396 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November i, 1882. 



Utilisation of Sea-'weed. — M. Alexandre Saint 1%'es 

 is reported to have succeeded, after numerous expp.riraents, 

 in extracting from sea-weed a composition like that of starch 

 and sugar, which is well adapted for the economical manu- 

 facture of certain articles of commerce, such as imitation 

 leather, and transparent substances. The sea-weed, pre- 

 viously washed in pure water, or water impregnated ,vith a 

 little fime, or potash, is th-ied, and then pounded or ground, 

 according to its variety, and introduced into a conical boiler. 

 A soluble substance is extracted by a bath of hot water or 

 steam, when the residue, on cooling, assumes a gelatinous 

 consistency. — Journal of the Hocieti/ of Arts. 



Vintage OK France, 1881. — Consul Roosevalt, of Bordeaux, 

 states that the details given by the Minister of Finance, in 

 relation to the wine crop, show a considerable inprovement. 

 In 1879, 25,000,000 hectolitres (the hectolitre being equiva- 

 lent to 22 imperial gallons) were produced in France ; in 

 1880, 29,0il0,000 hectolitres ; while in 1881, there were 

 34,138,715, giving an increase of 9,138,715 over the year 1879. 

 Notwithstanding this improvement,the yield is still 15,000,000 

 hectolitres below the average of the ten years preceding 1879. 

 In the ealy part of last year, appearances seemed to indicate 

 the prospect of a very much greater production, but the 

 ravages of the phylloxera, aud the abnormal heat which 

 succeeded the constant rains of September and October, to 

 a very great extent blighted the vines. — Ibid. 



Red Spider, its Cause and Ouhe.— To a great many 

 struggling, industrious, and enthusiastic amatem-s this uni- 

 versal garden pest is a source of annoyance, and often 

 of considerable loss. Whether it be the imperfectly 

 trained market grower who pays for liis learning at the 

 beginning of his career, or the amateur who cultivates 

 Vines or other fruit trees or plants more for pleasure 

 aud recreation than for profit, the constant cry is, How 

 can we eradicate or keep down red-spider? It is not 

 always safe to recommend drastic measures to inexperi- 

 enced people, and yet nothing short of a di'astic remedy 

 \vi\\ oust the enemy from his position. Practical gard- 

 eners being fully aware of the dire effects of a serious 

 attack of red-.spider, follow the safe maxim that "prevention 

 is better than cure," aud therefore give the enemy no 

 quarter. But with the amateur, the eaemy comes as a 

 thief in the night, and the sad work of destruction is 

 well-nigh complete before he is aware of the tact. Vines, 

 perhaps, suffer more from the attacks of the enemy than 

 any other plant or fruit tree. In ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred the cause is either absolute dryness at the roots 

 of the Vines, or an unhealthy condition, brought about 

 by defective drainage. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



A PliUv'tee of KXPEiiiEXCE Sends us the following inform- 

 ation in regard to covering for cinchona trees after shaving, 

 as being cheap, effective, and expeditious. Take common 

 glue, gum, or gelatine, or any like substance, melt by heat 

 with a sufficiency of water, and add Bichromate of Potash 

 or Crome alum. Take any common paper, such as old 

 newspapers, cut up into .slips, (by preference 3 inches in 

 width) anil paint over or on the solution. Dry in the sun. 

 "Wlen dried, and the colour of the solution on paper has 

 turned a dirty brown, the jjaper can be used for the 

 purpose ri.quired. Commence covering, as in ordinary 

 bandaging, .at the lowest part of the tree, and so on to 

 the highest portion shaved, keeping of course each turn 

 of paper slightly lapping over the last turn, and finish 

 off at the top with a tie of aloe fibre, or threa.l of old 

 sack. The bands of paper may not of course be long 

 enough in themselves to cover the whole of the tree, but 

 one piece can be continued on from the other, if merely 

 commencing as at first. The painted side of paj.er is of 

 course exposeil. I have tried this method with great success, 

 and, if properly put on, the paper will last for months. 

 Potash Bichromate is about l)d per lb. in England, pud 1 lb. 

 would be sulficicnt for thous.iuds of trees, when in solution. 

 Make the gum solution fairly thin, and add to each liquid 

 oz., say 25 grains of the Potash Bichromate. The action 

 wli'ich takes place, perhaps you may like to hear, is de- 

 scribed as follows;— "Gelatine, aided by light,reduces the 

 Chromic acid of the bichromate to a lower state of oxi latiou 

 and then enters into combinaiiou with a compound clironnc 

 acid, produced by decomposition of the acid an I the 

 celatine, the result being the formation of a leather-like 

 substance insoluble in /wMvater." The Potash Bichijmate 

 is I may add, a highly irritant poison. — IJa'di/ B.Uetin. 



Gtisi FROM Geevillea Eobusta. — In some interesting 

 notes on the Shev.aroy Hills for 1881, recently commu- 

 nicated to the Agri-Horticultiu-al Society of Madras by 

 Deputy-Surgeon- Genera! Shortt, the following paragraph 

 occm'S :^" Of the plants introduced on these hills, I have 

 to notice a peculiarity as regards the Grevillea robusta — 

 one tree, which is now eleven years old. has for the last 

 two years during the tains producetl spontaneously each 

 year 10 oz. of a translucent gum which has no smell or 

 particular taste, is of a pale yellow colour, and mixes 

 readily with water, when it forms a whitish brown-coloured 

 mucilage, and as a paste answers all the purposes of the 

 so-called gum arable for adhesive purposes. The other 

 Grevillea trees are some two or three years younger, and 

 have not as yet eWnced any disposition to produce gum." 

 This statement is a remarkable one, as none of the Pro- 

 teaceai were known to yield gum. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



CocKCHAFEK GuuBS. — A paragraph in the Indian .Journal 

 of Forestry is to this effect :— It is recorded in the Revue 

 ties Eaux et Forets that a forest guard, named Beny, has 

 Ijointed out a good plan of getting rid of cockchafer 

 grubs from his garden. He digs holes about 2 feet in 

 diameter and 2 feet deep, .and fills them with stable litter 

 covered over with soil. In .lune, in a day when the sun 

 is hot, the holes are opened, and a large number of grubs 

 are then found and destroyed. But such a measure would 

 be of very little use in India. In 1881 in Darjeeling al- 

 most all gardens were visited by these cockchafer grubs, 

 who eat oft not only the roots of bulbs and other flower- 

 ing plants, but stripped the turf from the banks. The 

 Superintendent of the Botanic Garden made an estimate 

 that he had destroyed about eight millions of them. This 

 year the beetle is not uncommon, and it is much to be 

 hoped that it will take itself off elsewhere to lay its eggs. 



A Gigantic Olive Tree. — A correspondent of the Berlin 

 Garten Zeituni/ states that there is an Olive tree at Bendinal, 

 near Palma, in the island of Majorca, that has a trunk 

 13 metres in circumference. The tree is of little height, 

 and has few branches. Its fruit is like that of the younger 

 trees. He goes on to say that the Olive trees of Jerusalem 

 are computed to be 2,000 years old, and they are only 6 

 metres in circumference. How old, then, he asks, may 

 the Majorca tree be ? Perhaps not -so old as those 

 at Jerusalem, we answer. Ooutance, iu his admirable 

 Historij of the Olive, mentions one tree as having a trunk 

 12!j metres in circumference close to the ground, and 6| 

 metres at 1 metre from the ground. This tree stands between 

 Villctranche and Nice, and was a notable tree iu 1515. 

 He also quotes another writer, though he does not seem 

 convinced of his veracity, who describes an Olive tree 

 whose hollow trunk was so large that a score of per- 

 sons could take shelter mthin it at once. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Amole — A Plant that Yields Soap. — These cacti grow 

 on the American continent from Mount Shasta on the 

 north to a similar latitude in South America, and from 

 the Pacific coast to east of the Rio Grande, through New 

 Mexico and "Western Texas. The flower stalks are des- 

 titute of leaves, but are plentifully supplied with branches 

 about eighteen inches long, from which flowers of wliite 

 and yellow colors are suspended in the flowering season. 

 The bulbous rcot is from one to six inches in diameter 

 and from six to eighteen inches long. A saponaceous juice is 

 expressed from the root and the fiber of the leaves* is 

 heckled for the manufacture of mattresses, cushions, and 

 chair seats. Thi %'eget;ihle soap extracted from the root 

 has been used tiy the Indians, Mexicans, and others for 

 many years as a hair wash, and exceeds in purity our 

 manuficture fr"m aniiial substances. The preservative 

 qualiti'^s of the ioap arc well known and its use gives the 

 hair a fine natural glo.v, preventing decay of the hair 

 and entirely eradicating dandruflF or other impurities on 

 the scalp. Cattle eat the leaves in the spring as a pur- 

 gative. And cut into 1 its and thrown on water where 

 fish abound, the effect is stupefaction of the fish, when 

 they cf.n be easily taken. The price among the Indians and 

 Mexicans, who sell it in Tucson, is five cents for a bunch 

 of two stalks interlaced (mancuerna) . For cleaning flannels 

 the amole is found vastly superior. It may be hoped 

 that the manufacture and preparation of amole may become 

 one of the industrial pursuits of the age. — Tucson Citizen. 



""■ Fibre of the leaves of cacti ? Aloes must be meant, — Ed. 



