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best kyautaga (gur) was produced by soils A and E' 

 theu by H, tbeu D and K, and finally B. They 

 stated that the kyantaga (gur) of B was bad owing 

 to the land being flooded, and that the sugar of K 

 would improve as the land was regularly cultivated 

 year after year. 



Comparing the result of the soil analyses with 

 those of the testings of the juice and kyautaga (gurj 

 Dr. Romanis remarks: — 



" The order of the productiveness seems to be that 

 of the amount of pho-iphoric acid the soil contains. 

 Leaving K out of account, as it was more mature 

 when cut, it will be observed that the mgar obtained 

 is very nearly proportional to i he percentage of phos- 

 phoric acid. According to Ville the phosphate of lime 

 is the predominant constituent in sugur manure, but 

 he gives no experiments to prove it. H is the third 

 in order of pLiosphoric acid and third in order of 

 productiveness. The great excess of potash cannot be 

 utilized by the plant for want of a sufficient propor- 

 tion of phosphoric acid. K, according to the natives, 

 comes after D; but D is new land and, theretore, 

 for a year or two many yield good crops ; but, if 

 the analysis fairly represents its composition, it can- 

 not last long. 



"H is no doubt beginning to be exhausted of its 

 soluble ingredients. Wnat is extracted by hydrochloric 

 acid does exactly coiTespond to what the plant can 

 extract from the soil. 1 should say it wants a fallow 

 or change of crop. 



" The soil should not deteriorate if nothing is removed 

 from it but pure sugar, the constituents of which 

 are entirely obtained from the air. If the crushed 

 canes are restored to the land in any form, there is 

 no loss, or very little, of mineral matter. " 



SHALL WE GROW MILLET. 



My success with millet haf? been so marked that 

 I have practically abandoned my meadows as a source 

 of hay supply, and with millet in place of oats, and 

 clover in rotation, depend upon these for my forage; 

 and after ten years' or more esperience, have I never 

 been without an ample hay supply, I am, taking 

 one year with another, convincpd that oats never paid 

 me as well as the same land would in either corn 

 or millet. Possibly I may yet go to speculating in 

 Bohemain oats, not in feeding them, but raising them 

 to sell to neighbours who go crazy over oats worth (?) 

 ten dollars per bushel. Mem.: Who ever heard of 

 a farmer selling his crop of Bohemain oats for S400 

 per acre? 



For several year.s I sowed Hungarian grass, but 

 became convinced that German millet was far superior, 

 and now sow it exclusively. Some winter.*! I have fed 

 no other hay, but usually feed clover and cornstalks 

 along with it ; but, so far as I can see, I would 

 quite as soon take exclusively millet ; for winters I 

 have fed nothing else, not even grain, until the cows 

 began to calve m the spring. No one could ask for 

 stock to do better than did mine on thin, early-citt 

 asillet. 



The chief objectiono to millet are that it is thought 

 io be a great exhauster of land, and that it ia a hard 

 frop to cure. It is probably more taxing on land 

 than timothy; for millet^ besides its great mass of 

 foliage, develops at least forty bushels of grain to 

 ibo acre, 2*fow millet is what is known as a gross 

 feeder, and needs to be sown on soil filled with vegetable 

 ttiattsr, and will attain its greatest perfection on fresh 

 turned clover sod^ or a crop of fallow corn, or de- 

 cayed sod. 



Mll:et shotild cot be allowed to mature its seed to 

 obtain best results as a hay supph •■ and in avoiding 

 this a great draft upon the soil is prevented ; for, if 

 cut just as the heads are developed, and the seeds 

 are forming, the final demand upon fertility to mature 

 this heavy crop of grain is avoided. And I now place 

 mil, fit, when sown in its proper rotation, as one of 

 the medium crops in its demand for fertility. Then 

 its growth is remarkable. In favorable seasons it is 

 T ady to cut in seventy day< from sowmg, and there- 



idt» ioQB not ''dr»T?'' u;)!.y t^ mil U]^ cora^ oAt^, 



or wheat, that need far longer time, and must of 

 necessity develop their grain. 



As a crop to precede wheat, it has no superior; 

 for its dense growth completely shades the soil. It 

 is, therefore, a cleaning crop. And, lastly, it leaves 

 the land mellow, and exceedingly easy fitted for wheat. 

 In fact, with the improved spring harrows, it is often 

 quite as well to prepare the land for wheat without 

 ploughing; but usually it is better to invert the soil, 

 and plough under the great mass of roots and stubble, 

 that upon an acre must aggregate tons in weight, and 

 must, therefore, have a great fertilizing value. Wheat 

 upon millet-stubble often shows superior growth, 

 possibly from the fact that the dense shade during the 

 hot months increases the nitrification of the surface soil. 



Millet delights in a dryish summer, and only needs 

 an occasional shower to give it luxurious growth. Last 

 season my millet only had what could be called two 

 lains upon it, and yet its growth was astonishing — 

 nearly six feet in height for the entire fields, and 

 yielded at least four and a half tons of cured hay 

 per acre. This season we have had rains and rains, 

 and invervals of cold cloudy weather, and the yield 

 will not probably exceed three tons per acre the 

 smallest crop in years. 



Millet is a tropical plant in its nature, and should 

 not be sown until the hot June days guarantee high 

 and somewhat uniform temperature. This year's seed- 

 ing chanced to be followed by ten days of cold, rainy 

 weather, and as a result, the millet did not come up 

 evenly; part was, as afterwards proved, drowned out. 

 On the 6th day of July a small field was sown, and, 

 when the fields were cut last week, this piece, sown 

 twenty-five days after the others, was in many respects 

 the finest millet. 



In sowing millet a full bushel per acre should be 

 used. Then the hay is fine and choice ; an 1 if cut 

 just as the heads are all out in bloom, and cured in 

 the cock — the larger the better— and then stored in 

 the big bay of the barn, it will come down upon the tioor 

 in the winter bright and greeu, and with that attrac- 

 tive fragrance that will cause cattle to eat it in 

 preference to any other hay that may at the time 

 be placed before them. 



For years I have fed my work-team upon early-cut 

 millet — not all they would eat, but in proper ajiounts, 

 and have never noticed any ill effects ; but on the 

 contrary, have regarded it as a most excellent ration. 

 For milch-cows it has no superior as a hay ration. 

 With a proper feeding of milk-feed, the March and 

 April messes of milk will fully equal to June flow 

 maintained from the pastures, and in texture and 

 quality leaves nothing to be desired. 



The question is, with the advent of ensilage and the 

 demonstrated great growth of German millet, can 

 farmers afford to feed hay grown upon high-priced 

 land, when from a half ton to a ton of inferior hay is 

 the average? But, on the contrary, are not the profits 

 to be rather found in croppiug for abundant rations, 

 and thus securing them at the lowest possible cost ? — 

 Jason Jones ia the National Stockman. 



THE BANANA. 



TO THE EDITOR OF "THE AUSTEALASIAH." 



Sir, — " A species of the genus musa, a tropical tfce 

 clearly allied to the plantain. The fruit is Sin. or Sin. 

 long, and 1 in. thick, gro^n in clusters, is very nutri- 

 tious, and, in some parts, forms a mostimportant article 

 of food," ao say.s the Standard Pronouncing Dictionary. 

 Few colonists now but have seen and tasted the banana, 

 and I have, no doubt, endorse the pithy description 

 given of it of being nutritious. The trade between the 

 colonies and the islands is perhaps more than the 

 generality of your rea'iers is aware of ; the S. S, " Rock- 

 ton," bavins on board 19,000 bunches in one trip to 

 Sydney. This is a larger cargo than is usually brought, 

 but the average will certainly be not less than 9,000, 

 and as there are steamers to New Zealand, Sydney, 

 and Melbourne constantly running and bringing them 

 up there must be, in any case, as many as 366,000 

 bunches of bananas exported from Fiji every year to 



Au^trftlia »oi IJ^v 2oal6u4; ist I am told tbat <}uastr 



