47^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, i{ 



Papee from Tobacco. — A man i at Waverly, Mass., has 



discovered a process for utilizing the stall:- ami stems of 

 the tobacco plant as a substitute for wood pulp in the 

 manufacture of paper. Samples of paper made 1 

 process under unfavorable conditions show comparatively 

 few defects, and tin; strength is said to have been success-* 

 fully tested by lifting a 100-pound boy on a single broad 

 sheet. A great point iii the manufacture of the pulp is 

 the fact that only the ordinary machinery, found in 

 paper mill, is required, while wood has to be skinned, 

 strapped, relieved of knots and rotten parts, rind grated. 

 The average quality of wood used loses from sixty to 

 eighty per cent in waste ; tobacco stalk, however, shows 

 a waste of only five per cent. — Independent Journal. 



Red Spider.— -If your correspondent G. ]>. H. will do as 

 follows, he will get rid of Ins red spider. Let him wash the 

 walls with boiling water, brush over the stems of his peach 

 trees with a .stiff brush and water at 130 o , in which a large 

 lump of common yellow soap has been dissolved. I have 

 done this with success. — I!. M. J. Teil (Newton Abbot, 

 Devonshire). 



The following is a good recipe for destroying this pest. 



Put about a pint of guano in the evaporating troughs, then 

 have the pipes made very hot ; this will cause the ammonia to 

 rise, which will soon destroy both spider and thrips. This 

 should be done every evening for a week ; after this the peach 

 trees should be syringed with clean water twice a day until 

 the leaves are perfectly clean. I have done this with the 

 desired effect, both in peach houses and vineries. — It.-N. 



Boil one pound of sulphur and one pound of hot lime 



in a gallon of water twenty minutes, bottle it. and when 

 wanted for use, put one gill into three gallons of water, and 

 syringe trees with it. It will not hurt fruit or foliage, whether 

 washed off or not. Hop growers should make a note of this, 

 as it is equally effective against blight or mildew — Sub- 

 scriber.- — Field. 



Eucalyptus and Malaria. — In a letter to the British 

 Medical J ournal (Sept. 27th), Dr. L. Ail ken, of Rome, 

 denies the correctness of a statement that has been 

 repeated over and over again, namely, that the sanitary 

 state of the neighbourhood of that city has been 

 improved by the planting of eucalyptus trees. Except 

 at Tre Fontane, he says, where the unpaid labour of 

 monks and convicts keeps the trees alive, the experi- 

 ment of planting the Campngna has proved a costly 

 failure, only three or four percent of the trees planted 

 under the conditions attending the plantation of other 

 young forest trees having survived. Even at Tre 

 Fontane the Government has found it necessary to 

 restrict the amount of convict labour which it a' first 

 placed at the disposal of the Trappist monks for plant- 

 ing operations, in consequence of the sickness among 

 the warders and convicts. The monks them -el vts, too, 

 are known still to succumb to malaria, though Dr. 

 Aitken more than hints that the whole truth is rot 

 made pu 1 lie, lest it should affect the sale of the 

 eucalyptus elixir which is prepared at the monastery 

 and adds materially to its revenue. Dr. Aitken dos 

 not deny that the deaths from severe malarial feveis 

 have decreased dining the last year or two, but apart 

 from the fact that th's may be due to fluctuations in 

 the iut'nsity of the malarial poison, he is inclufed to 

 attribute any slight improvement which may be c'aimed 

 quite as much to the necessary so' soil draining and 

 preparation of the ground as to any influence of the 

 young gum trees. — PharmaceuticalJourual, Oct. 11th 



Dammee Tree and 1'ixky Tallow.— A letter from 

 Major 1. Campbell "Walker, Conservator of Forests, Southern 

 Circle, to the Secretary to the Board of Revenue, dated 

 Madras, 6th August 1884, states that the following speci- 

 mens were sent direct to the India Office from Malabar an 1 

 South Canara: — Malabar— Samples of the ripe fruit of both 

 species of Valeria in spirit, as well as specimens of resin and 

 the dried fruit and kernels. South Canara — Dried fruits, 

 kernels, tallow and gum resin of dammer tree ( Vateria 

 Mai aha lira'). The Collector of Malabar states that 40 lb. 

 of the kernels of each species of Valeria, Perum and CI , 

 (large and small) Piney were reduced to powder and boili d 

 lor eight hours, but that not a particle of fatty, oily, or 



resinous matter appeared. As regards the manufacture of 

 caudles from Piney resin, the Collector of Malabar reports 

 that it " is not now carried on in Calicut, or any other 



town or vill iu Malabar," and that "the industry 



appears to be extinct." The Collector of South Canara says, 

 "Candles made from the resin are not known here." The 

 Government order on this letter is as follows:— The 

 re that the " tallow " mentioned by Mr. 

 Thiselton Dyer is said to be made from the fruit, not from 

 the kernel as assumed by the Collector of Malabar. The 

 Collector of South Canara appears to have forwarded some 

 '■tallow," but it is not stated how this was manufactured. 

 As regards candles, page 447 of Drury's "Useful Plants of 

 India" may be consulted. The Government desire that 

 further inquiry and experiment may be made on both points. 



The Kdingburgh Forestry Exhibition. — Mr. 

 Alex aider's collection of exhibit--, as already mentioned 

 by us, was chiefly handed over to the " Committee 

 connected with "The New School and Museum of 

 Forestry iu Edinburgh,'' but specimens were also given 

 to t u e Pharmaceu ieal Society of London; Museum of 

 Science and Art, Edinburgh," Oberlin ; College, Ober- 

 Im, Ohio- The final award list now to hand gives 

 Mr. Alexander the following: — 



For general collodion, 1st class Gold Medal. 



Collection of Photographs &c, 1 Bronze Medal. 

 ,, of Fibres &c, Diploma. 



., of Woods, Commended. 



E-siy on "The Harvesting and Producing of Cin- 

 chona Barks," 1st class Gold Medal — highest award. 



Essay on "Insects Injurious to Timber and Forest 

 Trees," with specimens — Silver Medal. 

 Mr. Alexander has therefore every reason to be well' 

 pleased ui.h the honours he has received; for, many 

 of the countries represented have not done so well. 

 The following from the Scotsman gives an account of 

 the closing of the Exhibition : — 

 .It is estimated that nearly 500,000 people have visited 

 the exhibition. As to the financial results, it is believed 

 that there is likely to be a deficit of not less than, in all 

 probability, between £500 and £1,000. The accounts have 

 not yet been made up, and, accordingly, no exact state- 

 ment can be given ; but the above estimate is believed to 

 be only too well grounded, and certainly not over the 

 amount of the deficit that may be looked for when every- 

 thing now clue has been paid off. This deficit is attributes 

 chiefly to the heavy expenditure that has hern necesd 

 ary to the carryiug on of the Exhibition, with all it 

 attractions. The buildings, in the first place, cost upwards 

 of £7,000 ; that of the electric light has been, it is said, 

 about £1,500; and £36 a night has been paid for other 

 illuminations. The promoters of the proposed School and 

 Museum of Forestry have now obtained from the L-awson 

 Seed Company a place for the temporary accommodation 

 of the exhibits that have been promised for the Museum 

 and accordingly, it is understood i hey do not propose to 

 acquire any considerable portion of the Exhibition build- 

 ings. These in the course of a short time will be taken 

 down and removed. With the nucleus of a museum ob- 

 tained, and with the promises of aid received, hopes are 

 entertained of the establishment of a School of Forestry 

 iu Edinburgh. Cpwards of forty of the exhibitors have 

 promised considerable and valuable portions of their ex- 

 hibits for the museum, which will thus acquire specimens 

 from Japan, British Guiana, India and other countries 

 abroad. The Maharajah of Travaucore has promised some 

 of his exhibits; and specimens of wood pulp have also 

 been promised. Her Majesty's Woods and Forests will also 

 largely contribute to the Museum: and a great many tools 

 and models from different parts of theeouutry — illustrative 

 of, and connected with, the science of forestry — have 



also 1 n secured. Among the contributors at home are 



the Duke of Buccleucb, the Duke of Argyll, the Duke of 

 Athole, Sir James Richardson, Mr. Owen. .Ah-. Oscar 

 Dickson, and other gentlemen. For the establishment of 

 the School and Museum of Forestry, the Committee, at 

 the head of which are Mr. Hutchison of Carlowrie. Col- 

 onel Dodds, Dr. Cleghorn, and other gent!- nun, are about 1 

 to make an appeal to gentlemen int. rested iu the subject 

 for their financial requirements. 



