826 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



due to the nitrification of the soil ; but there is a diffic- 

 ulty atteuding this explanation which is not easily got 

 over. The cereal grain crops are especially benefited by 

 the application of nitrates, but plaster is rarely found to 

 be a good manure for these crops. M. Pichard's experi- 

 ments were carried on upon a very poor soil, the or- 

 ganic matter of which would not nitrify without the addition 

 of some ferment. We have found it very difficult to 

 nitrify the organic matter in our subsoils at Rothamsted ; 

 if, however, the gypsum, when carried down by rain-water, 

 would set up a nitrifying action in the subsoil, such a 

 fact would be of considerable value in accounting for the 

 source of the nitrogen in these plants. In the papers 

 which we read at Montreal, both last year and this year, 

 we have brought forward a good deal of evidence which 

 bears upon this very complicated subject. With plants 

 which take their food not very far from the surface of 

 the soil, we can, with great care and attention, determine 

 by analysis of the soil the losses which have taken place 

 by the removal of crops. When, however, the roots of 

 plants extend several feet below the surface, as is the 

 case with some of the leguminous plants, and the in- 

 fluence of these roots extends some considerable dis- 

 tance below their extremeties, all our efforts to measure 

 the loss which takes place in a soil has hitherto proved in- 

 effectual. Greater exhaustion of the soil by the continual 

 removal of these crops, and more accurate processes foi 

 the analysis of soils, may in the course of time find a 

 solution; in the meantime it is satisfactory to know 

 that upon all soils upon which plaster was applied in- 

 creased the growth, ami the cultivator provided for his 

 cereal crop a supply of nitrogen much more cheaply 

 than by any other means, and even when plaster fails 

 he may have recourse to Kanit salt with some consider- 

 able prospect of success. — Southern Plant- r. 



CUBING TOBACCO BY OPEN FIKES 

 AND SMOKE. 



The log barns for curing dark and strong tobacco 

 with fire and smoke, as they were constructed in colonial 

 times, are still common. These barns are built of straight 

 logs about eight or ten inches in diameter, and usually 

 about twenty feet long. They are put up in the form 

 of a square pen, and notched down at the corners so as 

 to touch each other. About seven feet from the ground 

 the first corner of tier-poles are put, resting on the logs 

 on opposite sides, and four feet apart. As the body of 

 the house is built up, at each three feet another course 

 of tier-poles are placed vertically over those below, and 

 so on until the body of the house reaches the desired 

 height — generally about twenty feet. Hewn plates are 

 then put on, and upon these the feet of the rafters rest. 

 The rafters are so framed as to have an elevation of 

 forty-five or fifty degrees, and they are placed over the 

 line of the tier-poles, and are strengthened by cross-ties 

 nailed strongly on opposite sides. These ties are also 

 placed the same distance apart as the tier-poles of the 

 body, and ranging vertically above them afford the means 

 of hanging nearly as much tobacco in the roofs as in 

 the bo.iy. 



The covering of the roof is now usually of shingles, or 

 with planks placed vertically with the joints covered by 

 other and narrower planks. 



After the house is completed, a door is cut 01% the 

 south side, and a proper shutter made and bung by 

 wooden or metal ic hinges. The space between the logs 

 should be daubed with clay to the height of the first 

 line of tier-pol. .-, and if the logs are properly notched, 

 no daubing will be needed above. The openings be- 

 tween the logs will afford ventilation for drying out the 

 tobacco when necessary, and bringing in order in damp 

 weather when it is desirable to strike and place it in 

 bulk. The tobacco, when it is cut from the field, is 

 hung on sticks riven from straight-grained timber, four 

 and a half feet long and about an inch square. These 

 sticks, when filled from six to twelve plants each, according to 

 size, are lifted into the barn and hung on the tier-poles, 

 commencing in the roof and working downwards; and 

 when the house is filled, the firing may commence at 

 once, or hi' postponed a day or two, according to weather 



and other circumstances. The fires are always made of 

 green or half-seasoned logs, cut- about six or eight feet 

 long, and of a size that man can lift and carry into the 

 house. These logs are laid end to end in three parallel 

 rows, and three or four together, the rows being about 

 six feet apart. Small fires are kindled under and be- 

 tween the logs at short distances with some dry materia], 

 and when the logs commence burning the fires are kept 

 up by adding other logs. Care is taken that the fires 

 are kept slow at first, generating more smoke than heat ; 

 but as the tobacco begins to dry, more heat is given 

 until the leaf ami the lower part of the main stem is 

 well cured. This process requires great care to prevent 

 a conflagration. In its last stages the leaf becomes a'mest 

 as dry as tiuder, and a ffew strong sparks generated by 

 careless handling of the fires will in many cases cause 

 the destruction of the barn and contents. — Southern 

 Planter. 



AN INVITATION TO JAVA. 



The study of vegetable anatomy and of the physio- 

 logy of tropical plants cannot be carried out on an 

 extensive or satisfactory scale at home, where the 

 specimeus are few, and grown under glass. In order 

 to thoroughly investigate the growth and progress of 

 these plants, it is necessary to have abundance of 

 material at hand in all stages of growth. This want 

 is to be supplied by the spirited enterprise of Dr. 

 Treub, the Director of the famous Botanic Garden of 

 Buitenz-org, Java. Dr. Treub, invites European botan- 

 ists to spend a few mouths in Buitenzorg, where 

 literary and every olher facility is afforded for their 

 investigations. Dr. Treub has, with the consent of the Dutch 

 Government, established a physiological laboratory. 

 The usual reagents, small bottles necessaries for work, 

 are placed at the disposal of the botanists. Alcohol, 

 bottles, and herbarium-paper, which the visitor may wish 

 to use for his collections, will be furnished at the expense 

 of the visitor. Dr. Treub will assist the investigations 

 by procuring materials for investigation, and by furnish- 

 ing any information desired. The botanic garden pro- 

 per, founded in 1817 by Professor Keimvardt, consists of 

 9H acres, and contains more than 9,000 species ; each species 

 is represented by two plants. The directorate consists of 

 a director and a sub-director ; the garden work is carried on 

 by a head gardener and an assistant gardener and by 

 several native workmen. The agricultural garden is 6 

 miles from Buitenzorg. This garden contains 172 acres, 

 and was founded in 1876. Another botanic garden is 

 situated on the slopes of the volcano of Gedeh, at an 

 elevation of about 4,500 feet. The botanical museum, 

 in the centre of Buitenzorg. near the garden, contains the 

 herbarium and a collection of vegetable productions pre- 

 served dry and in alcohol. The same building contains 

 the library and the garden offices. A small place in the 

 museum ground is reserved for drawing and photography. 



Buitenzorg is situated in one of the most beautiful 

 part of Western Java, and about 36 miles from Batavia, 

 at the base of a great mountain, Salak. 



There is an idea that people visiting the tropics are 

 necessarily subject to serious maladies, but this is errone- 

 ous, especially with regard to Java. The chances of 

 illness are less than those entailed during a winter in 

 Europe. Dr. Treub does not pretend that a stranger 

 going to dwell there for four or five months cannot fall 

 ill, but he asserts that the chances of taking a serious 

 illness are not greater than if be stayed at home or 

 travelled in Europe during the winter. 



The best time for a botanist to visit Buitenzorg is 

 from October to April. It iA the wet season, and the 

 heavy and frequent rains are sometimes troublesome, 

 but it is the coolest and the healthiest season, and the 

 one in which vegetation is most luxuriant. Mortov-er, 

 even in the rainy season, it seldon rains before mid- 

 day, and as for the so-called dry season rain is very 

 frequent, for a continual drought, as in the east of Java, 

 is unknown in Buitenzorg. The temperature is not so 

 high as represented ; the maximum at midday is be- 



t« i 28° and.29 Cent. (83" to 85° Fahr.) in the shade. 



In the dry season the thermometer reaches 31" Cent. 

 (S8° f'ahr.l The evenings, nights, and mornings are fresh. 



