August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



99 



when she is iu good condition to keep on laying eggs if 

 we can but get the notion out of her head that she must 

 be a clucking mother. She needs, perhaps, the material 

 for egg shells, which may be easily supplied. Furthermore, 

 she should not be put in a small crop where she will sit 

 down and not obtain exercise; better put her in a pen 

 having no floor but loose earth, where she may scratch for 

 a living. Activity will tend to forgetfulness of the sitting 

 fever, or desire to sit. It is not a bad plan to put a 

 cockerel iu with her in the pen. — San Francisco Ohronicle. 

 The Sub-Irrigation System. — This system has attracted 

 considerable attention of late on the part of skilful and 

 scientific agriculturists, and it is interesting to know that 

 some trials have been made in America which have fully 

 established the great value of the process. Mr. Biggs, a 

 prominent horticulturist in California, has tried the plan 

 in an orchard of 150 acres in Solano county, and he found 

 that the product was so increased in quantity and quality 

 as to pay the cost of the improvement in one year. Mr. 

 E. W. Steele, also a leading agriculturist in California, has 

 also introduced the system on his land. Trenches about 

 18 inches in depth are dug at intervals of 7 feet, and as 

 long as required to cross the piece of land to be irrigated, 

 and in these a cement pipe 4 inches in diameter and of 

 2 inches open bore is laid by a machine carried along by 

 hand, making the pipe continuous, like a gigantic sausage. 

 M'hile the cement is still soft, holes are punctured in the 

 pipe at intervals of 7 feet, and in each of these a perforated 

 plug is inserted, through which the water, when let into 

 the pipes, will percolate and irrigate the ground. To prevent 

 the plugs from being stopped by the overlying soil, a cement 

 cap is placed ever each in such a manner that the water 

 may always flow freely. These pipes connect with a main 

 trunk of 4 inch*, s or 6 inches in diameter, through which 

 the supply of water runs. The pipe of various sizes is 

 made on the place at a small cost, and when dry and set 

 becomes as hard as a stone and strong enough to hold a 

 column of water of 50 feet pressure. Large cisterns, dis- 

 tributing boxes and drain and sewer pipes have been made 

 of the same and act excellently. This system of sub-irrigation 

 has proved most successful iu every way. — Alta California. 



Stale Bread. — A great deal of bread is thrown away by 

 those who can ill afford it from the lack of knowledge how 

 to utilise it. On the farm, in most instances, of course, 

 stale bread is not wholly lost, for if wet a little it makes 

 good food for the poultry, or may be given to the pigs; 

 but this is not the best way to make use of it, even by 

 those who have poultry and pigs. There are many wa} s 

 to utilise stale bread. It makes delicious griddle cakes 

 when soaked soft in cold water. Three small slices with 

 water enough to cover them should be sufficient, when 

 the milk and Hour are added, to make about two quarts 

 of batter. Some prefer to put in one egg, while others 

 like them fully as well without. When the bread is soaked 

 sottniakcit fine with a spoon, add the milk and sufficient 

 flour to stilfen enough so that the cakes can be easily 

 turned. If sour milk is used, add to the batter one even 

 easpoonful of cream of tartar dissolved in a httle water, 

 and an even teaspoonful of soda. If you do not use sour 

 milk use twice as much cream of tartar as soda. French 

 toast, always a favorite dish with children, can be made 

 of thin slices cut from a stale loaf and moistened in milk 

 and eggs — two eggs to a pint of milk — aud then fried on 

 a griddle with a mixture of butter aud lard, or butter and 

 beef dripping, and may be eaten with sugar or syrup, like 

 griddle cakes. Pieces of bread which are not too hard can 

 be made into a resemblance of turkey dressing. Cut the 

 bread into dice, and if you have a quantity of gravy from 

 which fat can be taken, left from any kind of roast (though 

 a piece of butter will do as well, thoroughly grease the 

 bottom of a spider, put iu the bread, with some little 

 chunks of butter and plenty of seasoning; then pour enough 

 boiling water on to moisten it, cover tightly, and in a 

 moment it will steam through, and you can stir it, and 

 either brown a little or have it moist like dressing. It 

 should be eaten with gravy over it, and is a good sub- 

 stitute for potatoes. The little dry hard pieces and crusts 

 which always accumulate can be put on a pie-tin in an 

 oven that is just hot enough to dry and make them a light 

 brown, and then roll them fine and put away to use in 

 making croquettes, frying fish, inc. Even these slightly 

 browned crumbs make excellent griddle cakes with the 



addition of one egg and a handful of flour aud milk to 

 make a batter. Stale bread may be utilised iu making a 

 custard pudding also. The fact is that where economy is 

 the rule bread will not be thrown away. — 6'a/i Francisco 

 Chronicle. 



Preserving Potatoes. — Ure's Dictionary of Arts, 1878, 

 Edwards's system : — " The potatoes are cleaned from dirt, 

 and then boiled or steamed until their skins begin to crack. 

 They are then stripped of their skins, the eyes and specks 

 careiully picked out, and are placed in an iron cylinder. 

 The cylinder is tinned on the inside and perforated with 

 a number of holes, one-eighth of an inch in diameter, 

 through which the potatoes are forced by the descent of 

 a piston. The potato pulp is then dried, by spreading it 

 thinly upon hollow iron tables, which are heated by steam 

 to from 100 deg. to 160 deg. Fahr. During the operation 

 of drying the pulp is well raked, and afterwards it is packed 

 ! in casks. The steam is supplied from a boiler, in which 

 it is kept at a pressure of 10 lb. to the inch, and the heat 

 of the cables is varied by opening aud closing the cocks 

 upon the supply pipe, the beat being lowered as the potatoes 

 approach dryness." John Muckart's mode of drying is thus 

 described: — "The potatoes are well washed, and the peel 

 or outer skin is then removed by means of any suitable 

 apparatus, but in preference employing a rasping or roughened 

 surface drum, revolving at a high velocity, fitted into a 

 wooden case and closed in, so that only a long narrow 

 opening is left at the top or side of it. In this opening 

 a stream of water is caused to flow, and the roots to be 

 peeled place therein. The eyes, if not taken out by this 

 apparatus, are picked out alter the} are taken away from 

 the revolving drum. The potatoes are cooked, squeezed 

 through the perforated plates on to drying beds or trays, 

 heated by steam. "When the mass i.* thoroughly dried it 

 is ready to be packed for storage or the market in convenient 

 receptacles." By Elijah Slack's patent the potatoes are 

 primarily submitted to the action of acids ami alkalis, as 

 well as to that of diastase in solution, and other saccharine 

 matters. The treatment is said to be a powerful preservative 

 action, arresting disease, and enabling the owner to keep 

 the potatoes for a lengthened period, the routine of operations 

 being varied if necessary. Mr. Pulleine, of Adelaide, claims 

 to use a new process, which is said to be cheaper and 

 equally as good as the older ones. 



THE " CHICK ' 



HOUSE OK INDIAN CONSERV- 

 ATORY. 



In 1871 I went to the Royal Botanio Garden neai Cal- 

 cutta. I saw there that the then Curator, Mr. Scott, bad 

 been successful in growing Orchids and Ferns under a 

 grass roof, such as is used by natives for growing the 

 "Pan-vine" — a species of Piper (see Gardeners' ChroTiicla, 

 p. 281, vol. xix.). 



On returning to Lucknow I conceived the idea of try- 

 ing a modification of what I saw in Calcutta, suited to 

 a climate where a hot dry wind usually raged between 

 March 15 and June 15, sometimes even later. In the 

 Horticultural Garden I erected a house covered on all sides 

 and top with " chicks " of reeds, called " Sentha," that is, 

 the dry stems of the Saccharuni moonja. A " chick" is 

 a blind made either of these reeds or of strips of Bam- 

 boo, more or less thin, and fitted to doors and windows 

 of Indian bungalows. 



During the process of erecting this house I made some 

 interesting experiments. I' supported oue of these blinds 

 horizontally across some Bamboos in sunlight ; then I took 

 a sheet of paper and held it close to and parallel to the 

 reeds. I found that the direct sunlight passed through and 

 alternated with the shadows of the reeds. By moving the 

 paper from the reeds I found that their shadows broad- 

 ened, and eventually crossed each other, producing a light 

 totally different from direct sunlight, and resembling at a 

 certain distance a sort of moonlight. Tbiuking over the 

 matter I came to the following conclusion : — As the sun's 

 disc at its distance from the earth is broader than the 

 reeds, it follows that close to the reeds there will be al- 

 ternate sunlight and daik shadows, but that at a certain 

 distance the shadows and lights would mingle and produce 

 a subdued light, such as, for instance, would be produced 

 under a tree by the mingling of the shadows of the leaves 

 and the sun's rays tliat pass between them. The same 



