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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1883. 



Mealy Bug, Vines, and Paraffin. — Pray pardon me for 

 giving an additional point — to be most earuful to avoid 

 using this in an undiluted state. If not k -pt well mixed 

 it soon floats on the top of tlie water, and therefore, if 

 so applied, it will kill the A'iue. A very few years ago 

 I had au old experienced gardener who thus killed two 

 of my best Vines down to a few feet of their roots. — W. 

 A. WooLER. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



80AP-WEBD. — Among the peculiar plants indigenous to 

 Arizona and New Mexico is that known to the natives as 

 amole, or soap-weed. It grows to the height of about 4 

 feet, and is found chiefly in the more mountainous p;irts. 

 It has long, narrow, pointed leaves, the fibre.^ of which, 

 as well as the fibrous portions of the stalks, make excellent 

 ropes, paper, and, among the Indians, are woven into cloth. 

 But the most curious p.irt of the plan* is its root, which 

 has been found to be an excellent substitute for soap, and 

 for washing flannels and woollen goods it is said to be 

 superior to the soap of commerce, as it does not shrink 

 or full them. — British Trade Journal. 



Chemical Inpusteies of Italy. — Sulphur is the most 

 important industry of Italy, both as to value of products 

 and number of persons employed. There are at present 

 about 300 sulphur mines being worked— 275 in Sicily, 20 

 in the Romagna, 3 in Naples and 2 in the former church 

 possessions. The primitive methods employed entail a loss 

 of 50 per cent. Very few works have adopteil the im- 

 proved methods. The total jjroduction of late years has 

 been annually 400,000 tons of a value of 4O,00O,Ci00 francs. 

 There are 21.000 hands employed in the mines. There are 

 13 manufactories of sulphuric acid, but only four oi im- 

 portance. Three qualities are manufactured — 50 ° , 00 ^' 

 and 66 ° B. The 5il ° is mostly used in superphosphate 

 and stearic acid works, while the higher concentrations are 

 employed in alum manufacture. Artificfal manures is a 

 comparatively new branch of industry, and is mostly con- 

 fined to the northern part of Italy. There are now some 

 40 firms engaged in the manufacture. Sulphuret of carbon 

 is extensive y used for extracting the olive oil remaining 

 in the pres.-eii fruit, and for making the sulpho-carbonate 

 salts that are used so extensively against the )ihylloxera. 

 A French firm in Bari is said to turn out 12.0f'0 centners 

 annually. Two factories, one in Genoa and one in Milan, 

 manutacture quinine. The first works with a capital of 

 $800,000, aud.h.as branches in Bogota and Oceanna, as well 

 as in London, Paris and Constantinople. It has also ex- 

 tensive plantations of the cinchona tree in Central America. 

 The entire production in 187!) for Italy was estimated 

 at 30,000 kilos, and is now 40,000, of which the Milan 

 firm supplies 35,000. The export exceeded the import in 

 1881 by $2,300,000.— Oi; and Paint lieviev. 



The Monstkra Deliciosa is the name of a fruit which 

 is x^erhaps new to most residents in this district, but 

 which certainly deserves to become well known. "We re- 

 ceived samples of this delicacy from Mr. Marsh and Mr. 

 Webster, both of whom have plants growing in their 

 gardens. In shape it is like a large corn cob, the speci- 

 mens we received measuring 12 inches in length ivith a 

 diameter of 3 inches, perfectly round and tapering slightly 

 from the stem. The outer skin is about one-eighth of au 

 inch thick, and is composed of what may be compared to 

 small scales. These p"el off readily when the fruit is 

 ripe, leaving exposed the edible part of the fruit which 

 is a mass of small particdes about one inch long, sorne- 

 what resembling Indian corn in shape. The core which 

 remains after the fruit is consumed has a diameter of 

 about three quarters of an inch. In flavor the monstera 

 resembles the piue-app'.e and strawberry combined, and 

 being luscious and juicy the only fault to be found with 

 it is that it is very rich. We learn that the plant is in- 

 digenous in the Solomon Islands, where it has a creeping 

 habit, being usually grown round the base of some large 

 tree. The foliage is pecidiar, very large irregular shaped 

 leaves with holes and slots in them making the plant a 

 very noticeable one. The plants in Mr. Marsh's and Mr. 

 Webster's gardens were obtained from the Acclimatisation 

 Society, and we have no hesitation in recommen^ng pen- 

 pie in this district to obtain, if possible, pl.ints^ of this 

 fruit which will certainly in every respect take its rank 

 as one of the finest tropical fruits in the world. — Maclca;/ 

 Staiulard. [If this fruit has not been already introduced 

 into Ceylon, it seems de.sirable that it should be tried. 

 —Ed.]. 



Sunflower — In Eussia the sunflower is extensively cultiv- 

 ated for the oil the seeds contain. The oil is palatable, 

 clear and flavorless, and it is used for adulterating olive 

 oil, being exported from St. Petersburg to the shores of 

 the Mediterranean Sea. Next to poppyseed oil, sunflower 

 oil burns the cleai-est and longest, so that the peasants 

 apply it to household purposes. From the stalks of the 

 plants they also make a good quality of potash, and 

 the residue of the seeds, after the oil is extracted, is 

 made into oil cake. — Oil and Faint Revieio. 



Decortication of Textile Nettles. — It is remarked by 

 the 3[oniteur dcs Jils et Tis>iis that a great obstacle to 

 the employment of the Chinese nettle for textile purposes 

 has been the small proportion of the filaments, as compared 

 with the size of the plant. The consequent difficulty of 

 the extraction of that portion of the plant which is of 

 commercial value, has tended to make the fibre in question 

 relatively dear. By subjecting the plant to the action of 

 steam, in a receptacle specially prepared for the purpose, 

 M. Farier effects the separation of the layers of bark and 

 j of resinous substance which surround the textile fibres. The 

 extraction of the portion of the nettle which is of industrial 

 value can then be easily effected, either by hand labour or by 

 ' simple mechanical contrivances. — Journal of Society of Arts. 

 \ Scion Influence on Seedling Boots.- Mr. Charles ,A. 

 j Green once mentioned in the JS'eiv X'ork Tribune a phen- 

 I omenon which most nurserymen have observed, namely, 

 that of different varieties of apple all grafted in the same 

 way on one lot of seedling roots, there is found when 

 they are dug for the orchard after three or four years' 

 growth a uniform character of root in each row of iliffer- 

 eut sorts, the seedling roots not showing their individual 

 habits, but assuming one h.abit — that of the variety gnifted 

 on them — a row of Famcuse or Olbenburg being twice as 

 hard to dig as the Ked Astrachan with its shallow and 

 fibrous roots. Mr. Green might have added the Siberian 

 crabs as notable examples of tough, strong, far-reaching 

 roots. Mr. Alfred Smith, Monmouth, Me., has, however, 

 after careful experiment come to the conclusion that scions 

 do not aft'ect the roots in the way intimated, but that 

 a sort like the Red Astrachan, which emits fibrous roots 

 readily, will, when the point of graft junction is suffici- 

 ently below the surface, rely on the.se roots of its own 

 altogether, the seedUng nurse roots standing still. The 

 Fameuse and Oldenburg do not emit roots so freely, con- 

 sequently they depend upon the seedling nurse roots, 

 which are therefore extended, and grow with long, coarse 

 prongs after the manner of seedlings. Nurserymen, on 

 the other hand, who are in the habit of budding their 

 seedhngs above the sinface aver that their experience 

 coincides with Jlr. Green's. The case is therefore still 

 questionable. — Australasian. 



Cactus as a Protector of Sarlings. — In October last the 

 Madras Board of Revenue requested Collectors of districts, 

 other than Cuddapah, to submit special reports on the 

 subject of utilizing Cactus as a protector of saplings. 

 The Collector of Coimbatore has reported that seeds were 

 sown broadcast in all the taluqs of the Sub and Head 

 Assistant's divisions, but that much reliance cannot be 

 placed on the figures fm'uished, as it is difficult to tell 

 whether the growth was spontaneous or the result of the 

 sowing. It is further poiuteil out that, though a large 

 number of trees germinated in the villages, tlie system 

 of sowing broadcast among the Cactus cannot be very 

 eflicacious, as few reach the ground, and .such as do find 

 a hard soil and conditions not favourable to growth. 

 He describes an ingenious method invented by Mr. A. 

 F. Clox, and introduced by the Head Assistant Collector, 

 by which the seeds are planted in the cactus bush by 

 means of a hollow bamboo tube shod with iron which 

 en.sures their being effectively introduced into the soil, 

 and which he recommends as a better plan than the 

 ori'dnal one. But he still thinks that a large peicentage 

 of ''the seeds sown even by this method must fail, from 

 the closeness of the cactus and the want of light, air, &c., 

 and recommends that the bu.sh be opened out \-y cutting 

 away some of the branches, at the same time leaving 

 sulccient to form a hedge outside. The Board of Revenue 

 are watching with interest these experimeLts. but doubt 

 if it will be prudent to cut away the branches of the 

 cactus, as that will deprive the seedlings of the shade 

 and shelter of the caaivis.— Madras Times. 



