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THE TKOPICAI, AGXICULTCJSIST. [BfwcB 2, 1VB6, 



The Ouanoo Tkeb. — An attempt is about to be 

 made in Mauritius to grow the guango tree, which 

 ii said to be the finest and largest tree on the island 

 of Jamaica. It has an abundant foliage, but its chief 

 value consists in its pods, which are six or seven 

 inches in length, and contain seeds or beans that 

 make excellent food for men and animals. Oxen are 

 (aid to be especially fond of them, and to get rapidly 

 fat when fed upon them. — Indian Gardener. 



History of the Godkds. — De OandoUe, in discuss- 

 ing tha history and origin of cultivated plants, refers 

 all the Squashes and Pumpkins to the Old World, 

 but not to India, because they have no name for 

 them in Sanscrit. Some American botanists believe 

 that the Pumpkin and its varieties are indigenous to 

 that continent, as the Indians declare Gourds had 

 been a common food among them long before the 

 Europeans discovered that country ; and Oharaplaiu, 

 who, in 1304, made a voyage along the coast of what 

 is now the State of Maine, found the inhabitants 

 cultivating Citrouilles (Gourds) along with Maize. 

 Pickering, in his "Kaoes of Men," says that speci- 

 mens of a small variety of Gourd were exhumed from 

 an ancient cemetery in Peru, like those which are 

 ■till seen in the markets of Lima. Mr. Naudin, an 

 indefatigable and distinguished botanist, has, during 

 many years, observed and experimented upon all the 

 known forms of Gourds, collected from all parts of 

 the globe, and cultivated at the Jardin des Plantes. 

 He reduces them to six species, only three of which, 

 with their numerous varieties, are used as esculents, 

 viz., Oucurbita maxima, the large yellow Qourd ; 0. 

 Pepo, the Pumpkin, which he considers as probably 

 the most variaWe plant in the world ; and 0. moschata, 

 the Water Melon. An interesting paper on this 

 subject will be fouud in the " American Journal of 

 Science and Art," 2nd ser., vol. xxiv., and also in 

 Darwin's "Variation of Animals and Plants under 

 Domestication." The only plant among our English 

 wild flowers that belongs to the Gourd tribe is Bryony 

 (Briunia diocia), which may be seen climbing over 

 our hedges and thickets in the summer, with its 

 whitish flowers with green veins, and red berries in 

 the autumn. This plant abounds with a fetid and 

 acrid juice. — Science Gossip." 



Fiji Bananas. — Let us see how these very utilitarian, 

 beautiful, and practical plants are cultivated. The 

 easiest thing in the world is this same cultivation. 

 The ground is broken up in circles of a few feet oiJy 

 with a long, pointed stick. Good-sized *' suckers," or 

 youthful ulfshuots from the root of an adult plant, 

 called sulina, are taken up, the leaves are cut off, and 

 the st^m with its small root is inserted in the hole of 

 the ground made for it ; earth is filled in, and a covering 

 of dry grass thrown arouud the base as a temporary 

 protection from heat. That is all, and the plant takes 

 care of itself. Sliserable-Iookiug objects these newly- 

 planted stems are, and most unpicturesque where a 

 number stand over a plot of ground. But ere long 

 these dry things grow interesting, as the close-rolled 

 rod of delicate green leaf breaks through the ps^er- 

 like envelope of the stem, and rises an exquisite object 

 is the air. So leaf after leaf comes out, unrolls in 

 beauty (sweet sixteen merging; iuto womauhood), and 

 soon you have a grove of polished yellow stems and 

 waviug green flags, shadowing purple cones and massive 

 bunches of fruit. There is enough of the picturesque 

 ftUd the sightly now, When a stem has borne its 

 one buucll of fruit, the owner cuts it down ,and releg- 

 ates it to " the portion of weeds and outworth faces." 

 But half-a-dozen lusty stalk.s are rising up round about 

 its root and offer to take its place, so that for years 

 the grove keeps itself and supplies its own vacancies, 

 and I have been told, leaves the ground at the end of 

 years richer than when it was first placed in possession. 

 Nothing, I repeat, is so easy as banana-planting, 

 nothing calif for less care than does banana culture, 

 and in Fiji, at present, nothing is so profitabe and rich 

 in its returns. For this reason, what potatoes arc to 

 Irishmen bananas arc to the aborgines of Polynesia,— 

 AMitrttlaiian. 



PitMiHAH KooTS. — Nature is considerate for the food 

 of our townsmen. The yams of various kinds, are now 

 succeeded by our palmirah roots— our cotta kilangos 

 so that we are in our best food provisions. Boi'ed 

 dried and chewing as beetle nuts, and other munching 

 propensities wo are all in clover long live the cotta 

 kilingo the palmirah root. — Cor. At this fever season it 

 is questionable whether the roots of the palmirah is 

 not bilious and prone to help on fever. — Ed 0. P. — 

 "Oeylon Patriot." 



Seed Sowing. — We have to acknowledge the receipt 

 of Messrs, H. Cannell & Sons' Floral Guide for 1385. 

 This is something out of the ordinary run of Plant 

 and Seed Catalogues, forming a handsome volume of 

 upwards of 300 pages, and contains a vast amount 

 of information and a host of wrinkles that will not 

 only be found valuable to the amateur, but from 

 which even the most experienced may learn something. 

 The following extract on their system of germinating 

 seeds will show the lucid style in which information is 

 given r — " Sow your seeds in the usual way, only cover up 

 and keep in total darkness until they begin to peep 

 above the soil, then gently and gradually expose 

 them to light. All this is so feasible that every sensible 

 person will at once and for ever adopt it, and the 

 success of all good seed will follow, and become a 

 lasting practice and benefit. For years past excellent 

 treatises have been written, practical men have adopted 

 shading their seed-pans with paper, and others with 

 a glass vessel of water, various coloured glass, &c., 

 all of which but slightly approach this system, and 

 why it has not become a general practice long since 

 we are wholly at a loss to say. The advantage and 

 success of this system is so apparent that it only 

 requires to be once known to become universally 

 adopted; first, when a frame, pot or pan is covered 

 completely, it ensures one uniform moisture and 

 temperature ; consequently, every seed possessing the 

 merest life will be sure to grow, and also save that 

 continual watching — so necessary in the old style — 

 and lessen to a minimum the anxiety of raising 

 valuable seed." — Indian Gardener. 



The Frcits of Centeal Asia. — Gardens constitute 

 the beauty of all this land. The long rows of Poplar 

 and Elm trees, the Vineyards, the dark foliage of the 

 Pomegranate over the wall, transport one at once to 

 the plains of Lombardy, or of Southern France. In 

 the early spring the outskirts of the city, and indeed, 

 the whole valley, are one mass of white and pink 

 with the bloom of Almond and Peach, of Cherry and 

 Apple, of Apricot and Plum, which perfume the air 

 for miles arouud. These gardens are the favourite 

 dwelling-places in summer, and well they may be; 

 nowhere are fruits more abundaut, and of some 

 varieties it can be said that nowhere are they better 

 The Apricots and Nectarines I think it would bo 

 impossible to surpass anywhere. These ripen in June 

 and from that time until winter, fruit and Melons 

 are never lacking. Peaches, though smaller in size, 

 are better in flavour than the best in Kugland ; but 

 they are far 8urpas.«ed by those of Delaware. The 

 big blue Plums of Bokhara are celebrated through the 

 whole of Asia. The Cherries are mostly small and 

 •our. The best Apples come either from Khiva or 

 from Sueak, to the north of Turkistan ; but the smals 

 white Pears of Tashkent are excellent in their way. 

 The Quince, as with us, is cultivated only for jam. 

 or marmalades, or for flavouring soup. Besitles Water 

 Melons, there are in common cultivation ten varieties 

 of early Melons and six varieties which ripen later 

 any of which would be a good addition to our gardens 

 In that hot climate they are considered particularly 

 wholesome, and form one of the principal articles of 

 food during summer. AVhen a man is warm and 

 thirsty, he thinks nothing of sitting down and finishing 

 a couple of them. An acre of land, if properly 

 prepared, would produce iu ordinary years from 2,000 

 to 3,000, and in very good years twice as many. Of 

 Grapes I noticed thirteen varieties, and most of them 

 remarkably good. — " Turkestan," by Epoene Schptleb, 

 —Iniian Gordener, 



