76 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882 . 



truuk or with each otlier. If the roots are thrown 

 out fioni or very near the rai\in trunk, they ordin- 

 arily ruu down i's surface, au'l cohere with ir. firmly, 

 aud heuce the sculytured appearance. If, a- liappena 

 iu some, they are thrown from tlie brmch'S at such 

 a distance from the trunlc that they do not come iu 

 cjutictwithit, they passdowntolheearthand form wiiat 

 1 call supports. These supports never appear to pro- 

 <luce leaf-bearing branches, so long, at least, as they 

 remain attached to the tree. They are generally p?r- 

 fejtly straiglit at first, becoming conic d only by 

 divisions at the apex when near the earth, aud by the 

 mutual adhesion of these divi-sions. Very geuerally it 

 would appe.ar this species, as well as some others, 

 vegetates in other trees ; its first proci'sses of growth 

 bemg probably similar to those of other dicotyledonous 

 trees. Xhe roots, liowever, in obeying the laws regulat- 

 ing their descent, soon come into contact, aud wherever 

 th.y do 60 a mutual and firm adhesion is the result. A 

 network is soon formed round the tree ; the size of 

 its reticulations soon diminishes with tiie increase in 

 the number of roots ; and at last a nearly solid and 

 excessively firm cylinder is formed, which encloses, as 

 it were, iu a case, the tree which oriyiually protected 

 the young seedling. To such an extent is this carried 

 that the death of the tree is sure to occur sooner or 

 later. In such a case as this the fig tree has, it 

 ra ly be said, no trunk at .all comparable to ordinary 

 trunks, which result from growths in an ascendiug 

 direction. In these they originate from the aaigregaliou 

 and cohesion of roots, or from growth in a descending 

 direction." From Gritfith's obseivation it appears that 

 this tree rarely fruits in a wild state, and still more 

 rarely does it fruit under cultivation in this country. 

 An instance occurred in the garden of Mr. Boyce, of 

 Claphum, iu 18/4, and the fruit was figured iu this 

 journal, u. s., ii., p. 359. — Gardeners' Chronitte. 



THE IMPROVEMKNT OF SOILS. 



A pamphlet, "How to Profitably Imjjrove our 

 Soils," by Dr. J. E. T.aylor, F.G.8. (published by R. 

 Packard & Co., Ipswich, price iwopeuce). is probably 

 issued with the object of giving coirect informitiou 

 as to the nature aud use of chemical manures. We 

 can only say that, if so, it is a very legitimate object, 

 and, judging by the ignorant remarks frequently made, 

 Dr. Taylor's clear exposition of the nature of soil ; 

 requirements of plants, and action of manures, may 

 be read with advaut.ige by those who denounce arti- 

 ficial manures as merely stimulants, aud believe that 

 their action is quite differeut from that of farmyard 

 manure. It is high lime that this truth is realised, 

 viz., " thit farmyard manure depends for its efficicy 

 upon containing certain ingredients in certain propor- 

 tions, viz., nitrogen, phosphate of lime, potash, lime, 

 and possibly migncsia ; and that these ingredients can 

 be presented more directly in the form of a oorapouud 

 m.Tnure ; and so, according to Professor Ville's ex- 

 periments, the litter, if no richer Ih.nn the home- 

 made manure, produces better effect*!, because more 

 immediately avail.ible." farmyard manure, however 

 rich it may be iu the constituents which crops re- 

 quired as food, cannot yield it to theiu as fast as 

 ch: mical manures cm; for the simple reason that the 

 former decomposss slowly, aud the crops cannot get 

 it faster than the rotting manure yields it to them, 

 luderd, no less than ninety five per cent of farmyaid. 

 manure is composed of carbo-hydrates, of wliicb there 

 i» already perhaps too much iu the soil It is for 

 the same reason that the effects of farniy.rd manure 

 last longer in the soil than artificiils. Wnnt, how- 

 evtr, ia wanted now is a quick return, ;tnd the use 

 of artific'al manure, wi'h or without foldyard manure, 

 fecm-es this. 



If Professor Ville is correct as to the almost use" 

 less nature of 9o per cent of home made manure' 

 surety it is very u iwise to make hardaud-fast rules 

 as to the consumption of straw, when the s une could 

 be sold at remunerative rates, and its manuring value 

 replaced by suitable applications. If, again, we are 

 aiiie to restore to the soil those paricular materials 

 ■abstracted by certain crops, we are uo longer bound 

 down to a rigid adherence to a rotation. The system 

 of alternating crops was a wise aud uece-siry one, 

 when the farm dependerl so much upon its own i-e- 

 suuroes for manure, and it will still be found desirable 

 as a general rule. Different classes of plants exhaust 

 the soil of certain elements in very ditierent propor- 

 tions. This fact, and the materials es.^ential for growth, 

 were proved by Professor Ville in a series of very 

 beautiful experimcts. The matrix used was sand, 

 first calcined, so as to destto} all manuring matter. 

 " VVueat sown in this saud, with the addition of a 

 little water to moisten it, only just sprouted ; even the 

 straw did not grow so large as a knittiug reedle ; and 

 when nine out of the ten elements, which are more 

 or less necessary to plants, were added to the calcined 

 saud (nitrogen being excluded), the growth was very 

 little better. When nitrogen was added, but the nine 

 elements left out, the result was nearly the same; but 

 when both nitrogen and the mineral matters were 

 added, the results were almost magic il." 



Professor Ville found that the conditions most fa- 

 vourable to fertility consisted in the union of four 

 .substances — nitrogenouB matter, calcic phosphate potash, 

 aud lime, to which mixture he has given the name of 

 normal manure. " His experiments with these materials 

 were most interesting. Without any manure at all, the 

 soil produced Iv! bushels of wheat ; with chemical 

 manure, but without nitrogen, the yield was 18 bush- 

 els. Treated with nitrogenous matter, without min- 

 erals, the yield was 22 bushels ; but treated with the 

 'normal manure,' the yield jumped up to 50i Ijushels 

 per acre." 



As an illustration of the economy of rotations, it 

 is pointed out that clovers and leguminous crops gen- 

 erally flourish iu soils containing little or no nitro- 

 genous matter; and not only so, but are able in some 

 mysterious way to obtain nitrogen from the atmosjjhere, 

 and to store up a portion in the soil. The fact is 

 well-known to chemists. It has been proved that a 

 soil from which two crops of clover have been cut, 

 thereby taking away a birge amount of nitrogen, ia 

 richer iu nitrogen than it was before the clover was 

 sown. The absolute necessity for pho9|dioroua in the 

 soil, especially for seeds aud tubers, is poinled Out. 

 And not only is phosphorous an element found. in 

 all seeds, but the pollen of all kinds of pi mts is rich 

 in phosphorous, and without its available presence 

 il the soil at the time of flowering, imperfect fertil- 

 isation must result. The importance of solulile phos- 

 phates in the soil is thus established. Plants appar- 

 ently have au extraordinary power of obtaining this 

 manure, even when present in au insoluble state. 

 Professor Jacks proved this by planting seeds in moist 

 sind resting on polished slabs of phosphorite. They 

 germinated there, reached down to the polished phos- 

 phate beneath, and thus dissolved nut such quantities 

 as they required, letiving on the polished .«lab nn 

 etched luilliue as a self-wiitten record of how import- 

 ant this miueral was to thtir growth. We all know 

 tlie '-ffect of applying finoly-groaud bones, nnd even 

 coprolites, to the soil. Here is an explanation of the 

 efficacy of insoluble phospl.ate. 



In the present condition of Enulish Inrming it is 

 quite impossible to do witliout laroo supplie.s of clicm. 

 icil manures. It is, therefore, well that armers should 

 have sound knowledge afforded them as to what they 

 should use and what they should avoid. — Fifld. 



