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THE TROPICAL AGRICTTLTTTRIST. 



[April i, 1885. 



Storing Potatoes. — A cheap and efficient plan of stor- 

 ing Potatoes we have had iu use about six years, and found 

 it answer in every way ; in fact, much better than the old 

 plan of clamping them in the open ground as we used to 

 do. IVe can examine them without trouble and in any 

 weather. A description of this may be of use to some 

 readers who have no cellar or frost-proof place in which to 

 stow them. AVe had a hole dug iu the tool shed about 

 6 feet long, 4 feet wide, aud the same in depth, placing 

 some rough boards round to keep the soil from falling in, 

 the end boards fitting tight to keep the sides in their places. 

 The top was covered with two old doors, answering as a 

 covering for the pit and a floor to the shed. We store 

 about a ton of Potatoes every year, with a little straw on 

 the top to keep the air from them. "We have had them 

 safe with _ the thermometer registering 20° of frost. We 

 also find it an excellent place to keep our Dahlias in, 

 also Beet or any roots that are injured by the frost. They 

 keep as fresh and plump as when packed in sand.— H. 

 E. M. — Journal of Horticulture. 



A Pamphlet on the Forest Areas in Europe and 

 America and Probaiile Future Timber Supplies, by Dr.. 

 Lyons, M.P., is just issued, and contains a large amount 

 of important information in relation to this subject. Dr. 

 Lyons has been engaged for two years, through the agency 

 of the Foreign Office, in investigating the matter; but a 

 large portion of inquiries in reference to Canada has not 

 yet been completed. The concluding paragraph, in reference 

 to the importance of the subject, is as follows : — " With 

 every State in Europe and America alive to the urgent 

 necessity of forest work, and with the example of the 

 great forest system of India before us — not yet forty years 

 under conservancy, but already controlling 60,000 to 711,000 

 squares miles of forest — shall these islands alone stand 

 aloof from the great work of forest conservancy and ex- 

 tension? Out of 77,000,000 acres it is possible for England, 

 Ireland, and Scotland to contribute, with advantage to 

 their industries as well as their agriculture, something like 

 £20,000,000 sterling per annum. The day her industries 

 are paralysed by failure of timber, now within measur- 

 able distance of us, this Empire must descend from her high 

 place amongst the nations." — Journal of Horticulture. 



Turtle Oil. — Some turtle oil from the Seychelles was 

 recently presented to the Museum by Messrs. AVright, 

 Layman and Umney, accompanied by the statement that 

 it was used iu that island as a substitute for cod liver oil 

 in the treatment of consumption. On a previous occasion, 

 some turtle oil from Jamaica had also been presented to 

 tho Museum by Messrs. Evans, Lescher and Evans, who 

 informed me that it was esteemed as a cure for consump- 

 tion, and asked for information concerning it. Both the 

 oils are of a yellowish colour, and at ordinary temper- 

 atures m this couutry form a thick finely granular fluid, 

 resembling in consistence olive oil which has partly congealed. 

 According toSimmonds ('Commercial Products of the Sen,' 

 p, 308) as much as ten gallons of oil are sometimes ob- 

 tained from a single turtle oE large size. Ho states, how- 

 ever, that the fat is exposed to the heat of the sun, in order 

 to convert it into oil. There cau be no doubt that the oil 

 oould be obtained in very large quantities if a demand 

 should arise for it, since Mr. Brooks states that hi- would 

 find no difficulty in supplying six thousand gallons per | 

 annum from the Seychelles alone. An animal oil so com- 

 paratively free from smell and taste, and of fairly good 

 keeping qualities, of which the supply is practically un- 

 limited, should find many applications beside use iu medicine 

 Its colour and non-drying properties render it admirably 

 adapted for pomades, for which an animal oil is generally 

 considered to be preferable to a vegetable one. Jamaica 

 Turtle Oil. — Concerning this oil, I have only been ableto 

 learn, through a correspondent of Messrs. T. Christy and 

 Co., that it is obtained from the flesh of the back of the 

 turtle known in that island as the trunk turtle, which is 

 supposed by Dr. Giinther, of the British Museum, to be 

 I 'In Ionia caoicana. Mr. Calderon states that " it is much 

 used by the natives of the Tortola and Virgin Islands as 

 a substitute for cod liver oil, and said to be more efficacious. 

 In is also used as an alterative in syphilis, anil is almost 

 their only remedy for rheumatism, for which it is taken 

 is ternally and use-1 externally.' The sample I have receivi d 

 it not quite so palatable as that from the Seychelles.— 

 Plutrniaceutical Journal. 



Giving Liquid Manure.— "Never give liquid manure to 

 a plant when the sod is dry, and never give food to a 

 man when he is famishing." "Thinker" does not mean 

 this, I dareasy; but it is what his advice about dry soils 

 undoubtedly amounts to. I do not often water Peas, but 

 m dry seasons I have had to do it, and as it is as easy 

 to give liquid manure at such times as water I have poured 

 farmyard manure, full strength, along the rows clear of 

 the haulm, and then washed it in with the hose. The 

 Peas were drooping with the drought when this was doue, 

 and the result was accelerated and better growth. I agree 

 with all "Thinker" says about the danger of giving manure 

 too strong; but in regard to dry soils I am, provided the 

 manure is of the proper strength, a— Non-Believer.— Jour- 

 nal of Horticulture. 



Evergreen Oaks.— Having seen some letters in the Field 

 on the subject of evergreen oaks (Quercus ilex), and the 

 advantages of planting them for shelter, and having lately 

 spent some time in the native country of that tree (Mo- 

 rocco), I think it worth mentioning how much the acorns 

 are made use of as food in that land, both by the people 

 themselves, and all animals, both wild and tame ; enorm- 

 ous quantities of them are sold ■ in the markets, and are 

 really, I think, capital eating, superior to chesnuts or wal- 

 nuts ; the wild ducks eat them iu such numbers that 

 sometimes they are so gorged as to be almost unable to 

 rise. The trees bear two varieties, one kind deliriously 

 sweet, and another totally uneatable, aud of a most acid 

 and bitter taste, not easily got rid of. In appearance 

 they are undistinguishable. The whole country seems to 

 have been originally a forest of this tree, and in most 

 uncultivated places is now a dense copse of this husk. 

 Your correspondent mentions that these trees (Q. ilex) 

 flourish splendidly in Devonshire, and ripens their acorns. 

 I should much like to know if those so ripened are sweet 

 and eatable as in Morocco. The trees grow splendidly in 

 Ireland, but the acorns never ripen and seldom form. I 

 have never seen the fruit brought to this country for sale, 

 though I think it would be approved of. It is sold in 

 Gibraltar, but those sold there are quite uneatable, ap- 

 parently not the right variety.— T>%R(i.— Field. 



Linnean Society, November 6.— Mr. W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer exhibited the following plauts and their products:— 

 (1) J'accinium areiostaphulus, from which the Trebizonde 

 tea ("Thc-du-Bu-Dagh") is prepared at Amassia and 

 Tokat. The tea has a pleasant odour, but a somewhat 

 harsh taste when drunk. (2) I'ueraria Thunheryiana, 

 specimens of this Coroau plant and of the cloth made 

 from it. (3) Pachyrhi/:a sinensis, with the native name 

 of " Kopoo," a leguminous plant from the fibres of which 

 the yellow and more expensive summer cloth is made.— 

 Mr. Thos. Christy showed and made remarks on a specim- 

 en _ of Kola acuminata. — Mr. K. A. Rolfe afterwards 

 exhibited examples of British oak-galls produced by 

 Cynipidean insects of the geuus Xeuroterus. These were 

 the silk-button gall formed by X. nirmismatis, the globose 

 gall produced by X. ostn us, the sniooth-spangle gall 

 formed by N. fumipennis, the scarce-spangle gall formed 

 by .V. laviusculns, and the common spangle gall produced 

 by X. lentictdaris, as also a purple variety of the latter 

 gall. He stated that the plan and details of the galls 

 depend on the nature of the irritating fluid deposited by 

 the insect; but on the other hand the different species 

 of oak seem to have an influence in determining certain 

 variations as to colour, and, it may be, general growth. 

 of the gal's. A collection of plants male in Timor 

 Laut by Henry O. Forbes. Therein a short account is 

 given of the nature of the islands and of the general 

 character of the vegetation, after which comes a technical 

 list of about eighty plauts.— Prof. Oliver adds a note 

 that, "This collection, so far as it goes, is made up in 

 great part of the more widely diffused species of the 

 Indian Archipelago. The most interesting plants appear 

 to be: one in fruit only, referred to the mehaceous genus 

 Omnia, probably O. cerasifera, Muell., of Queensland; a 

 fine Hfucuni, of the section Stigolol ium ; a Selarbrea, an 

 araliaceous genus hitherto only received from New Caledonia, 

 and a fruit of possibly a Strombosia. Mr. Forbes himself 

 i- inclined (o regard the Timor Laut flora and fauna as 

 having affinities with the Mohican (Amboina) region.— 

 Natm >:. 



