Jttne I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



963 



like a wide-mouthed, bottomless jng; through this hoiao 

 the thick smoke pom's in a constant stream. New he takes 

 his mould — in this case a wooden one, Hke a round-bladed 

 piddle — washes it with the milk, and holds it over the smoke 

 until the liquid coagulates. Then another coat is added, 

 ouly now as the wood is heated, the milk coagulates faster. 

 It may take the gatherings of two or three days to cover 

 the moidd thickly enough. Then the rubber is still dull 

 white, Init in a short time it turns brown and finally almost 

 black, as it is sent to the market. The mass is cut from 

 the paddle and sold to traders in the village. Bottles are 

 sometimes made by moulding the rubber over a clay ball, 

 which is then broken up and removeil. Our old fashioned 

 rubber shoes used tobemadein this way. Twenty million 

 pounds of rubber, valued at S0,O0ii,0iJ0 are annually ex- 

 ported from Para in the dry season; many thousand people 

 are engaged in gathering it. But the business is altogether 

 a ruinous one for the province, as Brazilians themselves 

 are fully aware. The serinffi^eiro, who gains two or three 

 dollars for a single day's gathering, has enough, as life 

 goes here, to keep him in idleness for a week ; and when his 

 money is spent, he can draw again on his ever-ready bank. 

 The present wasteful system is spoken of as follows: — 

 The half-wild serimjueiros will go on submitting to impo- 

 sitions and dying here in the swamps, until Brazilians 

 learn that by purchasing this land from the government, 

 and planting it in rubber trees, they can insure vastly larger 

 profits, and do away with the evils of the present system. 

 It is what must eventually be done. The rubber gatherers, 

 in their eagerness to seciu-e large harvests, have aheady 

 killed an immense number of trees about the Pari e,stuary; 

 they have been obUged to penetrate farther and farther 

 into the forest, to the Tocantins, Madeu-a, Purus, Rio Negi-o, 

 and eventually even these regions must be exhausted, un- 

 less they are protected in some way. The trees, properly 

 planted and cared for, will yield well in fifteen years, and, 

 of eoiu'se, the cost of gathering would be vastly reduced 

 in a coinjiact plantation; half the present labor of the rub- 

 lier collector consists in his long tramps through the swampy 

 forest. — J^jmiiiica JJiaL 



OINOHONA CANKER. 



AVith regard to the clay sub-soil theory, I have two 

 patches of succirubra, growing side by side, on a quanzii 

 ridge, one some 5 years old, and the other two. The 5 year 

 old trees have stood two shavings, and are looking very 

 healthy, while a considerable percentage of the two year 

 old ones are sicklied over vvith the roseate hue of — death ! 

 There is neither clay nor water here, but good honest 

 quartz, with healthy nhl trees, and sickly young ones be- 

 side them. Then agam with re.spect to the "wet-feet" cau.se 

 of canker, I have seen good and healthy trees growing 

 close to, and I might almost say iii^ swampy ground, ami 

 not a .sign of disease has yet — and I say again yet, for 

 I don't think there is a tree positively safe from canker 

 — come to change the aspect of affairs. Steep land, fiat 

 land, dry land, wet land, they all ahke seem to afford the 

 fatal facility for this complicated disease, and as I have 

 tried to prove at all stages startuig with the seed. "A 

 hard sub-.soil" impervious to water, is said to produce canker; 

 but trees growing on U inches of soil on a .slab rock, to 

 a measm-e, negative this .so-called cause; and also prove that 

 shallowness of soil will not answer the question, as 1 have 

 here shewn. If clay sub-soil produced the disease, a general 

 death on such a plot of gi-ound must be expected, and 

 at an uniform age, i.e., after all the roots had got down 

 to the sub-soil; but this is contrary to experience. One 

 of the most striking phases of canker is that, in a whole 

 field wearing the gorgeous death banner, exceptional trees 

 survive, looking all that could be desired in point of health. 

 Can it then be said that the tree possesses a stronger con- 

 stitution, and is therefore better able to withstand the plague 

 that his killed its lirothers iu tribidation ? I fear then, though 

 we ari^ well aware, nay. too well aware of the effect, we know 

 nothing respecting tlu' cause of this dire eWl, that has blight ed 

 many fond hopes and clear anticipations. I hope from what 

 I have said here that I have shewn "K. C. B." good gi-ounds 

 for w>t including eankei-. for at best I coiddonl.y tell him what 

 he already knows; but 1 trust that those who can do the .sid)- 

 ject the justice th.at it demands will make their observations 

 public, so that an opport\niity is afforded to those who study 

 the matter to acquaint themselves with the experiences of 



many. It appears to me that, in considering the question : 

 *' Does cinchona canker in its natural habitat? " while we know 

 very little as regards soil, teiujierature, &c., there, we overlook 

 an important fact, vnz., that thousands of seeds and seedlings 

 must perish before even a single tree arrives at its full gi'owth. 

 This must be so, or a tree so prolific as we know the cuichona 

 to be would produce such numbers as to smother each other; 

 hence in the "struggle for existence," we find the "survival 

 of the fittest," but at the cost of how many lives we know 

 not. In oirr way of treating the subject, we gi'ow a pound 

 of seed, and hope to see so many thousands of plants, and a 

 large proportion of tree.^. Such coidd scarcely be the case in 

 its native state. Nevertheless, this does not exjilain away the 

 why or wherefore of canker, as we know it in T'eylon ; nor yet 

 does it do away with a theory that presents itself, that can- 

 ker mail have been imported to the country. But asks 

 "K. C. B,," and I own to being dumb to reply, "Is there any 

 instance of a cultivated tree being attacked with a similar 

 kind of canker to the bark':"' I can only advance one reply, 

 and that is that both animals and vegetables have their 

 natm-al enemies, some in the form of blight, others in 

 fimgoid disea.se, or some possible physical ailment; so can 

 we expect cinchona to be free*:' Agricultm-e alone has 

 brought us into a clo.ser sphere of observation, and hence 

 diseases present themselves to view, merely because of their 

 individuahty, whereas, in theii' wild state, we know absolutely 

 nothing beyond perhaps the name and use to which the 

 tree or plant may be apphed, on which we are questioned. 

 — Cor. "Ceylon Times." 



SETTING OUT OR DIBBLING PLANTS. 



BY J. E. SCOTT, DEL. 



It is an arduous task to set out a large number of 

 plants in the .spring in the usual manner. In order to 

 make sure of suitable weather for transplanting, it is 

 frequently important that it should be done very rapidly, 

 and anything that will facilitate the work will be of 

 value. I have found the implements illustrated of very 

 great assist*ance in setting out such plants as sweet-potatoes, 

 tomatoes, and cabbages. I do not know where they 

 originated, but they have been in use by the truckers 

 in this .section for three or four years past; and as they 

 can be easily made by any farmer of average mechanical 

 skill. I will describe them with the aid of the sketches 

 herewith sent. The wooden tongs, fig. 1, are about three 



Fig, I. — THE TOVOS. Fig. 2. — THE DIBBLE. 



and a half feet long, and are made of two pieces of 

 about the same width and thickness as ordinary lath; 

 these are nailed at one en<l to a block about an . inch 

 thick and four or five inches long. This is used for 

 picking up the plant before placing it in the ground. 

 The hole for the i)lant is made with the instrument 

 shown in fig. 2. This "dibble," or "dibber," is a piece, 

 of yellow pine or ;ish, half an inch thick, three inches 

 wide, and three and a half feet long; it is wedge- 

 shaped at the lower end, where it is covered with sheet- 

 iron or tin for a distance of five or six inches from the 

 point, to prevent wear. A little above the midille. an 



