I 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1884, 



lessee is furnished with a document, which, translated into 

 English, means a " red deed. " This is entered in the record 

 office presided over by the local magistrates, and is ac- 

 knowledged as a legal document so long as the taxes are 

 paid. The general aim of the laws relating to farms is 

 to secure the cultivation of all the land taken up and the 

 regular payment of the tax, which forms the greater 

 moiety of the entire revenue of the country. If the oc- 

 cupier fail to cultivate the land, or if he fail to pay the 

 tax, he is liab,e to be deprived of that which by Chinese 

 law and custom it is considered to be his duty to the 

 state to make the best of in the common interests of all. 

 Buildings pay a ground rent to the Government, the owner 

 being furnished with " a red deed, : ' as already referred to. 



RAIN TREES. 

 Baron von Mueller has reported to the Minister of 

 Water Supply regarding an extract taken from the Times 

 dealing with the power of the Eucalyptus to absorb water 

 from the soil. Baron von Mueller says that the remark- 

 able case cited by the limes is one of the many instances 

 in which the enormous force of the Eucalyptus to draw 

 moisture from the ground has been clearly demonstrated. 

 There is a similar case mentioned by Mr. J. Holdsworth. 

 of Sandhurst, of the roots of a eucalyptus tree invading 

 the walls of a strongly constructed tank. The widely re- 

 cognised anti-malariau value of Eucalyptus depend not 

 only (jq tbe destructive effect of Eucalyptus foliage through 

 its oil ou those micro-organisms which set up miasmatic 

 fermentation, but also much on the exsiccating power ex- 

 ercised by those trees on the soil. In this respect they 

 are almost as powerful as weeping willows, with this great 

 d'l.'i irenee and advantage, that their gradually dropping 

 foliage causes no putrid decomposition, but proves in a 

 high degree antiseptic. The two remarkable properties 

 just alluded to, together with the extraordinary celerity 

 of growth, have rendered some kinds of Eucalyptus, es- 

 pecially E. globulus, so widely famous among hardwood 

 trees. Ou this subject the literature is quite extensive 

 now. There are also records of the large quantities of 

 aqueous fluid sucked up aud concentrated, even in desert 

 lands, by the rots of the lnallee Eucalyptus. Should, how- 

 ever, departmental measures be under contemplation by 

 which, through tree plantaions near reservoirs, or, perhaps 

 along canals and natural watercourses, the temperature in 

 the immediate vicinity is to be lessened, and strong cur- 

 reuts of air are to be intercepted with a view of reducing 

 evaporation, true pines and other coniferous trees would 

 be preferable. These would withdraw less water from the 

 soil than Eucalypts, as their foliage is more umbrageous, 

 and. therefore, more cooling, while they are similarly anti- 

 septic. For choice in this direction the last edition of 

 the Select Plants for Industrial Culture and Naturalisation 

 (a work of which with advantage a new and enlarged 

 Victorian edition might be brought out) would afford some 

 advice. As regards the "rain tree" mentioned in the 

 Federal Standard of 16th April, doubtless the Albizzia Samau 

 of tropical America is meant. This tree was in late years 

 brought prominently under notice by the director of the 

 Botanic Garden of Jamaica. It is particularly valuable as 

 being one of the comparatively few trees which accom- 

 modate themselves even to brackish land. It would there- 

 fore be eligible also for our salt bush country, especially 

 as the pods can be utilised for cattle feed. Among con- 

 generic plants it is less tardy in growth than many others, 

 but it may prove shy to any frost, and would perhaps 

 not readily thrive in any tracts of country where rain is 

 very scanty, because this tree delights in regions where 

 the usual rainfall is not less than 30 inches annually. 

 Plantations of the rain tree would, in accordance with general 

 climatic laws, reduce the temperature of the atmosphere and 

 soil, particularly during summer heat, in the locality of 

 growth. And such arboreta would aid therefore in condensing 

 locally the aqueous vapor into watery fluid. Nevertheless, 

 we could not well reckon on obtaining by means of limited 

 tree plantations any water supplies comparable to that secur- 

 able by judicious storage operations, such as the Government 

 has been carrying on for many years in various parts of the 

 colony. However, judicious tree planting as an auxiliary 

 measure for maintaining aud augmenting water supply 

 will soon be recommendable in connection with dams 

 and weirs, particularly if 6ttch operations of planting or 



rearing trees are effected on an extensive scale. Local 

 raising of eligible trees would economise even the yield 

 from artesian wells, the feasibility of establising such having 

 very long ago been publicly advocated by many in Victoria, 

 and has more recently been practically demonstrated in 

 Central Australia. — Leader. 



riANT FOOD. 

 The following letter appeared in the North British Atjri- 

 culturist : — 



Sir, — Your correspondent, " An Anxious Inquirer,' 1 says 

 he has read somewhere that a healthy plant can only be 

 raised on balance soil. I presume that what he read was 

 the supplement distributed with some of the later copies 

 of my small treatise on Estimation of Phosphoric Acid. 

 If so, balauciug — which I have in that supplement italicised, 

 to show both its importance and the emphasis which I 

 wished to give it — is not quite as he puts it ; the exact 

 words are, " Plant life subservient of two functions — nutri- 

 tion and reproduction. In the practice of agriculture the 

 results of these functions are subordinated to purpose, 

 which will be best attained by applying experience derived 

 from accurate knowledge pertaining to the balancing of 

 the functions of the plant by complete or incomplete 

 manures." As regards sulphur, it is a necessary ingredient 

 in a manure ; but it is especially important to bear in 

 mind that many small fungi thrive in weak phosphoric acid 

 preparations. In a former letter I spoke of water culture. 

 and the power it has afforded experts to know what are 

 and what are not necessary ingredients in plant food. I 

 have, moreover, advised the proprietor of such a plant food 

 (Drtniar's), to place it before your readers in the advert- 

 isement sheet, to afford an opportunity to farmers and 

 others to experiment therewith. I would submit, whilst 

 bearing in mind the many and deeply interesting letters 

 and statements which have appeared in your journal con- 

 nected with our national industry — " farming ;" and last, 

 but not least, the looter on "The Land and Laborers," by 

 Mr. Trotter, in your last issue, that there is but one view 

 of the land question, aud that is a national one. And I 

 have urged, both at land nationalism meetings and elsewhere 

 that the energy conservation aspect of agriculture is the only 

 view that will find favor amongst British people. This means 

 that landlords, tenants, aud community, before the land 

 question can he peaceably settled or agriculture perform its 

 proper functions, must understand what is ment by con- 

 vertibility of force. They must also realise clearly the 

 potential energy of a crop was a few mouths before the 

 kinetic or moving energy of sunshine and heat, aud that 

 for this energy to be lost in any way is a national loss, 

 perhaps never to be replaced. 



Let me without prejudice to any class, give an example. 

 Starting with weight of crop, the proportion which comes 

 from the soil is about five per cent, the remainder from 

 the air ; 2 per cent is clearly what belongs to the owner 

 of soil, and three per cent to cultivator. That which comes 

 from the atmosphere, the 95 per cent, should represent 

 three properties — national, cultivators, and landlords. Aud 

 I submit that a basis of calculation for the latter determin- 

 ation exists in the excess of the units of force returned by 

 natural causes in producing a crop, in excess of those re- 

 turned by any typical machine constructed by man. (I 

 think about 200 units are returned for one of cultivation.) 

 It is quite clear that agricultural laborers as educated at 

 present, that education being also paid for by the wrong 

 class, will not be contented to work as their forefathers 

 have worked ; nor is it of national interest that they should, 

 and this recognition is a part of the laud question. It is 

 also clear that we are not likely to derive more insight into 

 the physiological and chemical methods and political bear- 

 ings of agriculture, from their being taught the elements 

 of agriculture, than from that which we might already derive 

 from the work of continental savants, who no longer come 

 to us to learn the science of farming, but still publish their 

 results. "What we ought to seek as a branch of our educ- 

 ation is the capacity to apply any knowledge which human 

 progress in any country puts before us. It will be found 

 equally important that such a pioneer nation as the British 

 should become alive to their relations to other nations and 

 the methods of other nations, aud should seek to possess 

 adaptability, both in producing instruments of war and of 

 agricultural production. — Yours, &c, J. Baukeh Smith. 



