486 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1886. 



TOEREYA CALIFORNICA : 



THE STINKING CEDAR Olt CAUI'ORXIAN NTJTiME<i. 



This is ilescribed as a tree 60 to .so feet high, with 

 a trurjk attiiiniiig 'i feet in diameter, and iuhabitiiig 

 the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada of Califonii;i, 

 from the Mendocino County to Zulare C"ouiity. 

 During my visit to California I had not the go(>d for- 

 tune to se^* a good specimen of this most interest- 

 ing tree. The only place in which I remember to 

 have met with it was in the gorge of the Yoseniite 

 V^alley by the rocky stream, some miles below the 

 hotels, where it formed a scraggy tree 20 feet high, 

 or thereabouts, growing interspersed with Pinus con- 

 torta and various deciduous shrubs. The colour of the 

 foliage was bright green, and the large green rium- 

 like fruits, produced in abundance, had a very singular 

 appearance. The wood is descrilted as light, soft, not 

 very strong, very dose grained, compact, susceptible 

 of a fine polish, and very durable in contact with 

 the soil. It had all the appearance of a slow growing 

 tree, and this is its character in cultivation at Kew. 

 The genus is one of the must interesting amongst 

 Conifers, on account of the rarity and remarkable liis- 

 tributioM of the few species it is known to contain. 

 There are, besides the Califoruiau, the T. taxifolia, 

 Arnott (Saviu or .Stinking Cedar of Florida), confined 

 to swamps in the neighbourhood of Bristol in 'Western 

 Florida, and very rare there; T. Crandis, Fortune, of 

 North China ; ami T. nucifera, Seibold and Zuccarini, 

 of Japan. — J. D. Hookeh. — (iarileners' Chronicle. 



SOIL FEETILISEBS. 

 The following is the summing up of the main 

 points in a lecture upon this subject delivered bv 

 Profe.s.'ior O. C. Caldwell, Ithaca, New York, before 

 the Massachusetts Horticuliui'al Society: — 



1. That if the elements needed for the food of the 

 gardener's or horticulturist's crops cannot be obtained in 

 sufficient (pmntity from stable manure, or other animal 

 waste, they can be procured in the trade in unlimited 

 quantity, and in every degree of availability depend- 

 ing on dilferent grades of .solubility, and in the greatest 

 variety of mixture^, so as to suit any whim or fancy 

 of crop or crop grower. 



2. That priifitable crop-growing can be carried on> 

 for many years at least, with these commercial fertil- 

 isers alone. 



3. That the most evident distinction between stable 

 manure and commercial fertilisers, and the distinction 

 upon which we should, therefore, naturally base an 

 explanation of the greater reliability of the former, is 

 its large proportion of vegetable matter, or hunm.-i- 

 fonning material, of which commerciiil fertilisers con- 

 tain practically none. 



4. That soils contain, in a difficulty soluble con- 

 dition, and therefore not easily fed upon by the cri'ii", 

 large supplies of all the needed elenu-nts of plant food. 



h. That humus, tlirougli its decay in the soil, furn- 

 ishes carbonic acid among other solvent agents; and 

 this carbonic acid appears to play an important part 

 in the nouiishment of crops by bringing the native, 

 insoluble stock of plant food within their easy reach. 



(>. That even if we add water-.solnble plant food to 

 the soil it becomes 'argely insoluble before the crop 

 can fee.l upon it, or m^eds it; therefore soluhle p'ant 

 food ailded to the soil in commereial fertilisers needs 

 also the help of the huunis, finally, for its solution. 



7. That plant food in most animal and yegelable 

 residues used as nnuuu-es costs much less than in 

 commercial manures. 



8. That, in .spite of the disadvantages which, mider 

 some conditions, atteuibthe use of comnieriial fertil- 

 isers, they are, nevertheless, a very important and 

 necessary help in crtip growing. 



!). That in using these fertilisers the wisest course 

 appears to be in make one's own mixtures of the 

 raw materials, as well for securing a better manure 

 as for economy in first cosi. — GanU'nent' Cliroiucle. 



I'LANTINef 



IN SOUTHEKX 

 CEYLON. 



PKOVINCE, 



pro- 

 prosperity 



For many years an industry has materially contri- 

 buted to the welfare of the iuhabitants, but this too, 

 as with other products, is gradually feeling the 

 effects of over-production. More than a score of 

 years ago we are told of citronella oil fetching 2'G 

 per ounce in the London m,ir kels. The same sub- 

 sbvnce now realizes under 3d. and this lowness of 

 price has naturally resulted in less care ' 

 duction and conseijneut f.dling-otf i 

 among all employed in its muuifacture. 



The citronella is to all appearances like mana grass, 

 growing just in the same manner. It is not indigenous, 

 is planted upou forest land and should be weeded 

 after each cutting, which should take place twice a 

 year. Now, however, less care is observed in its 

 production. I have even heard of kerosine being 

 added to increase its bulk. One travels very few 

 miles in this province without coming upon land 

 which was onco a pro.sperous garden of citronella, 

 the cultivation of which is now restricted to a few 

 acres of badly-kept grass. The oil is what is called 

 an essential oil, and is extracted from the grass by 

 distillation, the grass being steamed, which forces 

 the volatile oil with a certain ipiantity of pungent 

 vapor through the still, from which it falls in a 

 small stream of green water and oil. It soon, how- 

 ever, comes to the surface, is skimmed otf and put 

 in handy bottles, and in this from shipped to Europe. 

 Its chief uses are in scenting soap. 



It is not generally kuown that the hog-deer in this 

 part of the island is more coiuinou than the sambnr 

 axis, or munt-jac, and can be easily shot by anyone 

 so disposed. It is in size almost as large as the axis 

 or spotted deer. Snipe are at times very plentiful 

 iu the swamps and paddy fields and quail abound on 

 the oiiitUis. Teal too abound upon the lakes which 

 are not unfrequent. 



Tea is being tried in various parts and is so far a 

 success; indeed those who are searching for land 

 would not go far wrong in having a look at the 

 Southern Province before they finally decide where 

 they will plant. Sinhalese labour with some care can 

 be procured iu plenty, both cheaply and in quality. 

 Most places are healthy and the province is not by 

 any means badly roaded, having in addition river 

 and lake navigation to assist transport. — Local " Times " 



♦ 



EECENT EESEAKCHES ON OAK-GALLS AND 

 THEIR MAKERS. 



The oak has always been a favourite in this 

 country. The ancient Britons worshipped under it, 

 and held even its para^itic mistletoe scared ; their 

 .successors for centuries built their "wooden walls" 

 of it ; and once a year at lea.st the mistletoe is still 

 a thing of consequence, although it is from the 

 apple and not the oak that it is now chiefly obtained. 

 Valued by man as the oak li.as been, it is much more 

 essential to another and lower order of living 

 creatures. It is both nursery and foster-parent to 

 the gall-flies, whoso eggs it envelops in its own sub- 

 stance, and whose young are reiirt'd to maturity on 

 the same juices with which it feeds and ripens its 

 own acorns. The most casual observer of oak trees 

 cannot have failed to Lotice the numerous excres- 

 cences which occur on ditfercnt parts of their surface. 

 These are oak-galls, the hatcheries anil nurseries of 

 a family of hymenopterous insects. They are found 

 on every part of the tree- its roots, bark, leaves, 

 twijjjs, and flowers ; and show a great variety in 

 form, size, and colour — .i variety roughly corresponding 

 to the number of kinds of gall-flies which form them. 

 On the under surface of the leaves there occur, for 

 example, thi; " cherry-galLs," of a bright .scarlet colour, 

 or a mixture of white, orange, au<l red. like the 

 colours of a Newton pippin; also the '"oak-spangle" 

 galls — button-like disks of rus.set brown; and the 

 " currant galls of the oak," yellow or red, that hang 

 from the leaves like bunches of berries. The " oak- 

 apples" grow from the siualier branches, and justify 



