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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1884. 



with an increased dose of it; or think that clay-land can he 

 dealt with and worked regardless of weather ; or put his seed 

 into unsuitable soil ; or sow too much seed to the acre ; or be 

 guilty of some other blunder which results in the waste of 

 labour, time, and money, notwithstanding the best intentions 

 possible. A farmer is often induced, or rather compelled, by 

 circumstances to deviate in practice from what he knows 

 tlii oretically would be best to be done if there were no diffic- 

 ulty in the way of doing it. For instance, in manuring, 

 there is not only the chemical effect on the soil and crops to 

 be considered, but also such matters as these: — 



'' 1. The practicability of carrying out the application of 

 the manure. 2. The convenience of applying it at one time 

 more than another, or to one crop more than another. 3. 

 The relative expense of the cost of the manure, and the re- 

 turn it is likely to make. 4. The time which is likely to 

 elapse before the return made by the application of the 

 manure assumes a money value." 



For what is the use of putting farmyard manure upon 

 strong clay when the weather is such that the passage of 

 heavily-laden carts would do more harm than their contents 

 would do good ? Or how can a man be expected to apply 

 manure at the exact time which is. chemically speaking, the 

 best, if he just then requires all his men and horses for some 

 still more important operation, such as hay or corn harvest? 

 Or is it not likely that some artificial manure, which is 

 generally recommended as profitable, would prove the re- 

 verse, supposing the fertiliser happened to rise in price whilst 

 the crop to which it was especially adapted became cheaper ? 

 And how far a thing pays is the criterion by which the 

 author believes all farming concerns should be judged : — 



"Spending money on a farm is not necessarily a test of 

 good farming, as it may be spent ignorantly and wastefully. 

 Growing large crops could only be considered as a test of 

 good farming, if growing large crops at any cost were the ob- 

 ject desired. I take it that the test of good farming, like 

 everything else, lies in the amount to which success attends 

 the object to be gaiued ; and as the object of people who 

 have to make their living by agriculture is to make as large 

 a profit for themselves as they can, I think the true test of 

 t/ood farming as distinguished from bad farming is the relative 

 amount of profit for the farmer which is to be derived from 

 it ; that is. that any kiud of farming which leaves a profit is 

 better than, any kind of farming which leaves no profit; or 

 good farming is farmiug which pays, and badfarrningis farm- 

 ing which does not pay. Judged in this manner, it will 

 be seen that high farming may be either good or bad farming, 

 and that low farming may he either good or bad farming." 



Mr. Nevile has a good deal to sa) on the interesting sub- 

 ject of what food it is that various plants require, and in 

 what way and what quantity it should be supplied to them. 

 The three indispensable substances are nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus, and potash, which are all found in the earth or air, 

 and to which the plants help themselves by meaus of their 

 leaves and roots ; hence it follows that large-level plants 

 (like turnips) depend much more upon the air for nourish- 

 ment than small-leaved ones, whilst those with active and 

 wide-spreading roots (like wheat) feed more from the soil 

 than those whose roots are feeble. "When it is desirable to 

 increase artificially the naturally-existing supply of either or 

 all of the three necessary articles of food, he says that the 

 rule to be observed is " that there is no special food required 

 by one plant more than another, but that we ought to apply 

 that substance in excess which forms the root in the case of 

 those plants which we grow for their roots; we should apply 

 that substance in excess which forms the seed when we want 

 to obtain seed ; and that where we wish to develop the whole 

 plant, stalk, leaf, flower, and root, as in the case of the 

 clovers, we should apply proportionate quantities of all three, 

 and increase the quantities of all three, pari passu — that is, 

 iu an equal ratio or degree." Only, in applying this rule, it 

 is important to notice that the experiments hitherto pub- 

 lished seem to point to one marked distinction between the 

 aforesaid substances, which is " that although potash is 

 necessary to the development of the plant, and although 

 plants will not grow in soils destitute altogether of potash, 

 even though there may be an abuntant supply of other 

 materials, there is still this difference between them, that 

 whereas in the case of the first two, uitrogen and phosphorus, 

 the more you put on, the larger crop you get, this does not 

 seem to be the case with potash, inasmuch as a small 

 quantity seems to have the same effect as a larger quantity. 



And iu cases where the soil contains potash, as in clay, the 

 application of purchased potash does not seem to produce 

 any beneficial result." 



We will conclude with a specimen of practical good- 

 sense as evinced in the advice which the author gives re- 

 specting the introduction -of new implements and machinery, 

 and with which we cordially agree: — 



"As there are always plenty of experimental farmers 

 who farm chiefly for amusement and occupation, ready and 

 willing to give anything new a fair trial, I should recommend 

 anyone who was farming for an income to let this class of 

 experiments alone. There is one great objection to employ- 

 ing any new implement when first introduced, and that is 

 that they have rarely arrived at the highest perfection they 

 are capable of ; and although they may be a decided success, 

 still, if anyone invested their capital in them, they would 

 probably find that before long a still better one had been in- 

 troduced, and that they were in the unpleasant position of 

 either having to go on usiug an inferior machine, or else buy 

 a second, in which case all the money laid out in the first 

 would be wasted. I need not say that this objection does 

 not apply to hiring, but only to buying new implements."— 

 The Spectator, 



APPARATUS FOR TESTING SEEDS. 



It is sometimes desirable to test the quality of seeds 

 by ascertaining what proportion of a given number 

 will germinate ; and M. Keffel, a French horticul- 

 tuiist, has contrived a useful " germinator " for this 

 purpose. 



A cylindrical vase, contains a layer of water 

 several _ inches deep. Over this is a curv«d disk 

 containing a hundred small holes, in which are 

 placed the grains to be tested, the sprouting ends 

 pointing downwards to the liquid. Sand is then 

 placed over th« seeds, and the germinator taken to a 

 place free ^froni draughts, where the temperature is 

 kept at 18° C. (equal to about 60° F.), or thereabout; 

 and iu twenty-four hours the seeds will be found to 

 g-nniuate The warmth and moisture are essential to 

 the result. A thermometer rises from the cover to 

 tell the degree of warmth the seedB experience. By 

 counting the number that do or do not germinate, the 

 percentage -of good seed in the sample may be at 

 once determined. —A person with moderate ingenuity 

 could easily make the apparatus for himself. For the 

 cuivtd disk he might use a piece of tin punched 

 with holes, after the manner of a common strainer ; 

 and the other parts mights easily be extemporized from 

 materials to be found in any household. — Popular 

 Science News 



One of the best means of protecting cucumber, melon, 

 and squash vines from the striped bug is by dusting them 

 freely and frequently with fine dry slaked lime. — Indian 

 Agricu' turist 



GlBGEB in Jamaica. — It is stated in authoritative quarters 

 that the cultivation of ginger in Jamaica is diminishing very 

 notably. An official report says that the decrease during 

 the past five years has averaged about oue-third of the 

 former crop. The cause is said to he the constant planting 

 on the same soil year after year. — Monthly Prices Current. 



British North Borneo.— During the last month (August) 

 a party of Chinese Gambier Planters' representatives 

 arrived from Singapore and inspected several portions of 

 land near Sandakan Bay, with a view to open up the 

 country for Gambier cultivation. They stated, however, 

 that, without more inducement, they could not take up 

 land. Their view was that the Government should ad- 

 vance money, and grant leases on very easy terms. They 

 considered that Borneo was at such a distance from a port 

 where they could sell the gambier to advantage, that the 

 attraction in the good soil was not so great as to induco 

 them to enter upon making plantations. It seems a pretty 

 general opinion that, unless the country is cultivated by 

 Chinese, nothing will come of agriculture, as the success 

 of tobacco and some other products is still an open ques- 

 tion from a practical point of view. — An unfortunate affair 



