SzS 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, iSSj. 



A Peak Tkee Regulauly Beaeing Two Oeops An- 

 nually. — A corresponcleut of the Garten Zeitiing, hailing from 

 Kirchheimbolanden. iu the ralatinate, states that some 

 six years ago the o^vncr called his attention to a Pear 

 tree, which he asserted regularly bore two crops a year, 

 and this has actually been the case dui-ing the last six 

 years, sometimes bearing few and sometimes may in the 

 second crop. The tree is a healthy, vigorous one, pro- 

 bably from forty to fifty years old, and bears yearly. 

 The first crop ripens at the end of August or middle 

 of September, the fruit being of medium size. Pear-shaped, 

 and well-flowered. The second blossoms appears on the 

 tips of the young twigs about the middle of Juue, and 

 the fruit, which is only a third the .size of the first, 

 ripens in October, and is equally well-flavoured as that 

 of the fii'st crop. In conclusion, the editors mention other 

 instances of the phenomenon, and it is stated that Berre 

 Perpetucl invariably does, as Napoleon sometimes does 

 with us. — Gun! i lie is' Chronicle. 



The Teade in "Wood. — Messrs. Churchill & Sim state 

 iu theu- annual circular that the consumption of wood in 

 the United Kingdom in the year 1882 appears to have 

 been large, for after an importation of more than 0,300,000 

 loads as compared with 5,600,000 loads in 1881, stocks 

 generally, so far as it is possible to ascertain, are not 

 heavier than at the commenceraent of the year. The 

 t<ital importation of foreign deals and battens has been 

 11804,000 pieces, of which Sweden contributed 7.073,000. 

 The dock deliveries have been 10,843,000, pieces, against 

 10,991,000 pieces in 1881. Mahogany.— -The trade of the 

 past year has been generally of a .satisfactory character ; 

 prices, which were firm at the commencement of the year, 

 have .shown no great fluctuations, but remained fairly 

 steady until the autumn, when it became evident that 

 the supplies woidd again be light, and figures then ad- 

 vanced, especially for straight, sound logs from medium 

 to large sizes, which have been and remain very scarce. 

 The dealers and yard-keepers, having no accumulation of 

 stocks, have throughout the year been ready buyers, and 

 the auction sales have therefore been well attended, and 

 as a rule .showed considerable auunation ; prospects are 

 now encom-aging for importers. The total nunilier of logs 

 landed is almost identical with the previous year, beiug 

 29,435 logs as compared with 29,678 logs ; but the con- 

 sumption hai'iug increased nearly 8 per cent., the stock 

 is now 36 per cent, less than at the commencement of 

 last year, and lower than at any corresponding period 

 since 1872, being only 5758 logs or httle more than two 

 months' average consumption.— /(<«?. 



Maize rs. Coffee in Brazil. — The " Rio News," in direct- 

 ing attention to the maize exports of the River Plate, 

 a large quantity of wliich are introduced into Brazil tor 

 popular consumption, advocates the home growth of maize 

 in the Imperial territory, where considerable tracts of 

 country are well adapted for the profitable cultivation of 

 of this cereal product. AVe quote as foUows :— Maize is 

 fast becoming an article of regidar import from the 

 River Plate, where its cultivation is an industry of very 

 recent date. On the 10th inst. one steamer alone, the 

 "Mozart," brought 7,200 bags of maize from Buenos Ayres 

 for this market, and the trade is steadily increasing. 

 The question arises therefore, why cannot this local 

 demand be met by local production V Maize is .an article 

 of prime necessity, and the demand for it will be constant. 

 A large area within easy distance of market is weU 

 suited for its cultivation,' and the industry requhes few 

 tools and no machinery. It is a product which can be 

 cultivated on small plantations, by small planters, and in 

 places where the more expensive cultivation of coffee or 

 sugar cannot be carried on with profit. It needs no 

 other capital than land ami labour, and its market is 

 constant. In view of the fact that coffee is fast be- 

 coming an unprofitable crop mider the present sy.stem of 

 production it would seem emiuently wise that .steps 

 should be taken to sulistitute it iu great part by other 

 industries, and among them the cultivation of maize. 

 At the River this industry has increased so rapidly and 

 has gained such proportions that the excess fo production 

 this year avaiable for export, is estimated to be not 

 less than 200,000 tons. Ajid yet labour is probably no 

 cheaper there than here, and there are many locaUties 

 in Brazil capable of producing fully as well as those of 



the Platine republics. AMiat is needed is a proper en- 

 couragement of the smaller industries, and the suppression 

 of that mistaken opinion that the agricultm-e of the couii- 

 try is dependent upon the yrande lavoura and ser-idle 

 labour. Free labour, small cultm-e and diversified industries 

 ■will do more for Brazil that the best system of great 

 proprietorships ever known, and with them will disappear 

 that economic anomaly of an agricultural country importmg 

 the greater part of its food from abroad, — South Amciicait -. 

 Journal. 



Casuaeixa Tkees {Casv.arina Miiricatu) are thus noticed 

 by Mr. Robertson of the Madras Government Farm ;— The 

 plantations continue to thrive. An account has been opened 

 for each plantation, and it is hoped that data will be 

 collected, which, will be of use iu showing the cost per 

 ton, of the fuel produced under different systems of plant- 

 ing. At an auction sale held in February, 100 trees were 

 sold for R194-4-0, nearly 2 rupees per tree: the buyers 

 cut down the trees and removed them, at their own ex- 

 pense. None of these trees were over ten years of age. 

 Some were under eight years. Another lot of ten trees 

 were sold by weight ; they weighed 3,796 lb., and the 

 price obtamed for them at R9 per tou, with one rupee 

 obtained for the roots was R16-4-0, or Kl-10-0 per tree. 

 Of coiu-se, the trees cut domi were the best in the plant- 

 ations. The object iu planting the land with Casuarina 

 trees, was chiefly to improve the soil, and to utiUze land, 

 which for arable tillage was ahuost worthless. The inten- 

 tion is, to plant the land with fruit-bearing trees, such 

 as guavas, mangoes, &c., as the Oasuarinas are removed. 

 During the year 893 acres of poor sandy outlying land 

 were planted' with Casuariuas. 



Reana Luxueians.— Of tliis fodder, Mr. Robertson of 

 the Madras Farm, reports:— Tliis was gro^vu as an ordinary 

 field crop. The outturn of both fodder and gi-ain was good 

 but the weather during the experiment was imusuaUy favor- 

 able. On good soils, under liberal treatment, when it can 

 obtain plenty of rain or irrigation water, the crop giowth 

 most rapidly and luxm'iantly ; but it cannot withstand a 

 drought. Indeed, the ex])eriments made showed that a 

 drought, which scarcely affected the sorghum crops, was 

 sutticient to check the growth of the Reana to such an 

 extent, as to render it useless to keep the crops standing 

 longer. As a fodder crop, in a damp warm chniate, or 

 where hrigation can be secured, it is well worthy of at- 

 tention. There is perhaps no other crop, sugar-cane ex- 

 cepted, which wUl produce .such an enormous quantity of 

 green plant per acre, but the fodder is very watery, and 

 does not appear to be very palatable to stock when oflfored 

 for the fii-st time. The watery juices of the .stem, appear 

 to be destitute of saccharine matter, during all stages of 

 growth. The grain is almost useless as food. 



NiTEATE OF Soda and Guano. — From Messrs. AV. Mont- 

 gomery & Go.'s report we learn that during the past six 

 months there have been several considerable fluctuations 

 in the ni;u-ket price of nitrate of soda. On June 30, 

 when the half-yearly statistics were gathered together, a 

 very large cousumption was found to have taken place, 

 and under the influence of this and consequent small stocks 

 in the various consuming markets we experienced a brisk 

 demand at advancing rates dm-ing the suminar months ; 

 untill in August 13s. to 13s 4id was paid for cargo- 

 sailing between June and November. This advance was 

 however, quickly checked by reports of increasing .ships 

 ments, and when the figures for September— October were 

 generally known there was something like a panic in the 

 cargo market, values being depressed in November to about 

 U.S. 9s. per hundered-weight U. K. for autumn shipments. 

 From this point there has been a decided recovery, chiefly 

 owing to hea\-y bujung on the part of a chque of oper- 

 ators who considered prices umluly low, aud who conse- 

 quently may be supposed to take a favourable view of 

 the ability of the EiU'opean markets to consume dm-ing, 

 the coming season the very ample supply now in new. 

 That supply is an uuprecedentedly large one, but so on 

 the other hand has been the demand during the past 

 twelve months. Indications are not wanting to show that 

 the shipments for the futm-e may be maintained at about 

 the rate of 45t>,000 tons per annumn. Peruvian guano. — 

 The total imports into Europe during the past half-year 

 amomit to about 35,000 tons, principally of low quahty 

 containing from 4 to 6 per cent, ammonia, aud from 40 

 * 50 per ctut. phosfLate of lime.— 6<ij</i;(i)i' i-limmU, 



