May i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



827 



temperature varying between ~- and i'> Cent. (72 to 

 77 Fahr.) The cost of living in Buitenzorg would not 

 exceed 450 francs per month (£18). This includes hotel 

 and excursion expenses, but if it is intended to travel 

 in the interior ol Java the expenses will be increased 

 considerably. But there is no need to go far from 

 Buitenzorg to get a good idea of tropical vegetation. 

 Six months would be long enough to spend in the Garden 

 of Buitenzorg, and it should not cost more than 5,000 

 francs (£200). Dr. Treub suggests that scientific societies 

 and like associations should assist the botanists of their 

 countries to pass a few months in Buitenzorg. — Gardeners' 

 1 Chronicle. 



SULPHIDE OF POTASSIUM AS A REMEDY FOR 

 PLANT DISEASE. 



Various applications of sulphur have been used from 

 time immemorial for the destruction of mildew and red- 

 spider, generally in the form of flowers of sulphur — an 

 imperfect remedy, the application of which is both 

 inconvenient and unsightly. Some old gardeners recm- 

 niend quicklime and sulphur to be boiled together, in 

 water ; this makes a solution of bisulphide of calcium, 

 which is probably a very efficient form of applying 

 sulphur to plants, but as yet I have not tried it. 



The mixture of sulphur and carbon, or bisulphide of carbon, 

 is known to be the best remedy against Phylloxera, but 

 unfortunately it is very sparingly soluble in water (some 

 reatises on chemistry describe it as insoluble) ; moreover, 

 its odour is most offensive. The odour of the compound 

 of sulphur and potassium (bisulphide, or sulpburet of 

 potassium, the "liver of sulphur" of the old books), 

 which is here recommended, is not agreeable being that 

 of Harrogate water, but it is sweet compared with the 

 carbon compound ; however, I gratefully tolerate the 

 smell, in recognition of the multifarious cures it effects 

 in man, beast, and plant. A strong solution (halt an 

 ounce to a pint of water) applied to the surface affected, 

 by means of lint or rag wetted in it. is a perfect 

 remedy for many kin. Is of poisoned wounds, skin diseases 

 caused by vegetable and animal parasites, withlows, and 

 many forms of inflammation involving the formation of 

 pus. I have had thirty years' experience of its valuable 

 qualities in such cases, and I never found it do any 

 mischief in the few where do benefit could be traced to 

 its use. On two occasions gardeners in my employ came 

 to me with poisoned wounds, each with his hand and 

 fingers swollen, and both perfectly stilt", with a red line 

 up the arm, showing extension of the inflammation to 

 the axilla ; in each case I applied to the band a bandage 

 wet with a strong solutiou, and in each case on the 

 next day the inflammation bad disappeared, and the hand 

 and fingers could be moved freely. I make no excuse 

 for referring to this medical phase of the subject, for 

 independently of the liability of gardeners to the accident 

 referred to, the action of the potassium compound of 

 sulphur on animals is of the same character as its action 

 on plants, and what is very important, to neither, even 

 when no direct benefit can be traced to its application, 

 it does any harm, even to the most delicate plant, when 

 plunged overhead. Plunge soil and pot in a solution 

 of a quarter of an ounce to the gallon (I have frequently 

 used half an ounce to the gallon without mischief, but 

 a quarter of an ounce is sufficient) ; I have saturated 

 every Orchid, filling two houses, "without a trace of 

 injury to foliage, pseudobulb, or root ; in fact, the growing 

 points of the roots appear more active after the dose. 

 As to the benefit to plauts to be derived from its use, 

 it arrests at once all forms of fungoid growth — even the 

 hard fungus which grows on dead wood ; it is a perfect 

 remedy for mildew on Roses, &c. I have found it efficient 

 against red-spider ; it is probably equally so igainst microbes, 

 various forms of which are doubtless as injurious to 

 plauts as other forms are supposed to be to animals. 

 It will probably relieve us from those diseases which are 

 so destructive to the bulbs of Lilies, Eucharis, &c. My 

 limited experience has already proved that it has arrested 

 disease in mauy varieties of plants. I was driven to 

 the necessity of taking some active steps to counteract 

 it form of disease, which had become endemic with me, 



the marked symptom of which is rotteu roots. As this 

 has increased so much of late, and had begun to attack 

 every plant in my houses (a great variety), I began 

 experimenting at the beginning of this winter very carefully 

 with the sulpburet of potassium, and growing bolder as 

 I traced nn injury to its use, I ultimately applied it to 

 marly all my plants. I should have postponed writing 

 until after an extended experience during the growing 

 period of the year; but I thought that some benefit might 

 arise from others joining in the experiment, even if they 

 limited themselves to testing its effect upon that very 

 troublesome disease, mildew on Roses, which so frequently 

 puts in its appearance at this season of the year. The 

 compound is cheap— I pay 8d. per pound for it ; it is 

 very soluble in water, and is easy of application. — Elmi-s'd 

 T'onks, Warwickshire. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



THE MANUFACTURE OF INDIAN TEA. 



"Spectator" writing to the Statist, apropos of an extract 

 from Messrs. Gow and Wilson's annual review of the tea 

 trade, which has appeared in our columns, relative to tea 

 manufacture and deterioration in quality of Indian tea 

 says, " There is doubtless a measure of truth as regards 

 the deterioration in quality of Indian teas, resulting from 

 a lack of scientific knowledge of the requisite conditions 

 of manufacture. It must not be lost sight of, however, 

 that although this applies to many of the older and possi- 

 bly best-known tea concerns, it certainly is not the case 

 on a large number of the more modern and better ad- 

 ministered estates — just those where machinery is most 

 largely used. On many of these estates, all the processes 

 of manufacture have now for several years been the sub- 

 ject of most careful study by a large and intelligent body 

 of planters, many of them men of high social standing and 

 good education. While, then, it is undoubtedly the case 

 that there is produced much tea, on the manufacture of 

 which a minimum of intelligence and skill is bestowed, on 

 the other hand a very considerable minority at least of 

 the estates produce teas of high-class merit, such me rit 

 mainly attributable to the care and skill bestowed on its 

 preparation. Owing to the large quantities of leaf which 

 at the height of the season have now to be dealt with, 

 when weather is unpropitious, quality is often unavoidably 

 inferior. In factories, however, where a good system pre- 

 vails — where there is an intelligent manager, a sufficient 

 staff of well-trained sirdars and coolies, and where adequate 

 machinery and sufficient withering accommodation exists 

 — the evil effect, even of unfavourable weather con ditions, 

 is reduced to a minimum. As proof of this, it is only 

 necessary to point to certain well-known factories which 

 continue, from year's end to year's end to produce uniform 

 high-class quality, and obtain regular "long'' p:ices for 

 their teas. 



"As regards your allusions to points of detail : — 'Wither- 

 big Leaf. — The application of artificial heat to raise the 

 temperature of the "leaf-houses" has often been tried, 

 and in many quarters this is now done at the height of 

 the rainy season. Almost all planters, however, are agreed 

 that this is not conducive to high-class quality, and is 

 only resorted to as a last resource. Several machines and 

 processes have been invented and tried for the artificial 

 withering of the leaf, and although it is possible that some 

 suitable system for drying the air, without absolutely heat- 

 ing it, may yet be found, yet so far no satisfactory method 

 has '' been discovered. It is, however, of course, fully re- 

 cognised that the withering process is the most crucial 

 one in manufacture. 



"Firing — Your able correspondent's assertion — that the 

 whole secret is, ' the tea must not be calcined ' — is, I 

 venture to say, scarcely the whole truth. The secrets of 

 high-class manufacture are multifarious ; they consist in a 

 most careful attention to every component part of the 

 process, from the moment it commences till the time the 

 tea is finally ' fired off.' As regards, however, the dur- 

 ation of the process and the temperature at which it should 

 be done your correspondent raises a point which at this 

 juncture deserves the attention of all planters, and is well 

 worthy of full discussion. Since the introduction of 

 machinery, there has undoubtedly been a tendency to too 

 rapid firing at an extreme temperature. More recently. 



