November 



1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



377 



cent will be in bearing, and " the remainder of all ages 

 downwards" — whatever that may mean. Mark, again, the 

 certainty with which percentages are given, without even 

 the small qualifying word "about." The annual expense 

 of weeding and supplying is given at R.12 per acre, and 

 only about the twentieth year will the yield cover this 

 truly moderate cost of upkeep, and even then 10 per cent 

 of vacancies "will" exist. "Thus the cost of bringing 

 coconut into bearing in the most slovenly and desultory 

 manner will be R120, R30 of which will be recouped 

 by produce up to the twentieth year." T fail to draw 

 the same conclusion frou the figures given. 



The " effects of Laatana " are noticed next, and we are 

 told that the above conclusions and figures hold good only 

 if the laud is of average quality, and the jungle to be 

 encountered indigenous; but if the Laatana has crept into 

 it at the third year, and is not cleared for three years, 

 not one coconut plant will be left at the seventh year. 

 It would have been useful to have been told what per- 

 centage of plants would have been saved if the Lantana 

 had been cleared at the sixth, instead of the seventh, yar. 

 I wonder if the experience and observation of planters 

 accord with the deadly powers given to Lantana, and with 

 the statement that "the presence of Lantana in a clearing 

 guarantees the extermination of every other member of the 

 vegetable kingdom that depends on the first eight feet of 

 space (?) for its air, light and sunshine." This statement, 

 which everybody who goes about with his eyes open, can 

 refute, stamps the writer as a person of very limited 

 observation. I have known coconut plants allowed to be 

 overgrown with Lantana soon after planting, cleared, not 

 after three years, but after seven or eight years. To the 

 surprise of the manager of the estate, he found a large 

 number of the trees with lluwer spathes and commencing 

 to bear, and not the deplorable sight of all the plants gone. 



''Calculations of proceeds" I shall produce in their in- 

 tegrity, as the writer assures us that they give the history 

 of more than one property tinder bis observation daring 

 their whole life. "The average yield of average soil under 

 the usual Goiya system will be 1,000 per acre — R30. There 

 is R9U to make good, the interest on which at lit per 

 cent is R9; the current expenditure is R12, and there is 

 R9 over to be deducted if we value the proceeds at R30. 

 Supposing the annual increase of proceeds to be R5, it 

 will take five years to rub out the 1190 that stood at debit 

 in the twentieth year. Thus, in the twenty-fifth year, the 

 place is clear, and the annual average income will thence- 

 forth be R38 per acre, as •long as the price keeps up at 

 at R30 the 1,000, and this calculation drops all the back 

 interest iu the original cost, as well as on current expend- 

 iture; from the twelfth to the twentieth year, which, if 

 taken into account, would leave from R63 to 1170 to be 

 made up before the property was clear of debt." The 

 island boasts of a few financial experts. It will take the 

 best man of these to correctly solve and tabulate the above 

 very complicated problem. Unprofessional like myself will, 

 in sheer desperation, feel inclined for suicide or to run 

 amok. — Cor. " Examiner." 



Canning Oranges. — By a process similar to that used for 

 preserving other fruits, oranges have recently been success- 

 fully canned and shipped. The fruit is peeled, and broken 

 into its natuial sections, before canning, and when taken 

 out is just ready for use. This is likely to become an im- 

 portant industry in the orange-growing districts of California 

 and Florida. — Popular Science Xen-s. 



Coal Tar. — "O.E.," Philadelphia, says: — "'At a recent 

 meeting of the Montgomery county, O., Society, Mr. H. 

 0. Smith stated that pitch tar was found to be more danger- 

 ous than coal tar to keep insects from injuring the bark 

 of trees. This is very important information, as the gen- 

 eral belief has been the reverse.' This is from the Garden?* 

 era' Monthly, March, 1882, but it does not elucidate the 

 matter clearly. Can you throw more light on ifr"' [We 

 called attention to the matter at the time merely as in- 

 formation, but have learned nothing further since. It was 

 at one time recommended that a little coal tar should be 

 painted around fruit trees at the collar, as a sure means 

 of keeping out borers and preventing mice and rabbits from 

 barking them. We had seen coal tar so employed serving 

 the purpose admirably, and not injuring the trees iu the 

 48 



slightest degree. Then came reports that trees had bee n 

 injured, and it was surmised that some coal tar had too 

 much creosote in it, which is known to be injurious to 

 vegetation, and it was believed that pine tar would be free 

 from this objection. It would be well worth while for any 

 who may have had experience to tell what they know 

 about it. There have been some very successful experi- 

 ments of late made by using tar water agaiust gr< 1 

 and other insects, but we do not know anything from our 

 own experience. Tar in most of its forms is liable to be 

 injurious to vegetation, but in skilful hands it ought to be 

 of very great vaiue. — Ed. G. M.]- Gardeners' Monthly. 



Calamander Wood (vide Tropical Agriculturist) Vol. III., 

 p. 717). — I apprehend that Calamander and Ooromandel 

 Wood are not one and the same, but quite distinct. Tin- 

 first, which by the Sinhalese is called Oolumedrya, and 

 has been said, perhaps with reason, to be the most beauti- 

 ful wood in the world, has, I believe, never been plentiful, 

 and it seems now to be impossible to procure pieces of any 

 considerable size. Some years ago I took much trouble, 

 with the help of friends in Ceylon, to procure some, but 

 without success; a few years later a consignment was sent 

 to England : I saw this in the docks, and I do not think 

 that the heart-wood of any stick was more thau 3 to 4 

 inches in diameter . Such small pieces are of very little 

 use, for they do not display the peculiar beauty of the wood, 

 which consists in the gr at range of colour, from a light 

 brown to black, displayed in a large figure or pattern. 

 This figure is not seeu to advantage unless the breadth 

 of the wood is a foot or more. There is also in Ceylon a 

 wood somewhat resembling Calamander, but much less 

 beautiful — it is known as false Calamander; also one known 

 as "flowered Ebony," black and brown in a small rather 

 stringy pattern; the native name is Weiraucarruwelli. Coro- 

 mandel wood (at least, that wood much used in the making 

 of dressing-cases, &c, and so-called in the shops), is a wood 

 of dark colour, nearly black, interspersed with many small 

 irregular patches and lines of brown ; it is wholly different 

 in appearance to any of the three Sinhalese woods mentioned 

 above. It is, I presume, pretty plentiful, and I suppose is 

 brought from the Coromandel Coast.— Alex. Np:suitt. — 

 Gardeners'" Chronicle. 



IntjiArxjbber and other Products in Guatemala — The 

 preservation and extension of the cultivation of economic 

 plants is a subject of so much importance at the present 

 time, when so much is being done to promote new industries, 

 to bring to light new sources of produce, and to develope 

 those already known, that it is satisfactory to learn, from 

 Mr. Consul Bennett's report on the trade and commerce 

 of Guatemala during 18S3, that the vexed question of tap- 

 ping the trees, or cutting them down, was under discussion. 

 What happened with the Gutta-percha trees (Dichopsis 

 gutta) in Singapore and Tenang forty years ago, by which 

 the plants became well-nigh exterminated in those islands, 

 has since been enacted in other countries with other useful 

 plants. The Guatemala Rubber tree (Castilloa elastica) is 

 a valuable source of this important substance, and should 

 be carefully preserved. Consul Bennett says those in favour 

 of cutting down allege that the quantity of rubber extracted 

 by so doing is only equal to what would be collected iu 

 five or six tappings, after which the tree would die. and 

 consequently that the yield, being immediate and of equal 

 quantity with what would be given by a series of yearly 

 tappings, and the tree in both cases dying, it is more to 

 the interest of all to cut the tree down at once. This 

 course, however, is forbidden .by a Government decree. It 

 is possible the law may be rescinded, and the practice 

 allowed, on condition of two new rubber trees being planted 

 for every one cut down. Guatemala is described as being 

 rich in textile plants, Cotton, Ramie or China grass, Hemp, 

 and numerous others. The native Indians are fairly skilled 

 workers in cloth and woollen goods, somewhat oriental in 

 character, and yet with both the material, the skill, and 

 the labour ou the ground, empty coffee sacks to the value 

 of 40,000 dols. are annually sent to the Republic alone, 

 mostly from Dundee. Ramie especially grows well with 

 an exceedingly long silky fibre, quite 24 inches in length, 

 and in certain districts will produce four crops a year. It 

 is not, however, cultivated or gathered, and remains only 

 a unit in the long list of Guatemalan agricultural pro- 

 ducts, which are waiting for the master hand to turn their 

 riches to account. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



