THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882. 



could come of this ? A crash did come, and I direct 

 atteuLion to the facts now, that a repetition of any- 

 thing so disgraceful and so utterly inimical to the 

 Lest interests of our yrand northern estate may he 

 avoided. I can see — any enquiring visitor c;iu see — 

 that the dulness and the apathy in th.e Territory, 

 i'nd the disgust outside respecting the Territory, were 

 all born of this floating and bursting of bubbles in 

 the days gone by. For legitimate enterprizes, and 

 lor well-diieoted speculation, there is no better field 

 than the Northura Territory presents, and granted 

 a railway I warrant that our reviving' white elephant 

 will sioon develop into one of the most useful anim.il3 

 any colony could wish to be blessed with. " 



We cannot be surprised at the Heff'ftcr reporter's 

 notes of aUmiiation about Mr. Mackinnon's statement 

 that be could get any number of coolies from Ceylon at 

 a little over 8d per diem. Coolies accept wagea in Cey- 

 lon at which they would not labour in the northern 

 territory of Australia, and Ceylon is not a recruiting 

 ground for Indian coolies. 



AGRICULIURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 

 EUROPE. 



(Special letter.) 



P-Wrs, April 22nd. 



Maize is largely employed in France for the production 

 of spirits and starch ; in both cases the residue has 

 an importance as an article of cattle food at once 

 cheap and nutritive. The flour of all cereals in addi- 

 tion to starch contains gluten, fatty matters, gum, 

 mineral salts, itc. When the maize has been softened 

 ia water, it is can-ied up to a pidp engine and reduced 

 to liquid paste. By successive screenings, the starch is 

 separated, and the residue is a yellonish mass, possess- 

 ing an agreeable odour, capalde of being preserved in 

 trenches, aud well relished not only by cattle but by 

 horses, pigs, aud barn-door fowls. It contains still 8 

 per cent of starch, Ih of gluten, 2 J of fatty matters, 

 and 7 of sugar. It can ecouomicaUy replace oil cakes, 

 as 6 cwt. of the paste at 1,5 fi-. is as nutritive as 2 

 c-\vt. of linseed cake at 2.S fr. The secretion of milk is 

 augmented, jielding a quaUtj not only rich but of an 

 agi'eeable flavom-. In the north of I'rance the fanners 

 use the refuse of the starch mills very largely. 



There is a warm rivahy going on respecting the 

 nutritive and economical \:ilue of palm and cooa cakes * ; 

 nitrogenous matter iircdominates in the latter, and fatty 

 substances in the former. For pig feeding, both cakej 

 are mixed. In the centre of France cocoa cake is gener- 

 ally employed for milch cows ; the milk produced on 

 this regimen is rich and the butter fine and well-flavom'ed. 



In Brittany, Jerusalem artichokes, 23 lb. per day ration, 

 are competing mth p.arsnips in the feeiling of horses. 

 They produce a sleekier coat, and the animals relish 

 them better ; then they remain more juicy at the end 

 of the season, when parsnips and caiTots become diy 

 a)id insipid. P.arsnips demand a deep sUicious soil, and, 

 if near the sea, so much the better. The white carrot 

 with the green neck has the drawback of not preserving 

 ■neU, and, last winter being mild, then- conservation was 

 very diliicidt. To meet the iliiliculty many fanners here 

 cultivate the white carrot for first consumption, and the 

 long red variety for later feeduig, up to May, as it keeps 

 well, and is higUj' rcdished, perhaps from its perfume. 



Professor Sanson maintains that the native breeds of 

 live stock of France have been so improved by judici- 

 ous crossings with imported pme races, as to be chem- 

 ically and nutritively, in point of meat, superior to the 

 latter. Be this as it may, stock-breeders and judges at 



* From the confusion in spelling it is impossible to say 

 whuther cake of cctcao {tlteobyoma) are meant, or whether 

 the comparison is between oil cake of the African palm 

 and i-oconut poouac. The iatter, we suspect. — En. 



agricultural exhibitions display still a weakness for pure 

 stock. M. Sanson has analyzed portions of the pi-ize 

 animals' flesh at the recent Paris Fat Cattle Show, to 

 detennine the jjercentage of dry matter, of proteiu, and 

 of fat, deducing therefrom the comestible value of the 

 animal. Following his tests, in the case of stock, the 

 Limousin breed would come fii'st, and Durhams last; 

 for sheep, precocious merinos, a disliley cross, and South- 

 down lambs. In the case of three breeds of pigs, the 

 Nonnand and Limousin Yorkshires are superior to the 

 pm-e Yorkshire. jUlowing a good deal for patriotism, 

 it is not clear what role difl'erence of age has played 

 in the comparison. 



Professor Nocard, of the Veteiinai-y College of Alfort, 

 has remarked that many cases of the charhon malady 

 were to be traced to lands dosed with such artificial 

 manures as blood, refuse wool, &c. It is wise to take 

 note of the observation without attaching to it imdue 

 importance. The Pasteur vaccination preventive against 

 the charhon disease is now uitanhnously accepted in 

 France. Many local agricultiu'al societies undertake to 

 repay the expenses of vaccination to farmers who allow 

 their stock to be operated upon ; there have been no 

 cases of failure where the instructions for operating 

 have been faithfidly executed. Up to the present, two 

 descriptions of vinis or pock were necessary to be em- 

 ployed. M. Eoux, one of Mr. Pastem''s assistants, has 

 tried a new vmis, which insm-es immunity by one vac- 

 cination in place of two ; it has been successful every- 

 where. M. Tayon has conducted experiments with the 

 vinis on asses and mules in Africa, but these animals 

 invariably proved rebels to all attempts at " talcing " the 

 vaccine. On the 11th May a Congi-ess will be held 

 in Paris to deliberate op the Pastern' principle being ex- 

 tended to other contagious diseases to which stock are liable. 

 Tills is more nrgeut as peripneumonia is the order 

 of the day. Inoculatmg healthy animals in the tail, 

 with a vuiis taken from an .animal which has just ex- 

 pii'ed, has only yielded mixed resrdts : gangrene attacked 

 the tail, produced from initatiou of the wound or from 

 impure virus : the remedy was worse than the disease. 

 M. Pasteur has stated that the peiiimeumonic vu-us 

 cannot be "prepared" like that of the eharbun. How- 

 ever, de Dorpat of Gennany has prepai'cd the former free 

 from fatal impmities by heating it pending ten minutes 

 at a temperatm'e of 131° Fr. 



Efforts have been made to produce machinery capable 

 of extracting sugar from beet on the farm even, and 

 by the ordinary seiwants. A fii-m in the neighbom'hood 

 of Paris claims to have supplied the want ; practical 

 lessons liave lieen given and with fair success at then' works. 

 M. Marguerite draws attention to the gr'eat waste of 

 blood, wheu it can render such invaluable services as a 

 manm'e. A preparation of sulphate of u-on, one quart 

 to 20 of blood, will convert the latter into a cake, 

 which, when dried, either by pressiu-e or heat, will 

 readily pidverize and contain from -Id- to 12 per cent 

 of nitrogen. 



The employment of superphosphates as a complement- . 

 ary manure up to the present found but little favour 

 among tillage farmers of calcareous soils in the south- 

 west of France. M. de Gaspaiin, the eminent chemist, 

 has investigated the subject, and found that, when the' 

 phosphate was scattered on meadow land, so as to be 

 followed by a sUght rain or heavy dew, the results 

 were eminently satisfactory. The phosphoric acid in 

 the superphosphate in question was in the state of 

 phosjihate of ii'ou ; but the acid is as capable of enter- 

 ing into vegetation in this state, as if combined with 

 lime — ir'ou playing an important jiart in the skeleton of 

 cidtivated plants : conclusion : that, in calcareous soOs, 

 superphosphates with base of ii'on answer well — a fact 

 of gi'cat importance. 



Pi'ofessor M.ircker, of Saxony, recommends manures 

 coutiuning 168 lb. of soluble phos])horic acid, aud C6 lb 

 of uitrogeu per 2h acres for potatoes; for sugar beet 



