8«8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1883. 



Any rough box will do, provided it has a close fitting lid. 

 The bottom of the box should be covered with a layer of 

 charcoal dust. It is also a good plan to fill a few 

 small bags with the same material, and place them amongst 

 the .seed packets. Charcoal is a capital substance for inhal- 

 ing any moisture given off by the seeds, or any that may 

 find its way within from the atmosphere. Bottles with 

 glass stoppers, when used for keeping seeds, have the same 

 injurious effects upon their vitaHty as hermetically sealed 

 boxes. I have noticed that seeds, to all appearance quite 

 dry, when placed in a glass stoppered bottle give off, 

 within ten or twelve days, sufficient moistm'e to cover the 

 inner surface of the vacant glass, with a heavy coating of 

 dew. This is not so soon generated if common corks are 

 used insteail of glass stoppers ; I suppose the cork inhales 

 the raoistm-e given off. A\Tien bottles are used for keep- 

 ing any rare kind of seed, it is much the best plan there- 

 fore to use a common cork. This plan of opening hermetic- 

 ally sealed tin boxes immediately on arrival is much at 

 variance with that adopted by other authorities, and as I 

 consider the subject to be an important one, I shall be 

 glail if any of the readers of the InJiait Fort^ter will record 

 theu- experience. — W. G. — Indian Forester. 



♦ 



ViUHLLA PLANTING IN TAHITI. 



The most precious crop here is the Vanilla, which is 

 both pretty and lucrative, being worth about $4 a pound. 

 It is a luxuriant creeper, and grows so freely that a branch 

 broken of); and faUing on the ground takes root of its o^vn 

 accord; anel it climbs all over the tall Coffee shrubs; the 

 Palms, Avocada Pear, and Orange trees, and everything 

 that comes in its way growing best on living wood, the 

 tendrils thence deriving sustenance. It also flom-ishes best 

 in unweeded grounds, the roots being thereby kept cool. 



So the steep-wooded hillside is densely matted with this 

 fragrant spice, which scents the whole air, indeed the atmo- 

 sphere of the house is redolent of Vanilla. It is like 

 living in a spice-box, as the pods are laid to dry in every 

 available corner. They must be gathered unripe, and ckied 

 in a moist, warm place ; sometimes they are packed under 

 layers of quilts to prevent them from bursting, and so 

 lo.sing their fragi\ant essences. 



All this sounds very pleasant, and only suggests light 

 work, yet in truth this cultivation involves most exhausting 

 toil. The plant is an exotic ; it hves in these isles by the 

 will of the planter, not by nature's law. In its native home, 

 exquisite humming birds hover over its blossoms, therein 

 darting their long bills in search of honey, and ilramng 

 them forth, clogged with the golden poUen, which they 

 carry to the next flower, thus doing nature's work of 

 fertilization. 



Here the flowers have no such dainty wooers, and the 

 VaniUa bears no fruit unless fertilized by human haud. 

 So M. and Madame Valles, and their son, divide the steep 

 hillside into three sections, and each morning they patiently 

 and wearily toil up and down, up and ilown, again, and 

 again, au»l again, in order to manipulate each blossom that 

 has expanded during the night. " Faire le mange des fleurs," 

 as Madame Valles describes her daily task, is no sinecure ; 

 it must be done dimng the hottest hours of the day, when 

 any exertion is most exhausting. It needs a keen eye to 

 detect each fresh blossom, and any neglected flower withers 

 and drops. Each day the ripening pods must be gathered, 

 nud in dry weather the plants require frequent watering — 

 .'lu indescribable toil. 



This morning Madame Valles let me accompany her on 

 her morning rounds, whereby I reaHsed that toil and hard- 

 sliip are to be found even in Paradise. — A Lady''s Cruise 

 ill- a Ftench JTan-of-War, hi/ Miss Gordon Cumming. 



COFFEE-PLANTING IN OEYLON IN THE EARLY 

 DAYS. 



{By an Old Proprietor — Major-General Braybrooke.) 



As yet I imderstand that Guinea and Mauritius grasses 

 are the only fodder, and coconut poonac the chief article 

 of more nutritious food for cattle. As regards grasses, 

 n4th care and attention I imagine that sufficient may be 

 grown on most estates to supply all needs, as well as mana 

 ■;'rass for bedding. In some localities also, paddy straw 

 uatchiuee stalks, &c., might be procurable, both of whii'h' 

 it cut into chaff aiid mixed with poonac and a tittle salt 



would be capital food for cattle. I understand that even 

 coconut poonac has become enormously dear. It is evid- 

 ently most important for the interest of (Jeylon that efforts 

 should be made to grow other articles of food, &c., than 

 now exists, and if the wealthy natives would set a good 

 example to their fellow countrymen in the Maritime pro- 

 vinces, I have no doubt whatever that linseed, gingelly, 

 cotton, Egyptian beans, lentils, different varieties of gram, 

 Indian corn and other varieties of food for man and beast 

 might bo grown in abimdance, also fine varieties of oranges, 

 pineapples, &c., which would pay well. There are hundreds 

 of thousands of acres of fine land under the mouut- 

 aius, which, but for the indolence and apathy of the .Sin- 

 halese might be turned to admirable use. I well recollect 

 a .splentUd tract of country lying between Awi.sawella and 

 Katnapura (I commanded the outpostat Awisawellain 1814*) 

 which, if the proprietors would but exert themselves, might 

 be made a paradise of, and there are plenty of other dis- 

 tricts equally good. I entreat the educated and wealthy 

 Sinhalese landholders to exert themselves and disprove 

 Heber's sentiment that in Ceylon " man alone is vile." I 

 thiidt also, with all due deference, that the Ceylon Govern- 

 ment ought to do its part in this direction, by estabhshing 

 experimental farms for agricidture and thereby stimulate 

 the natives to similar exertions. 



Every proprietor and really zealous manager of estates 

 must surely feel the deep importance of doing everything 

 possible to lessen the cost of manuriug. I believe that 

 they may do much in this direction by careful experiments, 

 rarcfidiy watched and recorded. On almost every property 

 there are materials, such as prunings, weeds, soda of pa- 

 tanas, scrub and any such thing, which, if biurnt, would 

 prove valuable mixed with the cattle manure, or even 

 the ashes alone applied to the roots of the trees. The 

 castor oil plant would grow readily and the seed might be 

 crushed on the estate; with the oil in it, it would, I 

 fancy, prove a valuable adjunct to cattle manure. With 

 care and patience, I believe that composts may be made 

 of equal efficacy to cattle manure in far less bullc, and 

 therefore saving largely in its aijphcation. Ashes and any 

 refuse aniftial remains, Ume, sulphur, pulp, chemicals as 

 indicated on works upon agriculture, should be tried, but, 

 whatever is done, they shoidd be' carefully superintended 

 and results recorded. The following fact shows how essentia I 

 such care is. AVhen bones were fli'st taken to Ceylon I 

 purchased and sent to my property a quantity with direc- 

 tions to remove the soil from the roots of the trees, to mix 

 a specific quantity of bones with it and theu to put the 

 mixture carefully over the roots. I went up to the estate 

 .soon afterwards and found bones in all the drains and on 

 further investigation ascertained, that, except to a few trees 

 close to the bungalow, where they had been careles.sly put 

 in a hole near the stems of the trees, the bulk of the bones 

 had been simply scattered on the surface of the ground and 

 wei'e, of com'se, .speedily washed away. This actually 

 occurred with two Europeans upon the estate ! 



BILL NYE'S HOUSEHOLD HINTS. 



Familiar Recipes. 



To remove oils, varnishes, resins, tar, oyster soup, cur- 

 rant jelly, and other selections from the bill of fare : Use 

 benzine soap and chlorofrom cautiously with whitewash 

 brush and garden hose. Then hang on the wood-pile to 

 remove the pungent effluvia of the benzine. — To clean ceil- 

 ings that have been smoked by kerosene lamps or the 

 fragance of fried salt jwrkr Remove the ceiling, wash 

 thoroughly with borax, turpentine, and rain water, then 

 hang on the clothes-hne to dry. Afterwards pulverise, and 

 spread over the pie-pb nt bed for spring wear. — To remove 

 starch and roughness from flat-irons; Hold the iron on a 

 large grindstone for twenty moments or so, then wipe off 

 carefully with a rag. To make this effective, the grind- 

 stone should be in motion while the iron is apphed. — To 

 soften water for household purposes: — Put an ounce of 

 quicklime into a certain quantity of water. If it is not 

 sufficient, use less water or more quicklime. Should the 

 immediate lime continue to remain dehberate, lay the 

 water down on a stone, and pound it with a base ball club. 



♦Threescore and five years ago! — Ed. 



