January i, 1885.] 



fHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



5i3 



CURING SUMACH. 



The following is the Virginian method of gathering and 

 curing sumach for market:— The leaves are stripped hy 

 haud from the branches of the bushes where they stand, 

 and thrown into baskets. Care must be taken to keep the 

 leaves clear of twigs litter, and the bunches of sumach seed, 

 which are often abundant upon the bushes the latter part 

 of summer. 



The tilled baskets are emptied into a cart or wagon, which 

 stands ready, and the leaves are taken at once to the curing 

 yard, where they are spread upou low scaffolds to dry. 

 The green leaves should not remain in bulk any length 

 of time. Nothing begins to heat sooner than green sumach 

 leaves, even when in very small heaps. A basketful will 

 acquire a sensible heat in one hour. It is therefore necessary 

 to dry them quickly, to prevent heating and spoiling. 



Spread the leaves thinly on the scaffold. By the second 

 day, it th.- weather is clear and hot, the contents of two 

 scaffolds may be placed ou one, thus providing room for 

 more fresh leaves. The leaves will cure enough to house 

 in bulk in three days of fair weather. It is best to have 

 the scaffolds under trees or other objects to shade the 

 sumach while curing, as thus a finer color is imparted to it. 



It takes several pounds of the green leaves to make 

 one when cured, and a person must be nimble if he gathers 

 enough in a day to make a hundred pounds of dried sumach. 

 The price paid for cured leaves here, does not make the 

 business very profitable. We were paid one dollar and 

 a quarter per hundred pounds last year, shipping it in bags 

 eighty miles to Richmond. The cost of bags, freight, 

 cartage, etc., is to be deducted from the selling price named. 

 The curing season coming, however, at a comparatively 

 leisure time, there is some margin for profit, and our 

 country people may well turn an honest penny at this small 

 industry. The plant grows wild, and requires no cultivation 

 or care. The collector here only cures the leaves, and sells 

 them thus to the grinders, who have their mills and ware- 

 houses iu the cities of Petersburg, Richmond, etc. If 

 collectors had the means for pressing the cured leaves into 

 bales of small compass, so as to save room iu transportation, 

 farmers at a distance from the markets could well afford 

 to collect and cure sumach leaves for shipment. Those 

 having cotton or hay presses should use them to advantage. 

 VuttQiNiAN. — American Ayricidturist. 



FIG CULTIVATION IN SICILY. 



There are several varieties of the fig tree iu Sicily, some 

 yielding a large, others a small fruit, and this fruit varies 

 in its degree of sweetness, also iu colour from white to black. 

 The fruit ot some varieties ripens sooner than that of others. 

 The trees grow equally well in poor and rich soil, and bear 

 abundantly when planted on the mountain side and in the 

 valleys. Consul Woodcock, of Catania, says that the favourite 

 varieties of Sicilian figs are the Sangiovannaro, the Sottuno, 

 the Melinciano, and the Ottulo. The Ottulu has smooth 

 leaves, the peduncle of the flower and fruit is longer and 

 the fruit is sweeter than that of the other varieties. The 

 Ottalo fig is considered to be the best for drying. The fig 

 is propagated from the suckers that spring up from the 

 roots, cuttings from the tree being also used, and these 

 are set in the months of February and March. In orchards 

 the distance maintained between the trees is about twenty- 

 six feet. The fig is long-lived, as it is constantly being 

 renewed by shoots that spring up from the roots taking 

 the place of the main trunk when it becomes old aud 

 decayed. The soil is worked in the spring, and also in 

 the November following. The best varieties in Sicily are 

 grafted, aud also budded upon the stock of the wild fig, 

 this operation being performed also upou healthy trees of 

 the best varieties, and the time chosen for it iu March, 

 or when the trees are iu blossom in June, Great care is 

 exercised in the cultivation of the tree to remove all dead 

 and diseased branches, and to avoid too much cutting and 

 priming. The fruit is dried in the following manner. It 

 is gathered when partially ripe, that is when the fruit is 

 more green than ripe, and immediatel}' plunged into boiling 

 water, aud allowed to remaiu only a very few minutes. 

 It is then placed in a spot sheltered from the sun, and 

 the next morning, at sunrise, spread upon a platform in 

 order that it maybe flooded with sunlight, care being taken 

 65 



not to place it upou the ground on account of its damp- 

 ness. While drying, shallow willow-work baskets are used 

 for holding the fruit, and these are never placed upon the 

 ground, but kept in an erect position. At sundown the 

 fruit is covered to protect it from the night dews or un- 

 expected showers of rain, and this operation i^ itinued 



for several days until the fruit becomes thoroughly dry. 

 When dry it is placed in layers in small boxes or baskets. 

 these layers being arranged very nearly and artistically, 

 the fruit being pressed down firmly by hand until thi box 

 i or basket is full, when they are securely covered and kept 

 in a dry place ready for shipment. — Journal of tin Society of 

 Arts. 



YANKEE NOTIONS IN REGARD TO COFFEE. 



An enterprising American inventor has patented a process 

 by which he intends to disguise com, barley, wheat, beans, 

 and other amylaceous substances by means of extract of 

 willow bark, till a connoisseur cannot tell the product from 

 coffee. There has beeu a great deal too much ingenuity 

 exercised in this direction already, but inventors of spurious 

 coffee and those who have taken them up might study 

 with advantage the history of the notorious Date Coffee 

 Company. 



Quito a stir has been made through the New York Board 

 of Health's examination into the use of mineral poisons for 

 colouring coffee. Dangerous substances have been used, 

 including lead and arsenic, which penetrate the bean, and 

 cannot be removed by any process the coffee undergoes 

 prior to its use by consumers. The beans are coloured iu 

 obedience to popular prejudice. It is curious that in certain 

 sectious of the country where consumers roast and grind 

 the raw bean they will only buy coffee of some peculiar 

 hue. One locality demands a bright yellow, other places 

 want a black or olive — green bean. The result is the use 

 of bone black, Venetian red, chrome yellow, heavy spar, 

 aud arsenic. Different processes of sweating coffee are 

 also in vogue. Some varities of coffee arc much improved 

 in flavour and appearance by the operation. The best method 

 subjects the bean to the influence of a moist but high 

 temperature for about a week. The coffee is placed in a 

 compartment that is built somewhat similar to the hold 

 of a vessel, and through which heat is conveyed by means 

 of iron pipes. Water in shallow pans is placed over the 

 pipes, in order to provide the needed moisture. The 

 temperature is gradually raised until it reaches 160° or 

 17 0° Fahr. A great deal depends upon the condition of 

 the b:"ou and the skill of the operator. Java coffee, green 

 in colour, receives a dark brown hue that is a favourite 

 with consumers, who take it as an index of age. and 

 willingly pay 2c. to 3c. per lb. more on that aecouut. 

 The process removes from the beans a great deal of coffeo- 

 tannic acid. This oxidises rapidly and forms other acids. 

 It is upon the changes wrought in these acids that colour 

 depends. By the sweating process Central American, 

 Venezuelan, and other coffee, notably Mexican, are trans- 

 formed into old Government Java, and sold for such. The 

 operation is made au avenue to fraud. Imitation Java is 

 palmed off for the genuine at tremendous profits. — Indian 

 Mercury. 



■» 



SCHOOL OF FORESTRY VS. AGRICULTURE. 



One main result, we trust, of the International Forestry 

 Exhibition at Edinburgh closed on the 11th instant, will 

 the organization of a proper School of Forestry, where the 

 principles of the science may be thoroughly taught, and 

 the art exemplified by the resources with which Edinburgh 

 and its neighbourhood abound. Whether a perfectly in- 

 dependent School of Forestry should be started, or whether 

 it should not take the form of a general School of Agri- 

 culture, embracing tuition and training in the principles 

 uuderlying all successful cultivation, whether of animals, 

 of trees, of fruit trees, of cereal crops, of plants in gen- 

 eral, is a question which we hope will be well considered. 

 For our own part, seeing the great necessity there is for 

 a thorough education in general principles, we would fain 

 hope that the teaching in the school should not be restricted 

 to forestry, but should at least comprize scientific agri- 

 culture and horticulture. The basis of all is identical, and 

 a man thoroughly well grounded in the principles of physics. 



