1*ME Tropical AGRicuLTUHiSf. [MA^c^i i, 1BS7. 



Castor-oil mixed with au equal weight of tallow or 

 other oil, i?, according to the Chtmist and Bnigc/ist, 

 an excellent dressing lor leather. Besides this, neither 

 rats, cockroaches, nor other vermin will attack leather 

 so prepared.— Inc/ifln Gardener. 



Slow Tbee Geowth. — At a recent meeting of the 

 St. Louis Academy of Science, Dr. Englemann exhi- 

 bited a section of the trunk of Juniperus califoruica, 

 •which was not quite 4 in. in diameter, and yet showed 

 au unmistakeable age of 127 years, each ring being on 

 an average about one-fifth of a line wide. The largest 

 growth in ten years had been about 4 lines, the smallest 

 during a similar period about 1 ^ line. — Indian Gardener. 



Teee Fungus in Kussia. — According to the Bulletin 

 of the Society of Naturalists of Moscow, the hitherto 

 unaccountable destruction of pine forests is caused by 

 the ravages of a species of mushroom which takes 

 growth on the surface of the wood, and afterwards 

 penetrates and destroys the tree. Maps are given in 

 which the path of the destroying fungus is traced 

 through the pine woods of RussIh. — Journal of Forestry. 



Britain's Future. — England is the largest importer 

 of wood in Earope, requiring, 280,000,000 feet per 

 annum more than she produces. Inasmuch as neither 

 Canada nor the United States can much longer spare 

 large quantities, and since no European country can 

 HOW produce much more than is required for home 

 consumption, while most of them are importers, Great 

 Britain must ere long depend on her own resources. 

 There are extensive tracts of land in Ireland and Scot- 

 land that might be profitably devoted to forest culture. 

 — Mississippi Valley Lumberman. 



The Wages of Human Labour in Japan are far 

 lower than' we had any conception. The figures are given 

 iu an article in the Journal of Forestry, shewing why 

 superior farm implements are not used. The writer 

 states : — Farm labour is so cheap that it is practically im- 

 possible to overbid it with labour-saving marchiney. Male 

 field hands work twelve hours per day, have five holidays 

 in each month, and receive their food, lodging, and wages, 

 ranging from 10 to 15 yen (£1 14s. to £2 10s.) per annum. 

 Female labourers work the same hours, are not 

 entitled to holidays, and receive, besides their food 

 and lodging, about 7 yen (£1 4s.) per annum. 



Tab in the Poultky House.— Poultry breeders seem 

 to have failed to discover the value of tar. It is very 

 useful and valuable in many ways. Some breeders 

 tar their poultry-yard fences, in preference to white- 

 washing them, though we do not like to see it done, 

 for it gives the surroundings such a gloomy, and 

 forbidden look. It undovibtedly contributes largely to 

 the durability of the wood, protecting it from the 

 ravages of storm and time. It is in the poultry house, 

 however, that the value of tar is the greatest, for it 

 conduces greatly towards healthfuluess. When that 

 scourge of the poultry man, chicken cholera, makes its 

 appearance, we would advise, first, a thorough clean- 

 ing of the bouse; next, a generous application of 

 Carolina tar on all the joints, cracks and crevices of 

 the inside of the building, and then plenty of fresh 

 whitewash properly applied. The tar absorbs or drives 

 away the taint of disease, and makes the premises 

 wholesome. The smell is not very offensive, iu fact, 

 many people like it, and it is directly the opposite 

 of unhealthy. To vermin, lice, etc., the smell of tar 

 is very repulsive and but few will remain after you 

 have tarred the cracks, etc. A friend of ours iu 

 Maryland was once troubled with chickeu_ cholera, and 

 by adopting the above, in connection with removing 

 affected fowls, he soon put a stop to its ravages. A 

 small lump of tar in the drinking water supplied to 

 the fowls will be found beneficial, provided it is^ the 

 Carolina tar, which is very different.— Po«^/'V/ World. 



Bamboo Seeding— Some bamboos of the Katang 

 tariety (Bambusa arundinacea. Ret:.), having fldwered 

 in Ghazipore, N. W^ Provinces, Mr. Nichols, c.s., 

 had the seed collected for distribution. I venture to 

 advise sowing in shallow pans or in seed beds under 

 shelter. Transplant to a nursery bed wheu the 

 seedlings are about two inches high. Again transplant 

 when about seven inches high, and keep till finally 

 located in a place where they can be f rerjuently watered. 

 The Kfttapg likes a ratber eaudy alluvial eoU, though 



it will do well on 'regur,' or black cotton soil. At 

 Jubbulpore, where they are planted mostly for orna- 

 ment, the plan which seems to have succeeded best 

 of all was to plant in a circle as shown below, each 

 dot representing a single seedling of, say, 1| foot 

 high. So far as I can see, there will probably be no 

 chance of getting more seed for some forty years. 

 This variety is believed to have a life period of about 

 55 years. It often attains the height of sixty feet 

 under favourable circumstances. In 1836 Captain 

 Sleeman recorded in this Society's Journal (Transactions, 

 Vol. Ill) the flowering and death of all the bamboos 

 in Dehra Doou, and states that it is a characteristic of 

 the bamboo that all the produce of the same seed will 

 run to seed and die in the same season without reference 

 to the season in which they may have been transplanted 

 from original stock. Dr. Brandis seems to confirm this 

 in his Forest Flora, and says isolated clumps may be 

 met occasionally; "but, as a rule, all clumps in one 

 district come into flower simultaneously, a few 

 clumps flowering in the previous and some in the 

 succeeding years." So it is probable that there will be 

 a widespread flowering next season. — Pioneer. 



Wood Ashes have long been known to possess pecu- 

 liarly valuable qualities as a manure. In India large 

 tracts of land, covered with grass and brushwood, are 

 systematically set on fire for the ashes they yield. The 

 following, however, which we quote from one of our 

 American exchanges on this subject, will be read with 

 interest :—" Among the most common and most valu- 

 able of special manures, I place wood ashes, says Prof. 

 Kedzie. The amount of ash and its relative composition 

 vary with the kind or part of vegetable burned, but 

 we may safely take the ash of the body of a beech tree 

 as representing the average composition of wood ashes. 

 One bushel of ashes represents about two-and-a-half 

 tons of dry body wood. Wood ashes contain all the 

 required elements of plant nutrition except nitrogen. 

 One' hundred pounds of wood ashes contains 16 pounds 

 of potash worth SO cents, 3| pounds soda worth 2 cents, 

 67 pounds of lime and magnesia worth 8 cents, and 

 5 J pounds of phosphoric acid worth 26 cents. If we 

 had to buy in market the cheapest form the manurial 

 materials contained iu 100 pounds of ashes, the cost 

 would be Sl'lO. Can you afford to throw away such 

 valuable materials, or sell them for sixpence a bushel 

 to the soap-boiler ? No argument is needed ; here 

 is the value and there is the selling price. Draw your 

 own conclusions. " The eft'eot of a handful of wood 

 ashes upon a withering plant is wonderful. We have 

 ourselves often tried the experiment of resuscitating weak, 

 unhealthy, and yellow-looking plants with the aid of 

 wood ashes, and always with uniform and remarkable 

 success. — Indian Agriculturist. [ N. B. — That the ashes 

 from tea furnaces ought to be carefully utlized. — Ed. ] 



The Wood of the Casuarina. — Mr. J. Steavenson 

 Secretary of the Madras Agii-Horticultural Society, has 

 written to the Journal of Forestry as follows: — There are 

 to the north and south of Madras thousands of acres 

 of sand-dunes which, within the last five-and-twenty 

 years, I and others have covered with thriving forests 

 of Casuarina muricata, Roxb. The tree in favourable 

 parts of the sands grows to a noble size, and that 

 very rapidly. I have many 40 to GO inches in girth 

 at 5 feet from the ground, and tapering up probably 

 90 or 100 feet as straight as, and very like a larch 

 planted in 1871. A few trees are cut for piles, 

 shed-building, rails, and such-like uses, but hundred 

 of acres go down in a very immature state every 

 year for firewood. The wood is very hard, of great 

 density and specific gravity, and bears a gfeat stfain^ 

 but is so liable to warp, perhaps from ignorance of 

 the proper method of Seasoning it, that it is very little 

 used for other purposes. I have seen the wood take a very 

 high polish, and some good tables and other articles of fur- 

 niture made of it. It appears tome absolutely sinful 

 to waste the well-grown trees for firewood, and it has 

 occurred to me that there might be a market for them 

 at home for paving blocks, even if the wood will not 

 season to prevent warping. The logs could. I believe, 

 bo profitably put'on board ship at from £1 to £2 per ton, 

 [But why not utilize them locally for the priocipal 

 streets; of MaJras.—Ep.] 



