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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October », 1882. 



thau at Erar(5 in the midst of these Serras. And yet 

 the inhabitants of this fertile region suffer from hunger. 

 The insufficiency of food is evident, but it arises solely 

 from the inability of the people to avail themselves of 

 the uatmal productions of soU. As an instance of this 

 I may mention that, though living on the hanks of rivers 

 which abound in delicious fish, they make large use of 

 salt cod, hnported from other countries." 



[It just cumes to this : that one of the richest portions 

 of the globe is, wi'ougfully, in possession of the acre 

 least fitted to turn it to good account. — Ed.] 



E0ST IN Wheat. — Notwithstanding the frequent 

 experiments made to ascertain as nt-aily as po-sible 

 the cause of rust in wheat, no certain conclusion 

 has yet been arrived at. The Rev. J. B. Sneyd, 

 of South Australia, gives as his opinion, based 

 upon his own observations, that "where limestone 

 exists in considerable quantities in the soil, red rust 

 does not make much havoc with the crop ; where it 

 exists only in small quantities, rust seems totiourish." 

 — Qiieenslaiuler. 



Vines in California. — Concerning the vine culture 

 cf California, the San Francisco SfWrfi" fays -.—■'The 

 increase in the size of viu-'-yards is remarkabl'". Four 

 years ago a plantation of 2110 acres was considered a 

 very large plantation. Now vineyards of 500 to 600 

 acres are common, and there has this year been planted 

 one of 1,500 acres, near Los Angeles. An experienced 

 viniculturist gives it as his opinion that before three 

 years we shall have vineyams of 5,000 to 6,000 acres 

 each. he present total numb r of acres under vines, 

 he conjoctures, is about 100,000, all of which will be 

 bearing four years from now, with a possible produc- 

 tion of 40 000,000 to 50 000,000 gallons yearly. Last 

 year's vintage prodm'ed 9,000,000 gallons, but more 

 thau one-thud was destroyed through frosts. The 

 outlook for the npxt year's crop is very good; but. 

 last year's prices forgrapes will not be maintained." — 

 Public Opinion. 



Papek Tea-boxes? — Why not, since rooting tiles, rail- 

 way carriage wheels and especially casks are made of 

 paper? The idea suggested itself to us while reading 

 a valuable article on " Tea Bulking " in the Indiijo 

 Fhinters' Gazette. The article concludes thus : — 

 " There is one point in connection with box-making, 

 which seems to have escaped the notice of planters. 

 Boxes, as a rule, are not cubes, and for many reasons 

 they ought to be. In making boxes by machinery, 

 it i.s clearly advantageous to have all the sides of 

 similar size, but the great advantage to be gained is 

 in stowing in a vessel's hold. A box is handed down 

 to the stowing coolies and after being tried in a 

 certain space, it is found that it won't fit in, the 

 box is then lifted and twisted round till the narrow- 

 est side is ascertained, and then it is returned to its 

 place. All this knocking about would be avoided, 

 if it were known that tea chests were cubes, because 

 if a chest failed to fit a space one way, it would be 

 folly to move it about in a vain hunt for a narrower 

 side. These are the little points— little, individually, 

 perhaps, but powerful for evil collectively — that are 

 as a rule not considered worth wasting time about, 

 but which must be attended to in an intelligent 

 manner, in view of the competition with China 

 tea which is every day becoming more keen." 

 Now, it seems to us that by the use of no other 

 substance could so much unifoi-mity of strength, size and 

 weight be secm-ed as papier mache well di-ied, solidified 

 by pressure, and perhaps lacquered on the outside. How 

 the sheets of which the boxes should be made could be 

 put together is the greatest difficulty we anticipate, 

 but no doubt it can be overcome. WUl some competent 

 authority work out the idea, which is so obvious that, 

 yerhajjs, it has already led to experiment. 



Tea. — The tea trade in Madras last .month was a 

 pretty large one, the total quantity of te;i shipperl 

 from this port being 21,620 lb. valued .it U2^,b77. 

 Of the aliove quantity 2ii,010 lb. "ere shipped to (ireat 

 Britain, 79-i II). to New York, 738 lb. t^ Melbouiue 

 and 80 lb. to Kaug^on. Small shipments continue to 

 be made by every steamer leaving Madras for London. 

 — M. Standaril. 



New Products. — The "Agricultor Progressista " pub- 

 lishes a tetter from a Brazilian engineer, directing 

 attention to the value of the nuts of the pinssaba 

 palm as a fuel for sterm engines. He declares that 

 they are fqual in luating quality to the best coal, 

 and superior to it in that they leave no cinder — 

 only an ash, very rich in jiotash- The piassaba palm 

 abounds, and the writer c.ilculates that ten palms 

 would yield per annum 5,000 nuts, equivalent to a 

 ton of coal, and that 180 palms would require only one 

 acre. Au experiment might be made on some of the 

 Anglo-Brazilian railways. — S. A. Journal. 



"New and Untried Fields in Ceylon." — Under 

 this heading, the Lanka Snahan, while deploring the 

 want of originality in the Ceylonese of the present day, 

 points out various fields to which they should turn at- 

 tention. In the cultivation of paddy, the natives have 

 gone on in the same primitive fushion for centuries, 

 but DOW that Ruropeiin? have begun to take up this 

 product, no doubt we shall see an improvement. In 

 coconut and cinnamon cultivatirm Europeans have 

 already set the example of scientific metbids, and 

 intelligent natives have not been slow to follow. 

 But Ithere are other fields of enterprize almost un- 

 touched. To quote from our contemporary : — " In 

 manufactures Ceylon has made bnt little progress 

 though admittedly thei'e is extensive room for it. 

 Many of the products of our fields gurdens and forests 

 are wasted or lie rotting in the air from our ignor- 

 ance of the means of utilizing them. We have an 

 unlimited number of fibre yielding pluuts the produce 

 of ■which can easily be converted into cordage, can- 

 vass or cloth, but most of which is now absolutely 

 thrown away. Our lauds can produce an inexhaustible 

 supply of different varieties of fruits and vegetables 

 which if people are more generally conversant with the 

 methods of preserving tliem, can be kept fresh and 

 ready for daily use when the season ha^ passed I esides 

 exporting in larg-- qnautities to foreign countries. 

 The lield for breeding every vari tv of cattle horses 

 and fowls 13 practically without limit. If we will 

 follow the example of the 'go-ahead' Americans the 

 most useless lakes aud lagnous can be turned it seems 

 to very profitable account by being user! for brreding 

 the besi kind of fishes the supply of which when once 

 e-tablislied will be almost everlisti'g. We well re- 

 member the remarks made by some Americans during 

 the last pearl fishery, that every bit of the fl sh and 

 shells of oy fters buried under ground in Ceylon, 

 would h IV6 been converted to some use in the United 

 St itos, if the fishery had only feiken phice there. For 

 manufacturing and other purposes it is impossible to 

 compete witli Western n.itions without tlie introduction 

 (tf suitable machinery. The use of Machinery is not in 

 all cases so expensive as it is generally supposed in 

 Ceylon. There are hundreds of machines which with 

 very inconsiderable outlay, can be made to yield very 

 large profits. Even the costly machines are in tha 

 long run of great value to their possessors. It is use 

 of the machinery in addition to large forest land, 

 whch his made the United States in a comparatively 

 few years a formidable rival to the long established 

 commerce of England. Steam and, machinery there 

 have to a ^reat extent taken manual work out of the 

 hands of laborers." The newly lormed Agricultural As- 

 sociation will, no doubt, make it oue of its aims to 

 introduce new enterprizes and extend and improve 

 old ones among the natives. 



