S 12 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



Coffee Preparation. — " Westland's Improved Sieve 

 Plate " is goint; to be a success according to the following 

 testimonial from the first outside planter who has 

 used it : — 



Norwood, Dikoya, 22nd Nov. 1884. 

 Dear Sir, — Your sieve plate is a great success, and I only 

 wish I had got it sooner. Almost every plauter in this 

 district has been looking at the plate, and I have no doubt 

 numerous orders will follow. Our manager has ordered 

 all his superintendents to substitute new improved plates 

 on my recommendation. (Signed) Keith Rollo. 



To James Westland, Esq. 



Castor Beans have decreased in area in Kansas from 

 1883 about twenty per .cent and the crop is below the 

 condition of one year ago ten per cent. The counties having 

 1,000 acres and over in castor beans are: Crawford, 

 Franklin, Labette and Neosho. The average yield per acre 

 in 1883 was ten bushels, while the prospects for this year 

 indicate less than ninebushels per acre. — Independent Journal. 

 Virginia Corn Bread. — One quart of white corn meal, 

 one teaspoonful of salt, two eggs and a dessert spoonful 

 of butter. Scald the meal, thoroughly with boiling water. 

 Then add the butter and eggs (well beaten), and lastly a 

 half-pint of milk. If this does not make the batter thin 

 add more milk, for this is a soft-bread, requiring, a spoou 

 in serving. Bake twenty minutes in a very hot oven. — 

 American Agriculturist. 



The Protection of Cardamoms. — Sir, — Anentyour corre- 

 spondent "Naicker's" enquiry, regarding the protection 

 of cardamoms, I have the pleasure to intimate that the crop 

 is gathered up before it is fully ripe, as it is apt to be eaten 

 up by insects; besides, the- capsules if ripe, split in storing 

 and drying. A pit is dug, which is liued with leaves or straw, 

 and the capsules being picked, are thrown into it. The carda- 

 moms are then dried in the sun, on mats, for four days. — 

 A. — Madras Mail. 



The Dutch used to have all this nutmeg trade, as they 

 owned the Banda Islands and conquered all the traders and 

 destroyed the trees. To keep the price up they once burned 

 three piles of nutmegs, each of which was said to be " as big 

 as a church." Nature did not sympathize with such meanness. 

 The nutmeg-pigeon, found in all the Indian islands, did for 

 the world what the Dutch had determined should not be 

 done — carried those nuts, which are their food, into all the 

 surrounding countries, and trees grew again, and the world 

 had the benefit. — Independent Journal. 



Substitute for Matches. — Countless accidents, as every 

 one knows, arise from the use of matches. To obtain 

 light without employing them, and so without danger of 

 setting things on fire, an ingenious contrivance is now used 

 by the watchmen of Paris in all the magazines where 

 explosives or inflammable materials are kept. Any one may 

 easily make a trial of it. Take an oblong vial of the whitest 

 and clearest glass and put into it a piece of phosphorus 

 about the size of a pea. Pour some olive oil heated to 

 the boiling point upon the phosphorus, fill the vial about 

 one-third full and then cork it tightly. To use this novel 

 light remove the cork, allow the air to enter the vial and 

 then recork it. This empty space in the vial will become 

 luminous, and the light obtained is equal to that of a lamp. 

 "When the light grows dim its power can be increased by 

 taking out the cork and allowing a fresh supply of air to 

 enter the vial. — Independent Journal. 



Artificial Manures for Grass. — Can any of your read- 

 ers recommend a good mixture of artificial manures for 

 top dressing grass on a light loam soil with gravel sub- 

 soil ? Two or three years ago I tried two experiments on 

 the land. Ou two plots of old grass I applied lime at 

 the rate of two tons and five tons respectively per acre. 

 No one has been able to detect the slightest difference 

 produced by the lime. On another field, which had been 

 four years under grass, and from which I intended cutting 

 a crop of hay before breaking up with the plough, I ap- 

 plied to a small plot fine bone meal, at the rate of four 

 tons per acre. No one could in this case detect the slight- 

 est difference from the rest of the field, either in the hay 

 crop, or the oats, potatoes, and barley which followed. I 

 should however add that the potatoes were planted with a 

 liberal allowance of bones again, along with the rest of the 

 field. From these experiments it would seem that bones 

 and lime are thrown away on grass on this soil, and I 

 ihould like to try something else. — J. M. W. — Field. 



How Nutmegs Grow.— Nutmees grow on little trees 

 which look like small pear trees, and which are generally 

 not over twenty feet high. The flowers are very much like 

 the lily of the valley. They are pale and very fragrant The 

 nutmeg is the seed of the fruit, and mace is'the thin cover- 

 ing over the seed. The fruit is about the size of a peach 

 When ripe it breaks open and shows a little nut inside The 

 trees grow on the islands of Asia and tropical America 

 They bear fruit seventy or eighty years, and have ripe fruit 

 upon them all the season. A tree in Jamaica has over four 

 thousand nutmegs on it every year. 



The culture of the tea-tree iu Transcaucasia, which has 

 been recently advocated by Dr. Woeikoff, has already been 

 successfully carried out ou a small scale for several years— as 

 we learn from a recent communication of M. Zeidlitz to a 

 Russian newspaper. It was an Englishman, Mr. Marr, who 

 has inhabited Transcaucasia since 1822, who brought ' to a 

 flourishing state the Crown garden at Ozurghety, and embell- 

 ished it with a number of lemon, orange, and tea trees, these 

 last numbering more than two hundred. After the Crimean 

 war cnly twentyfive tea-trees were growing in this garden, 

 and according to Mr. Marr's advice they were transplanted 

 to a private estate at Gora, close to Tchakhataour. Since 

 the estate has changed its proprietor, only two tea-trees 

 have remained, but still they continue every year to flower 

 and to give fruit, and M. Zeidlitz is sure that if the culture 

 be seriously tried it might be successful in the velleys of the 

 Koura and Rion. — Nature. 



Agricultural Science.— Last autumn twelve classes were 

 started in Forfarshire for teaching the scientific principles of 

 agriculture. These classes were attended by about 180 pupils 

 of whom 120 went forward to the examination of the Science 

 and Art Department, aud the results are considered most 

 encouraging. The pupils, whose ages varied from twelve to 

 forty, were greatly stimulated by the Dalhousie Bursaries 

 of £5, which under certain conditions are increased to £10 

 by the Science and Art Department. The idea of these 

 classes originated with Lord Dalhousie, who obtained from 

 the Science and Art Department the services of Mr. Buck- 

 master, who lectured or held meetings in most of the parishes 

 in Forfarshire, and now that the practicability of the scheme 

 has been demonstrated there is a very generally expressed 

 desire to increase the number of classes. In connection with 

 a few of the classes a plot of land has been secured for the 

 purpose of experiment. Sir John Ogilvy has placed two or 

 three acres on the Baldovan estate at the disposal of the 

 class, and the pupils and others take great interest in what 

 is going on. It is perhaps early to speak of the result of 

 this instruction, but some are of opinion that these classes 

 have already begun to tell on the agriculture of the district. 

 — Public Opinion. 



Ripening of the Wood of Fruit Trees. — Every gard- 

 ener of experience knows how important it is that the 

 wood of fruit trees be well ripened, as it is only when in 

 that state that the blossom-buds become fully organised, 

 and if they do not reach that stage it is impossible for 

 them to remain on and set. If they do not do this next 

 spring, it will be entirely owiDg to the weather then, as 

 never do I before remember so good a promise, for though 

 trees were a little distressed after the great heat of the 

 summer, they have recovered wonderfully since the heavy 

 rain early in September, and are now studded with big 

 fat buds that look almost ready to burst, and these are 

 still lieiug fed by the healthy fresh-looking leaves, many 

 of which are only just changing colour. Truly it has been 

 a beautiful season, and such an one as rarely occurs, and 

 the memory of the oldest inhabitant seems taxed and must 

 go very far back to recall the date of one anything like 

 it. Some persons in their anxiety to hasten maturity sweep 

 off the foliage; but in my opinion that does much more 

 harm than good, as trees part with it readily enough when 

 the buds no longer require its aid, and frost often robs 

 them full soon. To anticipate the natural fall and strip 

 them is ill-directed zeal, and few who denude their trees 

 would be found doing the same to their Vines, but if it 

 is right in the one case it must be in the other. Instead 

 of brushing the leaves off, it is far better to thin out the 

 wood directly the fruit is gathered, when most of the prun- 

 ing may he done with satisfactory results to the shoots 

 left, as they then get full exposure, aud assume that hard, 

 nutty-brown hue we all like to see. — J. S. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



