68c/' 



TiiE T^dMCAL AGlilCOtttJfRt'Sr. tAfRiL i, iBBf. 



lime; slake it with boiling water ; cover it during the 

 process to keepiu the steam. 8'raia the liquid through 

 a fiue sitve, ami add to it 7 lb. of ealt, previousl3' 

 well dissolved in warm water : ^ It), of ground rice 

 boiled t" a thin paste and stirred in boiling hot; i lb 

 of powdered Spanish whiting, and 1 lb. of clean 

 glue which has been previously dissolved by soaking 

 it well, and then hanging it over a slow tire in a 

 small kettle within a large one filled with water. 

 Add o gal. of hot water to the mixture, slir it well, 

 and let it stand a few tiays covered from dirt. It 

 must be put on (|uitc hot. For this purpose it can 

 be kept in a kettle on a portable furnace- A white- 

 wash made after this fashion will last for yi^ars." 

 Such a holdfast whitewash as these compounds would 

 make might be entrusted to entomb insects and their 

 eggs more effectually than that usually compounded 

 from lime alone. — Gardeners' Chronidt. 



MAfRiTiu- New Ixdusieies. — Mr. Home, the Dir- 

 ector of the Public Forests and (iardeus of the 

 island, has furnished an elaborate report on the 

 industries which it is desirable to fuster in the 

 present depressed state of the sugar trade. Mr. 

 Home does not doubt but that in the future, as in 

 the past, the cultivation of the sugar-cane must be 

 the principal occupation of the agriculturists of the 

 island, but he points out that many other resources 

 are open to them, and recommends, moreover, the 

 appointment of an agricultural chemist tu advise iu 

 matters connected with Sugar-cane growing and its 

 management. I^Ir Home suggests, in addition, the 

 extended cultivation of coconut Palms, Cacao, or 

 Chocolate, Coffee. Tea, Dates, oil-nuts, Elais, Betel- 

 uuts, and other Palms, various cereals, starches, Tudigo, 

 Ana* to, oil-seeds of various kinds Bananas, Pine-apples 

 and other fruits. Ginger, spices, fibre-plants, Cotton, 

 silk, iudiarubber. Tobacco, dyewoods. and a variety 

 of other plants and their products — a list which 

 will give fome idea of the resources that are open 

 to the culti\utor in the tropics if other circumstances 

 be propitious. Cinchona does not prosper iu the 

 island. — Gardener,^' Chronicle. 



Keeping Potatoes. — It may not be generally known 

 that Potatoes can be kept sound and well-flavoured 

 until next year's crop comes in. The following is the 

 method (said to be a French one), which I closely 

 followed with the best results : — A large boiler of 

 water, the water being kept up to the boiling point. 

 The potatoes when well washed (avoid breaking 

 the skin if possible] are placed in small baskets or 

 nets, which are then rapidly thrust under water 

 and there retained for about four seconds. The tubers 

 iu each batch on being withdrawn are spread out on 

 the flooring to dry ; when dry they are stored away 

 in a dry dark room as nearly air-tight as possible. 

 The potatoes by this process will have lost all ten- 

 dency to germination. — Journal of Horticulture. 



Oankeb in Fbuit Teees. — To be brief, my opinion, 

 and it is a firm one, is this — Gardeners, as a rule, 

 epoil their fruit trees by too much kindness in two 

 ways: first by digging and manuring annually; secondly, 

 iby a too frequent use of the knife, commonly called 

 pruning, but which in many cases is simply cutting 

 into some shape agreeable to the eye. This has more 

 to do with canker than many will admit, The remedies 

 used here were net in any way elaborate. Lifting 

 and root-praning were adopted in most cases, iu 

 others all canltered wood wag cut otit carefully, the 

 latter and syringing with petroleum nii.-iture being 

 purely out of respect to Mr. Hiam's insect theory. 

 Might I be allowed to "blow my horn" I would 

 .<ay that if given healthy trees tn start with (healthy 

 trees should have stock and scion of an equal growth 

 without rupture or blister) a moderately firm snil 

 with good drainage, the roots being kept to the surface 

 by mulching, and I venture to predict that canker 

 would lie a thing of the past. — C. L. Kitchie, F'd- 

 hills House, Belturhet, Cavau, Ireland. — Journal o/ 

 HorticvltHYc. 



TuEKE are hundreds of fruit trees affected with 

 "what is known as canker," but which is really 

 ulceration. This is caused by the punctures of insects, 

 ^Piue ^eajrs ago I bad more to do than was plea- 



sant with a number of young Apple trees, not a dozen 

 or two of a few varieties, but hundreds, covering 

 many acres of ground, embracing all the most useful 

 varieties in cultivation. The trees were planted for 

 commercial pur()Oses. and perhaps no better could 

 be had. The soil, too, appeared of the best — 

 a reddish brown, sound, ye( free-working, loam, 18 

 inches or more deep, and naturally drained by the 

 gravelly brash on which it rested. The proprietor 

 of the trees felt certain they would eventually be 

 very profitable. For a time they grew well, producing 

 sturdy wood that was well ripened, but iu the course 

 of four or five years canker appeared on the branches. 

 They were fine trees then, with heads 1 to 6 feet 

 in diameter. They were pruned, the branches doc- 

 tored with strong insecticides, the soil over the roots 

 dressed with manure, but still the scourge spread, 

 Some we dug up, root-prune J. and replanted, but 

 the improvement resulting was only of a tem- 

 porary character. It became evident a cure was im- 

 possible. The trees were ruined, and the land sold. 

 It was purchased by a company for extracting the 

 abundance of iron it contained. It was full of iron, 

 which glistened in the stones excavated. The trees 

 I had to remoxe, or at least the few considered worth 

 removal. The worst cankered roots and branches 

 were cut away, and the trees replanted iu suitable 

 eoil. They were dressed with no insecticide, yet 

 they '• grew out of the canker," and have since borne 

 many a good crop of fruit. It was an excess of iron 

 in the soil, and not minute insects on the branches, 

 that caused the destruction of that great and once 

 healthy collection of young trees. It was a lesson 

 never to be forgotten of the importance of making 

 sure of the real condition of the soil and subsoil 

 before planting fruit trees extensively.— [I wonder if 

 there is much iron in the soil where canker in Cinchona 

 was worst. — CoK. | To return to the insects. There is 

 only one way in which these, if they had " caused " the 

 canker of the trees in their old position, did not injure 

 those removed to the new — namely, being shaken oitf in 

 transit, and I have yet to learn that fruit tree pests 

 can be " shaken off " so easily. I have been manag- 

 ing and mis-managing fruit trees for nearly thirty 

 years, and have been able to trace canker to other 

 causes, but never satisfactorily to insects. I have 

 seen them in cankered portions of apple tree wood 

 under the microscope, as I have seen others marvel- 

 lously like them ia the decaying wood of a gate 

 post ; but as I was not able to regard the mites as 

 the cause of the collapse of the post, I could not 

 consistently regard them as the originators of canker 

 iu the tree. This is my response to Mr. Hiam's 

 invitation, and his reply shall have my respectful con- 

 sideration, as though at present I must dissent from 

 his views, his researches are fully appreciated. — Jour- 

 nal of Horticulture. 



Early Bearing Coconuts. — Mr. "SV. H, "Wright, 

 with whom we communicated on the subject of our 

 Veyangoda correspondent's letter, was good enough 

 to call on us with the information that the treei 

 in bearing in his garden could not have been more 

 than a year old when he put them down three years 

 ago. Four years is an exceptionally short time for 

 coconuts to bear in especially in Colombo; but the 

 late Mr Nathaniel Cooke had a young Estate 'iS or 

 4 miles from Chilaw, three years old, on which we 

 saw more than one tree throwing nut spathes. The 

 trees were close to the hiits of the Goiyas whc? were 

 on the land, and had probably been watered iu drjr 

 weather ; but they proved the early age at U'hich 

 coconuts can be made to bear. — Local " Examiner.'* 



The V*{)LATii,nt of CaiI einK. — dir, I should feel 

 indebted if you will correct the erroneous .statements 

 attributed to me iu last week's issue concerning the 

 presence of caffeine in the sublimate obtaiued In 

 coffee roasting. The statement I made was that I 

 had never failed to detect the presence of OiiTi-int: 

 in these sublimates, thus shoi'iog that a loss took 

 place This you will find is diametrically opposed 

 to the printed matter in the Journal, — AVatsON 

 Will,— Ossory \\\\&, Ossory ^09A.—rharmaceutical 

 Journal. 



