Jan. 1, 1887.J 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



461 



buiklings, however, where the contained air is always 

 moist, the dry rot fungus, or one or other of its 

 allies, often makes sad havoc- Tiles, iron, &c., are 

 now so much used in greenhouses that wood often 

 only occupies a minor place in their construction. 



"Without some antiseptic treatment it is impossible 

 to prevent the decay of wood when as in ships it 

 is placed in water or as in posts, and piles, buried 

 in the ground, but tliere is no reason why our public 

 and private buildings should be so constantly destroyed 

 by the dry rot fungus. Without damp stagnant air 

 and wood saturated with moisture, Merulius lacry- 

 mans cannot exist; keep these evils away, and no 

 dry-rot will be seen. 



It is very necessary that foundations should be 

 well built with cement on concrete or rock, that all 

 the basements should be thoroughly well ventilated, 

 so that currents of air may be able to pass through 

 windows or other openings. The tir,;)er used for 

 building purposes should be perfectly sound and dry. 

 All good builders are aware of the best methods 

 for preventing damp rising from basements, or passing 

 up or through walls ; and it is only by the culp- 

 able neglect of well-known commonsense precantious 

 that so many public and private buildings are destroyed 

 by the dry-rot fungus. 



We are being constantly asked for a " cure " of dry- 

 rot, and we often find ourselves without patience 

 to write a reply. It is as impossible to "cure" 

 rotten timber as to " cure " a rotten animal ; when ad- 

 vanced in decay both are too far gone for cure, com- 

 monsense must be used in the prevention of the 

 attacks of the dry-rot fungus. 



Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys says (British Conchology vol. 

 i., p. 130, under " Lima.x ") that slugs in cellars will 

 eat the dry-rot fungus. Wokthixgton G. Smith, 

 Dunstable. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



CULTIVATION OF TEA IN FORMOSA AND 



CHEHKIANG. 



Tea cultivation in North Formosa is chiefly con- 

 fined to the hills, and though a good supply is grown 

 within three miles of Tamsui, the main centre of 

 the production is in the hills some twenty miles to 

 the south. The soil there is generally a kind of 

 reddish yellow sticky clay, in wet weather resemb- 

 ling cream, and extremely slippery; this is on the 

 lower and middle slopes, that of the upper is in- 

 ferior, and these slopes are often so steep that it 

 is difficult to understand how it is possible to till 

 them. The Commissioner of Customs at Tamsui says 

 that everywhere one is struck by the amount of new 

 ground which is being broken up in order to set 

 more tea. The first thing is to clear away the long 

 grass and brushwood, cutting down the trees, dig- 

 ging up the roots, burning them, and planting indigo. 

 When this plant has run for some little time it is 

 replaced by tea, and in the matter of planting, the 

 plan adopted in Formosa differs very considerably 

 from that followed iu many of the other tea districts. 

 There a large quantity is produced by means of slips 

 or cuttings, as well as by seeds, and no manure is 

 used, while in the Ning^jo and Tientai districts seeds 

 alone are employed. In the latter district several 

 holes are made, and five or six seeds are dropped 

 into each and covered up, and liquid manure or wood 

 ash is then applied. During the following three years 

 the ground is carefully weeded and manured ; at the 

 end of this period the young plants ai'e separated 

 from the older ones. If carefully tended and pruned 

 of the old wood, a bush will last many years. The 

 first picking takes place generally iu February, and 

 the second in May. The soil is light and friable, 

 being composed of a mixture of sand and vegetable 

 mould. In the Ningpo district the most luxuriant tea 

 Is that of the alluvial plain, and is grown between 

 rows of mulberries. At Tientai, in the province of 

 Cliphkiang, Commissioner Hancock states that the 

 fineat tea is grown, the soil being light and sau.ly, 

 corresponding in a great measure to that of the Bohea 

 pjoiintains, The followiog is the methQcl of cultivation 



practised: — Pieces of bamboo about six inches long 

 are placed in holes made in the ground, and about 

 fifteen seeds put into each tube, the tubes are then 

 filled up wi th earth ; this operation beinjj performed 

 in the month of September- In the following June 

 some of the seeds having germinated, appear as small 

 plants at the top of the bamboo which is then re- 

 moved. The gro wth is at the rate of about four inches 

 a year, and the first picking takes place four years 

 after planting. There is only one picking each year, 

 in April, but lower down on the mountains the first 

 takes place A'hen the plants are three years old, 

 and there are as many as three in the year. The 

 plants are not considered to have attained maturity 

 until they are ten years old ; they are never changed, 

 but from time to time the decayed wood is cut away. 

 In the Formosa tea plantations little attention appears 

 to be paid to drainage on the steepest slopes ; the 

 furrows, instead of being run in a slant, are gene- 

 rally carried horizontally, in consequence of which a 

 more direct barrier is placed against the descent of 

 water during heavy rains, so that in some places 

 where the soil is stilf, the water remains, while in 

 others the soil is swept away. The distance at which 

 the plants are set apart differs very considerably, 

 according to district— in some places they are placed 

 at intervals of thirty inches, which, allowing for the 

 spread of each bush and the necessary ploughing 

 between the rows, is as close as practicable. In For- 

 mosa the advantages of soil and climate are so great 

 that there are often no less than seve n pickings in the 

 coui'se of the year, the three first being the best, 

 while in the Ningpo district there are never more 

 than three. — Joi'nud of the tiociety of Arts. 



NOXIOUS INSECTS. 



Every person of observant habits who has had 

 opportunities of watching fruit trees during spring 

 and summer must have noticed that the benefits which 

 they afford are not at all confined to the service of 

 man, but extend also to the provision of homes and 

 nutriment for a great variety of insects, which as a 

 rule, are hatched from ova deposited in the flower 

 buds when these are scarcely formed, and devour the 

 fruit before it comes to maturity. Every schoolboy 

 who has gone in quest of black-berries or nuts, is 

 aware that the former are scarcely ever free from 

 maggots, and that the proportion of nuts spoiled in 

 like manner is very appreciable; but an adequate 

 conception of the importance of fruit-destroying insects, 

 of the numbers in which they exist, and of the extent, 

 measured by a pecuniary standard, of the damage 

 which they iutlict, is quite a recent addition to the 

 sum of human kuowledge. At the same time, it has 

 been made apparent that fruit-growing is an industry 

 which may become extremely helpful to the depressed 

 agricultural interest ; and many landowners, among 

 whom Lord Budeley holds a prominent place, are 

 endeavouring, alike by precept and example, to direct 

 the attention of their tenants to the profits which 

 may be thus obtained. The number and vitality of 

 living organisms will always be in proportion to the 

 abundance of their food supplies ; and hence it can 

 be no matter for surpri.se if fruit-growing, as it is 

 rendered a more and more imioortant branch of agri- 

 culture, should be more and more liable to the attacks 

 of creature whom we, in our cynical indift'ereuce to 

 their comfort and welfare, are wont to describe as 

 "pests;" while they, it may be hoped or imagined, 

 return good for evil to the extent of recognizing the 

 fruit-grower as a benefactor. However this may be, 

 it is at least certain that ravages, which may be only 

 annoying and disappointing when they are confined 

 to a pleasure-garden, or to one which, although 

 worked for profit, is little more than an ornamental 

 a])pendage to the serious business of a farm, may be- 

 come almost ruinous when the garden itself constitutes 

 the farm, and when the crops which the insects des- 

 troy are those on which the hopes oF the cultivator 

 are based. In view of these considerations, the Agri- 

 cultural Department of the Trivy Council, has acted 



