February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



631 



only awaits the favorable opportunity to resume. This 

 opportunity it finds a little later on, as we shall presently 

 show, when we come to consider the question of " drying." 

 We shall reserve till next issue a consideration of the 

 raaiu cause of this drawback, but meantime we would 

 impress on planters the extreme importance of giving the 

 utmost attention to everything counected with the avoid- 

 ance of moisture in the made tea. This should perhaps 

 more consistently be taken up when we come to consider 

 drying proper, but there are other details connected with 

 the finishing and packing, which, although not so important 

 as care in the drying process, yet contribute in no small 

 degree to the quality of the tea. In lining boxes it will, 

 on careful scrutiny, frequently bo found that holes in tlie 

 lead are not overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility 

 and if they can get the work scamped over, are quite 

 content. It must not be forgotten that the bulk of the 

 tea is forwarded to Calcutta during the raius, aud if a 

 corner of the box gets wet, a hole in the lead speedily 

 leads to damp tea. Those of us who are in Calcutta 

 during the tea .season, must have seen innumerable hackeries 

 laden with tea, continually on the move. If there does 

 not seem an immediate prospect of a storm, the boxes 

 are invariably innocent of all covering. If, however, a 

 shower is a]>prehended, a tarpaulin is thrown over the 

 load. This tarpaulin — if in good order — thoroughly protects 

 the tops of the boxes, but almost always leaves the sides 

 so exposed, that one has no difficulty in reading the marks 

 on the boxes. Now we have no hesitation in affirming 

 that during the .South-West monsoon, all tea should be 

 moved about only on wooden wagons covered all in with 

 wood, like covered good wagons on the railway. If it 

 be said that this would be a costly process, we reply, 

 that whatever it costs, it must be done, if the tea is to 

 be kept dry. Then there is the dampness likely to accrue 

 from boxes made of unseasoned wood. This is, perhaps, 

 not so common as it was, but we have repeadedly seen 

 the sides of boxes containing a damp piece here and there. 

 If we would give our tea a fair ch.auce, we mu.st eliminate 

 everything, even apparently the most trilling — which m.ay 

 in the most remote degree tend to damage the finished 

 article. — huUgo Planters' Gazette. 



SUMMER TREATMENT OF VIXES. 



[We extract the following article from the Queensland 

 Planter and Farmer, not merely because of the infor- 

 mation given respecting the proper cultivation of tlie vine, 

 but because of the general principles it embodies in regard 

 to the fuuctious of leaves, deprived of which, we beg 

 our correspondent W. to note, a tree is deprived of that 

 which supplies and keeps up its vitality, enabling it to 

 elaborate healthy wood, plenty of roots "and good fruit 

 —Ed.] 



The following hints in reference to the treatment of 

 the shoots and leaves of vin^s, by Dr. Kelly, are worth 

 attention just now: — 



In October and Novemb°r the young vines send forth 

 their shoots with so much vigour, that they require con- 

 stant tying to the stakes, aud during the summer they 

 must be contiimady attended to in this respect. Along 

 with the tying, another operation must be attended to at 

 the same time. This is the pulling off any poor or 

 superfluous shoots. Besides the shoot wliich is intended 

 to form the future stem, there are generally a number 

 of small useless shoots sent out from the base, and even 

 from the roots. All such ought to be pulled off by the 

 sockets, while the shoot intended for growth is carefully 

 attached to the support. If the scarifier is required in 

 the summer, great care must be taken that it does not 

 in any w.ay injure the tender vines. Such summer work 

 is seldom required, except in very wet seasons. Our ex- 

 perience of dry summers lias led us to the conclusion that 

 the less the ground is disturbed in dry weather the better. 



In the winter pruning a certain number of buds on 

 spurs, thighs, and branches, of the long pruned vines are 

 left, with the expectation that so many will form fruit 

 shoots, and others, wood shoots; and although they generally 

 turn out according to our intentions, many buds, which 

 were expected to throw small fruit shoots, send out long 

 wood rods, and vice ver^a; and notwithstaiuling all our 

 care in extirpating useless puds, there are oumeroas email 



shoots which ipring where they were neither expected 

 nor wanted, and which crowd the vine to an inconvenient 

 extent. These useless shoots ought to be removed, and 

 the suckers extirpated about November. Many vigner .as 

 are careful not to disturb the vines during their flower- 

 ing — lest the rough handling aud shaking cause their fruit 

 to prove abortive. It is well to adopt their precautious 

 with regard to this, and not handle the vines to.) rough'y; 

 but the ri.sk of injury is not so great as to inti.'rrupt tiie 

 work of the season. At the spring dressing also, it is 

 necessary to thin out the fruit, of which sometimes more 

 sets than the vine is able to bear without injury to itself. 

 In general, with careful winter pruning, the quantity 

 formed is not more than euough; but there are seasons 

 when the vines show an unusual quantity of fruit, and 

 these are often the very seasons when they are least able 

 to ripen it, without an unwonted drain on their energies. 



It is a common thing to see fine, vigorous vines tied 

 up into a bundle round a stake, aud lopped olf all round 

 into a symmetrical column, every stray branch \\ liich 

 shows beyond the prescribed limits being carefully removed. 

 There is, of course, a reason assigned for the practice, 

 sufficiently plausible to cause it being adopted to the extent 

 it has beeu in Australia. 1 1 is said that, by removing all 

 the superflous shoots, we throw into the fruit the sap and 

 nourishment which would hiive been expended uselessly 

 on the leaves aud wood, and thus greatly augment the 

 quantity, and improve the qualtity, of the fruit; while we 

 save the expenditure of the nutritious fluid on the un- 

 productive and useless leaves and shoots. Such arguments 

 indicate the most extraordinary ignorance of the nature 

 and proper functions of the leaves of plants. "Leaves 

 expose the fluids of the plant to the influence of the air 

 and light, and their spiral arrangement enables them to 

 do so effectually. They are concerned in the elaboration 

 of the various vegetable secretions, in the ionnation of 

 wood, and in the absorption of fluid and gaseous matters. 

 A plant, by being constantly deprived of its leaves, will 

 ultimately be destroyed. On this principle, weeds, with 

 creeping stems and vigorous roots, which are with difficulty 

 eradicated, may be killed." 



The leaves of plants are the important agents in the 

 chemistry of nature, by which the atmosphere is main- 

 tained in a state of purity to support animal life. Plants 

 through their leaves absorb the carbonic acid, or so act 

 upon it, that the two elements of which it is composed, 

 the carbon and oxygen, are separated, the oxygen being 

 restored to the atmosphere, while the carbon is takon up 

 by the plant, aud, entering largely iuto the compo.sition 

 of its juices, affords material for the extension of all parts 

 of the plant. In plants of rapid growth, the amount of 

 carbon required is much greater than can be supplied by 

 the soil; such plants are. therefore, provided with abundant 

 foliage, in order that they may obtain their nourishment 

 from the air ; aud by removing the leaves from plants, 

 we take away their means of growth. 



In further confirmation or the importance of the leaf 

 in the ecouoray of plants, tve have the following authority ; 

 — "The power of absorbing nutriment from the atmosphere, 

 with which the leaves of plants are endowed, being pro- 

 portionate to the extent of their surface, every increase 

 in the size and number of these parts is necessarily attended 

 with an increase of nutritive power, and a consequent 

 further development of new le.Tves and branches. Leaves, 

 twigs, and branches, when completely matured, as they 

 do not become larger, do not need food for their support. 

 For their existence as organs, they require only the means 

 necessary for the performance of the special functions to 

 which they are destined by nature; they do not exist on 

 their own accomit."* 



*'We kuow that the functions of the leaves and other 

 green parts of plants, are, to absorb nutritive matters 

 from the atmosphere, and, with the aid of light and moisture, 

 to appropriate their elemeuts. These processes are con- 

 tinually in operation : they commence with the first for- 

 mation of the leaves, and do not cease with their perfect 

 development. But the new products arising from this 

 continu'^d assimilation are no longer employed by the 

 perfect leaves in their own increase: they serve for the 

 formation of woody fibre, aud all the solid matters of 

 simil.ir composition. The leaves now produce sugar, amylin 



♦ Liebig's Chemistry of Agriculture, &c. 



