March i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



719 



tax — as much, iadeed, as 200 per cent, on the value 

 of Sittings — were removed, we might soou have tea 

 eelliug at wonderfully cheap iate4. The recent study 

 of the Grocei'S has been to sell a really good tea at 

 23 ; but would nor. a substantial fall in price be more 

 attractive lo the labouring classes and the poor, who 

 form by far the greater bullc of the consumers ? A 

 low quotation for common tea ia quite cousistant with 

 a high one for fine qualities, and there is no reason 

 why retail prices, beginning at Is for Sittings, should 

 not end at 7s or 8s a lb. for the choicest products of 

 the Darjeeling plantations. Indeed, while the (irocer 

 attracis the poor by low rates, it would be a excellent 

 thing to build up a connection among those who 

 really appreciate fine tea. Less blending, and offering 

 the commonest to the finest sorts on their merits, at 

 relative prices, will probably be among the next 

 developments of the trade. 



There have been no further sales of China tea, and 

 as scarcely any business has been transacted privately, 

 prices are nominally unchanged. A considerable quanti- 

 ty of Congou will, no doubt, be offei-ed at the liegin- 

 niug of the new year, and if importers are willing to 

 sell at moderate mtes, a fair demand may be looked 

 for, but as the stocks are very large, a demand for 

 higher prices would simply have the affect of check- 

 ing business. — Produce Markets' Review. 



TIMBER TREES AT THE CAPE. 



The following list of timber trees at the Cape will 

 doubtless interest the readers of M. de Regne's 

 Report on the Cape Forests, in which however only 

 a few of those given here are mentioned. It has been 

 compiled from a list sent me from the Cape. Some 

 of the botanical names being undecipherable, Dr. 

 Trimen, Director of the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, 

 has kindly corrected it and filled up the omissions. 

 The most useful woods are the three yellow-woods — 

 Podoearpus T lumbenjii and P. eloiujatus, P. prninosus. 

 These and Boukenhout or African oak. sneeze-wood 

 and assegai-wood are use for building purposes, cart 

 building, &c. White and red peai--wood are likewise 

 used by coopers and for wagon building. Wild olive, 

 wild orange, assegai and sneeze-wood for furniture. 

 The latter is also in great request for sleepers, 

 telegraph posts, and piles. 



There is a large import of Norway deals into the 

 Cape Colony, the value generally being about .£80,000 

 sterling annually. 



The prices of deal is generally lower than that of 

 the native timber, owing to scarcity of labour, dilB. 

 culty of access to the forests, combined with extensive 

 forest distruction and diminution of area by grass 

 fires and "farm servants being allowed to clear plots 

 in the bush for corn crops." The latter is of course 

 only " kumri " or " jlium, " • an old enemy, ana the 

 Surveyor General reports that thousands of acres of 

 valuable forests are annually cleared in this way. 



Colombo, 1 F. D' A. Vincent. 



December 2ml, 1SS2. J 



Liitt of Cape Timber Trees. 



Stink-wood, ... ... Oreodnphne bullata. 



Sneeze-wood, ... ... Plcroxylon utile. 



Yellow-wood, or native deal, Pcdocarpus e'ongatus. 



Bastard deal, ... ... Podocarpus Thunbergii. 



., -•• .-. Podocarpus Pruiaosus. 



Essem-boora or Cape ash, ... Eh'herrjia Capensis. 



Cape beech, ... ... Myrsine melanophldios. 



Assegai-wood, ... ... Cnrlisa faginca. 



Saffraan or Saffron- wood, ... Elieode.ndro7i croceum. 



Kafir- wood, ... ... Erythrina Caff'ra. 



Wagun-wood, ... ... Protea grandiflora. 



' Our Ceylon "Cheua" or as. the philological purists have I 



It nena. — En. 



Red pe.arwood, ... 



White pear-wood,... 



Keur, 



Witte Els, 



Cape thorn, or Mimosa, 



Wild olive, 



Red spoke-wood, ... 



Black iron- wood, ... 



Phoberos EcUonii. 

 Plerocelastrusrostralux, 

 Virgilia Capensis. 

 Weimnauida trifoliala. 

 Acacia horrida. 

 Olea verrucosa. 

 Ochna arborca"! 

 Ole alaurifolia. 



EXPOSING THE ROOTS OF FRUIT-TREES, 

 [rhe following paper is a curious commentary on 

 the position held in Ceylon as to the advantage of 

 baring the roots of vines. — Ed.] 



The practice of exposing the roots of certain fruits 

 trees to the sun and air, for a month or more during 

 the cold season, is general in gardens throughout 

 India. The beneficial effects of this practice is°very 

 questionable. I do not condemn it altogether, but 

 rather, wish to point out under what circumstances 

 it may be beneficial and under what hurtful. Fir- 

 minger, in his " Manual of India Gardening, " strongly 

 upholds it, and recommends mangoes, vines, peaches 

 and plums being subjected to it. With the mango he 

 advises removing the earth around the stem in Novem- 

 ber or December, expose the roots for two or three 

 weeks, then give a good supply of manure, and cover 

 up again with entirely fresh earth. The latter por- 

 tion of his advice is sound and good, and I think he 

 has erroneously credited the exposure of the roots, 

 with the beneficial effects produced by the manure 

 and fresh earth. Anyone may easily fall into this 

 error with the mango. It is naturally a deep rooted 

 tree, and the few rootlets near the surface which are 

 injured or killed by exposure, do not perceptibly in- 

 jured the tree for a number of years. If the manure 

 and fresh earth are given as soon as the old earth 

 is removed it will be found that trees so Iretted are 

 healthier, produced more fruit, and of better quality, 

 than those whose roots are annually exposed to the 

 sun and air. Young trees planted" in a good soil 

 will not show any evil effects from the practice for 

 years, but when they become older, and especially 

 if grafted trees, its evil effects are plainly perceptible. 

 The foliage becomes scanty, the fruit small aud of 

 inferior quality, gum exudes from the stem, and 

 their appearance on the whole betoken trees prema- 

 turely old. Trees treated in a more natural manner 

 will go on bearing for years after these are dead, or 

 at least so unhealthy that they are not worth their 

 room in a garden. 



The vine suffers even more from the practice than 

 the mango. Unlike the latter it is a surface rooting 

 plant, and its greatest support is derived from the 

 numerous fibrous roots near the surface. It is 

 impossible to move the surface earth without injuring 

 and destroying many ot these roots. 



English growers when manuring their vines are very 

 careful that not a single root is broken or injured 

 during the proee.fs, and this same law holds good in 

 this country. Sume say that if the roots of vines 

 are not exposed to the sun immediately after the 

 rains, they will not ripen their wood. If there is 

 ever any diinger of this, withholding water for a 

 time will accomplish it. The most vigorous vine if 

 kept dry will ripen every shoot by the mouth of 

 Oeceiuber. Good strong manure forked into i he vine 

 border in December or January is a much better 

 plan than removing the soil and exposing the ruots 

 to the sun in October and part of November as ia 

 usually done. 



The peach and plum when in a very vioorous 

 condition are greatly benefited by this practice. °They 

 often produce such a quantity of wood, especially 

 the first-named, that withholding water has no ell. ct 



