April 2, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



84s 



BEE-OULTUKE. 



TO THE PBITOR OF THE "ASIAN." 



Sir, — I am eiideavoiu-iug' to introduce bee-culture into 

 India, and liave succeeded ill introducing tlie Italian bee 

 so far, that I liave two stoclcs breeding. 



I sliould be very glad of assistance from any one 

 sympattuziug with my object, and I should have great 

 pleasure in doing all I can to as.sist any one wishing to 

 try bee-culture on the most approved system. 



I find difficulty in getting stocks of indigenous bees 

 for trial. Dr. King found a stock of Apis indica, but 

 before he could capture it for me the nest was robbed. 



Will any reader of the Jsiaii, favourably situated for 

 finding nests of wild bees, kindly assist me to the pos- 

 session of some stocks? 



If a dead bee and a short description of the nest is 

 sent I shoidd be able to judge if the bee would be 

 likely to repay the trouble of hiving, and I would give 

 instructions for its capture and carriage. 



I should also feel greatly oljiiged by specimens of bees 

 from any part of India as I am working out the distri- 

 bution of the honey bee. 



The very small bee with a broad yellow band across 

 abdomen {Apis Jloiea) is not likely to repay the trouble 

 of hi\dng, but I believe the larger bee, with yellow and 

 black stripes over the whole abdomen, (Apis indica) would 

 prove profitable, and I should like to get a few stocks 

 of this kind as also of Apis dorsata, the value of which 

 latter as a hive bee is problematical. 



In hi\Tng wild bees it is probably safest either to cut 

 the queen's wings or guard the flight hole with orifices 

 which will allow of the passage of a worker but not of 

 a queen. \Vithout one of these precautions wild stocks 

 are likely to abscond. — .John 0. Douglas, Oalcutta. 



INDIAN BOXWOOD. 



The possible supply of this important commodity from 

 India was adverted to in the Kew Report for 1877^ p. 27. 

 Messrs. Joseph Gardner & Sons, the well-knoivn timber 

 merchants, wi-ote to Dr. Braudis, the Inspector-General of 

 Forests in India, April 29, 1881, on the subject: — "We 

 bought the parcel (about 5 tons), landed ex 'Strathmore' 

 in London at the high price of £30 per ton. At these 

 high prices the consumption will be very limited indeed. 

 Can you kindly inform us what the prospects are of secur- 

 ing any large quantities of tliis wood— say .5.000 to 10,000 

 tons, at about £10 per ton — in Liverpool or London 'f We 

 are drawing our present suppUes from Eussia and Persia 

 princijjally ; but there are so many fiscal restrictions, and 

 the wood is also inferior to your Indian shipments, that 

 we should prefer drawing all our supplies from India. At 

 anything lUce £30 per ton only very small quantities can 

 be used ; at £10, however, it would probably be used very 

 extensively for various purposes for which cheaper woods 

 than boxwood are now used." To this communication Dr. 

 Br.mdis replied, July 6: — "The bo,xwood resources of the 



country are very hmited There is no chance of 



such large supplies as from 5,000 to 10,000 tons bemg avail- 

 able from India." It is evident, therefore, that we cannot 

 look to India to remedy the increasing dearth of boxwood. 

 It would be obriously much to the advantage of any of 

 oiu- colonies that could send into the timber trade in quant- 

 ity any wood which would be acceptable as a boxwood 

 substitute. £10 a ton is calculated by the Imhan forester 

 to equal about -!s. the cubic foot. A further consideration 

 is that the expense of conveying boxw^ood from the forests 

 in India is very great, and unless a high price were reached 

 its exportation would be impossible. The logs composing 

 the parcel already referred to had to be carried partly on 

 men's backs, and partly by carts, from the forests to Sah- 

 runpur, anct thence by rail to Bombay. A price of £30 a 

 ton gave a profit of about 73 per cent; £17 10s. was con- 

 sumed in expenses, and any price which did not cover this 

 would of course involve loss. — Kew Report for 1881. 



PLANT FOOD. 

 The nature and sources of Plant Food are natiu-ally 

 matters of great interest to all cultivators. From its uni- 

 versal ditfusion, enorm nis quantity, and paramount im- 

 portance this is particularly true of water. The rain it 



107 



raiueth every day, and that being so we are apt to be 

 heetUess of what the rain really does for us, to under- 

 estimate the amount of jjlant-food it supplies, the changes 

 it exerts on the soil, and the loss of food that accrues when 

 an excess of water causes a proportionate amount of food 

 to be washed out of the soil. Anyiuquu-y into these matters 

 is likely to tend towards a more rational sy.stem of cultiv- 

 ation, and a better adjustment and utilisation of the 

 resources at om" command. These cu'cumstauces lead us 

 to bring under the attention of our readers one of the 

 most uiterestmg and valuable of the large series of elaborate 

 meniou's prepared at Rothanisted, \nz., that on the amoimt 

 and composition of the rain and of the drainage-water 

 collected at Kothamsted. The report is dra^vn up by 

 Su" John Lawes, Dr. Gilbert, and Mr. Warington, conjointly, 

 and is contained in the last volumes of the Journal of 

 the Royal Atfricultaral Society. The average aimual rain- 

 fall for twenty-eight years is noteil at 28'3 inches, and 

 tables are given showing the actual amount in each month 

 of each year from 1853 to 1880. These are local details, 

 however, with which we need not further coiiceru oiuselves 

 here. Adverting to the section on the composition of the 

 rain-water, the quantities of ammonia and of nitric acid 

 are the most important for om- piu'poses, as these sub- 

 stances supply the plants with the nitrogen they require. 

 It became, therefore, a matter of the first importance to 

 determine the proportion of nitrogen e.xi.sting in the form 

 of ammonia in the ramfall. Without gouig into details, 

 which would occupy too much space here, we may state 

 as a general residt that on an average of three years, with 

 a mean rainfall of 28"4 inches, there are 6"1 lb. of nitrogen, 

 as ammonia, supplied to the soil jier acre each year ; and 

 that in addition, on an average of two years, 0'74 lb. of 

 nitrogen are gained in the form of nitric acid, giving a 

 total of 684 lb. of nitrogen per acre — a quantity con- 

 siderably smaller than the mean quantity per acre of a 

 number of stations in various other districts. — Gardeners'. 

 Chronicle. 



TRENCHING SOILS. 



The soil of which om- gardens are composed may be 

 roughly divided into thi-ee classes, viz., light, medium, and 

 heavy, ranging from sandy soil on gravel to clay on a jtitt 

 impervious bottom. In the s-tandavd works on gardening 

 and the formation of gardens excellent adrice is given as 

 to the uatm-e and depth of soil to <-hoose for a garden. In 

 one we are told " it ought not to be too strong nor clayey, 

 nor of too loose and gi-avelly a quality, but of a rich and 

 rather a light pliant natm-e, capable of being wrought at 

 all seasons ^vithout inconvenience, and of sufficient depth 

 to allow the roots of all sorts of trees and plants to extend 

 themselves with facihty." If a garden can be laid out on 

 such soil as this the owner may consider himself fortimate, 

 but such is not to be foiuid often, and we must deal with 

 .such material as we have and make the most of it. 



Light gravelly soils are about the worst to deal with, 

 especiaUy in dry districts; and one practical example of 

 dealing with a garden of this kind is worth half a hundred 

 theoretical examples. The soil is very light, and on some 

 parts of it gravel was found less than a foot below the 

 sm-f ace ; in other places there would be about 2 feet in depth 

 over the gravel. We had to make a number of paths in 

 the garden, and had a quantity of spare soil upon them; 

 we therefore took out a trench down to the gravel where 

 there was not sufileient depth of soil, dugout 6 inches of 

 the gravel, and exchanged it with the soil from the paths, 

 and as the trenching went on the gravel was I'eniovecl f rom 

 the bottom of each trench until the quarter or border was 

 finished. There was a good deal of labour involved in this 

 work, but it was a jjaying concern, as the soil from the 

 paths had to be taken somewhere, and after it was removed 

 the paths had to be made up with gi-avel. The whole garden 

 was exhausted with the roots of su many fruit trees, and 

 when young ones were planted they cankered immediately; 

 it was therefore thought by many that fruit trees would 

 not succeed. I was confident they would, and the result 

 has shown that this confidence was not misplaced, as the 

 garden is now furnished with healthy free-bearing trees. 

 Our first work was to prepare the ground for the fruit 

 trees. It was trenched from 18 inches to 2 feet deep, 

 according to the nature of the soil, anil as it was pour 



