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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURrST, 



[May 2, i8i% 



For IirPERJtEABLE Papee, dissolve one and one-half 

 pounds of white soap in a quart of water ; then 

 dissolve two ounces of gum Arabic and six ounces of 

 glue in another quart of water. Mix the two solu- 

 tions ; warm the mixture ; dip the paper in the 

 liquid; pass it between two rolls (a clothes-wringer, 

 for example), and put it to dry. In default of rolls, 

 hang the paper up that it may drip well, or, better, 

 pass it between two sheets of dry paper. Then let 

 at dry in a mild temperature. — La Nature. 



A Cure fob Phylloxera. — It was stated at a recen* 

 meeting of the Academie des Sciences that after num- 

 erous experiments, MM. Couasnon and Salomon had 

 ascertained that this insect will not resist a tempera- 

 ture of 45° C. (113° F.), and that even the eggs of 

 the creature are destroyed by immersion in water of 

 that temperature. Supposing the statement to be 

 correct, it is evident that the plan would bo very 

 serviceable in the case of pot-Vines. In the mean- 

 time, it is a long while since we have seen any Vine- 

 louse either on the roots or the leaves. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Dh. George Watt, O.I.E., who acted for the Indian 

 Government as Superintendent of the Economic Court 

 of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition (Indian section), 

 communicates an interesting note on Indian hemp, 

 supplementary to the statement made by him last 

 November. Dr. Watt's suggestion that only the 

 Bengal " ganga " should be used in medicine is a 

 valuable one. There are few ofl5cial drugs which are 

 80 uncertain in therapeutics as Indian hemp ; but this 

 uncertainty may, it appears, be entirely removed by 

 using a drug which has been carefully cultivated. 

 The price of Bengal ganga may be prohibitive, but the 

 whole subject should be considered by authorities.-r- 

 Vheinist and Druggist. 



Australian vinegrowers will be sorry to hear that 

 another vine pest has appeared. This is known as 

 the black rot, and is believed to hare been brought 

 into France from America, where it has wrought 

 terrible havoc about the Missouri. It has now broken 

 out in the department of the Harault, France. 

 This disease appears first in a small red spot on the 

 grape, and rapidly infects the entire cluster. The 

 fruit then dries up completely. Wlien the disease 

 first attacks the foliage, the spot is black. Vines 

 growing in rather damp soil, or in regions liable to 

 tloodiDi by overflowing rivers, are most liable to this 

 disorder. The American vines are the cause of this 

 pest coming into France. It is not known exactly 

 how to meet this new plague, but sulphur has been 

 advised. — Leader. 



Portland Cement. — This material may be used for 

 repairing the woodwork of hothouses and all kinds 

 of structures where heat and moisture cause decay in 

 wood. The lower part of the door-jambs and the sills 

 soon become decayed and dilapidated, and I find by 

 experience that these can best be repaired and rend- 

 ered durable with the above cement. Take 1| yards 

 of Portland Cement, mix well together, and make soft 

 like mortar, then remove all the decayed parts of 

 the sills or uprights of any parts in the woodwork, 

 put a few nails into the old wood to hold on the 

 cement, then place a straightedge in front of the 

 dilapidated parts, and fill all the holes up with cement ; 

 bevel the surface of a sill so that water can run oif. 

 I have used cement for repairing wood for fourteen 

 years, and have found from experience that the treat- 

 ment win preserve wood for many years although 

 partly decayed. — Wm. Smythe. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



The"Pituri" Tree. — A Southern India contemporary 

 is glad to learn that the valuable Australian tree known 

 as Pitini, is about to be introduced on the Nilgiris. 

 It is greatly valued by the natives of South Australia, 

 pieces of the wood beius; carried by them for hundreds 

 of miles for barter. It is chiefly used as a medicine, 

 and as a masticatory, somewhat in the same way as 

 tobacco, by mixing a little of it with the ashes of acacia 

 leaves. It is very pungent in flavour with a pleasant 

 aromatic odour. The scientific namc^ is Duboisia Roop- 

 woodii, and Mr. 6. Goyder, who made an analysis of 



it, writes as follows regarding it: — " Duhoisia Hoop' 

 wooilii, F. Von Muller, the Pituri, Inland desert regions 

 from New South Wales and Queensland to near the 

 West Coast of Australia. This plant deserves culti- 

 vation on account of its highly stimulating properties, 

 Dvhoisia mi/oporoide.i, of East Australia and New Cale- 

 donia, has come into use for oplitbalmic surgery. 

 The alkaloid of the latter {Duhoisia) is allied to Pitvria, 

 the alkali of the D. Hoopwoodii. Important for mid- 

 riatic purposes in medicine. The tree attains in deep 

 forest glens a height of sixty feet, but flowering al- 

 ready as a shrub. Mr. Corni.sh, its discoverer, expresses 

 the hope that, taking into consideration the great value 

 of this plant, it may be protected by the pastoral 

 lessees and the travelling pubhc. Mr. Cornish found 

 the plant only between lat. 24 and 25 degrees S. and 

 long. 133 and 139 degrees E, " It ought to prove a 

 great acquisition if the plant succeeds in the Nilgiris. 

 — Indian Ayrieulturist. 



Incidental Advantages. — What one may do has 

 often advantages never foreseen. A miner, for instance, 

 goes into a dry and arid country, wholly unfit for 

 horticulture, and what he needs to support him 

 has to be brought hundreds of miles ; yet when he 

 has done all he can and deserts the place because it 

 produces nothing, that which he has done enables 

 thousands to live on it after he has been obliged to 

 leave it. Thus the early miners in California had 

 to leave after the precious metals were exhausted, 

 but the ditches they dug were whatjthe farmer wanted. 

 Many of these ditches which were constructed at 

 enormous cost in the heydaj' of placer mining, now 

 that the placers are all worked out, constitute a 

 perennial source of increase and wealth to the husband- 

 man, who has succeeded to the miner and come to stay. 

 One of these ditches, called the Bear River Ditch 

 is 70 miles in length and cost 2,500,000 dollars to 

 build, in the year 1851; it carries about 3,000 miners' 

 inches of water, or about 45 cubic feet per second. 

 It was constructed to bring the water of the Bear 

 river down to the rich placer mines of Placer county, 

 and was used for mining exclusively, but not now 

 at all. Eunning, as it does, through the fertile foot- 

 hills of that county, it is a permanent guarantee 

 of fruitfulness to the vineyards ard farms which are 

 being planted at either hand, on lands which lie 

 below the level of the ditch. — Gardeners' Monthly. 



An exceedingly fine specimen of the Japanese per- 

 simmon {Diofpyros) has been forwarded to us from the 

 orchard of Messrs. Johnston Bros., Wellington Point. 

 It measured 15 in. in circumference, and weighed 17oz, 

 This specimen was from one of the seedless varieties, 

 and consequently can only be propagated by grafting 

 upon seedlings of the other varieties. In flavour and 

 appearance the fruit is not unlike a luscious apricot. 

 It is a tree that should be in every garden, as it is 

 handsome in appearance and comes quickly into fruit ; 

 if we remember rightly, the tree from which this fine 

 specimen is sent to us is only three years old. The 

 tree attains a height of about 12 ft. and when 

 in full fruit is a most beautiful object. It requires 

 no particular attention besides being provided with a 

 good garden soil. There are several species of Dios- 

 pi/ros which are useful to man. The name signifies the 

 character of the fruit, for it is from dios fdiviue) and 

 ptjrus a pear. The Chinese date plum is the D. kaki, 

 and is well known now in our gardens ; the D. lotus 

 is the European lote, or date plum, to which was 

 attributed the power of causing oblivion when eaten ; 

 the D. ehenus is the ebony wood of commerce, and 

 and D. virgiana is a lofty tree 60 ft. high, the persimmon 

 of the settlers in the Southern States of America. 

 Those settlers who are planting orchards in this 

 colony should on no account omit either the 

 Chinese date or the seedless persimmon from their 

 list when ordering from the nurseryman. May is 

 (juite early enough to transplant, unless they can be 

 obtained in pots. One advantage these fruits have is 

 that they are so fearfully astringent that neither 

 insect, flying-fox, nor boy will touch them until quite 

 ripe, and they can be gathered when still astringent, 

 and will ripen in the house or during the journey 

 to market.— QK«ens?and«>-. 



