64 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, iS86. 



slight amount of injury may result, otherwise they will 

 prusfeutly cause the destruction of the trees. The 

 brown scale is more easily destroyeil than the wliite and 

 is less destructive in its nature. Acconipanyiug the 

 scale their exudation forms a nidus for a disyustiny iilack 

 tungus, whieli does nearly as much harm anil has a 

 more disagreeable appearance than the scale themselves. 

 A dusting of fresh slaked lime, applied when the trees 

 are wet, will clear them of both the insects and the 

 blight. The kerosene solution will produce an equal or 

 more immedate effect. Gishurst compound or a strong 

 solution of soft soap will easily destroy the brown scale. 

 Even water alone, if at the temperature of 150 degrees, 

 will clear the trees and cause no injury if applied after 

 the cessation of growth. As previously mentioned, the 

 orange is also subject to the dread bark disea.se, for 

 which there does not appear to be a remedy, though 

 the disease may be checked, if not quite stopjied, if 

 taken in time, and the whole of the diseased bark cut 

 out, the cuts extending clear into the healthy bark. 

 The trees should be, therefore, carefully examined every 

 spring, the soil cleared away some iuches in depth 

 from the base of the stem, and the hark washed if 

 necessary, so as to make sure whether the disea.«ie is 

 present or absent. 



It is objected to the orange that it does not come 

 early to profit, but really, under proper treatment, it 

 comes into bearing as early as many varieties of apple 

 and pear, and, when once it begins to bear, it never 

 leaves off, but continues to increase in fertility year 

 after year for generations ; for the orange far excels in 

 longevity any other of our fruit trees. "We believe 

 there are numerous orange trees in Mr. Pye's garden at 

 Parramatta upwards of 50 years of age still in full 

 vigor, while on the continent of Europe there are living 

 trees known to be several centuries old. In some of 

 the best oi chards at Parramatta, the crop of oranges 

 has been valued at upwards of £400 per acre. Mr. Pye, 

 some years ago, cut down a tree 40 years planted that 

 for 20 years had yielded 300 dozens of oranges annually, 

 and we have not the slightest doubt that equally good 

 results may be obtained in the suitable portions of our 

 own colony. 



Those who cultivate oranges for market will, as a 

 matter of course, grow such as will pay best, but they 

 should certainly refrain from planting such inferior 

 varieties as some of those offered in the Melbourne 

 markets, which can be only grown for their productive- 

 ness, as they possess no other good quality and bring 

 only half the price of the best varieties. Among the 

 best market varieties are: — Paramatta Seedling, Poor 

 I'JJan's Orange, large and prolific, best adapted for 

 ujar.malade ; .Siletto, Naval or Bahia, is also excellent 

 for private use, being one of the best of oranges ; 

 8t. Michael's is also suitable for both purposes ; 

 Mandarin, Emperor of China; the Blood Orange or 

 Maltese is one of the best varieties ; Teneriffe is 

 similar in quality. — Leader. 



Mahw.\ Flowers. — The expert trade in Mahwa or 

 or Mowha (Bassia latifolia) flowers to Europe for 

 distillation, which attained such large proportions a few 

 years ago, seems to have suddenly ceased. In 1884, 

 209,329 cwt.. valued at £67,066, were shipijed from 

 India; in 1885, 30,872 cwt., valued at £6091, were 

 shipped ; now the export has stopped. These flowers 

 constitute an important article of food among the 

 natives. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Sv(iAR IvEriNiNG BY LuJNiTE. — The Aunce Scienti- 

 fique states that IM, Kleeman, of Schteningen, has 

 discovered a new method for purifying beetroot juice 

 by lignite, which it appears possesses the property 

 of purifying liquids. If pulverised lignite is mixed 

 with a turbid fluid, or with one having a disagreeable 

 taste or odour, a deposit is rapidly formed, and the 

 liquid soon becomes clear and loses its bad smell. 

 Cane, as well as beetroot sugar, may be refined by 

 lignite, and the process is very economical. The sugars 

 produced in this way have an agreeable taste, and 

 the syrups completely lose their taste of beetroot. — 

 Journal of the Society of Artg, 



The i..\kgk Bamboo of India — An a few days 

 ago in tlu.' columns of the Pioueer, conveying a 

 public-si)iritrd offer from Mr. G. Jasper NichriU.s, C.S., 

 to send, at his own expense, to anyone applying a supply 

 of seeds of the Bdjitbusa katany. But probably few 

 people not botanists appreciated the meaning of the 

 offer. The Hambusa katwix'j is not only the largest 

 bamboo grown in India, outside of Burma and 

 Assam, but from its habit of flowering only once in 

 55 or (JO years it is also excessively rare. Some speci- 

 mens exist at Jubbulpore, where they arc; remarkel by 

 every visitor for their beauty and size; but until these 

 should have arrived at the time for maturity and decay, 

 in another 40 years or so, it was not known tliat ther(^ 

 would bo any seed procurable, in these parts of India at 

 any rate. 5Ir. Nicholls, however, was fortunate enough 

 to discover a clump in full flower recently on the banks 

 of the Mahauadi, in llaipur, and linowing what it was, 

 had all the seed scrupulously collected by the villagers, 

 and in the hope of getting the tree widely distributed 

 over Upper ludia, he is now offeriug it to the public. 

 The Bamhiisa katanr/ grows to a height of over (JU feet ; 

 its tall stem gives the best natural material for scaffold- 

 ing and in beauty as well as size it may claim to excel all 

 the varieties of bamboo known to the Ganges plain and 

 Deecan highlands. — Pioneer. 



Seed potatoes must be carefully selected if good 

 re.sults are to be realised. Scabby potatoes planted 

 will yield a scabby crop, and disease put in the ground 

 to grow does so while the increase from the seed 

 potato is making. The " cheap und nasty " style of 

 doing things in agriculture, as in many other indus- 

 tries, is not the most profitable. — Planter and Farmer. 

 [Do the natives of Ceylon ever select seed in their 

 agriculture ? and has .■my one cultivator appreciated 

 the pedigree principle ? A good sweet potato is excel- 

 lent : a b?d one most ditasteful. — Ed.] 



Uandsojie TkEES. — We have been informed of an 

 atrocious piece of vandalism which merits condign punish- 

 ment, if only the barbarous or malicious perpetrator or 

 per petrators of it could but be discovered. Two grand 

 specimens of that beautiful ornamental shade tree — 

 Calojilij/lluin inriphylliiiii—hnvc been seen and admired 

 for years past on the Card well beach by all who have gone 

 on shore there, and the tree although indigenous to Nor- 

 thern Queensland and India is very rarely to be seen in 

 this colony and does not take kindly to mote southern 

 latitudes. Old residents of the place take, a gi eat pride iu 

 these handsome trees, and they have deservedly been 

 looked upon as being among the " lions " of Cardwell. To 

 our astonishment we are informed that one of these 

 trees ha.s fallen by me;ins of the woodman's axe, and 

 that the remaining one is in danger of spoilatiou if 

 not annihilation. The Divisional Board of the place 

 say they have no control or responsibility in c )uuection 

 with the matter, and the entire population of the 

 place is in arms against the spoiler ; but the deed is 

 done and cannot be undone, and unless power is 

 granted — or exercised by those possessing it — to pre- 

 vent the evil going further the remaining tree is as 

 likely to disappear before this nineteenth century 

 vandalism as has the other. The tree takes its name 

 from its extremely beautiful foliage, the leaves being 

 oblong with a rounded apex and fully six inches or 

 more iu length. It is known iis a timber tree of con- 

 siderable value, and often grows to the height of 100 

 feet iu India, the wo id being reddish, with a d^rk^-r 

 coloured heart-wood, and is moderately hard and close- 

 grained. The seeds yield a dark green strong-scented 

 oil, which is used in India for burning aoil also 

 medicinally. Surely there are authorities in C^irdwell 

 who have sufticient powers vested in them to prevent 

 and punish such outrages, and to allow such v«iidal- 

 .■jsm to pass unnoticed, unchecked and unpunished is, 

 " 'isgrace to the colony and to nineteenth century 

 y.v'ilisation. — Planter and Farmer. [The tree alluded 

 to, (mentioned recently in our coluuins, with reference 

 to some fine specimens, recently in blo.ssom, now in 

 copious fruit in the ('oloiubo General Cemetery,) is not, 

 by any means valued as it ought to be as a shade 

 and ornamental tree. It is one of the few trees which 

 floiuishes iu the ealt-laden 6ea-breeze,— Ed.] 



