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*Mii *MOPICAL AOKtcULtUl^iaf, 



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being cut some leave the plant a few days to fade, 

 others transport it under sheds to dry, and later, 

 roll the leaves iu linen cloths or press thena between 

 bundles of oaten straw. The object is to obtain a 

 leaf that will be at once aromatic and burn well. 

 From 5 to 15 cwt. is the average yield per acre in 

 southern and northern regions respectively. The 

 question may fairly be raised, is tobacco culture 

 profitable ? Many farmers will not hesitate to say 

 directly it is not, but indirectly it is the best pre- 

 paration for any succeeding crop. 



Dr. Hector George, Professor of Hygiene in the 

 Agronomical Institute of this city, draws attention 

 to the sanitary influence of light in favouring the 

 formation of blood globules, and aiding all the func- 

 tions of life to their fullest extent and intensity. 

 Light revives and stimulates energy in the animal 

 economy, assists to purify air by destroying malaria 

 germs. Light is salutary for the young by aiding 

 growth, and for the aged by filliping sluggish nerve- 

 organs. 



^ . 



It may be useful to dwellers in the bush to known 

 that carpenters frequently cut rafters according to this 

 rule : Multiply the span in feet by 6, and point off one 

 right hand figure, as in decimals. The left-hand figures 

 are feet and the other inches; thus, for a roof of 2Sft. 

 span X 6 = 16-8, or 16ft. Sin. This is not quite one- 

 third pitch, and makes a good roof. — Qaecittlcmdcr. 



Eenjamin Hepburn, of Ballarat, Victo-ia, makes 

 known in the Aitstralosian the following antidote to 

 strychnine ; — The remedy is salad oil first, and after- 

 wards castor oiJ. In three cases of his own stud 

 greyhounds he has proved its efficacy, even although 

 convulsions had already commenced. He gives a 

 small bottleful of salad oil at one dose, and in about 

 an hour's time a large dose of castor oil. — Qucenslaiukr. 



Local Manufacture of Quinine. — A London 

 correspondent interested in Ceylon writes : — " I have 

 been making some experiments upon the extraction 

 of quinine from cinchona bark and shall hope to 

 write you shortly on same. I have extracted the 

 quinine without using mlphuric or hydrochloric 

 acid. I am surprized that no Ceylon firm has yet 

 taken up this important matter of local extraction. 

 Bending low quality of bark home cannot possibly 

 pay at present prices." 



The following remedy might perhaps be effective 

 in destroying the cabbage caterpillar. It is used for 

 the destruction of the gooseberry and currant cater- 

 pillar : — If 5 oz. of alum be dissolved iu boiliug water, 

 and this mixture afterwards mixed with cold water 

 so as to make about 18 quarts, and the fluid be 

 applied to the bushes when attacked, tbe caterpillar 

 will entirely disappear. It is a good assistaance also 

 against the attacks of other species of caterpillar, 

 the American blight, and aphides.— ^WdJtvwi'ancZe)-. 



The following letter from Baron von Mueller on the 

 transport of cuttings is published in the Gardtmrs' 

 Chronicle : — " To show the facility with which cuttings 

 also of rather hard-wooded plants can be sent to very 

 long distances, I may mention that an experiment 

 lately instituted by me iu sending cuttings of Buddleia 

 Madagascariensis and B. globosa simply packed in wax- 

 cloth, by post, all the way to Madras, proved perfectly 

 Buccejsful, as etated by Mr. Lawson and Mr. Gamble, 

 while cuttings of the large-flowered Hypericum shrubs 

 of Upper India, and of some other kinds of plants, 

 reached me in return also quite safely by the same simple 

 process. The time required for the sending of these 

 cuttings was four to five weeks."— Quccmlander. 



The diamond drill has led to a valuable discovery in 

 South Australia. Around the township of Hammond 

 hitherto the water found in any wt lis that have been 

 sunk has invariably been too salt for use, and very fre- 

 quently the residents were put to great straits when 

 their surface supply was exhausted. The diamond drill 

 has discovered beautiful fresh water at a depth of 230ft., 

 which immediately rose to within 60ft. of the surface. 

 There are mauy spots in Queensland where salt water 

 Only is to be got in the shallow wells already sunk, 

 and we mention this success of tbe drill to encourage 

 f9ti\si» hae to bore down below tbe salt etratum, It 



is a trouble sinking a well through strata containing 

 salt water, but with any of the water augers or earth 

 borers this trouble is reduced to a minimum, for the 

 salt water can be easily kept back by piping the 

 bore. — Queonslander. 



Tea Flushing ani> Sinhalese Pluckeks. — 

 While in the higher districts there has actually 

 been a check of flushing from the drought which 

 followed the little monsoon, in the medium dis- 

 tricts like Dolosbage there has been steady con- 

 tinuous flushing keeping all hands so fully em- 

 ployed, that extra pay to the amount of 3d per 

 day is being freely earned— a circumstance sure to 

 gratify Bamasami and which will erelong induce a 

 big inflow of coolies to share in the rupee harvest. 

 Meantime many estates are able to get help from 

 Sinhalese, who in some cases are glad to work 

 along ^vith the Tamils on day's pay. Mr. Blackett 

 especially has quite a large force and he finds the 

 Sinhalese boys and lads very useful as pluckers. 

 Some of the 8-year old tea in this district is 

 simply magnificent, Mr. Blackett had the ' flush ' 

 on one or two bushes carefully plucked and weighed 

 the other day, resulting m 9 ounces of leaf per 

 tree; equal to about 400 lb. made tea per acre for 

 the one plucking ! or at the rate of 4,000 lb per 

 annum ! ! 'What do these planters do for the country 

 and its people ? ' is a question sometimes thought- 

 lessly asked by a young Civilian or other new- 

 comer. Perhaps if they saw Mr. Blackett's force 

 of 1,200 men, women and cliildren (Sinhalese and 

 Tamils) and his mouthiy indent for 1,000 bushels 

 of rice to feed them, the thoughtless querist might 

 feel he had his answer. 



How Moisture in the Soil Behaves. — To many it 

 appears inexplicable how our settlers can cry out for 

 rain withiu a very few weeks of the time that the fall 

 of perhaps several inches has been recorded. The fact 

 is easily explained when the extreme desiccation of the 

 subsoil and even the rocks is considered. Capillary- 

 attraction is silently but constantly at work distributing 

 to the most attenuated film the water in the ground, 

 so that once a series of years of deficient rainfall has 

 occurred nothing but prolonged rain will saturate the 

 lower ground to the point of yielding moisture to the 

 surface instead of drawing it downwards. AVheu pro- 

 longed and heavy rain falls, the water descends by gra- 

 vity and fills all the larger spaces in the ground, the 

 cracks, and even the rocks; then this same law of 

 capillary attraction comes to work for the benefit of 

 vegetation. Instead of attenuating the only moisture in 

 the soil aud retaining it, as is now the case, it causes 

 a constant film upwards to the roots of the plant 

 from the store pools below. It is often a matter of 

 surprise how the roots of a tree will discover a well 

 or a drain mauy feet away from the parent tree. It 

 seems inexplicable that there should be so much sense 

 in the rootlet, but a little thought about the action 

 of capillary attraction will explain the proceeding. 

 From such a well or drain there is this constant film 

 of water being spread out; no matter, though it is 

 many feet off the root, yet the moist film touches it 

 and the root follows the lead until the fountain's source 

 is reached, Besides, while the lower ground is spread* 

 ing out the moisture in the way just mentioned, it 

 must be remembered that the young growth of suc« 

 culent grass which has been started Into to life by the 

 rain falling upoa the hot surface is a powerful evapor- 

 ator of moisture ; the water absolutely streams through 

 the fresh young leaves into the hot dry air, and Ih 

 order to keep this up the drain upon the moisture in 

 the surface soil is very great, so that in a short time 

 the supply is ineflicieut and the grass withers. Thus 

 it is that the newspaper correspondents' reports of the 

 "drought having broken up" is soon followed by the 

 unexpected cry of "drought." Tin fortunately nearly the 

 whole of interior Queensland is iu this desiccated state, 

 and nothing but prolonged rains can possibly do any 

 real good. Even a flood would not suflice unless it 

 were followed by continuous rains, for flood waters 

 rush away before they have time to penetrate deeply 

 into tbe earth.— <2«e5w?«n(i<rr, 



