«56 



mt TROPICAL AGRlCULTURISf. fdcroBER i. 



its subject in a recent communication to tlie Dils- 

 oya Planters' Association, ou analyses of rain water. 

 There seems no doubt that leguminous plants 

 equally with clover leave more nitrogen in the soil 

 than they found in it, but if leguminous plants 

 absorb nitrogen from the air, the puzzle is why 

 pulses should in this respect have advantage over 

 wheat, oats and other grains. — Ed.] 



♦ 



Palms in the Open Air.— The cultivation of 

 these noble plants is fast making way in .Southern 

 France and Algeria. Some that are shown at the 

 Exhibition of Paris by M. S. Oherier, of the 

 domain Aube, in the Riviera, were grand robust speci- 

 mens, abundant in foliage, exceedingly handsome, and 

 capable of^ withstanding much ill-usage, as house 

 decorative plants. In our account of M. S. Ohevier's 

 exhibit in the report of the show last week, the species 

 cultivated are noted. — Gardeiifrs' Chronicle. 



BuHMAH Cheroots. — The following account of cigar 

 making in Eurmah is given in a recently issued official 

 report. Little or none of the native grown Tobacco it 

 seems is used, the only kind made up into cheroots 

 being imported from Madras and Kiugpore. The che- 

 roots are made somewhat in manilla shape, but they 

 are about the same thickness at both ends. The leaves 

 are first damped and then put away for a day ; they 

 are then rolled very carefully with small wooden rollers 

 to smooth out the creases, and are kept for four or 

 five days wrapped up in a cylindrical form, they are 

 then ready for manipulation into cigars. Women only 

 are employed in this manufacture. One woman can 

 make about 400 to 500 cigars in a day of twelve 

 hours. No machinery is used, the leaves are simply 

 cut into their proper shape by scissors, and then rolled 

 by hand into cheroots. The small ribs are not removed 

 as is often done in Havannah, and this omission 

 often gives the Burmah cheroots a rough uneven 

 appearance. — Ibid. 



Oalifobnian Citrus FEniTS. — An Associated Press 

 telegram, dated New Orleans, April 4, says: — "Today 

 California has been awarded the sweepstakes Gold 

 Medal against the world for the best varieties of 

 Citrus fruits; also, two other Gold Medals, eleven 

 silver ones, and thirty premiums. The most formidable 

 competitor was Florida, which had the advantage of 

 nearness to the place of exhibition, and made great 

 efforts to carry off the prize. Her advantage was 

 overcome by the liberality and public spirit of the 

 Southern Pacific Kailroad Company, which not only carried 

 exhibits free of charge, but made siaecial efforts to 

 excite the interest of Californian fruit-growers in the 

 contest. Over lUO car-loads of goods were carried 

 gratuitously to the Fair from California. Great strides 

 have been made in fruit-growing within a comparatively 

 recent period. There are now no less than ninety-eight 

 varieties of bearing Orange seedlings in Los Angeles 

 and San Bernardino counties that were unknown to 

 our soil fifteen j'ears ago. California Oranges, Lemons, 

 and Limes are now formally and officially declared 

 to be the best in the world." — Ihid. 



jAMAirA Ferns. — Jamaica, as is well known, Is partic- 

 ularly rich in Ferns. Although the island is comparat- 

 ively so small, it contains about 500 species of Ferns, 

 which is one-sixth of the Ferns of the whole world. 

 To express its richness in another form, it is mentioned 

 in the last report of the Botanic Gardens of Jamaica, 

 that within an area about the size at Wales. Jamaica, 

 contains twelve times the number of Ferns found in 

 the British Islands, and more than ten times the 

 number of Ferns found in the whole of the United 

 States. The Jamaica Ferns are remarkable, not only 

 for their number, but also for their great variety and 

 beauty. They are found in all sizes, from those scarcely 

 a quarter of an inch loug to large tall-towering trees 

 40 to 50 feet high, aud with stems 6 feet in circumference. 

 Again they are widely distributed aud found in all 

 districts, from the arid plains of St. Catherine and 

 Clarendon to the highest peaks of the Blue Mountains ; 

 from the calcareous rocks of the northern coasts, 

 bedewed with ocean spray, to the cloud-capped ridges 

 pf the highest moaotaias, — Ibid, 



The Manufacture ok Outch in Burmah. — The manu- 

 facture of the well-known astringent substance, Outch, 

 from the wood of Acacia Catechu, so much used for 

 tauning purposes, is carried on in Burmah chiefly in 

 the Thayetmyo, Prome, aud Tharrawaddy districts. 

 Three men generally work together, one to cut down 

 the trees and to drive the buffalos that drag them 

 to the site of the furnace, another to clear off the 

 sapwood and to cut the heartwood into chips, and a 

 third to attend to the fires aud boil the chip's down. 

 The chips are put into cauldrons filled with water 

 each cauldron holding 4 gallons, and the whole is 

 boiled for twelve hours. The chips are then taken 

 out, and the liquid placed in large iron pans, and boiled 

 and stirred till it attains the consistency of syrup, 

 when the pans are removed from the fire, but the' 

 stirring is continued tiU the mass is cool. It is then 

 spread on leaves in a wooden frame and left for the 

 night ; in the morning the substance is dry, and ready 

 for cutting into cakes for the market. The daily outturn 

 varies from 25 lb. to 36 lb. It is calculated that three 

 men working steadily for eight months can make 

 about 3,050 lb. of Cutch.— /?.;d. 



Uses of Vegetation.— The proper function, or one 

 of the right uses of aU vegetation, is to produce food 

 and clothing for us from the refuse matter of our 

 large towns. Every little green leaf, apart from its 

 individual beauty, has a share in the great work of 

 purification which all leaves carry on. In malarious 

 countries the Blue or Fever Gum trees is now largely 

 planted, because it grows rapidlj', and its roots and 

 leaves suck up moisture so rapidly that a few of these 

 trees actually drain any swamp or marsh near or in 

 which they are planted. It is so with our own Poplar 

 trees, which in wet low-lying places act most efficiently 

 as the best of natural drains for a .stagnant bit of marsh 

 land. Now, if you drain a swamp in the ordinary way 

 yovi simply carry pollution from one place and deposit 

 it in another place; but tree roots suck up offensive 

 matter, aud tree leaves actually purify it. The leaves 

 throw off pure water by evaporation, and with it 

 life-giving oxygen, instead of the poisonous gases of the 

 atmosphere. What is true of large trees is iu degree 

 equally true of the smallest window plaut. The highest 

 mission of plants is not merely to please our eyes with 

 colour, our mouths with delicious fruits; not only do 

 they do this and more, but they are ever silently but 

 surely eating up what is impure and injurious to 

 ourselves in the atmosphere ana in the earth all around 

 our home.s ; and any dwelling iu which plants are well 

 healthily grown will be more likely to be cl.an and 

 healthy house than if the plants were not there.— Ibid. 



Kainfall and Sugar.— The report of the Botanic 

 Gardens of Jamaica observes that the que.stiou of 

 rainfall is one of great importance to the well-being 

 of that island; indeed, the prosperity of its planting 

 industries is dependent so directly aud entirely upon 

 the maintenance of a high raiufall that Mr. Maxwell 

 Hall has been able to form a comparison (stated in the 

 " Jamaica Rainfall " published iu the Supplement to 

 the Jamaica Gazette, October 4, 1884), between so 

 many inches of rain per annum and so many casks 

 of sugar per acre. These are indiccated by the returaa 

 of several years, as follows;— 1'559 cask per acre with 

 79 inches (preceding) rainfall aud 1-411 cask per acre 

 with 50 inches .preceding) raiufall, "no that,"a» he 

 says, •' the difference due to a larger or smaller island 

 rainfall is on an average nearly one-tenth of the island 

 export (sugar) crop." This one-teuth of e.Kport crop (for 

 sug.aranil rum) represents in value neatly £100,000. If, 

 however, we take into consideration coffee, pimento, 

 and other island produce, the difference in export 

 value dependent ou good or bad seasons as regards 

 rainfall, would amount to a very considerable sum. 

 These considerations indicate tn a large extent that 

 the present generation is resi)onsihle for the maintenance 

 of forests ou all well-marked lines of wat<Tsheds, for 

 the protection of the feeders of the streams, and, in 

 fact, for the care of all tliat cnncerns i\w preservation 

 of raiu-water and the due humidity of the climate — 

 Ibid, 



