THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1884. 



The breeders of Percherons are bestowing all their atten- 

 tion on keeping the sires of pure blood ; for the more the 

 sire is pure, the more the progeny will be pure. This is 

 not ever true, as the Arabs count as much on pure-blooded 

 mares as on stations. Further, take a pure greyhound 

 bitch, cross her with a common dog, the pups will resemble 

 more herself thau the dog. 



Much attention is fixed on the new Agricultural Academy 

 opened at Kerliver, near Davulus, department of Finistere, 

 for girls. M. de Montigny left his castle ami his fortune 

 to train up girls to be all that a good farmer's wife 

 ought to be, or a female farm-servant expected to be. 

 The State and Department will endow the institution with 

 12,000 fr. a year. It opens under the direction of Mdle. 

 Couturier, who was employed during five years as house- 

 keeper at the Grignon College. 



The Government has opened a most valuable office in 

 Paris, and the idea will be extended to other cities, that, 

 for testing the qualities of all seeds as to purity, sound- 

 ness, vegetative power and freedom from weed-seeds. For 

 a fee ranging from 1 to 3 fr., a farmer can have thus a 

 legal test and guarantee for his seeds. 



Many farmers who suffer from the white-worm or grub 

 consider the best moment to destroy that pest is when 

 it takes to the surface layer of humid soil; it cannot exist 

 without humidity, and it penetrates accordingly into the 

 soil to discover this. Weedings and hoeings are the re- 

 medies ; the worm, before going deeper into the soil, tries to 

 maintain itself to the roots of the plant. It has been 

 observed that every three years the white-worm creates 

 more ravages than ordinarily ; this triennial period can be 

 easily known, and all rubbish about headlands and ditches 

 should be removed, such being so many breeding beds for 

 the larvae. 



Attention is being drawn to the fact, that, in the vexed 

 question of the best varieties of sugar-beet, more study 

 has been paid to the manures than to the actual nature 

 and preparation of the soil. It is now commencing to be 

 seen that land deeply pulverized prevents the roots from 

 forking, encourages a greater development of saccharine 

 tissue, and a heavier yield of roots without reducing the 

 desired sugar properties. Italy is progressing in beet cult- 

 ure. A calculation made establishes the following: — That 

 during the process of fattening, a sheep consumes a daily 

 ratiou equal to 3^ per cent of its weight; an ox, 4 to 5 

 per cent. Further, an ox weighing 8 cwt. yields 5h tons 

 of manure, equal to half the quantity of three horses or 

 l"i sheep. In France one horse is roughly estimated to 

 equal five laborers, one ox to three laborers, and the work 

 of a woman about the two-thirds of that of a man. 



The controversy between the millers may be considered 

 as settled on the relative advantages of buu stones or steel 

 cylinders ; the latter, known as the Hungarian plan, is now 

 general. 



Bee-farming is taking more and more extension, as the 

 demand for the " sugar of the poor " augments. A hive 

 generally yields about 10 fr. of honey a year. There is a 

 disposition to distil it for hydromel, a very healthy drink 

 aud formerly in much request. Other novelty, that of 

 cultivating elder fences, to convert the berries after fer- 

 mentation into alcohol. A hundred yards of a good fence 

 would yield fruit sufficient to give 30 quarts of spirit. The 

 berries are also emplo3'ed for jams. 



The phlloxera has invaded six new departments in the 

 year 1883. On the other hand many vineyards destroyed 

 have been replanted with success, and lands hitherto un- 

 tried laid down as viueyards. Soapsuds and petroleum is 

 the latest " miraculous cure " announced. It is cheap, 

 may that not affect its virtue. 



The farmers of Algeria intend trying tea culture. It is 

 said that cuttings of the Indian varieties suit best. For- 

 merly the culture of tea was attempted in the South of 

 France and in Corsica under Louis XVI., but the inhabit- 

 ants did not devote any special care to the culture. The 

 requirements for tea are about the same as for the orange 

 and the cameli.i. Climate is fickle and must be reckoned 

 with. Thus pepper and clove shrubs were introduced to 

 Cayenne from Singapore and succeeded, but the nutmeg 

 and cinnamon culture proved a failure. 



The vexed question of the impost on beet-sugar indus- 

 try is about to be settled by levying the duty henceforth 

 i m the roots as in Germany. It is said the Cernian sugar 



is richer than that produced in France, bat it must not 

 be forgotten that it is France which supplies Germany 

 with large quantities of beet seed. 



The prospects of French farmers are not bright this 

 year ; the frost has played terrible havoc with viues and 

 cereals. Then the reveuue is on the decline ; this means 

 no reduction of promised taxation. 



Pruning a fruit tree while dormant will tend more to 

 promote a growth of wood than the production of fruit. 

 Pruning after the tree has come in full foliage promotes 

 fruitfnlness, by giving a cheek to the growth, just as root 

 pruning does. — Farniers' Review. 



Plants i.\- Combination. — The recent reference in our 

 columns to the practice of growing plants in combination, 

 when such plants are susceptible of lending beauty or afford- 

 ing support to one another, has elicited from a correspondent, 

 *'S. O. H.." at Earraboo, New South AY ales, mention of a 

 striking combination seen by him four or five years ago on 

 the Milton-road, Brisbane, Queensland. " A fine large sym- 

 metrical acacia nearly covered with the common passion 

 flower, and a crimson Bougainvillea, all three in full bloom, 

 formed, from the contrast of foliage, flower, aud colour, a 

 picture never to be forgotten." — Australasian. 



Ooaese Bone Meal for Poultry. — As our fowls are 

 necessarily confined in small yards, we are obliged to supply 

 them with all the essential kinds of food that they would 

 eat if running at large. But previous to the past six mouths 

 a full supply of shell-forming foods has always been at 

 times neglected and " soft shelled " eggs or eggs without 

 any shells, have followed from the neglect. About ' six 

 months ago we began to feed our fowls on bones broken 

 up to the average size of wheat kernels, and we have never 

 seen a soft shelled egg since. The fowls are excessively 

 fond of this food in small quantities, and a very small 

 quantity suffices to satisfy them and to insure sufficient egg 

 shell material. This quantity we have found to be a full 

 handful given three times a week for every six hens. — 2Vew 

 Yorker. 



Too Much Irrigation. — The old superstition that grapes 

 and oranges need a great amount of irrigation has almost 

 entirely lost its force. Towards the latter days of his ex- 

 perience as a horticulturist, the late Col. B. D. Wilson was 

 of the opinion that an orange tree only needed 80 gallons 

 of water a year, properly applied. As Col. Wilson was one 

 of the most successful orange growers we have ever 

 had, and as his fruit was of the best, there is something 

 in his idea. As to grapes, which are often drowned out 

 by irrigation, we are informed by Mr. Schoolgens, the super- 

 in tendent of the extensive vineyards of the Messrs. Kohler 

 and Frohliug, in this city, that although he only irrigated 

 this property once last season, aud that in the winter, the 

 yield of the Mission grape was 8J tons for acre this year. 

 Wise men will draw their own couclusions from these 

 facts. — Los Aiu/eles Herald. 



Watermelons. — There are times when watermelons are 

 a drug in the market, and the price offered for them does 

 not pay for carriage. In America they are often turned 

 to good account by converting them into syrup, and the 

 product is said to be superior to sorghum molasses, and 

 not far behind maple syrup. Dr. Bellamy, of Atlauta, 

 Georgia, writes on this subject as follows : — " By a little 

 and ine cpensive manipulation water-melons can be converted 

 into a rich delicious syrup, far surpassing in its fine fruity 

 flavour that made from sorghum, or even the West India 

 ii 'i'-cane. If some enterprising chemist will discover a 

 method of crystallising it, it will make a sugar doubtless 

 equal to any in the market. To make this fine syrup re- 

 quires no special apparatus; an old-fashioned cider press 

 with a long lever — such as our grandfathers used to use — 

 to squeeze or press the juice, and a pot or kettle large 

 enough to boil the juice. The ordinary sorghum evaporators, 

 so common all over the country, would answer the purpose 

 admirably, or even a large dinner pot would answer on a 

 small scale. When the juice is pressed out and boiled 

 briskly for several hours the rosy-red colouring matter 

 coagulates, rises to the surface, and is skimmed off in the 

 form of foam, leaving the juice as clear as distilled water, 

 and of a pale amber colour. Boiled a little longer it soon 

 thickens in a rich, thick, fruit) flavoured syrup, perfectly 

 | clear, and the colour of quince or apple jelly." — Qiteenslan&er 



