24 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1886. 



A JnDiCAL Slave Aitction was lield at Limeira, 

 Sao Paulo, a few days since, which was largely attended. 

 The bidding on somo slaves went up as high as 1,600S, 

 notwithstanding the niaxinnim valuation in the Saraiva- 

 ('otegipe compact is 900 $. It woidd seem that the 

 planters have little fear of an inuuediate collapse of 

 "tho foundation of our society." — Hio Newn. 



A Succ'Kssi-ur, FKriT-(ii{owKR in the Rockhanipton 

 district gives us a chapter from the dark side of his 

 experience as follows: "I see some one signing him- 

 self -O. M. H.' fancies that the scale is the orange 

 grower's worst enemy. 1 guess if he had to fight the 

 orange moth as we have had to do it this season he 

 would alter his opinion. On the evening of April l.'ith 

 1. and T. caught .'55(>, and during the fortnight, from 

 the 10th to the *i4th of April, we got L',;i'5:}. For 

 three weeks we had to work almost all night at them, 

 and we still have to patrol every night, and after all our 

 work 1 believe that to estimate the portion of the 

 crop thus destroyed at eleven-twelfths is very moderate. 

 Out of the large quantities of guavas on our trees we 

 gathered only sevei! sound ones, for the grubs and 

 flying foxes got the rest." Fruit-growing in some parts 

 of Queensland at any rate is not all " beer and skittles." 

 Daylight matauders are bad enough, but these " night 

 birds " are evils magnified, and " hanging is too good for 

 them," especially the flying io^efi.— Planter find Farmer. 



The Fritit Trade wuh Nova Scotia. — Our contem- 

 porary, the Cohniea and India, says: — "Very few 

 consumers kuow that the nice rosylooking apples which 

 they see in the fruiterers' shops come from Nova Scotia, 

 or that there is exported from that province to this 

 country something like 100,000 barrels out of an annual 

 average production, say, of 200,000 barrels. It is only 

 in late years that the people of the valley have awakened 

 to the remarkable adaptability of their lands to apple 

 culture. Cheap railway and ocean communication and 

 the opening of the Engli.sh markets a few j-ears ago 

 inaugurated, however, a new era. In 1871 the acreage 

 of the valley devoted to Apple culture was .5,152 ; in 18S1 

 it h.ad increased to 8,500. To-day it is over 10,000 acres. 

 When the next census is taken there is reason to believe 

 it will be 16,000 acres ; while the acreage of the province, 

 which to-day is about 25,000 acres, will then at least be 

 30,000 acres. Nova Scotia's greAt advanta;j;es as a fruit 

 producing country are these:— 1st, its nearness to 

 Europe and consequent short land and ocean carriage 

 and cheap freights ; 2nd, the generally ackaowledf>ed 

 fact that her Apples, as a rule, have better keeping 

 qualities than the same Apples grown on any other part 

 of the continent, so that if propei-ly handled the risk of 

 loss from decay and overripeness is reduced to a mini- 

 mum. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Tomatoes in Pots. — The great demand that has 

 ari.«en for tomatoes has led many to give up other crops 

 and to concentrate their energies on the production of 

 tomatoes, which never seem sufiiciently plentiful. "W^ith 

 such a strong-rooting plant as the tomato, there is little 

 diflSculty about growing it, the main question being how to 

 get a maximum weight of crop from a given space. 

 We find fonfining the roots to a limited area, and cut- 

 ting off a'! side shoots, so as to make regular cordans of 

 each plaut, to produce the best rt suits. For main crops 

 under glass, we sow in January in heat, and grow the 

 young plants on by giving them successive shifts until 

 they are in 8 in. pots, which are allowed to get rather 

 full of roots. This induces free flowering, and then 

 they are set on boxes filled with good rich soil, and 

 allowed to root through into it. By keeping the soil 

 moist by frequent applications of water, a very heavy 

 crop may thus be produced in any position under glass 

 exposed fully to sunlight. As regards varieties, I find a 

 good selection of the old smooth red kitid to be very 

 prolific, and not easily excelled for general u.se ; but all 

 have their special merits. The main point is to prevent 

 excessive leaf production by timely attention to pinching 

 out the side shoots directly they are visible, and 

 only leaving large and healthy foliage on the main 

 stem. It is sheer waste of force to let a crowd of 

 shoots grow and then cut them oft". Preserve the foli- 

 age on the main stem intact, and do not let any other 

 be produced. Plenty of fruit will set on the leading 

 shoot for any one plant to swell off to full size. — HaNT8, 

 —Field. 



Pr.ANT Lite is invigorated by the mechanical con- 

 dition of the soil as certainly as by its fertilising pro- 

 perties. Unless the pores of mother earth are kept 

 open above and below for air to rush in and water 

 to move downwards healthy vegetation need not be 

 expected, lioth air and water should be able to per- 

 meate the soil freely to ensure good vegetable growth, 

 — Planter tad Farmer. 



A Hir.i. has been introduced into the Sao Paulo provin- 

 cial assembly by Visconde 1 • "iuhal for the repeal of 

 the law imposing a tax of 2,000> on all slaves imported 

 into that province. According to the Diario Mcrcantil 

 the reason for this is to be found in the fact that some 

 40 or 50 slaves have been brought into Sao Paulo from 

 Bahia and are for sale. When this hard-fisted Paulista 

 gets down to Rio, he will probably ask the imperial 

 assembly to repeal the Kio Branco law and the auti-slave 

 trade law of 1831, so that Brazil can return once more to 

 unrestricted traffic in human flesh and blood. — Rio Nev.t. 



OoPALCHi Bakk.( Ci'Oion nivevs, Jacq.,) forms the 

 subject of a note by M. E. Schmidt {Repertoire, 

 April, p. 157). According to the author its first 

 appearance in European commerce was in 1817, when 

 it was brought to Hamburg under the name of Trinidad 

 or Cuba cascarilla. He finds in the bark a bitter 

 principle, -soluble both in water and alcohol, also a 

 resin. The atpieous infusion of the bark has a yellow- 

 ish and the alcoholic a brown colour. A careful 

 description of the physical and microscopical charac- 

 ters of the bark is also given, such as will serve to 

 identify the article examined for future reference. — 

 Phannacevtical Joxmal. 



The AVeather and Fever.— Mr. C. E. Paget, 

 medical officer of health for the Westmoreland Combined 

 Sanitarj' District, has published a detailed review of the 

 prevalence of " fever " in the borough of Kendal. He 

 compares it with the average rainfall, barometer 

 records, and temperature. The records of only a few 

 years are available, so the results may need revision, but 

 it seems that excessive falls of rain have been followed 

 with an increase of enteric fever ; sudden falls of the 

 barometer, especially when accompanied by heavy rain, 

 have a similar effect ; and a rise or fall of the mean 

 annual temperature generally corresponds with an in- 

 crease or decrease in the mortality from the di.sease. 

 The Lane:t points out that heavy rainfall forces the air 

 from sewers to escape from every available outlet ; 

 reduced atmospheric pressure sucks the air from sewers 

 and from soil alike; so that it is possible that the 

 ajsparent relation between disease and the weather may 

 have a simple explanation. — Cheinint wnd Jirnggint. 



Desiccated Cocoanut. — Messrs. Linton, Hubbard 

 & Co., Red Lion Square, London, are bringing out, by 

 means of a new patent and improved process, the article 

 known as " desiccated cocoanut," so largely used by 

 biscuit manufactm-ers, confectioners, pastry-cooks, and 

 now slowly gaining hold with the English house-wife 

 for puddings, cakes, tarts, &c. Hitherto this has been 

 imported by this country from the United States, but 

 the American goods are found frequently to be adulter- 

 ated with starch, topioca, Indian corn-meal, and even 

 with '• terra alba " or pulverised soap-stone. Messrs. 

 Linton, Hubbard & Co., who do a large business in goods 

 of this description, have therefore determined to make 

 desiccated cocoanut and " Noix de coco " themselves, 

 and to produce none but the purest goods. We are 

 confident that by this enterprize they will command the 

 general approval of the Engli.sh consumer of these 

 productions, and they also deserve the thanks of the 

 public for introducing what is a new industry in this 

 country, as they are the only manufacturers of these 

 goods outside the United States. We have examined 

 their samples, and find them much whiter and brighter 

 than the American product. They are, moreover, 

 fresher, and retain the full flavour better after baking. 

 With sugar, and spread on tarts and buns, desiccated 

 coco.vnut is a delicious substitute for peel or almonds ; 

 and as such its use is likely to spread very con.siderably 

 when it has been properly brought before the attention 

 of the trade. Messrs. Liutou, Hubbard & Co.'s pro- 

 ductions cannot be too highly commended, and we wish 

 their enterprize all the success that such energy deserves, 

 —British Trade Journal. 



