November i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



437 



TREATMENT OF FIBRES. 



The following communication appears in the Jourmd of 

 the Societi/ of Arts: — 



Having observed the remarks made by Mr. Thomas 

 Christy respecting Blr. Ekman's " process for the treat- 

 ment of different fibres, " printed in jonr Journal, No- 1,543, 

 Vol. .XXX, dated the 16th June, 1882, I take the liberty 

 to call to your attention ray patents, No. 4,419, and No. 5,532, 

 for the " production of solvent.s and manufacture of pulp," 

 and believe that any kind of fibre can be properly dis- 

 solved by my process in a cheap and practical way. I 

 use my invention principally for wood and straw, at my 

 mills at this (address about three miles from Gotheubiu-g), 

 but I find also its practicability and excellent effects on 

 jute and esparto, and would have no objection to make 

 experiments with any other kind of fibre, such as rhea, 

 if some one interested in this process would communicate 

 with me, and furnish the necessary quantity of material. 



Korndal Molndal, Sweden. D. O. Feakcke. 



braced from the inside, which I think is a mistake, as the 

 wires always have a tendency to lift the posts from the 

 ground, and thereby become slack. A far better way 

 is as follows: Take a |-inch rod and bolt one end 

 tlirough the post, between the uppermost two wires, 

 and fasten the other end of the rod to a large 

 stone or log, sunk three or four feet below the sur- 

 face on the outside of the post. When it is desirable 

 to drive nearer the end post than the brace will allow, 

 the second post may be braced, anil the support car- 

 ried to the end-post by means of a piece of scantling. 

 Braced in this manner, the wires have a tendency to pull 

 down the end-posts instead of lifting them ; and when the 

 work is properly done, a fence will remain in place, and 

 be of service until two-thirds of the posts have rotted off. 

 A stretcher is not only convenient but necessary in facilit- 

 ating the construction of a well-built wire fence. — F. H. 

 McFakland, DaUas Co., Iowa. — American A'jncuUurht. 



PEACHES. 

 The great fault in peach culture is too thick training — 

 crowding of the shoots during the growing season, which 

 weakens them and hinilers their early and complete maturity. 

 The other day I measured a shoot of a remarkably 

 vigorous and fertile Victoria nectarine here, and found 

 the width, from the points of the leaves on each side, 

 to be close upon 16iu. As it is the common practice 

 to tie in the shoots from 3in. to 4in. or 5in. asunder, it 

 will be seen how much the foliage must be crowded. 

 He would be considered an incapable who trained vines so 

 thickly. We have yet to learn what the effects of training 

 peach shoots sufficiently f.ar apart to expose every leaf 

 fully to^ the light would be. That it would result in the 

 production of annual shoots of a far more robust description 

 than we are accustomed to see, and fruit of proportionate 

 size and quality, no one can have any doubt, and, if we 

 are to improve in our culture, this is the du-ection in 

 which we must go. 



Tliose who grow peaches for profit must divest them- 

 selves of the notion that mere training is the chief end 

 and aim of culture. In the nervous tear that trees will 

 become bare of branches at their base, some cultivators 

 are prevailed upon to shorten the tops unnecessarily when 

 the tree has the best chance of bearing and growing, 

 and many a peach wall has been half destroyed from this 

 cause. So long as one can get fertile wood in plenty aU 

 over the tree (and under the most unlimited extension 

 this is quite easy, as we can testify by trees nearly twenty 

 years of age now), it does not matter in the least 

 how or where the wood is originated ; but that well fur- 

 nished trees can be secured by this mode of training, and 

 preserved in excellent health and fertility, we are prepared 

 to prove by the trees themselves, in spite of all the prog- 

 nostications of critics. — Field. 



■WIRE FENCES, AND BRACING THEM. 



A good fence on the farm is of the greatest import- 

 ance, and suggestions as to the best kinds, and the 

 building of them, are valmble. There are but few sec- 

 tions of our country where any fence can be erected so 

 cheaply as the common barbed wire fence, now being used 

 BO extensively throughout the Western States. A wire 

 fence, properly put up. is as effectual in turning stock, 

 which has become accustomed to it, as a stone wall or a 

 board fence ; and although an animal may be occasionally 

 injured, there is on the whole but little danger to be 

 apprehended in using it. 



Four wires, all barbed, are generally used. The fence 

 could be made much clieaper, aud nearly or quite as 

 effective, by using two strands of common wire in con- 

 nection with two barbed wires, placing them alternately, 

 a barbed wire at the bottom, about one foot from the 

 ground for cattle, and closer for sheep. To turn horses 

 and cattle, it is well to fasten a strip of lath, whitewashed 

 or painted white, to the top wire. This aids the stock 

 in determining the proximity to a fence in the dusk, when, 

 without this, they might run into it and be injured. 



The most essential thiiiLi to observe in building a wire 



fence is the bracing of the end-posts. They are usually 



56 



BRAZIL TAPIOCA. 



A- discussion has been going on iu Ceylon as to the 

 feasibility of employing Eiu-opean capital and enterprise 

 in the cultivation of manioc or cassava, either for human 

 food or the manufactm-e of glucose, and the same sub- 

 ject has also cropped up in Jamaica. There seems little 

 doubt that in suitable soil and under proper management 

 this industry would prove most profitable, but there is a 

 kindred cultivation which might as ea,sily be introduced, 

 the prospects of which are even more promising, we 

 mean that of Brazil tapioca. Now Rio tapioca is as much 

 superior to the common flake tapioca as rice grown in 

 Carolina is to rice grown in Moulmein or Arracan. Rio 

 tapioca is also as much superior to the East India 

 tapioca, as Bermuda arrowroot is to potato starch. The 

 tapioca should be steeped in water twelve hours before 

 it is cooked. It is highly recommended as an excellent 

 food for either the healthy or sick, for the reason that 

 it is so quickly digested without fatigue to the stomach. 

 So greatly is Rio tapioca esteemed in Europe for the 

 superior properties it possesses, combined with the high 

 price paid for it, that the quantity shipped to the United 

 States except by special importation, is very small. Five 

 years ago an enterprising firm in New York city, know- 

 ing its worth, imported a shipment, but so little was its 

 value known in that country, that it had to be sold to 

 be made into Brazilian arrowroot. Brazil tapioca is gener- 

 ally packed iu barrels, while East India is put into bags 

 of about 100 pounds each. The natives in India fre- 

 quently eat the simple root, after having roasted it in 

 hot ashes, without any subsequent preparation. The leaves 

 are also boiled aud eaten by the natives, who frequently 

 ferment the juiee with molasses, and make an intoxi- 

 cating drink called noyeau. So great is the productive- 

 ness of tlie manioc or cassava plant, that it has been 

 calculated that one acre of it will yield food for more 

 people than will seven acres of wheat. Necessity is the 

 mother of invention ; such has been the havoc made I y 

 the Colorado beetle on the potato crop in America that 

 it no longer pays to grow potatoes to make potato starch. 

 An enterprising New Englander has mth great success 

 planted the manioc or cassava plant in Florida, and has 

 raised a croii so large that a comp.anj' is about being 

 formed to manufacture it into starch. — Planters^ Gazette, 



THE QUILLAI TREE IN CHILI. 



While steps are taken to replace the quillai trees 

 which are destroyed annually, the probable extinction of 

 this valuable plaut in Chili is attracting the attentiipu 

 of fori'ign countries, as may be seen from the subjoined 

 article from the San Francisco " Bulletin." The quillai 

 is not likely to disappear from Chilian fore.sts quite so 

 soon as the " Bulletin " appears to anticipate; neverthe- 

 less, nosv that the bark of the tree has become an impor- 

 taut article of exportation and is much sought for in 

 Europe, the mroails on the valuable plant will naturally 

 increase yearly. Under these circumstances some steps ouglit 

 to be taken in time to preserve an indigenous tree of so 

 greiit v.-ilue from utter destruction at no very remote period, 

 otherwise a succeeding generation may be witness of the 

 strange anomaly of Chili being tributary to other countries 



