gladly avail them- 

 selves of so good an opportunity to add to the 

 family's income if they only knew what l^ilk culture 

 was and how to j^o about it. To all such, I will 

 aay, first purchase yourself a book on silk culture. 

 By following instructions in these books, success is 

 sure to follow. Either of these books can be bought 

 for twenty-five cents. Last summer I bought SI 

 worth of silk worm eggs. 1 was so pleased with 

 my success that I am now feeding about G0,000 

 worms, which I will be spinning in about two weeks 

 from this date. All persons interested are cordially 

 invited to visit my cocoonery, and any information 

 I can give I will cheerfully do so. The time from 

 the hatching to the spinning of the cocoons will 

 vary from thirty to forty days. The food for the 

 silk worm is mulberry, either the white or the com- 

 mon purple mulberry. The lat ter grows in abundance 

 in the fields and forest of Vinjinia, and they can 

 al.so he fed on osrige or.ange — The Uockinyhaw L'egi.i- 

 ter.— Very Re'-pecrfuily, CroA.i Keys, I'a., June 1.5, 

 IS.S.').— Mrs. S. a. Vosck-r —^■oiitl/em Fhinter. 



GuTTAPEacHA. —Sir John Kirk, writing in December 

 last, ror.-ard^Ml a samp'.t of n!i.rive African guttap'.-rch.i, 

 the produce ..fa yet unkn-wn tree nbich he found at 

 ]\lomb«sa. From the papers now published, it wcnld 

 appear that after esan.ination of the specimen there 

 remained no doubt *hat the substance would prove 

 an acceptable addition to the present supp'ies, its 

 value beiu, about lO/. per lb. At the same time 

 Sir John Kirk also forwarded a .specimen of some 

 india-rubber taken from plants supp'ied from Kew 

 (iardens about five Neirs ago, thesu having flourished 

 and propngated f re. ly at Zanzibar. The report on 

 this specimen valued it, if taken from the trunk of 

 the tree, at about l.s. dd. to 2.s-. per lb. As Sir John 

 Hooker, the Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 remarks, " the attention of Her Majesty's Consular 

 officers in these countries (india-rublu-r producing 

 states) cannot be too closely addressed to matters 

 of this kind, which are not merely of great scienti- 

 fic interest, but may form the basis of a lucrative 

 and beneficial trade." — Chamber of Commerce Journal. 



Brazil, — Mr Acting-Consul Hampshire, writing on 

 the Tiade and Commerce of Santos for the yea-- \HM, 

 refers to the suiiject of the investment of British 

 capital in that province, and points out that would- 

 be investors should first ascertain from disinterested 

 sources the particulars of the enterprise before accep- 

 ting all that is stated in the prospectus. " Hailways. 

 sugar mills, and gas f-ompanies are (juite sufficiently 

 developed in the province of Sao Paulo for actual 

 needs. With regard to the first of these, any fur- 

 ther augmentation of the present lines that is necessary 



can be carried out without appl5nng for foreign 

 capital unless the result is of doubtful issue. Only 

 a more diversified agriculture, with an extensive immi- 

 gration, could warrant any considerable augmentation 

 of the present railway system. Sugar mills are already 

 establiKhed in sufficient numbers to provide for local 

 consumption, and present values abroad are far from 

 encouraging any exportations. In some directions 

 there e.xists a strong feeiinnr in preference of native 

 to foreign undertakings: this, in itself, is a natural 

 and laudable sentiment, but in its nppHcation it 

 constitutes, by further development, a possible rock 

 ahead to foreign enterprise, unless the concessions of 

 privileges which have attached to some are clearly 

 irrefragable and safe from any interference or molest- 

 ation.'' — Chamber of Commerce Joxiriud. 



Salt for Cattle in BuB^fAH.— "We noticed briefly 

 last week the enquiries instituted by the Chief 

 Commissioner of British Burmah concerning the extent 

 to which salt is usually given to cattle in that Province. 

 We print this week the entire correspondence that has 

 passed on the subject, omitting only the detailed replies 

 of cultivators in the seven districts where enquiries were 

 made. It appears that salt As given to cattle, and that 

 they not only need it as a .salutary diet, but take to it 

 with avidity, thereby proving that it is an essential 

 necessity in the internal economy of cattle. It is a 

 practice that should, we think, be encouraged largely 

 in all districts. Prom the correspondence before us 

 it is abundantly clear that salt forms an important 

 element in the diet of oxen, and from the fact 

 that ij is administered when the animals are tired 

 and worn out, after a hard day's work, shows the 

 necessity there exists of impressing upon cultivators 

 the wisdom of employing salt more largely than 

 appears to be the case. — Indian Ainicvltvrist. [The 

 curious part of the matter is that although the .salt 

 duty in Burmah is only one-tenth that of other parts 

 of India, yet the Burmese do not give more salt to 

 their cattle than their neighbours. All, including cattle 

 owners in Ceylon, need to have the benefit of salt given 

 to cattle, pressed them. — Ed,1 



The USEFULNE.SS of the Har Kanda, or Mvnj plant, 

 in the south-east of the Punjab is, according to the 

 author of one of tlie recent settlement reports of 

 that part of the country, hardly less than that of the 

 bamboo and palm in other localities. Ttie leaves, we 

 are told, are used for thatching houses, the reeds 

 being bound round the edges and across to strengthen 

 the thatch. The reeds are also used tor making 

 furniture, such as chairs and stools, and for agricultural 

 implements, such as trays and baskets, and the 

 frame-work of receptacles for chopped straw. The 

 plant, further, often alfords the only pasturage available 

 for cattle, and though the (!ry leaves are said not 

 to be very fattening (a statement which may be 

 readily credited) they suffice to maintain the cattle 

 in condition. The green leaves naturally yield greater 

 nourishment ; but these appear only when the plant 

 is fired ; and as reeds are seldom produced after the 

 plant has been so treated, the villagers rarely resort 

 to this process, except in the case of inferior plants. 

 But the principal value which munj possesses in the 

 eyes of the cultivator lies in the inexhaustible stores 

 of fibre which it produces for ropes and string, 

 without which no agricultural operations could be 

 carried on, and no comfort would be found in their 

 homes. In the autumn, the view is closed in on 

 every side by the high flowering stems of the p'ant, 

 and then is the chance for the zemindar to lead 

 you a rare dance in search of his fields. Of lata 

 ye.-irs, the villagers have taken to selling the sar 

 kanda of their lands, and in many cases a very con- 

 siderable income is realised from disposing of this 

 natural product. — Indian Ar/ricidtHriit. [All travellers 

 in Northern India are struck with the prevalence 

 of this bamboo-like reed, growing along divisions be- 

 tween lands. It mak' s splendid thatch for houses, 

 being laid on the roofs tnickly in bundles. It also 

 makes nice chairs and small couches. If it would 

 answer in Ceylon ; it ought to be of considerable value 

 to farmers and others. — Ed."] 



