JCJLY I, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



/o 



over the plants tiil they have made two years' growth, 

 when, with a sliarp lieilge-bill, or pruniug-kuife, tliey 

 are cut over to wiUiin three inches of tlie ground. 



At the end of tlie set'ond t«o years' growth they 

 are again cut over at 18 incbes from the ground, and 

 again at twi years afterwa is at 3 feet from the gnmiid ; 

 thus, at six years from tlie time of planting, there is 

 a close and good hedge 3 feet high, as as they scMom 

 require to be more than 4 tn 5 feet in height altogether : 

 this height is attained at tlie end of seven years, 

 after which the hedges miy be pruned either once 

 or twice a year as circumstances suggest. Oae rule 

 oUjjhe to be, never to prune tlie hedges at midsummer 

 till they have attained their full denred height. No 

 young hedges — that is, such as have not attained their 

 full height— should be pruueil in the summer season, 

 nor till tbe young wood i» perfectly rii^j and matured, 

 otherwise pruning stultifies and throws the hedge 

 into a state of distorted and gnarled growth from which 

 it never tifterwarda quie recovers. 



I prefer planting hedges comparatively thick, and 

 when they require it thin them out with a pruning 

 knife, which is a couimondable practice, as thereby the 

 remaining plants derive more room and consequently 

 grow stronger. 



The prunus myrobalana appears also to be (for it 

 has not been long mucli in use) a very good hedge 

 plant, but requires mixin;; either with coiniuon Thorn, 

 Sweet Brier, or other less rapid growing sp^-cies to 

 thicken and give compactness to the he ^ge. This kind 

 of herlge is planted and treated in every way the 

 same as Thorn hedges, but the p'ant requires a 

 st 11 better sod to grow in, nor is it cej tain if it will 

 grow to such old age as the Thorn even under the 

 most favoured circumstances. 



Whins or Gorse also make good hedges, which 

 succeed well on turf d^kes, but in consequeuoe of 

 their liability to die perioriioally from the effects of 

 frost and tii'ir attr.iction for rabbits they are less 

 planted now than formerly. The Whin hedg-* is sown 

 (rarely planted), and the co nmon method is tomake a 

 scrateh in the ground, as if for sowing Turnips, and from 

 a Viottle wi h a go 'Se-quill fitted into the mouth the seed 

 is sown and covered with a small rake or hoe. The 

 plants coine up the same seasonas sown, and require 

 little further treatmtnt beyond keeping; tl;e grass from 

 chocking them the first and Si'i'oud season, and annu- 

 ally pruning the hedge after shedding its flowers. 



It is an excellent plan to extend ona or two runs of 

 wire in both Whin and other hidges as near the top 

 as possible, to constitute a back-bone to them, which 

 is .ot the greatest importanc wherever cattle are to 

 fence against, for there ai'e (cw hedges in whieh there 

 are not som' weak pirts, and the strength of a hedge, 

 as of a c'lain, is determined by its weakest part, 



Vtixing hedges, 113 Thorn and B'^ech, tho igh com- 

 mon, is not commendable, bee luse if the soil is adapted 

 t) Bee.h it outgrows and iiilla t'le Thorn, and if suit- 

 able to Thorn it grows much better without the Beech. 

 In winter, too. a hedge compos-^d of Beech and Thorn 

 always presents a gappy appevrauce at a distance, 

 fiir in spite of all efforts the one or I'tber die out. 

 Evergreen hedges for their own sake should be annually 

 pruned in May, when all the old and withered foliage 

 IS pruned off, and the young shoots allowed freedom 

 and time for completing their growth before the end 

 of the season. There are, hovever, opposing consider- 

 ations which have to be taken into account, such as 

 the flowering of Whins, Khododendrons, &c., and it 

 i-< not till these and others have shed their blossoms 

 that pruning is admissible. The beauty and neatness 

 also which a newly-pruned hedge presents at mid- 

 summer has of itself such nttractions that it m.ay be 

 some time before Nature's laws are, in legard to prun- 

 ing, fully obeyed.— C. Y. MrcHiE, CuUen House, Cullea. 

 ^Gardentrn' Chronicle. 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TREE. 



The 



way in which this remarkable tree, Ficis 

 elastica, became known to botanists and horticulturists 

 was very singular, as related by Roxburgh in his 

 J<lora Iiidica in., p. 543. Towards the close of 1810 

 a Mr. Matthew Richard Smith, of Silhet, sent 

 Uoxburgh a vessel, there called a " turong." filled with 

 honey in the very state in which it h;.d been brought 

 from the Pundua or Juntipoor mountains norih of 

 Silhet. The vessel was a common, or, rather, coar-e 

 basket, in the shape of a four-cornered, wide-mouthed 

 bottle, made of split rattms, several sp'cies of which 

 grow in abundance in the above named mouutain», and 

 oouiained .about two gillons. Mr. Smith observed that 

 the inside of the vessel was smeaied over with tbe 

 juice of a tree wliich grows on the mountains. Roxburgh 

 vi-as therefore more anxious to examine the nature °of 

 this lining than the quality of the houej. The turoncr 

 was accordingly emptied and washed out, and Rox° 

 burgh then found that it was very perfectly lined 

 with a thin coat of caoutchouc. Young trees were 

 speedily procured through Mr. Smith, audeultivated in 

 the Botanic liarden at Calcutta, where they throve 

 with the greatest luxuriance. The name only was first 

 published in Roxburgh's hoHus Bewjal nsis (1814), p. 

 65. When we say name only, we mean without descrip- 

 tion, although Roxburgh indicated that it was a large 

 tree, and gave the season of flowering and fruiting. 

 Recently Ur. Brandis (Fuirst Flora, p. 418, in a 

 footnote) has stated that Blume must stand as the 

 authority for Ficus elastic:i, " because Roxburgh did 

 not include it in his Horttis Benrjalensis, and his" Flora 

 did n )t appear till 1832, whereas Blume published it 

 in his Bijdraoen tot de Flora nan Nidcrlandsch Indiii 

 (1825), p. 446" But this objection fails, inasmuch as 

 the name is inclu.led in the Hortns Baigalensls in the 

 place quoted. Blnme received tbe plant from the 

 Calcutta garden, and published the name as his own. 

 We sometimes find Linu;eus cited as ihe authurity 

 for the name, but, as we have shown, it could not 

 have neen known to him. 



In 1815, five years after its discovery, as we learn 

 from Sweet's Hortus Britannkus, 2d ed., p. 461, it 

 was in cultivation in this countrv. Its hardy natiire 

 enabling it to bear smoke, dust, gas, wet, and dron4ht 

 better than most other plants, it soon became a com:non 

 and favourite ornament in sitting-rooms, and other 

 parts of dwelling-houses, as well in this country as 

 on the Continent. Although it will bear a great de.il 

 of rough treatmeut it repays a little care by produc- 

 ing leaves as much as two feet in len^ith ; but for in- 

 door (dwelling-house) decoration it should be kept 

 in small pots, in moderately rich soil, or it will soon 

 outgrow its space. Indeed, it is remarkable ho* 

 long this tree, which attiins gigantic dimensions in a 

 wild state, may be kept healthy and ornamental in i 

 mere handful of earth. With regard to the sizeof this 

 tree in its native country, we find some interesting 

 particulars in William LTrifhth's " Report on the 

 Caoutchouc Tree of A-sam," in the Jouriir.l of the 

 Asittie Society of Bengal, vii , part 1, p. 1.32. In 

 the district where it grows it overtops the other 

 vegetation, not only growing tall, but formincr 

 oolosail trunks. The dimensions of one tree measured 

 by Griffith were : — Circumference of main trunk, 74 

 feet; ditto of main trunk and supports, 120 feet • 

 estimat id height, 100 feet. The n dure of the trunk is 

 very extraordinary, and is thus described by 

 GritEth : — "It differs in the first place from the 

 ordinary trunk by its sculptural appearance, and it is 

 from th'S that its extremely picturesque appearance 

 arises. The appearance arises entirely from the ten- 

 dency of these trees to throw out roots, both from the 

 main trunk as well as from the branches, and from 

 the extreme tendency these have to cohere with tbe 



