Oct. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



n9 



AGEICULTUEE ON THE CONTINENT OF 

 EUKOPE. 



(Special Letter.) 



Pabis, Aug. 7th. 

 M. Peligot announces some interesting facts 

 about sugar beet, and the influence of atmosphfiic 

 humidity and rains, on the quantity of sugar con- 

 tained in the bulb. According to bin), M. Girard 

 experimented with beet from the 19th June, to the 

 1st October last. Every twelve days he analysed 

 roots, simultaneously recording the meteorological 

 condition of the atmosphere. Excepting the water 

 and sugar contained in the root, the other matters 

 never changed ; the water varied from 83, to 89 per 

 cent, while the sugar fluctuated from 5, to IS per cent ; 

 but the water and sugar together, strange fact, 

 uniformly represented 94 per cent of the bulb. The 

 sugar augmented, as the water dechned, both compens- 

 ating exactly. However, once the sugar became 

 deposited in the root, that is, stored up, it there 

 remaiaed unaffected by the conditions of vegetations 

 or the action of rain. 



M. Gagnaire confirms his experiments, that sulpliuret 

 of carbon is eiBcacious in the destruction of wire worm, 

 moles, beetles &c-, whether in garden or field ; half an 

 ounce per square yard dug in the soil with a spade, 

 will get rid of the vermin. 



over-dried they lose their agreeable aroma anil 

 peculiar flavour. 



The exact time for collection is when the green 

 leaves are mature enough to break on bending. They 

 are then pulled from the branches by native women 

 and cliildren. The subsequent ex-iicfatiou has to be 

 gradual, and is effected by exposing them iu thin 

 layers to the heat of the san.—0lie>7iist and Druc/yigt, 



EBYTHEOXYLON COCA. 



BV J. B. LILLIE MACKAY, A.K.C. 



Foi-merly Prrfessor of Materia Medica to the Birkheck 

 Institutioi/, London.) 



Ooca, or the " narcotic of the Andes," as ic has 

 been called, has for some time past created a good 

 deal of interest both to medical men and pharmacists, 

 who in late years have devoted no little attention to 

 the properties and uses of this remarkable drug. 



It consists of the leaves of the Evythroxylon coca, 

 a plant, indigenous to South America, which thrives 

 most in the valleys to be found on the eastern slopes 

 of the Andes chain, in that continent. It grows best 

 at an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above 

 the sea level. 



The plant belongs to the natural family Erythroxy- 

 lacew nearly allied to the Malpiuldaccie or Barbadoes 

 cherry tribe ; and must not be confounded with 

 Tlitohroitia Cacao, which yields cocoa, nor with the 

 coconut tree {Cocos 'nucifera), species of palm. It 

 is. however, from the cultivated shrub, and not the 

 wild plant, that we obtain the sun-dried leaves which 

 constitute the coca of commerce. 



Some description of coca plantation may prove in- 

 teresting to the readers of this journal. The plant, 

 a bush attaining a height of seven or eight feet, 

 abimdantly covered with green foliage, and bearing 

 small white flowers, is raised from seed sown in 

 December and the early mouths of the year, just 

 before or after the commencement of the rainy season 

 which prevails in these tropical regions. A mean 

 temperature of 66 deg. Fahr. is most conducive to its 

 healthy development. During growth the young seed- 

 lings require much watering, as well as protection from 

 the sun's rays. The latter is frequently secured by 

 the erection of thatched roofs over the nursery grounds 

 where the plants are reared. Sometimes, however, 

 shade is procured by the interplanting of palms or 

 Indian corn. The plants are generally grown in 

 terraces on the slopes of the hills in a similar manner 

 to that carried out in the vineyards of Palestine and 

 Southern Europe. After eighteen months the harvest 

 begins, and may be continued at the proper season, 

 for forty years, from the same plant. The average 

 crop from each bush is about 2|lbs., or 30 arrobas 

 (800 lb.) from an acre. Three pickings are got from 

 the shrubs in the twelvemonths, but if irrigation is 

 well carried out, no less than four harvests per annum 

 may bo obtained. 



Almost a.s much care is required in the selection 

 and drying of the leaves as in the case of tea plant 

 cultivat- I in (.'hina and Imiia. If the gathered leaves 

 .-ire too int.i,^t they are liable to decompose, while if 



COFFEE PLANTING IN' SOUTHERN INDIA 

 AND CEYLON. -No. li 



(Review of "Wrinkles and Hinis on Coffee- 



PL.^NTING" with diagrams and SPECIIIENS OF FORIIS 

 BY GEORGE WILDES ; MADRAS, .\DDISION AND 

 CO., MOUNT BO.U),) 



(Continued from page S05.J 



ESTIMATES. 



An experienced pi inter can make a pretty accurate 

 estimate of the expenditure necessary under his own 

 system for any given operation, and he may make 

 a tolerable approximation to the quantity of ciop ou 

 an estate he knows well if he takes pains, but no 

 dependence can be put on any estimate that proposes 

 to go deeper. 



I recollected a case in which the necessity of local 

 experience in estimating crop on the trees, was clearly 

 illustrated. Two estates were situated on each side 

 of a dividing stream. The older of the two had 

 always been pretty-well cultivated and the other had 

 been awfully neglected, but under a new agency and a 

 new superintendent a change was wrought thnt 

 brought out latent powers of the soil, and the re- 

 pressed vigor of the trees which developed in heavy 

 and brilliant foliage. Planters from other districts 

 passing through remarked that the old shuck place 

 was" greatly improved, but had gone too much to 

 leaf; but every one talked of the magniflcient crop 

 on its neighbour. The two superintendents both 

 estimated 10 cwt. Tlie agent for both (no red tape 

 planter, but a sound experienced man) added one to 

 the estimate of the one, and deducted two from that 

 of the other. When the crops were despatched and 

 cleared out, the one that made the noble display had 

 given 41 parchment bushels per acre ; the one that 

 had modestly hidden its treasure in its foliage, 

 gave 55. 



Ou the first occasion I had to estimate a crop, I 

 confessed to my superior, my distrusted powers and 

 he undertook it himself, mentioning as a proof of 

 bis ability, that his estimate of the crop of another 

 estate the pevious year had turned out correct within 

 three hi/sktls. His estimate was made and booked, 

 and would have turned out very nearly the truth if 

 he had not omitted to divide it bj' two. I suppose 

 no such wild estimates of crop takes place nowadaj's, 

 yet we do hear of crop estimates being revised after 

 the gathering has been going on for six weeks, of 

 longer. 



ACCOUNTS. 



In Oeylon forjns are generally supplied, so that **- 

 is no p<irt of a superintendent's duty either to niak® 

 or select a system for himself. AVeekly reporf 

 never have taken root in Oeylon, and are not likely 

 ever to do so, being to those who send and those who 

 receive them alike a bore. 



I never knew a really good planter, who loved desk 

 work ; who did not work with dislike on the materials 

 of his monthly accounts ; and who did not defer 

 the uncongenial labour to the last moment. It is 

 sometimes, but not generally, incapacity or self dis- 

 trust that lies at the root of the planter's reluctance 

 to tackle the accounts, and that renders the time 

 devoted to them the most disagreeable of bis month, 

 but the same habit seems to grow even on those who 

 were good accountants, before they became plat\ters. 



