January i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



605 



CASTOR PLANTING. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE "fRIEKD OF INDIA." 



Srn, — I am such iutercsted in the letter headed 

 "Castor Planting" (see page 550). But I cannot under- 

 stand how j'oiu' correspondent " H. T. T.," who 

 seems to have much practical knowledge of the subject, 

 makes out that the total cost of cultivation woidd amount 

 to only Ki6 per acre. This estimate appears to me to 

 be absurdly low, especially when one considers that it in- 

 cludes the rent of land, as well as the cost of culti^ ation, 

 properly so called. As the subject is oue of great im- 

 portance, I shall feel much obliged if you will pubUsh this 

 letter, and thus induce your coire.spoudont " H. T. T." 

 to givo_ a detailed estimate of cost of cultivation, as well 

 as price of the produce in a tabular form. — R. D. M. 

 [Like all oil-yielding plants, we suspect the castor plant 

 would speedily exhaust the soil. It would then be a question 

 of cost of supplying manure. The restoration to the soil 

 of the oil-cake would be a great help. — Ed.] 



RUST AND SMUT IN WHEAT. 



On this important subject we published, in our issue of 

 the 6th instant, a letter from Mr. T. E. Wener, of Buk- 

 kuUa, Inverell, New South Wales, advocating the steeping 

 of seed wheat in salt and lime before sowing, to assist it 

 in overcoming the rust difficulty. The curator of the Bo- 

 tanic Gardens, Toowoomba, has kindly furnished us with 

 the particulars of a number of experiments conducted by 

 him relative to the same and other methods of treatment, 

 and we think in setting it before our readers it will serve 

 the purpose of a commentary on the contents of the pre- 

 vious letter. Mi-. AVatsou says : — 



'■ It is well known that some wheats — the bearded In- 

 dian varieties for instance — are not so liable to rust as 

 others. 



" The wheats mentioned in the accompanying return 

 were steeped in various pickles, consisting of bluestone, 

 lime, salt, urine, &c., and some of the varieties so treated 

 have suffered most from rust. 



" Steeping kills the spores of the same fungus, which 

 attacks the seed iu the ground and developes as the plant 

 grows, but it is of no avail against rust, the spores of 

 which are deposited on the growing plant, in the .same 

 manner as oidium on the grape vine." — Queendander. [And 

 ItcmileUt vtisttityix on coffee. — Ed.] 



GROANING AVATTLES FOR BAItK IN Al STKALIA. 

 Jlr. Gorry, of AYhittlebury, Condah, has had some ex- 

 perience in growing wattle trees for their bark, which 

 has iuterest for the public at the present time, when tanning 

 material is becoming scarce and dear. He cut down a 

 quantity of eight years old wattles, and their bark brought 

 him iu at the rate of 2s. 6d. per tree, sold in the Port- 

 laud market at £7 per ton. He tells us that the trees 

 grew vigorously at six feet apart both ways, which 

 would give 2,-120 trees to the acre, or £300 per acre 

 every seven or ciglit years, and the land is available as 

 pasturage during the eight years. .Cattle do not eat the 

 young wattles, though they may injure them by their 

 trampling, which, however, they do not do to any great 

 extent, and a young bark forest is thick enough at first 

 to afford being weeded out more or less. It is a strong 

 point in favour of this kind of cultivation that almost any 

 land will grow the mimosa. Pocr scrubby country will bring 

 it to perfeeticu as well as the richest soil, only it takes a 

 little longer to grow. The objection to wattle cultivation 

 is that it only yields a harvest once in seven or eight 

 years, and it is not every farmer or selector that can 

 wait so long for his returns, having his instalments to pay 

 at the Lands office and other obligations to meet. — Portland 

 Guardian. 



AJiEi.DEENSHIRE AGEIOULTUEAL ASSOCIATION. 



Mr. Jamieson thus summarises the results of six years' 

 experimeuts; — 



"1. Non-crystalline phosphate of lime, ground to a 

 floury state, appUed to soil deficient in phosphate, greatly 

 increases the Turnip crop, and also, though to a less extent, 

 77 



the cereal and grass crops, but always with equal effect, 

 whether it be derived from animal or mineral matter. 



"2. Solidjle phosphate is not superior in effect to in- 

 soluble phosphate if the latter be in finely disaggregated 

 from, e.g., disaggregation effected by precipitation from 

 solution, or by grinding bones after being steamed at high 

 pressure. In such finely-divided conditions the dilfereuce 

 is in favour of the insoluble form, in the proportion of 

 about twelve for the soluble to thirteen and fourteen for 

 the above insolulJe forms respectively. In less finely-divided 

 form (such as mineral phosphate impalpable powder), in- 

 soluble phosphate is inferior to soluble phosphate in the 

 relation of about ten to twelve. 



"3. Nitrogenous manures used alone have little effect on 

 root crops unless the soil is exceptionally poor in nitrogen, 

 and rich in available phcsphate. 



"Nitrogenous manures used with phosphate on soils in 

 fairly good condition give a visible increase of root crop, 

 but this increase is due mo.stly, and often entirely, to 

 excess of water in the bulbs. 



"Nitrogenous manures greatly increase cereal crops, and 

 the increase in this case is not due to excess of water. 



"As to the relative efficacy of different forms of nitrogen: 

 the ultimate effect of nitrogen in sulphate of ammonia, iu 

 guano, and steamed bone-flour is nearly identical, whether 

 used with soluble or insoluble phosphate. Nitrate of soda, 

 when used with soluble phosphate, is also identical with the 

 above forms, but is of less eflScacy when used with in- 

 soluble phosphate 



"4. Fine division (or perfect disaggregation) of phos- 

 phates assists the braird nearly as much, and with more 

 healthy results than applications of nitrogenous manures. 



"The most economical phosphatic manure is probably 

 non-crystalline, floury, insoluble phosphate of lime; the 

 cheapest form being mixed with an equal quantity of the 

 form in which the highest degree of disaggregation is 

 reached. 



" (At present these two forms are respectively, ground 

 mineral phosphate (coprolite), and steamed bone-flour)." 

 — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



COCOA (CACAO) CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 



I may briefly mention what I consider necessary to 

 successfully grow a Cacao clearing. In the first place, when 

 feUiug jungle, care must be taken that only the small 

 jungle is cleared, and the big trees allowed to remain. 

 2. I liave been most successful when sowing the seed in 

 small bottomless clay pots about 6 inches in height, and 

 putting out the plants ivith the puts before the taproot 

 has struck the ground. After the plants looked as if they 

 had establi.shed themselves, I had the pots carefully broken 

 and removed without giving the plants a shock. As by 

 this method I lost barely 20 per cent of the plants, I 

 think I may «ifely ask planters to give this system a 

 trial. I have heard it suggested by one who cultivates 

 this product, that the pots had best be ordered iu halves, 

 like ordinary house tiles (small) and tied together by a 

 piece of tarred coir rope. This method is more economical, 

 as the pot could be removed and used again by simply 

 severuig the rope. 3. After the plants have fairly estab- 

 lished tliemselves, that is, after a fair percentage have 

 passed then- second year, I think it will be best not to 

 remove the shade at once, as the sudden change will 

 either kill the plants or force them to over-bearing, but 

 to gradually thin out the shade trees from year to year 

 tiU it is found necessary to entirely remove them by 

 ringing. 4. Not only in the cultivation of cacao, but in 

 the cultivation of any product in the lowcouutry, I think 

 it unwise to weed clear as in the hill country. I did not 

 come to this conclusion recently or after reading Mr. 

 Wariugtou's remarks on the loss of nitrates by the soil 

 when presenting a clear surface ; but after observing the 

 condition of a piece of gi'onnd cultivated with Liberian 

 coffee which had been thoroughly piked, after a few 

 showers and a week of hot, scorching sim, it will hardly 

 be believed, but it is nevertheless a fact, that the ground 

 became so caked or hard, that weeding with a mamotie 

 became difficult I I have now the ground in sucb a state 

 of weeds, that by the time one end is being weeded the 

 other is a carpet of weeds. This certainly is not pleasing 

 to the eyes of those accustomed to weeding on coffee 



