784 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1&86, 



Gum Trkbs.— I noticed in the Field of Feb. 13 

 an inquiry as to the heiglit of Australian gum trees 

 planted out in this country. I have one— Eucalyptus 

 globulus, I believe — which was given me in a pot in 

 1880. I planted it in a clear space in a wood in 

 the autumn of 1881 ; so that this is its fifth winter 

 out, though it is the first in whieli there hns been 

 any severe weather. After reading your corresponlcut's 

 letter, I measured the tree, an<l found it to bo 3(.) ft. 

 from the ground to the topmost shoot. The stem 

 is alight in proportion to the height, aud there are 

 uo branches of any size. I have had to stake thp 

 tree several times to keep it upright; it seems to 

 grow too quickly for its strength. It is on sandy soil 

 in Kent.— \y.— Field. 



TjtEK-CLiMBiNG PLANTS, like the human parasites 

 who hover round successful men, usually excite sus- 

 picion and dislike. Hut there may be uses other tlian 

 their apparent ones for even such. Professor T. R. 

 Fraser, at the May meeting of the liotanical Society, 

 described the admirable properties in heart disease 

 of Struphanth's hi:<pi//i(s, the source of the arrow 

 poison of the natives of Eastern Africa. Professor 

 Fraser's experiments with this new drug, very many 

 times more powerful than JJif/italis, or the eommon 

 foxglove, appear to inaugurate a new era of hope to 

 many new sufferers from a class of diseases apparently 

 increasing with the march of modern progress. He 

 gave great credit to Mr. John Buchanan, of Zoniba, 

 Eastern Africa, for his exertions in furnishing the 

 necessary material. — Jotinial of Forestry. 



Nf;w Caledonia.— Uoconut trees exist in the colony 

 in different varieties, nearly all having been planted 

 by the Kanakas. Mo.st of the groves are on the 

 pastern side, where the majority of the tribes are to 

 be found. This precious tree produces yearly from 

 50 to 80 nuts. The kernels, dried in the sun, are 

 readily solrl uiuler the name of cojivtih, at from 300 

 to :S50 francs (£12 to £14) per ton. This is the chief 

 nL'ans by wliich the natives obtain tlie goods and 

 hixuries of civilization. A few important groves are, 

 however, held by Europeans. The other principal fruit 

 trees are the orange, lemon, banaua, canella apple, 

 mango, gunva and Shanghai peach. In spite of in- 

 digenous valuable timber, no important felling of trees 

 exists in New Caledonia. ThM quantity cut is not even 

 suthcient for the use of the colony since New Zealand 

 and Oa'ifornian imported timber amounts to the yearly 

 Talue of 500,000 francs {£'20,000).— Jo/rnn/ of Forest r</. 



TuK Indian Fokest School. — An impartial stutly 

 of the recent report of tliis institution at Dehra Dun 

 leads us to conclude that it cannot noplace a siniilnr 

 school in IJritaiu for tlie advancement of home and 

 colonial forestry, as hinted by Mr. Gladstone in the 

 recent debate. Founded on continental models, Brit- 

 i.sh common seu.'ie is modifying the curriculum for 

 tht* specific needs of Indian pupils. Thus Sylviculture 

 has been separated from the theoretical instruction 

 of the lecturti-room in I\loij)liologi(^al and Physiolog- 

 ical Botany, and is now taught practically in ihe 

 forests; while fttr. Clitf"rd's cour.ve of lectures on 

 Entomology has been expanded so as to admit the 

 study of all injuries aiul diseases incident to forest 

 plants, whether hy animals, insects, or other plants, 

 such as climbei's, epiphytes, par;i sites or fungi, as 

 well as the decay and preservation of timber. This 

 is now termed Forest Etiology. — ■Journal of Forestry. 



Kill THE Poultry Lick. — Almost all poultry are 

 hmsy, mori; or less. I think good arrang(;nients for 

 dusting will always keep the lice in check. The sn^ill 

 hen louse moves along the roosts and siiles of the 

 building several feet, and sometimes annoys cat'U: 

 and horses, but tlu^ trouble to fhem is quite tem)i r- 

 ary. If the fowls are freed from them, they will 

 leave other stock at once. Iloosts ought always to 

 be removable, so that tln-y can be s'-raped and 

 washed with ker<isene. I find kerosene or crude petro- 

 leum an excellent ad<lition to white-wash. This 

 treatment, with a good lUisting box for the fowls, 

 in which there may bo occasionally thrown a pailful 

 of wood ashes and a pound of flowers of sul|)hur, will 

 keep lice atfectually in check. Horses and cattle in 

 adjoining apartments, with only loose bonrd partitions 



separating them from the poultry house, will not be 

 seriously troubled by the vermin. — Ool. AVeld, in 

 American Agn^nlturist. 



Leaf Rollers supply many destructive agents to 

 the Rose, including the following; Tortrix heparana, 

 Tortrix ribeana, I^ozotrenia rosana, Pardix tripunctata, 

 and Spilonota "roborana. Tlie grubs of the above make 

 their appearance with the first opening of the leaves, 

 of whose structure they take ailvantage to construct 

 their summer aboile, bauquetiug, in the meantime, 

 on the leaves that shelter them, and, if unmolested, 

 after working havoc among the foliage, make for juicy 

 buds, which they soon disfigure and render entirely 

 useless. The larvie have the peculiarity, when dis- 

 turbed, of lowering themselves with a web-like thread. 

 The only remedy for their destruction, and also those 

 of the winter moth and swallow-tail moth, is assiduous 

 handpicking. — Indian Gardener. 



Red Spider (Tetranychus tellarius). — These little 

 creatures are unquestionably very injurious to Roses, 

 either when trained to walls, or grown under glass. 

 They increase most rapidly, and though so minute in 

 .size, they have extraordinary powers of extracting the 

 juices from the leaves; aud to further aggravate the 

 deadly mischief thus caused, they spin tiny webs ov^x 

 the leaves and point.« of the young shoots, so as, to 

 completely clog up the pores of the leaves, thereby 

 stopping their powers of transpiration and absorption' 

 and giving them a parched or burnt appearance. As 

 these little nuisances abhor damp, the best remedy is 

 the constant use of the sj'ringe. AV"e have found a 

 wash, composed of a large wineglassfuU of petroleum 

 in two gallons of soft water, most etTefttual. Before 

 playing on the plants, draw up a syringe full and force 

 it back again into the vessel two or three times, so 

 as to mix the petroleum as much as possible witli the 

 water. The wash may be used every day, or as long 

 as is found necessary. — Ivdian Onrdener^ 



Gall Nuts. — It v^ill be remembered that the only 

 speaker in favour of the Extension of the Railway to 

 IJva, at the now famous meeting of the Ceylon Agri- 

 cultural Association, referred to an industry in Oall 

 Nuts as likely to be fo.stered if facilities for trans- 

 port were atfortled. The nuts, he said, could be had 

 for the mere picking. We read in a Commercial ex- 

 change that "South European gall nuts dried ami 

 analysed by competent men have yiebled an average 

 of 25 to 30 per cent of tannin. The oik forests ne.ar 

 Neusaltz, on the river Oder, yielded in the anlunui 

 of 1883 a large quantity of gall inits, all of which 

 decreased in size considerably after drying in the air. 

 An average sample of the.se gave 32-21 parts of tHuiun 

 to 100 part.: of the dried substance. This tends to 

 show that the German g'dl nuts are as good as those 

 from Southern Europe, as far as their tannin percont- 

 Hge is concerned, hut their tanning solution is slightly 

 yellow. For all that they are of little use on account 

 of the large amount of water they contain when fresh, 

 and their small size, and are therefore hardly worth 

 gathering. Another form of gall nuts comes to us in 

 a pulverized form from Smyrna, under the name of 

 Smyrna rove. In a sample received from Hamburg. 

 IS'92 per cent was found, while 100 parts of sub- 

 stance, dried at 100° C, yielded 2178 per cent of 

 taimin. Althouj^h its percentage of tannin is smaller 

 than that fouiul in the German nut gall, the rove 

 finds extensive employment in tanniug. This is due 

 to the fact that this is of larger size, ami therefore 

 more worth gathering. There is, however, one draw, 

 back to the exclusive u.se of nut galls for tanning 

 purposes; the leather it produces is of a good colour, 

 but n< t nearly as durable as tliat produced by the 

 oak bail< process." It would be interesting to know 

 what (juantity of nuts was eollecte<l altogether by 

 I\lr. Milsnm^that is the gentleman whom the speaker 

 above referreil to 'mentioned as baying collected some 

 nuts — at what seastui they could be pi.-ked ; whetlier 

 the uutri have in any way bopn analysed, and with 

 wliat result; whut use the nuts were put to; and, 

 aboi'c all. whether collecting them will sitisfactorily 

 answer the test which is applied to the undertaking, 

 towards the success of which they are predicated to 

 bo accessory — "Will it payP" — "CeyloQ Advertiser." 



