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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [February 2, 1885. 



went on until two out of the three were sold for less 

 than and old song, and the third very narrowly escaped 

 the same fate. 



It is, of course, impossible to lay down a hard and 

 fast rule, as very few garden are similarly circumstanced 

 as regards nearness to bazaars, wood, water, nerricks, 

 extent of ground given for cultivation and other details ; 

 but it may be safely fixed as a rule to which there can 

 be no exception that the present rate of E58 a month 

 for men, and for women and children in the same pro- 

 portion, is quite an ample money wage. Any increase be- 

 yond these rates is more than the people want, and is, 

 therefore a needless waste of money. 

 There is a reference to previous attempts to raise 

 wages and the results : — 



The result of the scarcity of labour in 1873-4 was that 

 many of the old gardens as well as the newly opened ones 

 suffered heavily from want of a sufficient available labor 

 force to keep the plants, botli old and new, free from 

 undergrowth, and it is a fact remembered by many that 

 at this particular time it was no uncommon thing for the 

 pluckers to be armed with sticks or reaping hooks to 

 beat or cut down the jungle before they conld get at the 

 tea bushes to take the leaf off. This too was at a time 

 antecedent to the extensive introduction of machinery into 

 the district, and when a large number of men had to be 

 employed in the factories to roll off the leaf by hand. 

 This did not matter so seriously then, as the market was 

 good, and fully 6d per lb. more was realized for tea than 

 is obtaHable for a much better article now, oris like'y to 

 be realized in future. 



" Jungle " in the above means rank weeds, especially 

 the grass we call iluk. Our readers will see, that, 

 when p ces of land come to be considered, cooly 

 wages in Darjiling are not lower than in Ceylon. 



Flower Distillation.— If, as alleged in Bombay, the 

 French have prohibited the importof mhowa flowers (Bassia 

 latifolia), they are interrupting what is now a tolerably 

 large trade. Last year India exported nearly 6J lakhs 

 worth of mhowa flowers. Most of it goes to Marseilles for 

 distillation. In India a very unpleasant sort of liquor is 

 distilled from the flowers ; but in France, after a long 

 course of experiments, a means has been found of recti- 

 fying the spirit, and the result is very good alcohol. A 

 man might make his fortune by finding how the French 

 do it, and practising the art in India.— Indian Agrit it- 

 urut. [There is money to be made in Ceylon too in this 

 line.— Ed.] 



A Wondekvul New Cotton Plant. — Attention is now 

 attracted, says an Atlanta, Ga., despatch, to a new sort of 

 cotton plant, which bids fair to prove immensely valuable. For 

 many years A. A. Subers, of Macon, has been carefully 

 experimenting to hybridise the cotton plant that grows 

 wild in Florida with the common okra. The cotton plant 

 used is of that species which is found in the lowlands of 

 the Caloosahatchie River. The new plant retains the okra 

 stalk and the foliage of the cotton. Its flower and fruit. 

 however, are strikingly unlike either cotton or okra. The 

 ilant has an average height of two feet, and each plant 

 _ias only one bloom, This is a magnificent flower, very 

 much like the great magnolia in fragrance, and equally 

 as large. Like the cotton bloom, the flower is white for 

 several days after it opens, after which it is first pe.le 

 pink, and gradually assumes darker shades of this colour 

 until it becomes red, when it drops, disclosing a wonder- 

 ful boll. For about ten days this boll resembles the cotton 

 boll, and then its growth suddenly increases, as if by magic, 

 until it reaches the size of a big coconut. Not until it 

 reaches this size does the lint appear. Then its snowy 

 threads begin to burst from the boll, but are securely 

 held in place by the okra-like thorns or points that line 

 the boll. One inexperienced picker can easily gather 800 lb. 

 a day, and fast hands much more. Were the only saving 

 that of labor in gathering the lint, the result of Mr. 

 Suber's experiment would entitle him to the everlasting 

 gratitude of the Southern farmer. But this is not all- 

 there are no seeds in the lint. Each boll produces about 

 21b. of very long staple cotton, superior to the Sea Island, 

 and at the bottom of the boil there are from four to six- 

 seeds, resembling persimmon seed. This new 'cotton, there- 

 tore, uetds no ginning,— Boston Jm)vd of Commerce. 



hi 



Pitch Pine. — Pitch pine has been largely used for 

 London roads. The export of this wood from Florida is 

 very great, as it is highly esteemed in England; it is 

 called piuus rigida, and General Morgan, in his work on 

 Forestry in Southern India, strongly recommends that it 

 should be tried here. It is certainly better adapted to 

 this climate than was Piuus Maritima to the lowcountry. 

 We sadly need a variety of useful imported trees. E. 

 Globulus or Blue-gum, was a great boon, but that was 

 introduced by a private gentleman. Let Government 

 make a few trial plantations of useful imported trees. 

 Some private individuals have done much for these hills 

 in importing valuable trees, but experimental plantations 

 should be the work of the Forest Department. We had 

 hoped to see some change and some improvement in this 

 line, with a Conservator up here, but as yet there is no 

 sign. — South of India Observer. 



"Drying Ferns. — A recent number of the Indian Gard- 

 ener gives some useful hints on drying fern fronds. Of 

 course, every one has his own way of going to work about 

 it, but the difficulty which most of us meet with is to re- 

 tain their natural colours in the same manner as is 

 generally employed for obtaining herbarium specimens of 

 other plants; in fact, ferns gives us very little trouble in 

 this respect, that is, if well ripened fronds are selected 

 for preservation, as they dry so much quicker than most 

 other plants owing to the thin papery texture of their 

 leaves. The writer gives the following instructions, and, 

 if carefully carried out, will give satisfactory results. In 

 the first place, the drying paper selected should be thick, 

 unglazed, and of an absorbent nature, such as blotting 

 paper or any other kind that absorbs moisture quickly. 

 A convenient size is 12 inches by 18 inches, or certainly 

 not longer than 16 inches by 24 inches. Place three or 

 fojr sheets of pape- between every layer of fronds, and 

 where a large quantity has to be dried, a thin board 

 should be placed after every ten or twelve layers, as 

 this will render the pressure equal on every part. In 

 order to keep the pinna? in their proper place, the fronds 

 must must be placed face downwards on the paper, and 

 a top layer of paper placed on them. A piece of plank, 

 an inch or more in thickness, should be placed on the 

 top of all, and on this some heavy weight should be 

 laid. As the paper gets moist from absorption, it will 

 require to be changed at an interval of 24 hours, every 

 three or four days. As soon as the fronds are quite dry, 

 they should be gummed on to sheets of white paper. — 

 Indian Agriculturist. 



Suggestion about Orchards. — Somebody will say, "How 

 have you got peach trees twenty-seven years old iu vigorous 

 bearing?" Well, I'll tell you. I saw a suggestion in a 

 Yankee newspaper, that if the white worm about an inch 

 long was removed with a knife from the root of the tree, in 

 November, or at any time, and some lime and ashes 

 mixed and placed at the spot, it would help the pencil 

 tree. I had but ten left. I took my knife and "laid it 

 to the root of the tree" where the flat-headed, maggoty 

 looking "varmint" was piling up the life-blood of the 

 tree in the shape of glue, and I never stopped until I 

 got out the last one from the ten trees, which were al 

 the time twelve years old, and iu a decaying condition, 

 and piled up a peck of lime and ashes around the roots 

 and the dirt I put back. What was the result? They re- 

 covered at once, put on the most beautiful green, and 

 were loaded down for three years in succession with splend- 

 id peaches, such as they had never borne while in their 

 best years. They have missed sometimes on account of 

 frost, &c, but this last season bore well, anil fruii free 

 of worms. The process has been repeated three or four 

 times ^ince the first. Five peach trees treated this way 

 are worth fifty let alone. I liHve put a great nanny trees to 

 fill in old places and have extended my orchard; but after 

 twenty-seven years of practical study and experience in 

 this matter. I would say to one who was going to put 

 out au orchard; don't buy too many kinds, don't prune 

 too much, mulch the land with wood mould, or the wood- 

 pile chips or something else, if you have not the manure, 

 and wash the bodies of your trees with soap-suds, and 

 keep the sun from the bodies of your young trees. 

 To show the importance of this shading part, just turn 

 down one of your young trees to the north so thai 'I" 

 sun can shine on the body, and see how soon the blifctur 

 i ?nd tflu worm will eet iu,— Southern Planter, 



