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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [March 2, 1885. 



The Date Palm. — We have on various occasions 

 allured to the culture of the Date Palm at Bordighera 

 anil other places in the Riviera for decorative pur- 

 I'oeta. The leaves are tied together, and thus blanched, 

 and after dryiDg are gilded aDd used on Palm Sun- 

 day and other festivals of the Roman Church. But 

 heB'dei this, which was, we believe, the primary use 

 to which they were put, the leaves are now largely 

 usi d in the manufacture of ornamental baskets and 

 similar elegancies. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Grubs Injurious to Coconuts are thus noticed in 

 the Fiji Times : — 



There is a grub — called by the Fijians mhnimata— 

 wlrch has done considerable damage to some cocoDut 

 plantations on this end of the islaud. It fastens on the 

 leaves and eats off all the green and of course affects 

 the vitality and fruit yielding power of the tree. A 

 good way of getting rid of them is to light innumer- 

 able fires beneath the trees when rubbish is not too 

 dry and is likely to produce more smoke than fire, and 

 the smoke will drive the grubs all out of the trees. 

 The experiment has been tried with success on some 

 plantations, 



Mr. D. Morris in Jamaica. — The Rev. Dr. John- 

 stone of Brown's Towd has made a deep impression on 

 the minds of the people of Edinburgh by his Lectures on 

 Jamaica, while th( re in August. Another gentlemaD, 

 following his example, has been lecturing there on New 

 Zealand, with the object of inducing immigration in 

 that direction, and he is being successful, Would it 

 not be au advantageous move on the part of our 

 Government to send our talented and highly popular 

 Director of Public Gardens and Plantations on a Lec- 

 turing tour through England and America, taking with 

 him wax specimens of our Fruits and Flowers, Views 

 of the Island, and a collection of Curios to illustrate his 

 subject and so direct and assist emigrants to Jamaica? 

 He has the power of interesting an audience, of communic- 

 atiug his ideas and truths in a very popular way, and 

 our opinion is, from what has been done already, that 

 Mr. Morris might be most profitably employed as an ad- 

 vocate abroad, and so increase the chances of our future 

 prosperity. We trust the subject will not be allowed 

 to dropout of thought. — Gall's Weekly Nncs Letter. 



The Rio Coffee Crop Estimate is thus dealt with 

 by the .Km News: — The Associagao Commercial telegraphed 

 to New York and to Havre on the 9th and 10th iust, 

 that there had been no change in the coffee crop estimates 

 for the present season. This telegram was so evidently 

 asked for from the two markets in question, that we have 

 again had our attention called to the matter and it ap- 

 pears that in some instances the estimates have been in- 

 creased. We are somewhat at a loss to explain the di- 

 vergency in opinions and can only lay before our readers 

 what we have been able to gather upon the subject. A 

 majority of exporters, we believe, have not altered the 

 original estimates, for the following reasons: that last 

 year's crop was so nearly estimated in advance that this 

 season'" may be conceded to be in the same case; that the 

 large receipts arc directly attributable to the state of the 

 money market, through which plauters have been obliged 

 to market their crops hs quickly as they could be prepared ; 

 that, as was not the case last year, factors have, as a 

 rule, urged the plauters, to rasfket their crops and the 

 planters, liaviug seen the unfortunate result of the 

 syndicate, have given up their hopes of any return to 

 high prices and are complying with the factors' sug« 

 gestions, and finally that the argument, that the free 

 receipts ale attributable to an error in the estimate, may 

 he niet by the reply that the crop may be two thirds ex- 

 ported during the first half of a crop yea/ from the 

 increased facilities now possessed by the coffee producing 

 provinces. On the other side it may be said that when 

 erroneous, the errors have invariably been in uuder-estim- 

 ating the crops, and if last year's crop was correctly 

 calculated many instances can be produced where estimates 

 have been utterly unreliable; that planters have hardly 

 ever acknowledged that a growing crop was anything 



more than fair (i-eyular), aud that the consuming markets 

 seeing average receipts of over 13,000 bags to continue 

 steadily will be suspicious and unbelieving. AYe can 

 hardly dare to express any opiuion in a question where 

 those so closely interested in it diverge in their opinions. 

 It is certaiuly true that wolf ! has been so often the cry 

 of the planters, that consumers show incredulity ami are 

 prone to believe in any increase of the crop estimates, 

 but it is no less true (if the fable is reliable) that the 

 wolf finally came; also that the facilities for obtaining 

 reliable information regarding the crop have improved 

 is undeniable. Altogether the question is one where argu- 

 ment is of little importance ; both sides cannot be 

 right aud as the increased estimate for the 1884-85 crop 

 adds only 500,000 bags, and we are nearly half through 

 the season, an uninterested party would think, that be- 

 yond the very natural desireto have made correct estimates 

 this quantity could have no very serious effect upon 

 consuming markets, nor upon Rio houses. The majority 

 we repeat favor the original estimate of 3,500,000 bags. 

 The Ouchtf.rlony Valley Coffee Estates, amongst 

 the best and most profitable in the world before the 

 advent of leaf-disease, are thus noticed in the Madras 

 Mail: — The Adminstrator- General of Madras [stated 

 at the High Court, Madras, on Monday, that last year 

 on the Ouchterlony coffee estates nearly 2J lakhs of 

 rupees were spent, while the profit only amounted .to 

 about Rl, 25,000. That amount of profit is surely very 

 good ; but we suspect gross return from crop is meant ? 

 The Export of Parchment Coffee from Brazil 

 to the United States, probably, seems to be 

 assuming importance, judging from the following 

 paragraph in the South American Journal : — 

 " The Minister of Finance had announced that coffee 

 in the hull will be allowed shipment, paying duties 

 as good coffee, and that a deduction of 16 per cent 

 will be allowed on the weight. He instructs the 

 collector at Rio to prepare two tables, for eummer 

 and winter respectively, as the weight varies greatly 

 with the season of shipment. " 



Seed Testing. — At the New York Agricultural Station 

 an apparatus is used as follows : — A 12-inch square 

 earthen seed-pan is filled with a fine Band, pressed in, 

 and the surface properly smoothed. This seed-pan 

 is then placed in a copper tray 1 inch deep. Over 

 the seed-pan, and fitting within the tray, a copper 

 box with a glass cover is placed. The seeds, 

 generally one hundred of a sort, are carefully counted 

 and placed in parallel rows upon the surface of the 

 sand, and left exposed to observation. Water being 

 supplied to the tray capillary attraction keeps the 

 sand in the seed-pan evenly moistened, while evapor- 

 ation keeps the air within the apparatus and in con- 

 tact with the seed thoroughly saturated. Each day 

 the rows of seed are caret ully gone over, and such 

 seeds as are found germinated are counted as they are 

 removed. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Impatiens Hookeriana.— > otwithstandingthebeauty 

 of the flowers of this species, and the fact that th<y 

 are generally coufidered the largest of any, we 

 seldom hear of its being successfully flowered in this 

 country, Compared with 1. Sultani audi, flaccida 

 it is evidently not very floriferous even in Ceylon, 

 its native habitat. The two latter, and I. Sultani 

 especially, will flower in a small state either from seed 

 or cuttings, but the species under notice must be grown 

 to a considerable s ze. and towards the end of summer 

 subjected to a ripening process by full exposure to 

 light, with merely moisture sufficient to prevent flag- 

 ging. The fle-hy stems under this treatment will be 

 induoed to plump their flower-buds, which will flower 

 well into winter. The blossoms are pure white with 

 blood-red dots and lines on the two lower petals. 

 The white spur is curved and remarkably attenuated. 

 There is a figure of the species in the Botanical 

 Magazine, aud well flowered species may be seen in the 

 Begonia-hous6 at Kew,— Gardener)' Chronklu 



