April i, 1886.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



6Ss 



Amebicax M'oods. — There are said to be 30 variet- 

 ies of oak in ttie United States, 'So of piue, 9 of fir. 

 5 of tipruce, 4 of hemlock, 12 of ash, 3 of hickory. 

 It* of willow, 3 of cherry, 9 of poplar, 4 of maple, 3 

 of persiinuwu.aud 3 ol cedar. The New York Museum 

 of Natural Hisiory is to have a complete collection 

 of the native woods of our entire country. The logs 

 are being prepared for that purpose. Ihey will be 

 for the most part five feet long, a scctioi. of half 

 the thickness of the log at one end being removed. 

 In this way both the longitudinal and transverse grain- 

 ings are shown. There is also a diagonal cut on the 

 section, which displays the graining also. The re- 

 mainder of the log remains in its natural condition, 

 with the bark atttiched. — Aiturican Grorer. 



Impkoved Metbod 01' Preserving Wood. — The im- 

 proved French method of preserving wood by the 

 application of lime is found to work well. The pl;in 

 is to pile the planks in a tank, .•vnd to jiut over all 

 a layer of bricklime, which is gradually slaked with 

 water. Timber for mines requires about a week to 

 be thoroughly impregnated, and other wood more or 

 less time according to its thickness. The material 

 acquires remarkable consistence and hardness, it is 

 stated, on being subjected to this simple process, 

 _«nd the assertion is made thit it will never rot. 

 Beeoh-wood piepared In iliis way for hammers, and 

 other tools for ironwork, is found to acquire the 

 hardness of oak, without parting with any of its 

 well-known elasticity or toughness, and it also lasts 

 jonger. — Jndian Gardetter. 



Tub Cbotos Oh, Tree. — With reference to your 

 Matale correspondent's remarks some weeks ago re- 

 garding the danger of planting this tree amongst tea 

 bushes, and to which you a.iiled an editoridly incred- 

 ulous " oh '." I may state for your information, that 

 native opinion goes much further, and no Sinhalese 

 man vill walk under this tree if he can help it ! 

 They say that the laxitive power of this tree is such, 

 that they dare not use the wood for cookiug- 

 purposes. and that even a stick of it when carried on 

 the shotiUler has the same powerful effect ! It is evid- 

 ent that this is a most djiigtrous tree to have in the 

 pro.\imity ot tea hushes and =houId be banished to the 

 remotest regions of e<tates.— Cw. [That is because Sin- 

 halese people say certain things. Bat where is the evid- 

 ence that the wood of the tree has the slightest chem- 

 ical effect?— Ed] 



TUK KlBBEE I-VDCSTEY OF THK U.VITED STATES.— 



The rubber muustry of the St^^tes Ka-; no rival iir foreign 

 countri-'S. There is something like 57.5.00u,i)OO invested 

 in the business of manufacturing rubber goods, 

 >30,000,000 of which is confined to the rubber boot and 

 shoe industry. The total number of employes is placed 

 at 1.5,(HI0, and the total number of factories at one 

 hundred and twenty. According to a recent census 

 bulletin the v.alue of the annual product is si50,00l>,00 I. 

 .Some 30,(>»l) tons of raw rubber are imported 

 every yenr, which, vhen coniuiiied with other ra^teri^ls 

 in nianufactiring, amount to 30,tJ0(W toas. The market 

 price of the raw material has been forced up to Sl25 

 per lb., while six years ago the price was scar«ely 

 fifty cents. In consequence of the advance in price, 

 several substances have been prep.ired as substitutes 

 for it, of which celluloi.l is the most important.— 

 iTi'lu-itritil South,. 



Notes o.\ Ani>ial Parasites of the StiaAR Cane 

 Made at .Ma<:kay, Qdkes'si.vnd).— I. The Comimn 

 Chifer {lioj.lmtKrnui sp?).— L'he griio of this insect, 

 is, one 01 tn« raosi destructive creatures we have to 

 deal with. It attacks aud destroys the roots of the 

 cane, causing the leaves to become brown and dry 

 up. The gro.vth of the cane is arrested and the first 

 high winil knocks it over. In this manner whole 

 fields of cane are killed. When a stool of dying cane 

 of thi» sort is drawn out of the ground it comes up 

 wilhoiii much tugging, an I appear-s to have few ruots. 

 When drawn nut of the ground in the eiirlinr stages 

 of the attack as many as seventeen fat larva may 

 be discovered hard at their work of de';traction. To- 

 wards tb(- i;nd of the year (Xov. aud Doc; the fiUly 



developed chafers appear above ground in large swarms. 

 They feed chiefly, and are most lively, at night : during 

 the day they are to be seen tlickly clustered, some 

 feeding, but all more or leas .Irowsy, on fig-trees 

 (Banyans), cocoa-nut trees, Poinci.uias, and many scrub 

 and forest trees. The egg is probably depnsited at 

 considerable depth, as the chafer is provided with 

 powerful fore legs with which to burrow into the 

 ground. To me there appears sm obstacle to any it- 

 tempts to destroy the grub; it seems to dive deep 

 into the ground before turning into chrysalis. In 

 following the plough I have freqQently picked up chrys- 

 alid.-B, but from not one of them did this chafer emer"e. 

 The great increase of this pest of late years is prob- 

 ably due to the wholesale annihilation of the native 

 birds by means of the firearms of the Kanakas. The 

 planters had on various occasions petitioned the Gov- 

 ernment to prohibit the indiscriminate uso of guns bv 

 these labourers, but our request was only acceded 

 to when the damage had already surpassed all remedy. 

 Steeping the plants in milk of lime does not prevent 

 grubs' attack. Miss Ormerod recommends the restor- 

 ation of the average amount of, or the prevention of 

 destruction of the insectivorous birds and bats as the 

 only practicial method of suppression.— f/rtn^fr a-nd 

 Farmei\ 



Pvrethrum.— The following notes concerning pyre- 

 thrum were communicated by Professor A.. J. Oook, 

 of the Michigan Agricultural College, to Gleaiiinqs in 

 Bee tw^^HJV:— "Pyrethrum is a generic term referring 

 tu the powdered flowers of one of three distinct 

 plants — Pjircth-nm roseitm, P. Carneinn and P. Cinera- 

 ruvful'uun. The powder from the first-mentioned plants 

 IS known from the locality where the plants grow, as 

 Persian insect-powder, and for like reason the latter 

 is called Dalmatian insect-powder. Buhach is the 

 Dalmatian insect-powder thst is grown and manu- 

 factured in California. G.N. Milco, of Stockton, Cal., 

 who, I believe, is a Dalmatian, his given the name 

 of his product- buhach— to protect him against the 

 adulteration which is quite sure to overtake so valu- 

 able an artiede. This powder owes its v.iluable nro- 

 perties to the presence of a volatile substance wliich, 

 unless the pow.ler is kept close, will escape, when the 

 article is valueless. Buhach, which I have had a year, 

 and have kupt in a close tin vessel, is not so effective' 

 as last year, nor so effective as fresh powder obtiined 

 tins year; yet is kills most insects to which it is 

 applied. Another peculiar property of fresh pvrethrum 

 is that it may he mixed with several parts of flour, 

 and still be potent to destroy. This makes adulter- 

 ation easy, and likely had its iufluence in causing Mr. 

 .Milco to adopt a peculiar name for his product. 

 Buhach— indeed, all pyrethrum— kills by contact and' 

 not by being eaten. Again it is entirely nonpoison- 

 nus to vertebrates. A friend tiki me that he ate a 

 tablespoonful with no harm even to his digestion I 

 have foHuil the powder every effjetive to kill mnny 

 insects, when dusted on them by use of a dust- 

 beliows, or sprayed on them when mi.fed with water- 

 one tablespoonful to two gallons of the liijuid— by 

 the use of a Whitman pump or when the alcoholic 

 extract IS applied as a spray. We kill our house flies 

 by dusting on the powder. We do this as we retire 

 at night, and can sweep up the dead or par.aly/.ed 

 flies the next morning. I prefer to kill cabbage 

 worms, slugs, ka., by spraying with the liquid rai.xture. 

 I consider pyrethrum a ve.rij valuable insecticide, es- 

 pecially the buhach, which is more apt to bo pure and 

 fresh. While many of our worst insect pests are quick- 

 ly killed by use of this powder, I have found that 

 some bugs and a few beetles are proof against it. 

 In all our use of this substance, when dusted into clo.se 

 rooms liko living-rooms or chicken-house, the dust 

 conies in contact with flies, lice, i;c., and quickly kills. 

 We must put it immediately on the insects, as its 

 virtue is -soon gone." It is a common practice of 

 dealers tn keep this powder in np"n bnxes or iiarrcis, 

 but it i:; e\nde„t from Prc^f. Oook's experience that 

 pyethnim so kept must soon lose its active proper- 

 ties.— /'.-trin and. Fireside, rxhe base of all the " insecti- 

 cides" and "insectibanes" in use is pimthrum — 

 Ed. Qutemland Agriculturist.'} 



