40 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1&84. 



and dug in. It began to grow vigorously at once, and 

 each fresh leaf that expanded was an increase on the 

 length of its immediate predecessor till at the end of 

 twelve months they reached fifteen feet ; at eighteen 

 months it produced its first flower and was again 

 manured with five pounds of poonac and two pounds 

 of bones ; at thirty months it began to give crop, and 

 the top .was so heavy that there appeared some danger 

 of the small part of the stem giving way, but this did 

 not happen, and, for the three succeeding years, the same 

 dose of poonac and bones were given. At the end of the 

 fifth year, it was a handsome, vigorous tree with the 

 stem immediately under the leaves over one foot in 

 diameter with a crop of from 60 to 70 nuts, while the 

 aggregate of previous gatherings was over one hundred 

 nuts. I have only to add that the cost of these results 

 was 75 cents. 



Confidence of Some Ignorant People and Assertion of Scienti~ 

 fie Truth. — I felt much hesitation before deciding to tell this 

 story as there are hundreds of men in Ceylon, who consider 

 themselves no mean authorities on coconut culture who will 

 without further ado pronounce it an absurd impossibility. 

 There are truths that science has made common property, 

 but which few coconut planters have yet asserted their 

 right iu, or indeed become aware of their existence. How 

 few of them know that 187 lb. of poonac, contains all 

 the elements, that is removed from the soil iu a candy 

 of copperah(560 lb.)? How few of them know, that the 

 poorest soil may contain some of the elements of 

 fertility that the plant cannot assimilate from the 

 absence or deficiency of other necessary elements ? How 

 few of them know that a very slight dressing of the 

 deficient elements will produce immediate and abund- 

 ant effect. A few measures of quicklime, may bring 

 into activity a great fund of latent fertility ; a few 

 ounces of bone-dust may be the one thing wanted in 

 the soil to put a good crop on a barren tree. 



Goyas and. Agricultural Science. — Were the principles of 

 agricultural chemistry explained to a Sinhalee goya, he 

 would pronounce it a mythe and his informant a hum- 

 bug; but ascribe any special success to haviug entered 

 into communication with a beneficent demon who for 

 certain considerations came every night to bless the trees, 

 he would firmly believe the statement, and irom thence- 

 forth would display an increased respect for the re- 

 cipient of supernatural favour. As such men have really 

 been the practical creators of the coconut industry in 

 Oeylou, and really knew more of the matter than those 

 who purchased the land, there is nothing surprising in 

 the fact that scientific treatment has not progressed 

 with the breadth of cultivation,and not much can be expected 

 in this direction till the agricultural school begins to 

 turn its graduates loose on society. There are not half- 

 a-score of Europeans that know anything of, and hardly 

 one-half of that number who retain a practical hold on 

 coconuts. There are no doubt many educated and in- 

 telligent proprietors, but very few of these are practical 

 planters, aud not one that I have come across will 

 deign to look on the scientific aspect of the culture. 

 I have often heard it laid down as an incontrovertible 

 rule tbat no coconut should be manured before it came 

 into bearing. I invariably found that the parties assert- 

 ing it had never tried it. A few weeks ago a party who 

 was not a planter warned me against the practise. I 

 told him that he ought to have dismissed that pre- 

 judice with his konde and his coniboy, for it was utterly 

 at variance with a short crop and a pair of tweed 

 trousers. 



For Hardening Butter. — For hardening or rendering 

 butter firm in warm weather use carbonate of soda and alum, 

 made into a powder. For twenty pounds of butter, one 

 teaspoonf ul of powdered alum and one of carbonate of soda 

 are mingled together at the time of churning and put into 

 the cream. The effect of this powder is to make the but- 

 ter come firm and solid and to give it a sweet flavor. It 

 does not enter into the butter, but its action is upon the 

 cream, and it passes off with the buttermilk. The ingredi- 

 ents of the powder shoidd not be mingled together until 

 required to be used or until the cream is in the chum 

 ready for churning. — San Francisco Chronicle. 



Ants. — Chloride of lime has been found effec I ual 

 in driving away ants. A small quantity will sufiice. 

 It may be dusted about their runs, or rubbed into cr. cks 

 in the walls or elsewhere from which they emerge. — Leader, 



Imitation Ground Glass can be prepared by dissolving 

 two tablespoonfuls of epsom salts in a pint of lager beer 

 and painting the glass with the mixture. After drying, 

 the glass will appear as if frosted. — American Cultivator. 



Mica. — The principal utilization of mica is for stove and 

 furnace doors. A small amount of specially fine mica is 

 used for compass plates. Kone but clear, transparent 

 sheets or plates of mica can be used for such purposes. 

 The inferior quality is" used as an absorbent in one variety 

 of nitro-glycerine explosives and in a lubricating compos- 

 ition for axle greese. Ground mica is also employed for 

 ornamental purposes. The value ranges from twenty-five 

 cents to five dollars per pound, according to the size of 

 sheets and quality. North Carolina has furnished the most 

 valuable quality. — Industrial South. 



Uses of Tea. — Save the tea leaves for a few days, then 

 steep them in a tin pail or pan for half an hour ; strain 

 through a sieve and use the tea for all varnished paints. 

 It requires very little elbow polish, as the tea acts as a 

 strong detergent, cleansing the paint from all impurities, 

 and making it equal to new. It cleans windows, and 

 sashes, aud oil cloths — indeed, any varnished surface is 

 improved by its application. It washes window-panes and 

 mirrors much better than water, and is excellent for 

 cleaning black walnut and looking-glass frames. It will 

 not do to wash unvarnished paints with it. — Rural Cali- 

 fornia a. 



The Rubber Industry of tiie United States has 

 no rival in foregin countries. There is something like 

 ^75,000.000 invested in the business of manufacturing rubber 

 goods, $30,000,000 of which is confined to the rubber boot 

 and shoe industry. The total number of employees is placed 

 at 15,000, and the total number of factories at one hun- 

 dred and twenty. According to a recent census bulletin the 

 value of the annual product is $260,000,000. Some 30,000 

 tons of raw rubber are imported every year, which, when 

 combined with other materials in manufacturing, amount 

 to 300,000 tons. The market price of the raw material 

 has been forced up to §1*25 per pound, while six years ago 

 the price was scarcely fifty cents. In consequence of the 

 advance in price, several substances have been prepared as 

 substitutes for it, of which celluloid is the most important. 

 — Industrial South. 



Bone Dust and "Wood Ashes. — A farmer in Indiana 

 gives the following result of an experiment with bone 

 dust and wood ashes. He says: — ■' I applied sis hundred 

 pounds of dry, unleached ashes to the acre, and sowed 

 wheat on that, and the result was only six bushels to the 

 acre. Adjoining this tract I drilled in two hundred pounds 

 of bone dust and the three acres produced twenty bushels 

 to the acre, being an increased yield of fourteen bushels 

 over the tract sown with wood ashes. The following year 

 I used five hundred pounds bone dust on the plat where 

 I had previously sown six hundred pounds of ashes, and 

 the result was forty bushels of wheat to the acre, being 

 double what the bone produced alone. This experiment 

 satisfied me that ashes alone or bone dust alone would not give 

 me a yield that paid to my satisfaction." — Southern Planter. 



In the French journal, La Ramie, M. Pailleux calls at- 

 tention to a Japanese plant named Kitsu {Pueraria Thun- 

 bergeanai. the roots of which contain starch, while the 

 leaves and shoots are used as food. Its fibrous portions 

 are adapted for use iu the manufacture of cordage. It 

 is a lofty and hardy plant, attaining within a year a height 

 of from 12 to 25 feet. It yields fruit, and grows upon 

 the most unfruitful dry ground where nothing else would 

 thrive, provided there is a sufficiency of warmth. It re- 

 quires no care, and can be propagated by seeds or by 

 planting. A plant named Kappe was shown at last year's 

 Amsterdam Exhibition. It is indigenous to Java, and when 

 its fibres are carefully prepared they resemble wool, and 

 when curled, at a moderate cost, can be used for stuffing 

 mattresses. It can also be spun and dyed, but the fibrous 

 appearance it retains shows that a radical improvement 

 in the method of treating it has still to be discovered. 

 All who examined the fibre at Amsterdam were satisfied 

 of its contingent importance as a textile material. — Indian 

 Agriculturist. 



