September i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



2SS 



amounted to 2,400f. per acre in the year 1875, when the 

 flooding began to tell. In I8S1, vineyards which six years 

 previously represented but a dead loss, yielded a clear 

 profit in wine of 1,000 francs per acre, or 25 per 

 cent. The expenses would be very much less, where 

 the water is furnished by canal, or tapped from 

 springs. Small proprietors frequently unite to secure 

 a water-supply, for, if submersion in autumn be not 

 a cure for the phylloxera, it certainly minimizes its 

 ravages. The value of water in vegetation is most ad- 

 vantageously ensured, when the irrigations are inter- 

 mittent, instead of non-continued, between April and 

 September : the sheet of water arriving on the eoil 

 after an interruption forces the stratum of air, which 

 has replaced the first watering, to descend into the 

 soil, renewing there the atmospheric oxygen around 

 the roots of the plants. Two or three irrigations per 

 week suffice. The same number of irrigations is not 

 required for every kind of culture, as science has 

 demonstrated that there is a connection between the 

 weight of water which ought to pass by evaporation 

 of the leaves through a yield, and the brut weight 

 of that yield. That connection represents 60 times 

 the yield in the green state : in other words, 

 less the produce is green, less the quantity of water 

 required. 



A discussion is taking place respecting potato stalks 

 as forage, either in the green state or in the latter 

 when dried. The first point to consider is : how far 

 the removal of the stalk afl'ects the development 

 of the tubers. Opinion is next to unanimous that, 

 removed too soon, either before coming into flower 

 or shortly after that stage, the formation of starcli 

 and dry matters in the tubers is arrested. The re- 

 searches of Professors Nobbe and de Tharaud on 

 this point are conclusive. Further, it is only 

 after the formation of the flowers or aerial organs 

 that the plant commences the rapid development of the 

 tubers. Suppression or thinning of the stems is only 

 justifiable when they are over luxuriant, and keep out 

 air, sun and light from the soil. According to Stock- 

 hardt, the chemical value of clover as compared with 

 potato haulm is as 3 to 2 : he, and also de Stecher, 

 testify that the haulm neither afl'ects the yield of milk 

 nor the quality of the butter : these drawbacks are only 

 produced, when the apples or berries are attached. 

 With 30 lb. of haulm, 15 of beet leaves, and 7 of 

 straw, cows thrive well, suff'ering at first slightly from 

 diarrhcea ; the latter disappeared, so that 00 lb. of 

 haulm could replace a proportionate reduction in 

 beet leaves. 



Oxen are extensively employed in farming oper- 

 ations ; in summer their daily labour is divided into 

 two periods, so as to avoid the hours of highest 

 temperature. Taking 7 or 8 hours a dey, as ample 

 for them working, the oxen are yoked at two peri- 

 ods : from 4 to 8 a.m., and 4 to 7 or S p.m. White 

 coloured oxen support the heat best, as do also those 

 bred in the plains. 



M. Pasteur is prosecuting new experiments bearing 

 upon inoculation against peripneumonia in black 

 cattle. So for bis labouri lead to the belief he will 

 be as happy in his new field as he has been in the 

 case of the charhon malady. Having stated he re- 

 quired funds to purchase subjects, the sum of 10,000 fr. 

 was immediately subscribed by agriculturists and 

 societies. 



At the Chateauroux cattle show, a very simple 

 and iugenious force pump with plunging piston 

 was exhibited ; the piston, which acts as handle, 

 working in a small tube, sends the liquid into 

 a larger one ; the latter is in sections, the joints 

 secured by indiarubber rings ; it pumps 100 quarts 

 a minute of urine, or well water ; is eleven feet long, 

 weighs 801b., throws a jet of liquid to the height of 

 23 ioe\^ and costs 50 f. 



Despite the prevailing rains, farmers count upon 

 this being a happy season for cereals. The harvest 

 in the south of France is over, but the drought 

 has told on the yield. In these regions, canals, to 

 irrigate the parched sods, are sadly needed. Green 

 crojis .-.re making up lee way, but would be greatly 

 improved by sun : the vineyards are not likely to 

 realize their promise. 



A gardener steeps the mats he employs to protect 

 frames and conservatories, between October and May 

 for 24 hours in a solution of sulphate of copper, in a 

 large hogshead ; having allowed the mutting to drain 

 and become half dry, he plunges them for a few 

 seconds in a solution of quicklime. Matting thus 

 prep.ared will last, instead of one, seven seasons. The 

 cord employed in the matting must not be oiled. 



INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS- 

 Mr. John Eliot Howard sends us the following 

 cutting of a striking communication to Knoioledge 



which we h;id previously noted for extract : 



In a number of Kiiovh-drjc on which I cannot at 

 present lay my hand, I noticed some facts with re- 

 gard to the influence of climate on plants. It may 

 interest your readers to know that plants feel severely 

 the change m their usual habits wliich takes place 

 when they are transplanted from Europe to South Africa. 

 The Curator of the Botanical Gardens here, who has, 

 perhaps, more practical knowledge of tree-planting 

 than any man in the country, informs me that this 

 is markedly the case with regard to fruit-trees. The 

 reversal of the seasons, occasioned by the change of 

 hemisphere, bewilders the plants, which are in some 

 sense " educated " to such a degree that they are 

 not able to survive the shock. The only chance of 

 getting them to gi-ow is by gi'afting, when they bor- 

 row the constitution of the tree on wliich they .are 

 grafted, and acclimatize readily. Ordinary deciduous 

 trees behave very irregiilarly also. Sometimes they 

 will pull through, sometimes they die, but the first 

 cuttings never appear to thi-ive. I understand that 

 evergi-eens are not affected. Birds take to the change 

 of season well, if one may judge by the few Eur- 

 opean spaiTows which have been introduced. Eur- 

 opean dogs generally die. Imported oxen and horses 

 appear to do well, provided they receive the same 

 amount of care which they experience at home. Cats 

 thrive. Perhaps I may be pardoned if I suggest that 

 the appeai-ance of numerous articles from upholders 

 of Darwinism in your capital magazine, must not lead 

 your less scientific readers to imply that Darwinism 

 is by any means imiversally accepted. It is, admittedly, 

 only a hypothesis. I use the word hypothesis in the 

 sense to which you restrict it in " Pleasant Ways in 

 Science" (p. 315), as an opinion not based on pheno- 

 mena. Dr. Mivart, one of the gi-eatest of living 

 anatomists, terms it, -svith all due solemnity, " a 

 puerile hypothesis." May I be allowed to recommend 

 to those of your readers, who are not terrified by mere 

 weight of names on the other side to read carefully 

 Mivart on the " Genesis of Species," Dr. Elam's 

 "Winds of Doctrine, " and Dr. Beale's " Pi-otoplasm," 

 in which they will find refreshing antidotes to the 

 works of Darwin, Huxley, and Haeckel, the positive 

 comparati\e, and superlative exponents respectively 

 of the fashionable doctrines m transcendental doctrine. 

 Especially let them study well the history of " Bathy- 

 bius Haeckelii," two unfit evolutions from the original 

 Darwinic idea, which have ceased to survive. As a 

 last suggestion (I hope you wUl forgive the space) 

 may I remark that your magazine is extensively read 

 this side the equator, and that some good maps of 

 the southern sky would be appreciated both here and 

 in Australasia. .J. NixoN. Graiamstown, Cape Colony, 

 May 4th, 1882. "" 



