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<THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1884 



Pater spokes for wheels are among the latest 

 appliances for that ever-increasing article. The paper 

 pulp is forced into .iron molds under heavy pressure, 

 where it dries and hardens, and the spokes thus 

 produced are said to be much superior to wood. 

 Paper is fast supplanting wood in many ways, — 

 American, Grocer. 



Tea in Japan. — Tea, says the Japan Mail, 

 " stands a fair chance of doing well in the future. 

 Never were the leaves more carefully prepared, a fact 

 due principally to the recent enactment of the Tea 

 Association Regulations. The once universal practice 

 of drying the young leaves by simply exposing them 

 to the sun obtains no longer. Every now and then 

 one hears of confiscations of large quantities ot 

 adulterated or carelessly prepared tea, and it is very 

 evident that the local Associations are in dead earnest. 

 The he Shimbun, however, notices that certain pro- 

 ducers in the province of the same name still con- 

 tinue the objectionable practice of mixing pomatum 

 —of all things in the world — with freshly-fired leaves. 

 This is said to givo them a bright, seductive colour 

 for the time being, but they are certain to wither, 

 if not to decay, in warm weather. But this and 

 other Injurious methods of treating tea is certain to 

 be done away with if the new broom of the local Asso- 

 ciations keeps on sweeping as cleanly aa heretofore." 

 The Chilian Nut. — In February last we received for 

 naming some flowering shoots of a very handsome shrub 

 from the garden of J. B. Bohtko, Esq., Greeuway Brixham, 

 Devon, which proved to be the ChiUian nut, Guevina 

 Avellaua, a plant introduced and distributed by Mr. Bull 

 a few years ago, and of which we now give an illustration, 

 with a view to calling attention to it. Mr. Bull well de- 

 scribes it as "an evergreen tree, growing iu its native 

 country, Chili, to the height of 30 feet, and furnished with 

 coriaceous imparipiunate leaves, consisting of from two to 

 five pairs of ovatedentate leaflets. The flowers are in 

 simple erect racemes, 2 to 4 inches loug, succeeded by 

 globose edible drupes, enclosing almond-like seeds, which 

 are eaten iu Chili and Peru. The latter have a mild and 

 somewhat oily taste, while the fleshy pericarp is made a 

 substitute for the Pomegranate." It belongs to the tribe 

 Grevillese, of the natural order Proteacce, and has proved 

 itself quite hardy iu Devonshire, though whether it is so 

 in any of the less favoured parts of the country we are 

 unable to to say. Any way, it is a very handsome Shrub. — 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Hints o\ Gardening in India. — "We are so frequently 

 asked for a book on Indian gardening, that we gladly 

 direct attention to Mr. G. Marshall Woodrow's little treatise 

 etn'U t the above title. It has reached its third edition, 

 which is a sufficient proof that it is appreciated. It makes 

 uo pretensions to be a scientific treatise, but gives just the 

 sort of information on practical matters that is wanted by 

 amateurs, treating of soil, manures, watering, propagation, 

 and other garden operations, with notes on the principal 

 garden plants in general cultivation, aud monthly Calend- 

 ars of operations suitable for Western India, Madras, My- 

 sore, aud Guzerat. In another edition similar Calendars 

 might profitably be inserted for other districts, snch as 

 Sikkim, Simla, Assam, Birma, the Neilgherries, and South- 

 cm India. A slight sketch of the metereology of India 

 iu relation to the cultural operations based upon it, woud 

 also be serviceable. We notice that Mr. Cameron, in the 

 particular portion of the Calendar for Mysore, does give 

 the information required, and we trust that others may 

 in future follow his example. In any ease Mr. Woodrow's 

 book is well calculated to fulfil the aim he has in view, 

 and therefore criticism on points of detail is unimportant. 

 —Gardeners' Chronicle. 



The Report on the Cocoa Pest. — We understand 

 that this report will shortly be sent in and that its 

 purport will place beyond doubt the fact that the so- 

 called blight is really the effect of helopelHs antonii, 

 induced probably by the abnormally dry season, 

 causing a laok of vitality among the trees, which have 

 thus been prevented from throwing off the effects of 

 repeated attacks, aa would otherwise have been the 



case. The flies are reappearing in large numbers on 

 some estates and coolies are employed in catching 

 them, which is most successfully accomplished when 

 the insect is in the larvo? [larva?— Ed] stage 

 aud without wings. We shall look forv, ard to the re- 

 port with interest. In Java, where the insect has 

 done incalculable harm to the cinchonas, they were 

 in some eases kept under by large gangs of women 

 and boys being employed in capturing and killing them, 

 though this was only successful in the case of nurseries 

 or young plantations where the trees had grown to no 

 great height. Van Gorkom in his book on cinchona 

 cultivation in Java, regarding this matter, says that : — 

 As to capturing the perfect insect, which occurred by 

 millions, that was not to be thought of in the extensive 

 plantations. Iu small nurseries of ledgeriana cuttings, to 

 whose unimpeded growth most value was attached, it 

 was applied however, and with good results. For 1878 it 

 was stated that the Hclopdtis had again caused much 

 damage ; it again showed itself in strong force, notwith- 

 standing the severe pruning of the previous year. That the 

 young plantations might, as far as possible, be rescued, it 

 was resolved that the iusects should be taken by women 

 and children, a means that is reputed to be the best 

 on the large tea estates. The thousands which were daily 

 captured and killed, of course, could not follow out their 

 work of destruction, and, where they were thus checked, 

 the plants recovered themselves all the quicker." 

 It is extraordinary that no ill-effects have been noticed 

 from the attacks of these insects on either cinchona 

 or tea, the former of which they are so partial to in 

 Java, the latter in India. — Local " Times." 



Manure Water foe Pot Plants.— The advantages of 

 manure, applied in a liquid state, whereby nutriment is at 

 one- put. as it were within reach of the feeding roots of 

 plants, are well known. But its use is presumably not 

 always carried so far as with advantage it might be. There 

 are few things that are not benefited by it, especially when 

 their roots are confined within the limited space of a pot, 

 where necessarily they have no chance of feeding for them- 

 selves in the way open to them when they can spread 

 out as is their nature. One advantage in applying manure 

 in this way, rather than in a solid form intermixed with 

 the soil at the time of potting, is that iu the latter way, 

 if enough is given to sustain the plants so long as the roots 

 are to remain in the soil within the pot, more must be 

 used than is well for them to have access to all at once. 

 With such plants as require liberal feeding the double 

 course of mixing some solid manure with the potting soil, 

 and of supplementing this with manure-water, is usually 

 followed with satisfactory results. Another of the advant- 

 ages of using manure-water to as great an extent as the 

 nature of the kinds of plants to which it is given will 

 bear, is that much smaller pots will suffice than where 

 dependence wholly or in a great measure, is put on solid 

 manure, as the necessary sustenance can iu this way be sup- 

 plied without more extended root room. This is especially 

 the case with soft-wooded plantR, particularly such as are 

 grown up quickly for flowering in the autumn or winter from 

 cuttings or seeds put in the preceding winter or spring. Iu 

 all cases where manure-water is to be given, its applic- 

 ation should not be so long deferred as to allow th« 

 soil to get too poor to keep up free growth, the want 

 of which is sure to tell in the want of size the plants 

 will show, with a corresponding inability to yield the 

 full quantity of flowers they would were their wants 

 better attended to. Quick growing plants need more 

 food to build up their rapidly developed shoots and leaves, 

 and naturally exhaust the moisture in the soil in propor- 

 tionately little time, requiring the application of water 

 daily, or all but daily, in dry summer weather, the result 

 of the use of which is that much of the ruanurial elements 

 in the soil get washed away through the bottom of the 

 pots, leaving the roots with insufficient food unless it is 

 supplied to them iu the form of surface-dressing iu a con- 

 centrated form, or by the application of manure-water, 

 the last of which, when given strong enough, but uot too 

 strong, for the plants to bear, and at the right time, is 

 the most certain means of having quick growing things in 

 the best condition, and is equally effective with such as 

 are of a more enduring description.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 



