522 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



Englishman seems to consider its suggestions original, I 

 should like you to publish this letter, as the credit of originat- 

 ing the scheme noticed in tint paper is, I should say, entirely 

 due to Mr. Maries, who lias accomplished much that has 

 been suggested by your contemporary, and who is well 

 known as a lover of plant-life and a plant collector in 

 Japan and elsewhere. Silex. 



TEA IN INDIA. 



In noticing the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar's remarks 

 on tea, a contemporary says: — "It is evident to us, Mr. 

 Knox Wight has not studied his subject with sufficient care 

 to submit an opinion that in the mind of a practical planter 

 would be likely to cany much weight. Whether cost of 

 merely manufacturing leaf be considered, or of cultivating 

 plant to produce that leaf, matters very little as a basis of 

 reckoning cost of production. We do not care about going 

 into items : all we need concern ourselves with is the rate 

 at which tea, manufactured and ready for use, reaches the 

 auction room or warehouse for sale — allowing a small margin 

 for agency charges — small in appearance, though actually 

 and proportionately out of all symmetry with other charges 

 and costs, and therefore a heavy burden on the producer. 

 That, however, we may leave for the present and return 

 to our criticism. Whether we xake him in the abstract 

 or as merely setting up a theory without foundation, we 

 can easily perceive that Mr. Wight has not made the tea 

 plant, or tea production, a subject of much study and 

 calculation. We maintain that a garden averaging three 

 maunds per acre may be made to pay, under favorable 

 conditions, and of these conditions Mr. Wight apparently 

 has no knowledge. There are gardens and gardens. We 

 repeat— given certain conditions— and three maunds per 

 acre mic/ht pay. What would be said of a three-hundred- 

 acre garden with nothing in it but Muuipore and Oachar 

 indigenous, Assam hybrid, and such teas, fetching nothing 

 under one rupee per pound ? That is to say, three hun- 

 dred, multiplied by three, multiplied by eighty, or a total 

 of R72.000 per yield. It may be averred, and we should 

 have to admit the fact, that no garden Joes produce any- 

 thing like this in quality of leaf. Very true, but that 

 does not detract from the virtual strength of our conten- 

 tion that it may. Then, again, Mr. Wight is perfectly 

 wrong in his intimation as to the delicacy of tea as a plant. 

 It is commonly known that there is hardly a product-yield- 

 ing bush known so hardy, so capable of resisting deterior- 

 ating external influences. Moreover, it is admitted that 

 even in cases of fire — and a more destructive agent can 

 hardly be conceived— tea bushes that have been scorched 

 almost past recognition, have revived and yielded as plenti- 

 fully as ever. Mr. Wight tells us, possibly in jest, that 

 danger lurks in the course adopted by planters " to dis- 

 card China tea and to plant nothing but high-class, free- 

 yielding plants." Where that danger is to be discovered, 

 or in what manner avoided, he does not condescend to ex- 

 plain, nor would his readers be greatly edified if he made 

 any such attempt. What ca'u be the object of telling 

 practical men, who understand their business thoroughly, 

 that, although they are adopting the very best means to 

 improve their gardens, to raise the value of their manu- 

 facture, and thus to defy competition, they incur a certain 

 uudefinablc danger, which has previsioned itself exclusively 

 to (he Deputy Commissioner of their district — who con- 

 ceals it from them— esteemed and popular as he was known 

 to be? Mr. Knot While is unquestionably a man of ability, 

 but that ability will not enable him to blind the tea planters 

 of Oachar, who. as a rule, we venture to guess, are a little 

 too far north for him. — IitdiyO and Tea Plautirs' Gazette. 



PALM NOTES FfiOM THE SYDNEY BOTANICAL 



OARDENS. 



However grand tall gigantic palms may appear, no one 

 can gainsay that the early life of these wonders of veget- 

 ation is the most picturesque and the most pleasant to 

 behold, as when in this state they are generally either 

 possessed of pretty short stems with surmounting head of 

 handsome leaves, or have dense foliage to the ground i. v. !; 

 whereas with aged plants a plain bare trunk with leaves 

 toe high to be gazed at pleasantly is all that can be observed 



Knowing the palms in our Botanic Gardens some quarter of 

 a century ago, when they were dwarfs, we somewhat now miss 

 the beauty they then presented. For decorative purposes,and 

 apparently at home anywhere, the chain a?rops palmsgive very 

 pleasing effects. 0. Fortuni and C. excelsa are remarkable 

 palms, -with fair stout stems well clothed with black fibrous 

 material ; the main difference between the two is that the 

 leaves of Fortuni are rather smaller thanexcelsa. The others, 

 as C. tomentosa, C. macrocarpa, C. Martiana, and 0. humilis, 

 a goodly collection by-the-way, stool well from the ground, 

 and form very handsome dwarf fan-leaved palms suitable 

 for almost auy climate, providing they are not cut about 

 with harsh winds. The situation they are growing in in the 

 Botanic Gardens is certainly not one of the best, as the 

 soil is a poor sandy loam unfertilised. What they would 

 be in good rich laud we can only conjecture. The sabals, 

 which in infancy are not very attractive, form very hand- 

 some fan-shaped leaves on long stalks as they get aged a 

 little. There is a great family likeness amongst them, 

 and can be easily recoguised. The species worth noting 

 and examining are S. umbraculifera; Sabal palmetta, very 

 curious by its dead leafstalks interlacing each other, thus 

 forming, as it were, a natural plait up the stein ; the other 

 is S. Mexicana, specially noticeable for its fine fan-shaped 

 leaves. The genus Phtenix, to which the tree date palm 

 belongs, furnishes generally tall specimens. P. farinifera, 

 or small date palm, has a very tall, gracefully curved stem, 

 as usual surmounted with its head of foliage and fruit. 

 Phcenix sylvestris is very picturesque, as presenting to the 

 eye great girth of stem. The dwarf species, at least at 

 present, are — P. rubra, a Cape of Good Hope species, 

 stooling very freely, and P. paludosa, presenting a somewhat 

 similar appearance. The Cocos genus are represented by 

 0. plumosa and C. flexuosa, both very tall trees. Other 

 wonders of the palm family consist of Copernica serifera, 

 a handsome black stem, fan-leaved palm, stooling very freely; 

 Diplothemium maritimum, with a gigantic stem and pretty 

 drooping fronds; the mouster stemmed Jubea spectablis, 

 with its rigid leaflets; Arica Madagascarensis, a stooling 

 palm, towering up to a great height ; Caryota urens. with 

 its curious leaves; our native Seaforthia clegans; the thatch- 

 palm of Lord Howe's Island, Kentia Forsteriana, as hand- 

 some as the best; the wine- palm, Elais; and as a minnow 

 amongst the tritons our native walking-stick palm, Arica 

 mononstachys. The above form the palrnetum near the 

 entrance gates to the Garden Palace grounds, and the only 

 fault with the collection is that they are too much crowded, 

 a pardonable one, however, considering the length of time 

 it takes to bring them to such a condition. — Sydney Mail 



CHEAP FENCING. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " AUSTBAJLASIAN. " 



Sir, — I note in your issue of August 23rd, a letter signed 

 "Cheap Fencing," asking for descriptions of fences and 

 their cost. I am unable to give cost of materials in this 

 colony, but, having lately come from Queensland, where 

 a great deal of "barbed" wire is used. I can say that a 

 barbed wire strengthens a fence 100 per cent, as no stock 

 can lean on it to reach anything on the other side, by 

 which they break wires, and then get out. I know fences 

 of six barbed wires that stop all kinds of stock, even 

 dogs, goats, and pigs, and in the big fences erected to 

 stop kangaroos anil dingoes barbed wires are put in, above 

 the wire netting, and when the former jump the wire, 

 which is G ft. in. high, some of the barbs catch in their 

 skin-, rending them down so that they generally die, often 

 not going 200 yards from the fence. I have been surprised 

 to find that the barbed wire is £10 per ton more here 

 than in Queensland. 



"Cheap Fencing" will find that the old tedious and 

 difficult way of repairing broken wires is got over by the 

 very handy tool shown at the recent agricultural show, 

 for holding the broken ends, and straining them together 

 at the same time. As it weighs only about 5 lb., it can 

 lie easily carried. — Yours, &c, Fenceb. 



"THICKLY PEAR" IN QUEENSLAND. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE AUSTRALASIAN. 



Sir, — I have been struck by the reference in your "Rural 

 Topics and Events" column to the aboveuamed plant. 

 Can you tell me if it is a native plant? My reason for 



