788 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



Cinchona in New and Olb Disteicts in Oeylon. — Our 



recently ehavecl Cinchona would be none the worse for 

 rain, and we now pay more heed to its wants than to 

 those of our much and deeply-regretted coffee. Our 

 growth of cinchona is slow, but more certain than in new 

 land. I heard of a field the other day, where Ks. 5 were 

 offered for every plant to be found ' alive on a hundred 

 acres ! A Fact ! This in many places has been a most 

 disastrous planting year, especially in the new districtes. 

 From these old districts we have not shipped much as 

 yet, but any one coming up here, if he takes a round- 

 about journey through Hantane. Lower Hewahette and 

 Puselawa, will be surprised at the quantity of cinchoua 

 now becoming visible. The trees are really une or two 

 years older tlian they seem ; but better stunted and slow 

 progress, than mushroom growth and sudden death. — 

 Cor." Ceylon Times" 



The American- Sugar Trade. — It is stated in a recent 

 report on the sugar trade of the T'nited .States, that the 

 manufacture and consumption of glucose and Grape sugar 

 has of late grown to an euorraous extent. The present pro- 

 duction is estimated at not less than 10,000 tons a day. 

 While the product is chiefly used by brewers, it is also 

 largely used as a substitute for sugar in the manufacture of 

 confectionary and mixing of syrups. "New process" sugar, 

 also, for which there is an increasing demand, contains about 

 20 per cent of glucose, and it is difficult to distinguish it 

 from the pure product of the cane, for which it is no doubt 

 largely sold. A low grade of sugar is also being extensively 

 manufactured by the rehoiling of foreigu molasses. 

 Philadelphia is said to do tlie largest business in this respect, 

 to the extent of 20,457 tons, after which comes New York 

 with 14,500 tons. This branch of industry is, however, not 

 on the increase. The attempts to produce raw sugar from 

 Beet-root and Sorghum do not meet with much success. 

 Maple sugar is still, however, produced in considerable 

 quantities in Vermont and some of the Western States, 

 the annual production being estimated at about 10,000 

 tons. The total yield of Louisiana sugar for 18.sO-81 — the 

 largest since the Civil War— was over 120,000 tons. — 

 Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



The Action of Manures on Fruits.— Cultivated plants 

 are the inheritors of whatever bsnefits or disadvantages 

 they may have derived from their predeeessors. The thing 

 is obvious enough to those who look on plants from an 

 evolutionist's point of view ; and the practical outcome is 

 that, except under special circumstances, or for some special 

 purpose, it is best, in our attempts to improve upon that 

 we have got, to deal with a plant that has been in culti- 

 vation for a long time, and so avail ourselves of its stored-up 

 inheritance. It would be along uphill work to start afresh 

 with the Crab or wild Pear, for instance, although for the 

 sake of getting a new "break" or more robustufess of con- 

 stitution it may be desirable sometimes to begin agaiu at the 

 beginning, or at least to infuse some less conventionalised 

 blood into our plants, if we may so speak. A curious illustra- 

 tion of the contrast between the wild anil the civilised con- 

 dition is afforded in Professor Goessman's paper on 

 "Mineral Constituents in Plant Growth " in the Transactio/hs 

 of the JIa!tsffcJiu:isetts JIortirHHural Sociftj/. The Professor 

 has been experimenting on the difference* in chemical com- 

 position between Vines unmanured aud Vines manured. In 

 the course of his experiments he analysed the juice ot a wild 

 Vine (Vitis Labrusca) grown without manure, and the juice 

 of the same Vine when treated with manure. At one bound 

 the .sugar rose from 8'22 per cent, in the wilding without 

 manure, to 13"67 per cent, in the same wilding appropriately 

 fed. This shows the advantage of the manure. But now, 

 looking to the analysis of the cultivated variety (Coucord), 

 we find that in its juice, even when unmanured, the sugar 

 amounted to 18'80 per cent., so that thf^ cultivated variety, 

 without manure at all, yie'ded a larger percentnge of sugar 

 than did the wild form with ample manure. The increase of 

 sugar is coincident with a largn increast; of potash, and a 

 largely diminished proportion of limp. In the case of Straw- 

 berries the wild unmanured variety contains much less 

 potash, much more limn, much less niaguesia, much more 

 iron, and about the same percentage of phosphoric acid as 

 the cultivateil and manured variety. The wild Strawberry, 

 moreover, contains one part of acid to two of sugar, while in 

 the cultivated varieties the proportion of acid is one to four 

 qr more of sugar. — Ibid, 



Planting Vines.— I lifted a very old Vme the othei 

 day which had never done well, and found the main 

 roots all curled up into a mass. The roots when planted 

 had not been properly spread out, and consequent 

 had never left the ball — a fact which should be remem- 

 bered by others when planting Vines or anything else 

 that has been grown in pots. — JV. Ramshav\ Gr. Perry' 

 xtorie, Iloss.— Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



Vines : Indirect Evidence.— The fact that the American 

 Vines resist or do not succumb to the Phylloxera is being 

 acted on in a large scale in France, the Amei-ican Vines 

 beingused as stocks whereon to graft the better Vines of 

 France. At first there was some doubt as to the real 

 efficacy of the process for practical pui"poses, hut that 

 doubt is now settled, and, as if to prove it, thefts of 

 American Vines from nurseries have become frequent. 

 Thus, near Montpellier one night 850 plants were stolen 

 and from another nursery a number of cuttings, valued 

 at £ 200. The variety most affected by the marauders 

 is one named Othello. — Gardeners;^ Chronicle. 



Vegetable Pests. — As an instance of the rapidity and 

 thoroughness in which several of the Cactacece naturalise 

 themselves in many countries, the following clipping 

 from a leadhig daily atf ords striking evidence : — " A Bill 

 has been inti'oduced into the New South Wales Legislat- 

 ive Assembly for the purpose of empowering the Goveim- 

 ment to devote a certain sum to the eradication of the 

 wild Cactus plant, popularly known as the ' Prickly Pear.' 

 So rapid has been the spread of this vegetable pest that 

 whereas, according to the statement of one member, £ 50 

 would have sufficed thirty years ago to rid the colony 

 of it, a million sterling will, before many years, be re- 

 quired for such a purpose. It was stated that one pro- 

 prietor of land in the colony had spent £ 1000 on his 

 property in trying to destroy this mischievously prolific 

 plant, but had not yet succeeded." — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



The Phylloxera in South-West France, — The l^iifne 

 Amtricaine gives the following statistics for the Depart- 

 ment of H6rault, which may suffice to give our readers 

 some notion of the extent of the disaster in one Depart- 

 ment only. The number of hectares destroyed annually 

 (a hectare ^ rather less than 2^ acres) was as follows; — 

 In 1880. 19,000; in 1881, 20,427; in 1882, 26,267. The 

 number of hectares treated by submer.sion during the 

 same years was respectively, 1588, 1626, and 22S3. The 

 number of hectares treated by carbon sulphide for the 

 same period was 1875, 4632, and 3541 respectively. The 

 number of hectares treated by sulfo-carbonate of potash 

 was 868, 1578, and 751 for the years before mentioned. 

 The number of American Fines used as stocks whereon 

 to engraft the finer Vines has increased from 2624 in 

 1880 to 10,918 in 1882 in the Department in question. — 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Cinchona: Hybrid Variety. — A good deal ofattention 

 has been attracted in India and Ceylon to a Cinchona, 

 which there is little doubt is a hybrid between C. officin- 

 alis and C. succirubra. I shall have occasion to deal 

 more in detail with it in a succeeding report. Dr. King 

 reports from DarjeeUug, May 28, 1881 : — " Mr. Wood's ana- 

 lysis showe<l that this variety yields a bark rich in quin- 

 ine, and steady efforts have been made to increase it. 

 During the year 85,000 plants of this hybrid were put 

 out at Muugpoo, and 5000 at Sittong, bringing up the 

 full number now on the plantation to close on 20(\000." 

 Dr. King further writes to me, October 8 : — " Next to 

 Ledgeriaua om* most promising bark is what we call our 

 'hybrid. ' The first plants of this hybrid appeared amongst 

 some seedlings raised from Ceylon grown seed sent to 

 us by Dr. Thwaites. The plants look as if they were 

 a hybrid between succirubra and officinalis. In habit of 

 growth it resembles the former, but the leaves differ, 

 and at a distance a patch of it looks more like officin- 

 ahs than succirubra, ha\'ing the dull heavy green colour 

 of the former. Chemically the bark re.sembles that of 

 officinaHs. With us this hybrid offers to do splendidly 

 at an elevation where succirubra won't grow well. Of- 

 ficinalis never has thriven here. I believe our plant to 

 be a hybrid, because it never comes true to seed. Seed- 

 lings come out nearly pure officinalis." — Keiv Report for 

 1881. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



