JfNE I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



957 



COLONIAL GUM OOLLEOTING. 



Ml'. Thom;is Kirk, F.L.S., a New Zeiilaiul botanist of 

 note, recommeuils to the notice of Colonists in that is- 

 land the shrub Astratialns trm/acnntha, which grows freely 

 iu Asia Minor, Armenia, and Persia, and in Northern 

 Syria, at an altitude of 5,000 feet, and from whose sap 

 the useful gum known as Gum Tragacaath, sometimes 

 calleil Gum Dragon, is derived. Although probably not 

 so valuable a product as gum arable, not being apphcable 

 to so many purposes, this gum nevertheless forms an im- 

 portant item in the commerce of the Levant, the town of 

 Smyrna alone exporting annually more than 70,000Z. worth. 

 From the similarity in climate between the • Colony and 

 the uatm-al habitat of the plant, Mr. Ku-k is convinced 

 that the culture of the plant might very successfully and 

 very profitably be taken up in New Zealand, where the 

 collection of its gura would soon rank as an important itein 

 among other pursuits of a similar nature. Another gummi- 

 ferous plant, which has lately attracted much attention 

 in Australia, and which might probable be introduced into 

 other Colonies, is the KKca/i/ptiis re.iinifera, usually called 

 the Ked-gnm tree, which yields a volatile, aromatic gum 

 from both its leaves and its trunk. This gum is stated by 

 experts to be almost identical with the better-known Gum 

 Kino, a valuable drug as well as a useful dye, obtained 

 principally from the East Indies, where it is boiled out of 

 the bruised twigs of the Xauchea r/amliei; the decoction be- 

 ing afterwards evaporated to the density of an ordinary 

 extract. AVhen the bark of the Red-gmn tree is wounded 

 in a proper manner as much as sLxty gallons of sap, 

 equal to five hundred pounds' weight of the di'ug, may flow 

 from a single tree. Another cancUdate for tropical Colonial 

 culture is the gi-eat conifer which yields Gum dammar, long 

 a .specialty of the Moluccas. The celebrated Kaiu-i pine of 

 New Zealand {Dammara australis) is a member of the same 

 family, with the advantage that, though it grows m a temp- 

 erate climate, it yields a valuable gum of a similar nature. 

 The yield of sap in the species generally is indeed most 

 abundant — so profuse, indeed, that, in some of the gig- 

 antic Moluccas specimens, it exudes .spontaneously. The 

 Kauri gum of Auckland, of which such considerable 

 quantities are shipped, is the hardened and semi-fossilised 

 exudation of ancient Kauri trees which ages ago ceased 

 to exist, and whose imperishable product is found below 

 the surface of the gromid. This unique industry is, of coiu'se 

 dependent on the exhaustion of the stock of buried gum, and 

 it ought to be supplemented by the careful extraction of 

 gum from the living trees. Properly cari'ied out, this ex- 

 traction of gum may be a perennial source of profit, while, 

 on the other hand, the improper tappuig of the trees may 

 result— as it has too often already — in the destruction of the 

 source of supply. — Colonies fnid India. 



"FUNGUS— A CAUSE OR A CONSEQUENCE 



OF DISEASE." 



A writer in the Garden who is a skilled horticultm-ist, 

 and who endently leans to the theory that fungi are 

 commonly a consequence of disease, whilst admitting that 

 both cultivators and fungologists are pretty well agreed 

 that the fungus fperonospera) is the cause of the rot in 

 potatoes, suggests the possibility of their conclusions 

 having been too hastily arrived at. In hot and dry sea- 

 sons, he says, the fungus (left from the preceiling season) 

 is there, but is unable to make any progress. "When the 

 conditions alter, and wet and uncongenial weather sets 

 in. the fungus is developed, but not until after the po- 

 tato has suffered from the altered conditions. In re- 

 ference to the ciu-l or blister in peaches he .says : — " There 

 has at times been some discussion regarding a disease in 

 peaches called ' blister, ' wlrich fungologists have declared 

 was also caused by a fungus, becau.se they found the fun- 

 gus present iu the injured leaves ; but no cultivator be- 

 lieves it, because they know that under conditions which 

 they could provide at pleasure they covdd defy the fungo- 

 logist to i>roducc ' blister,' even if he wvre to dust the 

 leaves of the trees with the spores of the fuu.gus 20 times 

 a day. Practical men call that a cause which by pre- 

 venting they can ciu-e or arrest the disease, and this, it 

 seems to me, is the point so-called * scientific men ' should 

 concern themselves about instead of dealing with secondary 



causes, which is, perhap.s, all that they are able to see 

 or have any knowledge of. If it were proved that fimgi 

 always preceded disease in animal and vegetable bodies, 

 it would settle the matter, but that is just where the 

 difliculty lies, for it is perfectly well known that many 

 kinds of fungi follow decomposition or decay." Instances 

 are cited of the amtual production of " toadstools " in 

 ground contaiumg portions of the rotten wood of felled 

 trees, and which appear in no other part of the grounds 

 than in the hollows caused by the subsidence of the .soil 

 employed to fill up the holes where the trees grew. Of 

 the vine mildew, which is to AustraHans by far the most 

 interesting subject, he writes : — " You may produce it al- 

 most with certainty on vines if you lower the temper- 

 ature of the vinery when growth is active, so as to pro- 

 duce a cold, stagnant atmosphere, and it will of coiuse 

 destroy the crop and the foliage, but the very conditions 

 that produce the mildew would do the same if prolonged 

 .sufficiently. Cultivators and their suggestions have, until 

 lately, been rather ignored by scientific investigators, but 

 the latter, having exhausted their specifics, are now ap- 

 pealing U) the former for assistance. When many years 

 ago the farmer said the potato disease was caused by the 

 wet, and covild only be prevented or alleviated by contend- 

 mg with that evil by means of drainage, choice of soUs, 

 or protective mea.sures for that end, he said all that 

 could be said, and suggested the only preventive raeas- 

 HTes that have yet been found in any degree efficacious, 

 and the same may be said of peach blister and other 

 things of a similar character." — Australasian. 



THE ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY OF QUEENS- 

 LAND 



is the Society of which Mr. Bernays has been the Hfe 

 and soul, and which has achieved such large success. From 

 one of its annual reports we quote: — 



'• The progress of plant aocUmatisation in new comitries 

 — slow, and beset with obstacles at all times — appears 

 more so from the difficulty of ascertaining results over so 

 wide an area of operations as that occupied by the society. 

 Attempts have been made at intervals, by adtlressing circ- 

 ulars to the society's constituents within the colony, to 

 learn what success has attended then- efforts at cultivating 

 the plants sent to them; but the informatiou obtained 

 iu this way has been, with very few exception.s, imper- 

 fect and unsatisfactory. It was therefore deemed advisable 

 that the principal plantations and gardens of the older 

 settlements along the line of coast northwards should Oe 

 visited; and the vice-president (Mr. L. A. Bernays) was 

 accordingly deputed to undertake this interestiug and 

 important task. The result of this gentleman's investigation 

 is embodied in a report to the Minister for Lands; the 

 Government approving of the project and having given it 

 their support by sharing the expense of carrying it out. 



" Sinfe Mr. Bernays' retinn, and upon his adrice, very 

 large numbers of plants, the ultimate success of which 

 is least as.sm-ed, such as the mangosteen and the bread 

 fruit, together with others which afford good ground 

 for hope, such as the nutmeg, the cocoa, pepper, fee. 

 &c., have been passed away among our northern constitu- 

 ents, the rainy season occurring opportunely and the 

 stocks being ample for the purpose. Increased vigor has 

 been imported into the introduction or propagation of 

 tho.se plants, from which the best results are looked for, 

 and measures have been adopted to introduce in quantity 

 others which have yet to be tried, but which, from their 

 similarity of habit or other analogy to some already in 

 cultivation, may be expected to find a home in Queens- 

 land soil. 



" Tile relations of correspondence with foreign parts have 

 this year been materially extended, communication having 

 been opened vvith the following places, namely: — Balii;!, 

 Buenos Ayres, Canary Islands, Cuba, Chili, Cochin ( 'hiii;i. 

 Ecuador, Florida, Florence, Greece, Guatemala. Guadalou]M', 

 (xuiana (French and British), Georgia, Hungary, Hayti, 

 Jamaica, Lisbon, Martinique, Mexico, Alanila, New' Grenada, 

 Pondichery, Peru, Palermo, Reunion, Rome, Turkey, Turin. 

 Tahiti. Uruguay. Venezuela, and Zanzibar. From not a few 

 of these communications results have already flowed 

 while in the ease of others the 1 vertures of the Society 

 have been mot in a friendly and iiromisiug spirit. 



