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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



iQ ript-ning it, and the consequence is it becomes 

 woodj and unfruitful. Any peach tree which is seen 

 to produce a small quantity of fruit aud abundance 

 of wood should be suiijected to it. On the other hand 

 if the produce of wood la sparing, it should be treated 

 as I have recommended for vines, i e,, manure forked 

 iu the border in December or January without ex- 

 posing the roots to the sun and air. English gardeners 

 gptier-illy root-prune when a peach tree falls into this 

 vigerous and unfruitful condition. Their method is 

 to open a trench 2 or 3 feet deep at a little distance 

 from the etem and out the extreme end of the roots, 

 then fill up again immediately after cutting. The 

 greater luxuriance of growth of the peach in this 

 country will admit of rougher treatment, and in 

 addition to cutting the roots exposure to the sun 

 and air for some weeks is beneficial. After being 

 treated in this manner and when covering up again 

 manure may be dispensed with if the soil is good. 

 Starving a vigerous peach tree for a year or two has 

 great effect in making it fruitful. The only danger 

 to be avoided is not to starve it too long. When 

 it is seen that the tree ia making a fair quantity 

 of bearing wood, and ripening it throughly without 

 artificial aid, then manure may be given. The re- 

 marks I hive maid about the peach may also be 

 applied t" plum. -W. Gollan. 



_ . — ^ 



WOODS TO BE AVOIDED IN MAKING 



TEA-BOXES. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " INDIAN FORESTER. " 

 Sir, — Tiie following extract is taken from a letter 

 from Professor Dyer at Kew which enclosed speci- 

 mens of three kinds of wood taken from a tea-boxes 

 which had been sent home from India, probably from 

 Assam. 



"The enclosed pieces of wood are fragments of 

 India tea-chests. We are anxious if possible to know 

 the names of the trees which furnished them. A 

 curious qufstiou has arisen about them which maybe 

 to a law-suit. Wood No. 3 has produced the complete 

 corrosion of the lead with which the chest was lined. 

 The metal is in fact eonverted into a coating of 

 carhnnate of lead which you will see as a white in- 

 crustation on the surface of the wood. The result 

 of this has heen that the tea became damp, and 

 deteriorated during the voyage. Nor was this the 

 whole of the mischief ; the wood has a sour acid 

 sm^U which it communicates to the tea. All the 

 chests packed in this wood proved practically un- 

 saleable in London. It is therefore important to 

 find out what this objectionable woods is, and gibbet 

 it as a thing to be avoided for the purpose in the 

 future. If you can help us with any information 

 about it we shall be grateful to you." 



It was a great regret to me that this reached me 

 in camp away from the office collection, with the aid 

 of which I might have definitely said what the woods 

 were. But as far a mere guess from resemblance 

 and the descriptions in the " Manual of Indian Tim- 

 bers " goes the woods were — 



No. 1. Erythrinaindka 01 suberosa{ceTtMD\y). 

 ,, 2. Derris robusta (prubably), 

 „ 3. Mangifera sylvaiica (probably). 

 Professor Dyer's description of the odour and appear- 

 ance of No. 3 was quite correct, but in order to 

 make sure and also to ascertain if the wood of the 

 wild mango is usually one of these used for tea-boxes, 

 I have sent the specimens to Mr. Mann for his opini- 

 on, and hope to communicate the result to the 

 " Forester. " 



If will be a most important matter to warn plant- 

 ers of the damage such woods are likely to cause 

 to their tea, and it is therefore to be hoped that we 

 may be able BUOCessfuUy to trace the tree which 



gives such an unpleasant wood, I have known 

 " champ " wood in Darjeeling give a similar scent, 

 but the specimen was not "champ," which besides 

 in not used for teaboxes. In Darjeeling the com- 

 mon tea-box woods are — 



Terai. — 1, Toon ; 2, Lampatia ; 3, Semal; 4, Goguld- 

 hup ; 5, Kadam ; 6, Mandania ; 7, Mainakat ; 8, Udal. 



Ilills. — 1, Toon ; 2, Kabashi (maple) ; 3, Mahua ; 

 4, Gorbria ; 5, Chilanni ; 6, Lepchaphal ; 7, Parsing, 

 while in Chittagong toon and others not well kuown 

 are used ; and in Chota kagpur I have see silai 

 employed. Perhaps some one will favor us with a 

 list of Assam aud Caohar tea-box woods and help to 

 complete the list, 



J. S. Gamble. 



[Surely Mr. Gamble ought to have given the bot- 

 anical names of the woods he enumerates ? If the tin 

 boxes for which Messrs. W. Law h Co. are Colombo 

 agents could be supplied cheaply enough, it would be a 

 great improvement to get rid of wood entirely. — Ed.] 



New Remedy for Phylloxera.— A Pretich chemist 

 claims to have discovered a method of overcoming the 

 danger threatening vineyards from the ravages of the 

 phylloxera. His process is to inoculate the vines with 

 the phenol poison. The phylloxera do not attack plants 

 thus treated, and are extirpated for want of food. The 

 vines are in no way injured by the inoculation process. — 

 Public Opinion. 



The Jamaica Banana Trade. — A large and increas- 

 ing export trade of bananas is being carried on between 

 Jamaica and the United States, chiefly from the ports 

 of Kingston and Port Antonio, from which regular lines 

 of steamers ply monthly or bi-monthly to New York, 

 Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, each of 

 them carrying from 5,000 to 10,000 bunches. The 

 banana is an annual, the fruit coming to maturity about 

 a year after ihe shoot ia planted, the trunk of the tree 

 subsequently attaining a height of 8 feet to 10 feet, 

 and a girth of 30 inches. From this trunk, which is of 

 a fibrous nature, are thrown out long palm-like bran- 

 ches, at the junction of which appears the fruit, each 

 group of bunches numbering from four to twelve, being 

 called a "hand," and e.ich hand having eight or ten 

 bananas upon it. A bunch of eight hands is the ordin- 

 ary standard size of shipping fruit. From the root of 

 the tree several shoots or suckers sprout, each of 

 which, in turn, becomes a fresh tree. The life of the 

 banana tree, however, is not usually long, for it is 

 felled after the fruit is gathered, and sometimes, indeed, 

 during the operation. Jamaica contains a good many 

 banana plantations, varying in size from 25.000 to 

 200,000 trees, for the most part cultivated by the small 

 settlers iu the different parishes. These holdings 

 generally consist of 3 or 4 acres of land, on which the 

 owners live in a temporary mud hut, being afraid to 

 leave their property to the tender mercies of their neigh- 

 bours, who rob each other's ground with the strictest 

 impartiality whenever they can get a chance. The 

 cultivation is very primitive. The land being cleared 

 by a big iron hoe, a hole is dug and the sucker is planted 

 in it, in most cases nature doing ail that is nece.ssary ; 

 but in larger plantations the trees are planted with some 

 degree of system in tlie form of squares, and trenches 

 are dug for irrigation, the banana thriving best in damp, 

 stiff soil. The value of the industry is shown by the 

 f,act that in 1877 th^^re was shipped from Kingston 

 22,101 dols. worth, whereas in 1882 it was 56,5.S8 dols. ; 

 the amounts cleared out at Port Antonio for the same 

 years being 45,871 dols. and 153,136 dols, respectively. 

 Besides all this, considerable quantities were shipped 

 from the ports of Lucca, Montego Bay, St. Ann's Bay, 

 and Port Mara, on the north side of the island. The 

 average shipping price is 50 cents per bunch all ihe 

 year round. — Public Opinion. 



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