*S2 



<THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1884. 



kindred parasites, as the causes of all contagious maladies 

 in the animal kingdom. So far as Pasteur has operated 

 for the Charbon, that is a success beyond yea or nay; the 

 only point farmers differ about is the duration of the 

 Anti-vaccine preventive. The foot and mouth disease is 

 being well studied at the Alfort Veterinary College, and 

 M. Bouley may be able in the autumn to make known the 

 result of his inquiries conducted on the Pasteur lines. 



The Agricultural Budget will be wickedly defended this 

 year against further reductions. It is a strange fatality 

 that agriculture is ever the last to benefit by remission of 

 imposts, the first to be promised all ameliorations, and the 

 earliest to be struck with fresh charges the moment the 

 nation wants money. No wonder farmers are ever discon- 

 tented in France: perhaps the history can be paralleled 

 elsewhere. Only think that the subventions paid to the 

 theatres are three times greater than the amount voted 

 for agriculture, the grant allowed to the National Opera 

 alone is more than double the amount voted for regional 

 Farm Shows and Agricultural Societies. 



What are called Fruitieres or co-operative cheese farming 

 is about being applied to butter. This will enable the 

 associated farmers to have a uniform brand for a common 

 product, which, being recognised as sound and unadulter- 

 ated, will secure them collectively a more remunerative 

 price. Why ought not the principle of co-operation to be 

 carried farther, so as to lessen cost of production ? There 

 is a great future in the question. 



France possesses some millions of acres of huncs or loosely- 

 bound sandy soils. Genet or broom is the plant to which 

 recourse is had as the ameliorative agent. The genet is 

 cut regularly, and the branches allowed to decompose in 

 the furrows, whwe they augment the layer of humus by 

 their decomposition. In Belgium genet enters into a three 

 crop rotation on loose sandy soils. The latter receive some 

 manure, are sown with oats, clover and genet ; the oats 

 pay merely the expenses. This rotation in the course of 

 some years gives a " skin " to the soil. In the Cerennes, 

 sheep are fed in summer on the young branches of the 

 genet, and in winter on its dried leaves ; in Spain when 

 the shrub attains 30 feet high it is cut down, the land 

 broken up and sown with maize or Turkey wheat ; in the 

 Alps, genet is employed as litter ; across the Alps, at Pisa, 

 it is steeped like flax or hemp and made into coarse cord- 

 age. Ordinarily it is sown with oats after the latter is 

 harrowed in, 12 lb. of seed to acre scattered and left 

 bare. It gives three cuttings in the season, and is suc- 

 ceeded after three years by clover, oats or buck wheat. 



VEGETABLE PRODUCTS OF LOANDA. 



Consul Cohen, reporting on the products of Loanda, 

 statrs that the cultivation — or, more correctly, the collec- 

 tion — of ground-nuts (Arachis hypogma), which had for a 

 few years back dwindled down to a fraction, has again 

 revived, and might, if properly attended to, form one of 

 the most valuable staples of the colony, notwithstanding 

 its very inferior quality when compared to the produce of 

 other couutries. The reason is obvious. It can hardly be 

 said that this valuable plant is cultivated in this colony, 

 except in some very rare and few localities. It is merely 

 collected from the wild plant by women and children. The 

 plant, never improved by careful cultivation, has never 

 yielded good nuts, which would certainly be the ease in 

 the singularly rich soil of this country if it were carefully 

 planted from selected forms. The natives of- the interior, 

 from their habits of indolence and indifference, only cult- 

 ivate the Maudioca plant and the Sugar-cane, but gener- 

 ally to supply their immediate wants. Many important 

 and extensive plantations have been made of the Sugar- 

 cane, but almost exclusively for the manufacture and dis- 

 tillation of rum, which is preferred by the natives, and 

 commands a higher price than "the spirit usually imported 

 from Hamburgh under the name of white rum. 



The manufacture of sugar in this colony has never been 

 thought of, notwithstanding the facilities for cultivation 

 of the cane, and the immense interest that would certainly 

 be derived from an outlay of capital for that purpose. 



The palm oil. which has now become one of the most 

 important staples of the colony, is collected from the fruit 

 or kernel of the Palm (Elieis guineensis), which grows 

 wild throughout this province. Notwithstanding the many 



applications, and the utility of its production, it is never 

 cultivated by the natives ; they simply collect what the 

 wild plant yields, and never for a moment think of bene- 

 fiting the plant or tree. The yield in itself is enormous ; 

 each bunch or spadix will yield from 500 to 1,000 kernels 

 [fruits], or " dendems," as the natives call them. Then, 

 instead of improving this plant, the natives destroy it by 

 extracting from the tree the juice or sap of which they 

 manufacture one of their favourite drinks. 



The Caoutchouc, or Indiarubber, grows wild and in abund- 

 ance throughout the interior. If it were properly or prud- 

 ently attended to, the produce of rubber would in a 

 very few years be immense ; but the natives have in many 

 places reacted the fable of the goose with the golden egg, 

 by destroying the tree in their greed of obtaining a larger 

 supply of liquid, which has almost exterminated the tree 

 in many places. 



Cotton has not attained the cultivation or attention that 

 it was anticipated and hoped it would receive ; but it has 

 been cultivated almost exclusively by Europeans who in- 

 troduced it, which accounts for its having already sup- 

 planted the ground-nuts in value exported, and would be- 

 come still more important and valuable if the pickers were 

 taught to collect with more care and attention to clean- 

 liness, which would greatly enhance in value in the Europ- 

 ean market. 



Coffee continues to be the grand staple of the colony, 

 and would certainly increase in value if the Coffee of 

 certain districts were fairly and impartially compared with 

 the best Coffee in the European markets ; but, unfortun- 

 ately for the interests of the Colony, the commercial body 



— or, rather, the metropolitan or home Government has 



not taken any real interest in the matter, and never even 

 thought of having it presented or compared at the great 

 Coffee fair held last year. While Coffee from every part 

 of the world was examined, compared, and tasted, not even 

 a sample was shown, or a word said about the Coffee of 

 Angola. Some districts of this province produce a very 

 superior quality, which commands preference in a general 

 market. 



Another article that has but very recently been brought 

 to the market with a promising future is the Tobacco of 

 this colony. It has been known for many years growing 

 wild in the interior, and used only as snuff by the natives ■ 

 but in 1877 an active and enterprising merchant of this 

 place, attracted by the superior quality of the leaf, es- 

 tablished a manufactory of cigars and smoking tobacco in 

 this city, and, owing alone to his untiring activity, wading 

 through all impediments and endless obstructions, has suc- 

 ceeded in improving the natural article, and produced a 

 smoking Tobacco which has become very popular through- 

 out the province, selling at about 2s. 4d. per lb., besides 

 cigars and cigarettes. There are four distiuct qualities of 

 Tobacco in the province. The first quality in every respect 

 is the Ambacca, being equal, if not superior, to "the Hav- 

 anah, especially for cigars, the leaf being very large and 

 very fiue. It is highly aromatic and mild, never causing 

 salivation. AVhen collected with more care, and better 

 known in the manufacturing world, it will be much suu^lit 

 after. The Dande, the .second quality, much resembles the 

 Virginia, and in many samples is more aromatic. The 

 Quanza, or third quality, closely resembles the Turkish 

 tobacco, lightly aromatic, and at the same time very mild, 

 and therefore well adapted for cigarettes. Then the Congo, 

 or fourth quality, is a mixture of two qualifies; one very 

 similar to good Kentucky, and the other the Hutch to- 

 bacco; but as it comes mostly from the interior, and i-, 

 conducted with very little care or attention, it is not im- 

 proved by the handling it now gets. 



The natives smoke the leaves of a plant they call Liamba 

 (Cannabis sativa). It is highly narcotic and stupefying, 

 the inveterate smoker becoming idiotic and useless in a 

 very few years. Its action is much more violent than that 

 of Opium. Many Europeans have been addicted to its 

 use, attracted by its stimulating or inebriating qualities. 

 — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Wood Soot as MantuE.— Soot obtained from a wood 

 fire, mixed with boiling water and allowed to cool, forms 

 an excellent liquid manure for roses. Its effects in pro- 

 moting the health and strengthening the growth of flowers 

 are extraordinary ; coal soot is still more powerful, — Leader, 



