Mav I, iS86,J 



THE TROPICAL AGKlCULTURiST, 



3c5 



sheds and manuring were thought to be a cure for 

 leaf -disease : then came the crare for cardamoms, 

 and as there was some shade and iirices some- 

 thing more than a shadow, Iley presto ! and behokl 

 a cardamom grove. The scene changes. Cinchona 

 raises its superior head, and the lowly tea will soon 

 till up all vacancies and do more towards the 

 appearance and prosperity of the "totam" than 

 all its predecessors. After that, 1 think, we need 

 not fear. If lea goes we '11 just be up and doini; 

 aud take to something else ! 



Cocoa.— We are having splendid weather for this 

 product — sunshine and shower — and it is looking 

 its very best. Well, it is nice to have breathing time 

 after what has been suffered from Hi'loitellis, for 

 it is a sad enemy from what I have seen and 

 heard. Being an insect plague I have hopes that 

 we may be able to keep it under subjection^ The 

 season being favourable, there is a goodly 

 display of early fruit and blossom. The 

 afternoons are very sultry, and out of doors the 

 heat is pretty nearly unbearable. This is //«■ cultiv- 

 ation for villagers round about their houses and 

 gardens : but local history proves that they are 

 fonder of reaping where others have planted. 



Cimliowi does very well and several estates 

 have a good show of trees. An idea was broached 

 the other day which should be acted upon, and 

 that is to ascertain through the best means what 

 Java is likely to do in this line, and also as re- 

 gards tea. The necessary expenses, I 'ra sure, could 

 be made up. 



Cii/le'\ Arabian and Liberian, is a thing of the 

 past. Like poor old Jeff — " disturb him not, he 's 

 gone to rest '' — I 've waited on him — coffee, not 

 uncle Jeff — many a weary year — ' whiles in pleasure, 

 whiles in pain,' hstening on bed to the everlasting 

 rain pattering on shingles and wondering about the 

 morrow's muster and the " palam " at the ' dropsy ' 

 stage. 



•THE VEAE BOOK OF }<EW ZEALAND 

 18Sg-(>."» 



This is a book most necessary to be consulted by all 

 intending settlers in that colony, and affording 

 valuable and minute information of a kind such as 

 a traveller would be thankful to have ready to his 

 hand. The topics dealt with are varied as the life 

 and activities of the colony. The Universities and 

 the price of meat, the manner of acquiring Crown 

 lands and the wages demanded by a house-maid, how 

 the country is governed and how the people are 

 taxed, the operations of a Missionary Society and the 

 cost of a bottle of beer — all these and many other 

 matters of interest, domestic, educational, legal, 

 governmental, geological, geographical and his- 

 torical are comprised within the brilliant red covers 

 of this large and carefully compiled Hand-book. The 

 compilers let off the steam of patriotic ardour in the 

 opening pages devoted to a '• General Description." 

 There we read that " all the productions of the 



» The 'Vcar-b'ok of New /calaDd, 18ti5. Compiled, 

 for tlie uf>e of iDtcnding Settler.*. Tourists, Merchants 

 aud Mauu 'acturer3, from infurniation furnished by the 

 works of the Agent-Geuenil aud the Governmeut of 

 the Colony. By George Vesey iStowart and Thos. 

 Simpsou Jones. "' A good laud, a laud of brooks of 

 water, of fountains and depths that spring out of 

 valleys aud hills ; a land of wheat, and barley, aud 

 viues, :iik1 fig trees, and pomcgr«nates ; a land of 

 oiUlive, aud houey : a land wherein thou shalt eat bread 

 without soarccncHS, thou shall not lack any thing in it ; 

 .1 land whoso stones are iron, aud out of whose hillu 

 thouroayest dig br^.ss." — Deut. viii. 7-''- I'libJislied at 

 the OUices : Xew Zealand Chambers, <i4, Leadenhall, 

 Street, London, K. c; aijd Tanranga. Bay of I'leuty, 

 New Zealwd.-i-ll^So. 



British Islands flourish luxuriantly in New Zealand 

 — wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, Hax, beans, peas, 

 mai'igold, turnips, apples, pears, plums, cherries, 

 gooseberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, ttc. 

 peaches grow wild and luscious in the forests ; 

 apricots, ijuinces, loquats, tigs, grapes, melons, ripen 

 in the open air. Manure is unnecessary for the 

 rich virgin soils of New Zealand : and potatoes, un- 

 blighted, are floury as they were in Britain before 

 the failure of -47. There is not a. venomous reptile 

 in NeAV Zealand, nor are the crops ever withered by 

 drought as in .Australia aud Houth Africa, or de- 

 vastated by locusts or grasshoppers." We do not 

 remember the exact appearance and flavour of the 

 British potatoe previous to 1847, and our usual 

 referee on matters of Ancient History is gone up- 

 country, but the recollection of the yet undegen- 

 erate tuber has evidently survived through forty 

 years save one in some minds at any rate, anil 

 this shows its goodness and the goodness of its 

 rival and equal , the New Zealand potato. In 

 reading the above quoted paragraph we were more 

 than ever struck with the utter perversity of some 

 men wc have known who have actually 

 gone 111 look upon that scene of abundance 

 anil paradisaical freedom from reptiles and ha\e 

 returned to settle down contentedly in this coun- 

 try of no potatoes, many suakes, occasional 

 droughts and chronic visitations of worse enemies 

 than locusts and grasshoppers. However, it is 

 only in the lirst half-dozen pages we get this 

 style of writing. Afterwards the compilers settle 

 down to details and we get nearly '.100 pages of in- 

 formation highly creditable to those who have bo 

 well and ably brought it together and to the 

 country which it describes. 



THE DENATURALIZATION OF S.VLT, 



The Bkwako Ofkeeeli by tee Goveknjient of India. 



Not the least of the many objections which may 

 be urged against the imposition of a tax on salt 

 is, that it prevents, or greatly curtails the use of 

 that article in agriculture, the arts, and manu- 

 factures. The value of salt in agriculture was 

 known in very early times, and there are references 

 to it in Chinese, Cireek, Latin, and Hebrew liter- 

 ature. Its value as a manure must have been 

 established long before the beginning of the Chris- 

 tian era, for it is mentioned, by way of illustration, 

 in the following verse of ,St. Luke : " Salt is good ; 

 but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith 

 shall it be seasoned ? it is neither fit for the land, 

 nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out." 

 Modern science has confirmed the soundness of 

 the empirical methods of the ancients, and the 

 manurial value of salt is now fully established. 

 Salt has also long been used as an ingredient in 

 the food of domestic animals, and is very neces- 

 sary to their health. This is borne out by the 

 partiality tor salt shown by some wild animals, 

 a fact which is taken advantage of in Chittagong, 

 where the villagers induce the semi-wild iiaijal.t to 

 come in, and allow themselves to be milked, by 

 giving them a small quantity of salt on each 

 occasion. Sportsmen, too, well know that a ' salt- 

 lick" is generally a sure lind for bison and other 

 big game. In arts and manufactures salt is not 

 so extensively used in India as in European coun- 

 tries, where it plays an important part in many 

 chemical works. In India, however, the tish-curer, 

 the glass-worker, and the tanner all rei|uire salt 

 for their trades, and it is possible that if the 

 article could be issued free of duty several new 

 iudustrie^ oiigbt iiiiriog up. 



