8 3 o 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



BhouM lie propagated largely, we would strongly advise 

 the Director to turn his attention to the grafting, inarch- 

 ing and budding of the garcinias found growing wild from 

 three to five thousand feet in the valley ; there should 

 be no difficulty in transplanting trees of ten years of age 

 into tho gardens, and then fruit would be produced m 

 from two to there years. Fortunately, the same difficulty 

 does not occur in propagating that very delicious fruit the 

 Leechee which grows readily from seed, and we are 

 surprised that this valuable fruit is not more 

 widely known and appreciated. We believe it could grow 

 readily up to five thousand feet elevation, provided frost 

 was kept from it. The Chinese esteem the fruit highly, 

 and it has been largely cultivated in Bengal. It might be 

 grafted" on Shleichera trijuga which is a common tree in 

 the Wynaad and of the same sapindaceoua order. The 

 orange trees in the garden did not look healthy; we con- 

 sider they are suffering from want of manure, they are 

 mere twiggy bushes in comparison with that noble tree 

 in Gray's Garden at Coonoor, which is said to bear three 

 hundred dozen of splendid oranges and to consume 

 fifty loads of insure annually. Whilst on the subject of 

 oranges, it may be as well to note that the celebrated 

 orange gardens of hundreds of acres near Sydney, in Austr- 

 alia, are heavily manured with bone dust, whereby their 

 flavor and bearing properties are largely increased. The 

 Pommelo trees also looked mean, probably suffering from 

 the same cause. There is said to be a very superior 

 variety of Pommelo grown near Eajahmundry. 



We were disappointed iu the Vanilla plant : no attempt at 

 growing it successfully seemed to have been made. We 

 have heard that a Frenchman near Mahe has grown it 

 very successfully ; he has his plants iu a walled garden 

 trained over a trellis like a vine, for the roots he uses 

 charcoal, broken bricks, and much manure. 



We were disappointed to find the following valuable 

 plants missing, they should certainly be introduced speedily, 

 and, we think the Director might apply to Government 

 for a special grant on this head. We know of no country 

 where fruit is more required than in the Madras 

 Presidency, and where there is so little fruit fit to eat. 

 The coffee planter would find the growing of a few fruit 

 trees, not only a profitable, but pleasant occupation fur 

 his leisure hours. In our market here, we on obtain a 

 few kinds, mostly inferior, such as oranges, jak, plantains, 

 and that is about all. The price of Mangosteen fruits 

 at Burliar is three rupees a dozen ; this is almost prohibitory, 

 as the fruit is so smalt that on a hot day one could 

 easily eat ten rupees worth, and (and like the man who 

 eat six kittywakes as a whet to his appetite before dinner) 

 feel no hungrier than when he commenced ; certainly they 

 would not be equal to half a dozen graft mangoes, which 

 in the season can be bought for a rupee. There is a 

 bread fruit tree in the garden, bnt the produce is inferior 

 and full of seeds. The best sorts come from the Marquesas 

 Group. If once a market was found for really good fruit 

 at a moderate price, we are sure fruit cultivation would 

 be carried out largely; at present, there is no market and 

 there is no fruit As for Bangalore, the fruit, like the 

 vegetables there, has no flavor, strawberries are insipid, 

 apples are woolley, figs have no flavor, grapes ditto. 



We would recommend the Director to obtain the follow- 

 ing fruit trees as soon as possible, and no doubt, when 

 people have tasted really good fruit, sold at a moderate 

 price, the demand for such will be considerable. Vines 

 from Aruugabad : the Hubshee grape is noted for its 

 fiue flavor, also the best kinds from the Cape, Australia 

 and from England. Those growing in a cool vinery as 

 well as those in a stove house, also the celebrated 

 Catawba vine from America, and some from California. 



Figs; all the best varieties from England and Italy. 



Orange ; the best varieties. 



Pommelo or Shaddock: the best varieties. 



Peaches ■ those from Oandahar, Quetta, &c, might 

 thrive well, say in a Coonoor climate. 



Plums ■ varieties. 



Graft Mangoes ; there are some very fine kinds to be 

 got from Goa. 



Pine apples from England. 



Cucumbers could be grown for fruit and seed at 

 Burliar, the best sorts should be got out from home, such 

 as Telegraph. 



Melons: the same remark applies. 



Mulberries, Avacado pear, Sour sop, Diospyros Kaki 

 from China, Rarnbutau from the Straits. 



Edible Passion fruit. 



Then again there is the Hya Hya or cow-tree ; 

 Tabernosmonta a most valuable tree. 



Paullinia Sorbilis or guarana ; for the bread made from 

 the seeds ; very nourishing. 



Then we might have cardamoms, pepper, ginger, turmeric, 

 sweet and bitter cassava, the large capsicum that grows 

 iu Egypt. Tomatoes, coca which now grows in the 

 Museum gardens at Madras, from this plant Coacine is 

 made, which promises to be of immense importance in 

 surgical operations. 



We have drawn up but a short list of what might be 

 successfully tried in the Burliar Gardens, and we trust, 

 as our Director of Parks and Gardens on the Neilgherries 

 has so high an opinion of the capabilities of Burliar, 

 that he will not fail to avail himself of them. If he 

 only introduces the few trees that we have named, he 

 will have has work cut out for years to come, and with 

 a stall in our grand uew market now building, he cannot 

 fail to find the undertaking, both remunerative to 

 Government and a stimulus to private enterprise. With 

 our changing [ opulation, it is useless to hope that private 

 individuals will inaugurate experiments such as we have 

 indicated; they have neither the knowledge, the money, 

 nor the time. It remains for the Government to do 

 what private individuals cannot or will not do ; and, as 

 this lies in Mr. Grant Duff's peculiar line, we commend 

 our remarks to his notice, and trust he will give a hearty 

 support to the Government Director. We have, in a 

 former article on fruit growing on these Hills, alluded 

 to the little progress that has been made hitherto, but 

 we trust all such perfunctory modes of doing work on 

 thcs« Hills as have hitherto prevailed, will be numbered 

 with the things of the past, and a new order of things 

 arise, which shall really be a benefit to the country 

 generally. — Planters'' 'Review. 



SELF-SUPPORTING EMPLOYMENT FOR LADIES 

 IN THE SOUTHERN STATES OF AMERICA. 



A PRIZE essay; 

 Marriage, however desirable for a woman — and accord- 

 ing to God's law it is the most harjpy and natural 

 destiny she can look forward to — ought not to be her one 

 aim in life: for the manifest reason that all women 

 cannot, in the nature of things, attain that end. 



The Culture of Flowers is an almost universal occup- 

 ation with us, Loth in town and country. In our geuial 

 climate flowers grow to the greatest perfection with the 

 least possible care. Now consider the thousands of 

 dollars spent daily in our large cities for floral decor- 

 ations. There is scarcely a social occasion on which floral 

 designs are not in demand, and we all know the ex- 

 travagance of the demand at funerals. At present they 

 are made almost exclusively by men — professional florists. 

 This work is natural to woman. Her fertile brain can 

 invent designs which her deft fingers can swiftly execute. 

 Gardening in all its branches has received much atten- 

 tion from English gentle-women, as witness Jane Chesney's 

 "New Vocation for Women" (in Macmillon's Mag. Vol. 

 40.) In France and Switzerland it is made a branch of 

 education for girls, as well as boys. Except the im- 

 portant work of preparing the soil, there is but little 

 hard work. Many have done it for pastime, why not 

 others for profit ? The growth of flowers for seeds re- 

 quires less capital and is perhaps commercially more 

 profitable than when the production of the flowers 

 themselves is aimed at. It is well to pay special attention 

 to such plants as one is particularly successful with. 

 Take for instance the old fashioned mignonette, helio- 

 trope, asters, &c; new varieties are always iu demand and 

 bring good prices. The beautiful orchids, palms, ferns, 

 and foliage plants which seem to grow under the foster- 

 ing care of some amateur gardeners as it" for the very 

 love of growing, bring immense prices in the large cities, 

 while the homeliest old-time balsams, sun-flowers, dahlias, 

 pausies, &c, are perfected and cultivated to such a degree 

 as to be commercially of considerable value. 



