9o8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May r, 1883. | 



marked preference for working on the sugar estates. This 

 really was the cause of coffee cultivation being abandoned. 

 It was not so much a question of price, but simply the 

 want of labonr. The only supply of labour in the country 

 was that of the emaucipateil negroes ; and that was with- 

 held. Besides which the estates lost their market plantaius. 

 Formerly the coffee estates not only fed their own gangs 

 with their plantains, but had contracts with the sugar-estates 

 to supply tliPiii ; and so they were sure of a sale for their 

 plantains. After freedom this market was lost, and there 

 was nothing to meet the current expenses of coffee cult- 

 ivation ; and very soon the negroes themselves became 

 growers of plantaius. So there was nothing for it but 

 to give up and go ; the buildings were sold off as old 

 materials, the land was either disposed of, in lots to villag- 

 ers, or taken over by some neighbouring sugar-estate. 

 And thus coffee cultivation in Berbice, once such a thriving 

 industry, became a tradition of the past !. — lioi/nl Gazette. 

 ♦ 



A NEW VARIETY of aniseed has lately appeared in the 

 market, imported from Chili. Eighty-six bags of this variety 

 were offered at the Loudon clrug sales this month, but 

 fetched a low price, bemg small and not so free from stalks, 

 etc., as Eiuropeau aniseed. — Diarmaceutical Journal. 



Fbuit Trees and Weeds.— The American Ac/rieidturist is 

 as much opposed to weeds as agriculturists all over the 

 world are. But, in dealing with orchard culture, it recom- 

 mends a subsidiary crop in the shape of red clover. But 

 this is that the pigs may be turned in to feed and fatten 

 and manure the soil: — It is strange that more is often ex- 

 pected of the area appropriated to the orchard than of 

 any other laud upon the farm. It is expected to produce 

 two crops each year, and to do so without manure. The 

 space between the rows is occupied by some crop, or the 

 whole surface is in grass, and made to afford a crop of 

 hay as well as a crop of fruit. The many " run-down " 

 orchards in all of the older States testify to the prevalence 

 of this custom. In the renovation of an old orchard, the first 

 step should be to r/ive the trees the wliole of the soi! , and the next, 

 to improve the soil, in order to nourish the trees. There is 

 but one crop which should share the soil -svith the trees 

 — that is, the pork crop ! As a means of keeping a pro- 

 ductive orchard in good condition, and as a method of 

 bringing up an unproductive or run-down one, give it a 

 generous raanming, and sow red clover. It would have 

 been better had the manuring and plowing been done last 

 fall, but better do it now than to wait. A\Tien the clover 

 is well established, the pigs may be pastured upon it, 

 but no other animals should be allowed in the orchard. 



Oeara Rubbers in Oeyix)n. — Ceara Rubber grows very 

 well in Ballangoda, where I know of its having been cultiv- 

 ated for some time past, but on only a small, and, I might 

 say, an experimental scale. There are also several trees 

 on an estate in Bambara Cotowa. Most of the trees are 

 at an elevation of from 2,000, to 2,500 feet ; and some of 

 which I have personal experience, as I planted tliemin 1880, 

 are looking remarkably healthy, though irregular in point 

 of height. The best out of the nnm>ier I planted is about 

 20 feet high, and eight inches in diameter at the base. 

 I operated on this tree a few days ago, and found that 

 the milk, though firm ami thick, did not appear to be present 

 in any very large cpiautity. Last year the quantity of milk 

 was more, though of a very watery consistency, that at 

 the time I believed to be due to extreme wet, but f)-om 

 my last experience, this view is not supported by the facts 

 of the case. The Ceara Rubber comes into flower during 

 the first, and seemingly every succeeding year ; but I learn 

 that the first year's seed is objected to for planting purpo.ses. 

 Shelter from extreme ^vind is very necessary for this tree, 

 for the stem is easily broken by a strong gust, which, though 

 not fatal to the life of the plant, throws it back very 

 comsiderably, till replaced by a new shoot or " sucker." I 

 beUeve it is said that nothing will grow under Ceara Rubber, 

 but this is quite contrary to my own experience, for I 

 have found that weeds, as well as larger plants, thrive 

 perfectly under the influence of their lactiferous companions. 

 The Mozambique variety has been tried on one estate in 

 the district, but its growth — about G inches in a year — is 

 very much against it ; but it is very possible that the 

 climate is unsuitable, or we are ignorant as to the locality 

 and altitude best adapted to the successful cultivation of 

 this product. — "Oeylon Times." 



A Good AVobd fob Oatmeal. — Among the people who 

 use it, and in the analysis of the chemist, it stands con- 

 fessed as of the most nutritious and economical foods that 

 can be used. The Scotch people are living examples of what 

 oatmeal will do to make an athletic race with ple'fity of 

 braiu, bone, and muscle. The Scotchman's average ilaily 

 ration is 2J lb. of oatmeal and a pint of milk. °On this 

 he thrives and performs the labor of the farm. Analysis 

 shows that oatmeal is very rich in nitrogenous matter, and 

 comes much nearer wheat floui- in nutritive value, than 

 is generally supposed. The following table shows their 

 comparative value. 



Nitrogenous matter 

 Carbo-hytlrates 

 Fatty matter ... ... 



Saline m.atter 



Mineral matter 

 AVater 



150 



Wheat^jiour . 

 ... lU'b 

 ... 70-5 

 ... 2-0 



.'.'.' 1-7 



15-0 



There can be no doubt that oatmeal cooked in its various 

 forms might be added to the list of our dishes in the farming 

 districts with great advantage. It is one of the best su.stainers 

 of muscle in the list of human foods. — A mericaa Aijricidturist. 



Clay in a New Role.— All fertile soils are largely com- 

 posed of clay. The best lauds for permanent cultivation 

 are heavy clays well drained and pulverized. Their fineness 

 of grain allows the free penetration of the exceedingly 

 small feeding roots and root hairs of plants, and by capillary 

 attraction they bring up moisture from below to withstand 

 drouths. A very sandy soil is greatly imijroved by mixing 

 clay with it, to form a loam. In its pure state, and in 

 combination, clay constitutes the largest portion of the 

 crust of the earth. In the form of bricks it is used in 

 the construction of a large percentage of human dwellings 

 public buildings, and mercantile and manufacturing es- 

 tablishments. Chemistry makes many interesting and useful 

 revelations. It shows, for example, that every 58^ ounces 

 of dry common salt is made up of 23 omices of "a metal " 

 much like silver in appearance, and 35J ounces of a yellowish 

 gas (chlorine), so acrid, that a pint of it muced with the 

 air of a room produces great irritation of the lungs, if not 

 suffocation. It was discovered only 56 years ago that every 

 51^ ounces of pure dry clay is maile up of 24 ounces of 

 oxygen (which forms four-fifths of the bulk of air and 

 fifteen-sixteenths of the weight of water), and about 27^ 

 ounces of a most important metal called Alumiaum. This 

 clay metal, if it can be obtained pure in sutHcient quantity, 

 is more valuable for almost all uses than any other known 

 metal, except iron. — American Aifrictdtarist. 



CuPBEA Baek. — A few months since Dr. Hesse stated 

 {Pliarm. Junrn. [3], xii., 517) that in a peculiar thin kind 

 of cuprea bark, of a much paler colour than the ordinary 

 'oark of the Rcmijia pcdaiwiUata, heh-A'} fouuil, in addition 

 to cinchonine and a new alkaloid, a large quantity of aricine 

 and cusconine. This "new allcaloid'' he now believes 

 (Berichte,Kvi.^6^) to be identical ^vitb the"bydrocinchoninc" 

 of Caventou and Willm, ami the alkaloids he then regarded 

 as aricine and cusconine, he now finds to consist of several 

 new bodies. At jjresent Dr. Hesse has separated an alkaloid 

 which he calls *' concusconine," as standing in the .same 

 relation to cusconine as quinidine to quinine; another which 

 he has named "concusconidine,'' analogous to cusconidine, 

 and a third, somewhat resembUng aricine, which he believes 

 may eventually prove to be identical with Arnaud's cinchon- 

 amine. As Dr. Hesse is extracting the alkaloids from about 

 100 kilos of this bark, there is a possibility of the discovery 

 of other alkaloids and an elucidation of the question ag to 

 the identity of einchonamine. Diconchinine (diquinidinc) 

 and a small quantity of cincholine are also separable from 

 the amorphous bases of cuprea bark, and more conveniently 

 that when dealing with cinchona bark. In these days of un- 

 belief it is satisfactory to learn (I>'erirlite, xvi. 60) that 

 Dr. Hesse has confirmed the independent statements of 

 tliree sets of observers as to the existence of a peculiar 

 alkaloid in cuprea bark. — "homoquinine," ''ultraquinine" 

 or "cuxjreiue," — by an examination of a portion of the 

 alkaloid obtained by Mes.srs. Paul and Cowuley in their 

 investigation. He stat4;s moreover that, although working 

 with quinine and quinidine of absolute pui-ity anti prepared 

 from cuprea bark, he has been unable to obtain the com- 

 }>ound of tiuiniue and (juiuidine which Messrs. C. H. "Wood and 

 Barrett stated they had prepared. — Fharmaceutical Journal 



