386 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1882. 



below. The germination proceeded slowly, anl I should 

 have continued my observations longer if the seeds in 

 sections number 10 and 12 had not been devoured by mice. 

 I think that the knowledge of this experiment may 

 preserve many readers of your Journal, who might be 

 tempted to steep their seeds in carbolic acid before sowing 

 them, from serious loss. 



a. Scotch Fir Seeds of One Year. 



In blotting paper 



In Nobbe's apparatus. 

 In flannel 



Ked 



jS o 



Per cent 



(1) 50 



(2) 59 



(3) 56 



Clover of 



In blotting paper (13) 79 



In Nobbe's apparatus. (14j 84 

 In flannel (15) 86 



S C3_0 



3 o o o 

 gags 

 o 3'-5 "^ 



One 



(16) 



(17) 

 (IS) 73 



Per cent 

 (7) 

 m 10 

 (9) 23 



Year. 



(19) 



(20) 

 (3i; 21 



l|l 



Per cent. 

 (10) 



(IV 



(12) 23 



Duration of the experiments, four weeks. 

 Darmstadt Gustav Hicklee. 



THE USE OF CARBOLIC ACID IN FORESTRY.* 



Carbolic acid being antiseptic, is used for preserving 

 timber ; but it is to another of its uses that attention 

 is here called. Carbolic acid aifords to plants a most effective 

 protection from their enemies. Gardeners have discovered 

 that seeds (peas, beans, maize, &c.) which before putting 

 into the ground have been kept rather less than twenty- 

 four hours in a weak mixture of carbolic acid and water, 

 will not be meddled with by worms, mice, moles, or other 

 enemies. The seeds themselves are said to receive no 

 injury from this treatment. A tree painted with the 

 same weak mixture will not be approached by rabbits. 

 This also has been proved by experiment. In houses rats, 

 mice, and vermin may be driven away by the smell of 

 carbolic acid. 



The idea suggests itself that in forest economy also 

 this little-noted property of carbolic acid should be utilized, 

 There is no reason why tree |seeds should not likewise be 

 treated with weak acid to protect them against the attacks 

 of mice and birds ; at worst no diminution of germinative 

 power would be caused by this process. 



To prevent birds feeding on tree seeds, experiments 

 have recently been made with red minium, and the seeds 

 before being sown were coloured with this substance. This 

 remedy, however, seems to have had doubtful success, as 

 can bo gathered from Danck-clmmm's Zeitschrift fmr Forst 

 n«d Jai/J.iMseii, (pp. 455 and.57C of the 1880 set), although 

 a more recent \vriter (p. 637) tells of favourable results. 



At all events, to steep seeds in weak carbolic acid is 

 simpler than to colour them with vermilion, and the ex- 

 pense can be no hindrance, seeing that crude carbolic acid 

 can be obtained either from the chemist or grocer at a 

 cheap rate. For these reasons this remedy is recommended 

 to the members of the forester's profession to be employed 

 experimentally. 



Perhaps also nursery plants and valuable young trees 

 might be protected from the destructive bites of hares 

 and roe deer, if from time to time the plants were watered. 

 — Journal of Forestry. 



LIQUID MANURE. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " QUEENSL.iNDEB." 



Can I make liquid manure from the scrapings of my 

 fowl-house? It so, please explain the method of preparing 



it. £. WlLLIETT. 



Brisbane, January 27. 



[Stir a ba.shel of scrapings into fifty gallons of water. 

 Let it settle for a day ; then use the clear liquid.] 



TO DESTROY SMALL BLACK ANTS. 

 These little p.-.sts are in the habit - of overrrunning 

 « Translated from the Forst mid Jagd Zeituny. 



peoples' houses to an extent which is excessively annoy- 

 ing. I have discovered a remedy in an American pub- 

 lioatiou, and that is — Take a white china jilate and spread 

 a thin covering of common lard over it; place it on 

 the floor or .shelf infested by the troublesome insects and 

 you will be pleased with the result. Stirring them up 

 every morning is all that is required to set the trap 

 again. W. Faraway. 



Stoney Creek, February 6, 



GAS LIMB. 



Can you give me any information about gas lime? 

 What chemical change does lime undergo at the gas 

 works? What is the difference in application and effect 

 of gas lime as compared with the ordinary lime used in 

 farming ?— Yours &c., C. Haktmann. 



Range Nursery, Toowoomba, January 31. 



fLime is merely a means of converting manm-e into 

 living plants. The precise nature of the chemical effect 

 produced in soils by the use of lime has always been a 

 subject of uncertainty. But as we know the effect pro- 

 duced out of the soil by its agency, it is usual to con- 

 sider that it acts in the same manner on substances in 

 the soil. It is thus not a manure of itself. l)ut it acts 

 upon inert vegetable humus, causes it to enter into union 

 with o.ijygen, giving rise to humic acid This latter unites 

 with lime to produce soluble humates, and as these salts 

 yield nourishment to plants, it is evident that lime is 

 advantageous to them. It also neutralises the acid pro- 

 perties of some soils. The effects of burning upon Cme 

 consist not merely in the expulsion of the carbonic acid 

 of the stone, but in the production of a variable quantity 

 of gypsum and silicate of lime. Gas lime is produced as 

 follows: — Slacked lime is regularly spread on perforated 

 iron shelves in a large cast-iron box. The gas passes 

 through this hme, which deprives it of its sulphuretted 

 hydrogen. The gas lime as it leaves the purifier is a 

 mixture of sulphur of calcium and a certain quantity of 

 unueutralised or caustic lime. Alkaline sulphurets are 

 injurious to vegetation, and for this reason gas lime should 

 never be applied in its fresh state. By exposiure to the 

 air, the sulphuret of calcium speedily absorbs oxygen, 

 and becomes sulphate of lime or gypsum. As a manure 

 the gas lime supplies gypsum and sulphur, and hence 

 may be applied in the same manner as gypsum.] 



INTERDEPENDENCE OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 

 Few, perhaps, know that a certain little gall fly (Oynips) 

 of Asia Jlinor decides on the existence of tens of thousands 

 of human beings. As our clippers and steamers carry 

 the produce of the land from continent to continent, so 

 these tiny sailors of the air carry the fertilising pollen 

 from the male to the female flowers of the fig tree. 

 Without poUen there come no figs, and consequently on 

 the activity and number of tl'.e gnats depends the pro- 

 ductiveness of these trees. The fruit of the fig is not, as 

 in most other cases, a pericarp enveloping the seed, but 

 a common calyx or recept.\cle which encloses the flowers. 

 In the centre of this receptacle the cavity is lined with 

 a multitude of flowers, the male and female blossoms 

 being on distinct plants. The medium of communication, 

 to these flowers is only a small aperture at the summit' 

 of the receptacle. Hence the access of pollen to the feroale 

 blossoms is impossibleby the ordinary means of transmission, 

 and this is aecompHsbed by the little gnat, which is con- 

 tinually fluttering about from fig to fig for the purpose 

 of finding a suitable place in the cavity to deposit its eggs. 

 These gnats, therefore, regulate in fact the extensive and 

 profitable fig trade of Smyrna. A little ugly beetle of 

 Kamschatka has, in like manner, more than once saved 

 the entire population of the most barren part of Green- 

 laud from app.^rcntly unavoidable stai-vation. It is a great 

 thief in its way, and a most fastidious gourmand moreover. 

 Nothing will satisfy it on a long winter evening— and we 

 must bear in mind that these evenings sometimes last five 

 months without interruption — but a constant supply of lily 

 bidbs, The lilies are well couteut with this arrangement^ 

 for being eaten comes as natural to thera as to a Fiji 

 Islar^der; and they are, as a compensation, saved frum being 

 crowded to death in a narrow space, while those th-it 

 eacape the beetle shoot up vigorously the next summer 



