January i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



6ir 



three years had elapsed since its manufacture. Of course 

 it was understood that the case was not opened from the 

 time it left the factory till the day of tasting, and was 

 originally packed quite dry and sound in a proper case. 

 They said it required at least three years to thoroughly 

 " riptn " It is also well known that no planter will drink 

 freak tea, i.e.^ tea of the current season, if he can get 

 any other. We have known men whose stock of old tea 

 had run out, begging for " tannings," " dust," " red leaf," 

 " samples," anything, provided it was not of the present 

 year's growth rather than drink thaiv fresh teas. (By the 

 way how doos tliis read by the side of certain traders' 

 advertisements of " fresh teas for sale.")^7y«Z((/o Flaaters' 

 Gazette. 



Root .4kd Branch. — I had a fancy some years ago that 

 something might bo done in the forestry of Conifers by 

 restricting growth to the terminal bud alone. For this 

 end all the side buds of some Scotch Firs were removed 

 yearly as soon as they were well developed. My largest 

 specimen is now a finely grown tree some 40 feet high. 

 For eleven years successively it was operated upon as 1 

 have described — in fact, as long as I coiUd get at the lead- 

 ing shoot without the aid of a ladder. When this tree 

 is put into the sawpit, it should, barring accidents, atford 

 11-foot boards of utterly faultless timber. Of course, if 

 the laterals hail been allowed to grow, the plant would 

 have been weight for weight larger at the end of the 

 eleven years, but I think that in some fifty or sixty years 

 hence the difference will be found inappreciable. — R. Trevor 

 Claukk. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



Ledgeeiaxa Seed. — Having gone into this venture tho- 

 roughly myself, and having now spent some K15,000 in 

 the propagation of this valuable kind of cinchona, I con- 

 sider I am in a position to state it is impossible for any 

 one, with every possible convenience and appliances at 

 hand, to raise " on an average " over 24,000 seedlings to 

 the ounce of seed, although I admit that from one ounce 

 (of 9 per cent of quinine analysed parent tree grown in 

 Java), by constant attention during the day, and some 

 three or four visits to my glass-houses for twenty con- 

 secutive nights, I raised from this one ounce and counted 

 myself 42,883 pricked out seedlings. This, I say, was an 

 experiment on my part, and fortunately I was most suc- 

 cessful in avoiding fungus and damp, and candidly admit 

 I should not like to renew the experiment. I have had 

 most extraordinary results from seed gathered from my 

 own pure Ledgeriana seed trees now eight years old, and 

 yielding on analysis by Dr. Paul 9 per cent of pure quin- 

 ine, but in this case the seed was put to germinate the 

 day it was gathered. Even this seed, however, could not 

 have come up to T. Brown's sixty odd thousand seedlings 

 to the ounce. — W. Lee Kirby, Coonoor, loth Nov. — Madras 

 Mail. 



The Storing of Tree Leaves. — There can be no doubt 

 but that decayed vegetable matter, which may be con- 

 sidered the most natural fertiliser provided for plants in 

 a wild state, is also the best fertiliser we can provide for 

 them in what may be called an artificial state, where, 

 whatever help they would get under natural conditions, 

 through the natural decay of debris, we through the oper- 

 ations on which a high state of keeping depends deprive 

 them of a chance of assimilating, and it thus becomes 

 imperative to provide the best substitute we can. Charred 

 Rubbish. — Another very useful fertihser is formed from the 

 debris collected during the season from lawns, flower-beds, 

 and borders. Wherever there is a practicability of sub- 

 jecting the whole of it to the action of fire from time 

 to time, and thrown into a heap, it becomes a valuable 

 material for renovating exhausted beds and borders. 

 Decomposed Manures. — It is oftentimes necessary to apply 

 more stimulating material than the above, for whicli a 

 due provision should be made. Thoroughly decayed man- 

 ure from the cow-yard will be found the best stimulant 

 to apply to hot and dry soils, but well-fed horse-manure 

 is best suited to the generality of soils, and for the pur- 

 poses of the flower garden there should be an ample store 

 put by every year. It should be frequently turned over 

 for aeration ami decomposition, as it is best for use after 

 at loast two years' sul>mission to the action of the atmo- 

 sphere. — Gardeners' Ch ronicle. 



ToM.ATos AS Pickles.— Any one having any ripe fruits 

 of Tomatos will find they make a delicious pickle by 

 merely placing them in a jar, covering with the best 

 vinegar, and tying down securely for a fortnight; the 

 addition of two or three Capsicums improves them in 

 some people's opiuiou ; others prefer them cut open when 

 fit for use, and a little of Lea & Perriu's Worcester 

 Sauce added. The small kinds, ranging in size from that 

 of marbles to walnuts, arc the best for the purpose. Thfe 

 small green fruits are also nuich relished by some, but 



they require to remain longer |in the vinegar before using. 



W. H. Divers. Burghley. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



The Rain Tree (Pithecolobium saman) in the gardens 

 of the Agri-Horticultiu:al Society of Madras, the measure- 

 ments of which were given in the proceedings of August 

 7, 1878, and then beheved to be under six years from 

 the seed, continues, in spite of its having been necessary, 

 to amputate some of its largest limbs, to grow enormously 

 Measured on July 30 last it showed girth 9ft. 4in. at the 

 ground, 6ft. Sin. at 3ft. high, and 5ft. yin. at 5ft. high ; 

 in spread about 86ft. from north to south ; and a total 

 height of about 46ft. A reference to the former measure- 

 ments shows that the girth at 3ft. from the ground lias 

 increased in the last three years 2ft. 2in. The age of 

 the tree is, if anything, over-estimated ; but search is being 

 made for traces of the receipt of the seed, which, it is 

 believed, came from Ceylon about 1872, A Oasuariua tree 

 standing alongside, which was (he specimen of its order 

 when that part of the ground was laid out as the Botanical- 

 garden, and is therefore known to be about ten years old, 

 now measures at 5ft. from the ground only 2ft. 8iin. 

 though it is about 82 ft. high. — Gardeners' Chronicle. [See 

 page 1025, vol. I. — Ed.] 



Vine Odltivation at Venice. — The British Vice-Consul 

 at Venice, reporting on the vintage of 1881, says it was 

 more productive than in former yeais, and the wines made 

 were of excellent quality. In Venetia, no attention is 

 paid by proprietors of vineyards to the making of the 

 wine, which is sent to the market in the natural state of 

 grape juice. The vines are planted ill such a w.ay that a 

 great part of their strength is lost amid an exuberenoe 

 of boughs and leaves. They are generally cultivated be- 

 tween maize and nut trees, and frequently the sun has 

 not free access to the fruit. Vines of different qualities 

 are planted together, and thus when the clusters on some 

 of them are tiuming purple, those on the neighbouring 

 vines are green. The peasant pays no attention to the 

 different degrees of ripeness, but gathers all the grapes 

 at the same time and throws them together to ferment 

 in the same vat. The general result is a decoction, which 

 must be drunk up before the next vintage. There is not 

 the least douI)t that if Venetian wine growers would im- 

 prove their vines for exportation, their vintages would be 

 specially introduced on foreign markets. — Journal of the 

 Society of Arts. 



Leaves and Silkworms: Notes on the Products of 

 L.utfBARDY. — In a recently issued official report on the 

 products of Italy it is stated that the Lemon tree is ex- 

 tensively cultivated north of Salo, along the Lake of Garda. 

 It is costly to rear, but when exempt from disease 20,000,000 

 of the fruit can be gathered from 60 hectares (a hectare 

 being nearly 2J acres) of ground, to the value of 500,000 

 hre (a lire=n^d. about). The same district produces 12,000 

 quintals of oil, and is capable of yielding a larger quantity 

 of garden fruit, the sale of which will be much facilitated 

 by the opening of the St. Gothard railway. Twenty-five 

 years ago the hill region was covered with vineyards, yield- 

 ing an annual produce of 2,0 0,000 hectolitres of indif- 

 ferent wine, worth 18,000,000 lu-e, or 55 lire per hectare. 

 To-day scarcely one-fourth of that quantity is obtained 

 owing to Vine disease and the competition of Piedmont 

 and the other chief wine-growing districts of Italy. The 

 region is now almost exclusively devoted to silkworm culture 

 which gives incessant labour to thousands of persons, and 

 atone saves them from destitution. The most minute care 

 is requisite for silkworm rearing ; the houses must be large, 

 airy, and wholesome; if a door or window be left oren 

 for ten minutes — if a due supply of leaves be omitted, or 

 if for a few moments the necessary heat bo not main- 

 tained — the whole of the precious insects may be lost. 

 — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



