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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 18S5. 



Circassian colonists who undertake this industry, and who 

 appear to be pretty numerous. - 



4 There are several gatherings of tea; that which 

 yields the best quality takes place in May. About 5,000 

 ocques (the ocque=2j lb.) are actually manufactured 

 annually, but this quantity could be considerably aug- 

 mented if there were occasion for it. 



5. At the time of gathering the plant is m a shrubby 



S 6 The tea is sold on the spot at about five piastres 

 per' ocque. The cost of transport to Samsoon might 

 amount to about one piastre, which brings the price per 

 ocque to six piastres in that town. 



7 The consumption is almost limited to the require- 

 ments of the Vilayets of Sivaz (Rouni) and Angora 

 (Anatolia). It is to the town bearing the last-mentioned 

 name that the greater part of the crop is sent. In 

 1881 a consignment was sent to France, but the trans- 

 action was not a profitable one. Some further con- 

 signments to Constantinople also do not appear to have 

 been successful.— Pharmaceutical Journal. 



THE CULTIVATION OF ROSES. 

 [With reference to the following extracts, see the remarks 

 under "Market Gardening" on pages 842-43— Ed.] 



Roses are subject to the attacks of many insects One 

 of the worst, and in some seasons the most troublesome, 

 is a small grub that establishes itself in the foliage and 

 causes it to curl, and also eats its way into the centre 

 of the flower buds. The only sure and effectual way 

 that we have found of eradicating them is to search 

 the plants diligently when they make their first appear- 

 ance and destroy them betweeu the thumb and fisrt 

 finger. This is rather a disagreeable method, but it is 

 a certain one, and a fine Rose bloom that might other- 

 wise be destroyed is worth the trouble required. Red 

 spider can be kept down by a free use of the syringe, 

 but if the plants are properly treated this will give 

 very little if any trouble until after the plants have 

 flowered. Aphides are readily destroyed by a weak 

 solution of tobacco water directly they appear. This 

 insect if allowed to become established soon airests the 

 growth of the plants, aud in a very short time completes 

 its work of destruction. Mildew is perhaps the worst 

 enemy the grower of Roses has to contend with, lhe 

 solution of softsoap and water which I have recommended 

 so frequently in these pages as a preventive is the 

 cheapest and best that can be used for the purpose. 

 Nothing else is used here, and mildew does not trouble 

 us, but the solution is applied every time the plants 

 are syringed, and when properly used and at the strength 

 I have already recommended, it will not injure even the 

 delicate petals of the Rose. If the plants are allowed 

 to become badly infested, this mixture is not strong 

 enough to destroy mildew, and if a very strong solution 

 of softsoap and water is applied, it will not only injure 

 the blooms, but the foliage as well. None of the mildew 

 compositions in the market is of any use in destroying 

 this pest until the cause has been found, such as dry- 

 ness at the root or cold draughts, for if they destroy 

 the mildew upon the plants it will appear agam as 

 if by magic. Strict attention to the requirements ot the 

 plants and the softsoap solution as a preventive will 

 enable the grower of Roses to have them annually 

 without mildew. The softsoap solution and the way in 

 which it is mixed and used I give again for the benefit 

 of new readers. Four pounds of softsoap are boiled in 

 an old saucepan for twenty minutes, about one quart ot 

 water being added. This after being boiled is mixed in 

 a vessel kept for the purpose with four gallons of water, 

 soft water being preferable. About half a pint of this 

 solution is stirred into each four-gallon can of tepid 

 water every time syringing is done. The plants are not 

 syringed with this solution at intervals of a week or a 

 few days, but daily, and sometimes twice in the day 

 when the weather is favourable. In addition to its use 

 as a preventive of mildew, it issists wonderfully in keeping 

 red spider in check and renders fumigations for aphides 

 seldom necessary. It also acts as a gentle stimulant, and 

 imparts a fine dark glossy hue to the foliage.— Wm. 

 Baudney — Journal of Horticulture, 



TRENCHING GARDEN SOIL. 



Mr. Iu'gulden did good service in bringing the above 

 subject before your readers. I thought, when reading his 

 first article upon the waste of time in deep cultivation, 

 that for weeks our Journal would be filled with the 

 valuable experience of able correspondents. As the old 

 saying goes, "every little will help," so I will give a 

 little of my experience, and I am prompted to do so by 

 Mr. Temple's excellent article on page 104, when he men- 

 tions a new garden in which I was employed in the west 

 of England twenty-seven years ago. The site was chosen 

 partly because it was a convenient distance from the bouse, 

 aud partly because there was a small old garden there 

 before ; but apart from these advantages the site was 

 most objectionable, as it was with an extraordinary cost 

 of labour that it was brought into anything like uniformity. 

 A great part of the garden had to be raised 6 or 7 feet, 

 and iu other parts sandstone rock had to be excavated 

 to the depth of 10 feet. Many of your readers will doubt- 

 less say, What has all this to do with trenching ? which 

 I will now try to describe. 



In the low ground before mentioned a trench was 

 opened 2 feet wide to utilise the stone and get it out 

 of the way. About 12 inches of this stone was thrown 

 loosely into the bottom of the trench. As the work pro- 

 ceeded a stiff marly clay has brought from the frame 

 ground and other places where soil was not needed. This 

 was mixed with the surface soil of the plot of ground 

 and raised to the necessary height, trenches being partly 

 filled with stone until the whole ground was finished and 

 prepared for a crop. I might say that here I had con- 

 siderable practice with pickaxe and wheelbarrow, both of 

 which I have since found useful, and when the "chief" 

 was out of the way, we youug fellows, with more strength 

 than discretion, used to vie with each other who could 

 wheel the heaviest load of stone and laugh well at the 

 one who trembled most under his load. This, perhaps, was 

 better than, as we say in Ireland, to be "schaming." 

 Now for the result, which is, I think, the best proof of 

 the utility of trenching. In due time the first crop that 

 was planted in this trenched soil was Brussels Sprouts 

 without the least manure; these reached the height of 

 from 3 to 4 feet, well studded from bottom to top with 

 fine firm sprouts. Such a remarkable growth I have not 

 seen since, and proved, I think, in a marked manner the 

 utility of deep soil. Doubtless the roots travelled to the 

 full depth of the soil and spread in all directions, and 

 these roots decaying would form a certain amouut of 

 food for future crops. 



Some time after Raspberry canes were planted upon 

 the same ground, and such monster canes aud heavy crops 

 of fruit would almost astonish even Mr. Iggulden. In 

 another part of the same plot Peas were grown to a great 

 height with very heavy crops. The varieties I do not now 

 remember, but they were staked with straight Hazel rods 

 with fine side sprigs. The pods of Peas hanging between 

 the stakes formed a very pretty sight from the ends of 

 the long lines. Other vegetable crops were grown equally 

 as successful with comparatively little manure. For some 

 years after leaving the above-mentioned garden I was 

 employed in others, but chiefly under glass, so had but 

 little experience in the kitchen gardens. 



About seventeen years ago I took charge of the gardens 

 here, my first and only head place. One day the house- 

 keeper came into the garden and said, "We never have 

 Peas after July or August. They are always covered with 

 mildew." This is a very old garden, the soil quite black 

 with vegetable matter, and when I took charge of it the 

 soil was about 12 inches deep, overlying poor hard marly 

 soil. With the experience of my boyish days, and the 

 tall Brussels Sprouts in mind, I commenced by deepening 

 the soil a little every winter as time would afford, a trench 

 being opened at one end of a piece of ground. A little 

 of the surface soil with any other vegetable matter, such 

 as leaves that had been used for hotbeds the previous yrar, 

 was thrown into the trench, the hard bottom being well 

 broken up and mixted with the black soil; when too 

 hard for a strong steel fork the pickaxe was used. We 

 were not at all so particular as many of your correspond- 

 ents in bringing several inches of this soil to the sur- 

 face, for when well mixed with the old vegetable soil it 



