June i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



967 



Sap. — Seeds should not bo much more thau half dried 

 and dry grass or paddy straw should be strewn over 

 the ground after plautiug them. "When planted, they 

 shovdd bo freely watered. The outer shell and inner .soft 

 covering of the seed may be found to have rotted, but 

 that would not indicate the germ was dead. — Cof. 



New Kind.s of Tea. — Mi". E. Oolbornc Baber, while Consul 

 at Ohuug King, described a few of the wild teas of 

 Szechueu in M'estern China, which evince pecuharities 

 of considerable interest. During one of his rambles the 

 monks of the Ngomi monasteries refreshed him with a 

 naturally sweet tea which tasted hke common Oongovi 

 mingled with brown sugar. The tea seems to be found 

 only on the slopes of this range, as inquiries a few miles 

 distant failed to produce any recognition of it among the 

 natives. Another kind was met with in the wilderness 

 of Hwang-muchaug plateau overhanging the Tung river at a 

 height of G,000 ft., wliich yielded ahighly coloured, but some- 

 what weak infusion, baring the taste and flavour of tea 

 and milk mingled together. The plant is described as a 

 leafy shrub 15 feet high, mth a stem some four inches 

 thick, every portion of which, except the roots, is used 

 in preparing the beverage. — Inxligo Fl (niters' Gazette, 



Gold ik Fiji. — The tidings from Taviuni give the im- 

 pression that the gale of the 12th and 13th has been most 

 severe to windward. At Vuua Point the force of the 

 wind was not exces.sive, aud no damage of any kind was 

 done, but at the north end residents of many years de- 

 clared it was the most severe blow they could recollect. 

 To cocoanut, palms, breadfruit and other trees, very serious 

 damage was done. Some places the cocoanuts were snap- 

 petl off through the middle, in others the yoimger trees 

 were blown clean out of the ground. Qamia, and part- 

 icularly Laucala, have especsaUy suffered most severely, 

 the fine lireadfruit trees on the latter island being nearly 

 destroyeil. Coffee escaped without very serious hurt, but 

 tobacco, of which very large quantities had been planted 

 this year, has been very severely handled. Of this crop 

 the portion approaching matiu-ity was almost destroyed, 

 but to the young, immatm'e plants, less damage was done. — 

 Fiji Times. 



SuoAE IN' Cuba. — In a recent report of Acting Con.sul- 

 General Garden, on the "Number and Condition of the 

 Slaves in Cuba," the following mention is made of the 

 Sugar industries: — "But besides these there is another 

 and perhaps a somewhat unexpected reason why there 

 should be fewer emancipations in the country districts. 

 I allude to the disinclination ! of many slaves to leave 

 the place where they have been born and brought up 

 and have their families, imless driven to it by very harsh 

 treatment. It shoidd be borne in mind that on almost 

 all Sugar estates the negroes have their little plots of 

 laud, on which they grow vegetables and raise fowls and 

 pigs, often selling them to their master himself; indeed, 

 it is rare to find an estate where the industrious ones 

 have not at least 50 or 100 dollars laid by. Now that, 

 besides these little earnings, they are receiving wages as 

 well, I am convinced that, were it not for the restrain- 

 ing influences of locality and custom, many more would 

 avail themselves of the power they imquestiouably have 

 to i)urchase then- freedom, which year by year it is be- 

 coming easier for them to do, and I am inclined, there- 

 fore, to think that the fact of their not doing so more 

 proves they are, on the whole, fairly treated. — Produce 

 Marlcets' Eei-iew. , 



Imitation Aromatic AVoods. — Our readers may not be 

 aware that not one out of ten of the so-called camphor- 

 wood boxes imported from China ami sold in India is 

 made of the genuine material. The imitative faculty of 

 the celestial is proverbial, and in this branch of industry 

 — the manufacture of imitation camphor-wood boxes — it 

 has been exercised wth a high degree of success. For 

 these same simrious boxes are gi'eatly in request as cheap 

 substitutes for the comparatively scarce and more costly 

 article. The operation is very simple — the application of 

 camphor oil to any wood capable of absorbing it, but more 

 especially to those varieties of timber which, in appearance, 

 colour, and grain approach the camphor laurel. There arc 

 two species of the camphor tree, viz., the Chinese aud 

 Malayan, the product of tlie latter (which is foimd in a 

 natural state) being a hiinch'eilfold more valuable than 

 that of the former. We have, here in Southeru India, au 



analogous case of tlie similar impregnation of woods with 

 essential oils derived from other trees. This is notably 

 exemplified in the criri-eil cabinets, work-boxes, pictm'e- 

 frames, &c., expo.sed for sale as sandal-wood — whereas, in 

 most instances, the articles in question are made of a 

 very different wood, and are only smeared or coated ivith 

 the perfumed extract or essential oil of the sandal-wood 

 tree. — Madras Times. 



M'oBKiNG THE SOIL. — Farmers are frequently met with 

 who object to stirring the soil among growing crops, or 

 knocking it about very much previously to sowing the seed, 

 from the fear that they mil exhau.st the moisture by so 

 doing .and spoil tlie crop. Au American exchange says : — 

 " Professor S. AV. Clark, Spencerport, New York, reports 

 a farm neighbour as preferring to give up manure rather 

 than frequent tdlage. Mr, Henry U. Kiug, of West M'al- 

 worth, says he cultivated a field of corn six times the past 

 very dry summer, and the crop was one of the best he ever 

 had. 'Thorough working of the soil,' he finds, 'neutralises 

 the effect of the drought.' " Many of the shallow theories 

 which readily lodge in the minds of colonial farmers, and 

 influence their operations continually, are totally at variance 

 with fact, and so men would find if they would ventme on a 

 httle experiment. Pulverising and frequentjstirrings of thi> 

 soil create rather than dissipate moisture. — Queendander. 



Royal Hokticultueal : March 27. — Scientific Commit- 

 tee : — Sir J. D. Hooker, K. C. S. I., in the chair. Present 

 — Messrs. G. Henslow, R. MacLachlan, W. G. Smith, Geo. 

 Mm-riiy, Ai'thur Grote, Professor Church, Dis. Low and 

 Masters. Tlie Fapaio and its itijiuence on Meat. — Rev. Geo. 

 Henslow spoke of experiments he had made with the leaf of 

 the Oarica e.xhibited at the preceding meeting with a view of 

 testing its alleged power of softeumg meat. Some beef- 

 steak was wrapped in the leaf for twenty-fom' hoiu's, a 

 corresponding portion being placed by its side under like 

 conditions except as to the leaf. When both were ooked 

 it was found that the steak wriipped in the Papaw leaf was 

 markedly more tender, but had accjuired a peculiar flavour. 

 Coccus on Orani/e Trees. — Jlr. McLachlan read a com- 

 munication from the Government of the Bahamas with 

 reference to the cocus scale on Orange ti'ees, which was 

 proring so destructive hi those islands. The insect iu 

 question is Mytilaspis citricola, one of the Coccidie. Washes 

 and sji-inging with petroleum prepared, and the use of 



whale-oil soap were found to be the most serviceable. 



Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



Papaw Juice. — Among new .and interesting substances 

 which have come prominently forward within the last 

 year or two, we shoiUd mention papaw juice, which is 

 the juice or milk of the fruit and bark of the Carica 

 papaija, a tree to which attention was fii'st called, in this 

 particular respect, in the year 1S75, on account of the 

 wonderfid digestive powers ascribed to the said juice. 

 The tree is said to gTow plentifully throughout the Brazils 

 and in the West India Islands. It will be remembered 

 that M. Wurtz, of Paris, professor of chemistry at the 

 school of medicine, drew attention lately to the active 

 principle, jMpaitie, exti'acted from the juiee of this plant, 

 and that its solvent or digestive action is said to extend 

 to the pseudomembrane of diphtheritic affections. The 

 milk or juice is now to be met with in the American 

 market, but it is sad to be an unstable and unreliable 

 article, which no one will be ready to deny. Papaine which 

 can also be extracted from the leaves of the tree is .sup- 

 posed to be preferable. The powerfully caustic or corrosive 

 action of the crude; article requires that it should be used 

 with all due care, especially if given as an internal remedy. 

 It ah-eady goes by the name of " vegetable pepsine," which 

 of course behoves double caution on the part of the physician 

 who prescribes it either internally or externally. No doubt 

 is entertaineil by many able pharmacists that, at no very 

 distant futm'e, it will find a useful place in pharmacy. 

 In the meantime, au cnterprisuig manufacturing chemist 

 has placed in the market a soap for cleaning and soften- 

 ing the skin, which it is believed contains papaine in a 

 mild from. The experiments carrieil out at some of the 

 Piiris hospitals where this active principle was used in place 

 of lemon juice or hydi-ochloric acid to dissolve and detach 

 diphtheritic membrane, appeared to promise most satis- 

 factory results, but, on the whole, no marked advantage 

 appears to have been gained by its ust;.— Monthly Export 

 Prices Current. 



