June i, iS86.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURI^'^ 



833 



is only during the last few years that sauilal wooJ 

 oil has exteniled its reputation wiilely. The quesiiou 

 arises therefore, is the therapeutic properly of the 

 oil due to true oil of sandal wood, to oil of cedar, 

 or to the oil of the ^"enezuela tree ? The species of 

 the genus ./unipei-us are kuowu to have physiological 

 effecis (lu the urinary organs, and cedar wood oil 

 may be possessed of as great, or greater, therapeutic 

 value than the sandal wood oil. Since all these oils 

 are to be met with in commerce, it would be more 

 satisfactory to kuoir which is the most valuable 

 remedy, but this point is one to be determined by 

 the medical profession. — riMi-iiiacttiHcal Joui'iml. 



T.\K Watku Aoai.nst I.nskcts. — Water strongly im- 

 pregnated with tar, is becoming very popular in Europe 

 as an insecticide. — Onnli ntrs' Moiithhj. 



Artii KiAi. Manurks.— Notwithstandiug the analyses 

 of chemists, in regard to the perfection of chemical 

 manures, and the fact which they au easily demonstrate 

 that the greater part of stable manure is nothing but 

 water and other material of no possible value and cost- 

 ing immense labor to handle, it is remarkable that the 

 tlemand for stable manure is greater than ever. People 

 find it best in spite of chemistry, — lltid. 



Hkhh K. Boubelox announces that he has succeeded 

 in isolating from the betel-nut. a volatile alkaloid, 

 re.semblini,' nicotine, to which he has given the name 

 ■• arekane." He describes it as being left on the 

 evaporation of an ethereal solution as a colourless 

 oil, smelling like weak meat broth, and with a 

 strongly alkaline reaction. It forms varnish-liko salts 

 with tartaric, citric, hydriodic and salicylic acids, the 

 salicylate having a tobacco-like odour. The hydrochlor- 

 ate gives with plautinic chloriile a yellow, with gold 

 chloride a light yellow, with mercuric chloride a 

 white, aud with tannin a whitish precipitate. The 

 taste of the free alkaloid as well as of the salts is 

 said to be at first imperceptible, but afterwards 

 becomes .icrid. The alkaloid increa.ses the secretion 

 of saliva, slackens the pulse and has a purgative action. 

 — Vhannaci'utiitd Joitrnat. 



Mn. AVoKri.NUTON .S.MiTH. In an article in the 

 Oanlfiirrs' Clirniiicl, (Jlarch (i, p. :!0:',"i briugs further 

 evidence iu support of his opinion that the berberry 

 blight and corn mil<lew have no connection with each 

 other. He shows that the appearance of the blight 

 on the berberry plant on which the corn Tuildew has 

 been sown is no proof of any connection between the 

 two fungi, inasmuch as the berberry blight may be 

 previously in the plant, ami vii't veriii. In support 

 of this he gives illu.strations of the corn mildew 

 fruiting in the seed of an oat and the .Ividiiwi 

 heilieildU in the seed of the berberry. He believes 

 that the fungus is thus carried from one individual 

 to another, fi-aversing the plant from the roots to 

 the cotyledons. — PJun-inncfiifiraf Jfun-nal. 



.SoMK iN.srrtDCTivE experiments have been made by 

 M. S. Grosglik on the development of the leaf of 

 Eucali/ptna tjluhulns. He hnds that iu the youfigest 

 stage the tissue of the leaf between the epidermis, 

 with the exception of the vascular bundles, consists 

 of a uniform ti.ssue composed of cells equal in 

 diameter in each direction, which the author calls 

 primitive mesophyll. If the leaves are forced Jo 

 remain in the horizontal position they develop the 

 usual leaf structure of palisade cells on the upper 

 and niongy tissue on the lower side of the leaf ; but 

 if the leaves assume the vertical position, palisade 

 cells are developed on both side of the leaf uext to 

 the epidermis. He therefore arrives at the conclusion 

 that there is iu leaves a tissue which is capaV>le of 

 ditferentiation, and that uo'ler the inKueiice of light 

 there is a tendency to form palisade tissue, while 

 shade favours the formation of spongy tissue {(rant 

 CAion.. March 1:'.. p. 3.3K, from [lull, dc l,i Snc. Hot. 

 iU Fninet). If this conclusion l)e confirmed it is 

 evident that it may be possible to determine from 

 the texture of a leaf whether the plant prefers shade 

 or sunlight, a point of some importance to horticulturists. 

 — Pkarntacfiutitai Jnur'iiat. 



NirHOuKN FKO.M Otoviiu Koors.— Dr. Voelcker found 

 that the average weight of clover roots ou an acre was 

 about three tons, aud that this furnished 100 pounds of 

 available uitrogren, the most stimulating of all manures. 

 This is one reason why a clover sod plowed under is 

 such good preparation for a wheat crop. Why clover 

 sod will not always bring good wheat is due, to the lack of 

 phosphate, which this grain must have if anything more 

 than a crop of straw is to be grown. — ^unthn-n !'/iiiit,r. 



Houses should be bedded with chalT or finely cut 

 straw. This will absorb the liquid droppings better 

 than uncut straw will. The manure iu this tine con- 

 dition will ferment very rapidly, and with a very little 

 heating will be ready to spread evenly on the laml. If 

 horses are bedded with coarse straw the fermentation 

 will be uneven. Some parts of the heap will be dried 

 lip and " Hre.fanged ", while the coarse straw is not id 

 good condition for spreading. — Soiithrri) F/aitft>r. 



Soi TUEBN Toiialco Ghowini:. — Much of the desolate 

 appearance noticed by strangers iu the southern country, 

 is due to the exhaustion of the soil by continuous 

 tobacco growing. A very large portion of what was 

 known as tobacco land, has been thus reduced to a con- 

 dition of poverty, iu which it has been " turned out " 

 to grow up to old field pine or broom sedge. As every 

 fault brings with it its own punishuient, so this has done, 

 not only in the lost of the use of the laud for many years, 

 and the cost of reclaiming it, but also in the injury 

 which results from the adverse impression upon the 

 minds of the visitors from other states, who are seeking 

 homes iu the sunny and fertile .south. This fault should 

 be preventeil in the future, and there is no need to stop 

 growing tobacco either. Tobacco is the cash crop of the 

 southern farmer, and every farmer requires a certain 

 amount of money coming in, to meet expen.ses which 

 must be paid iu cash. But first of all, the food and 

 fodder crops should be grown, then clover or cow peas 

 should be grown for fodder for pigs, cattle and sheep. 

 These may be sowed after two crops of tobacco have 

 been taken from new land, and one tobacco crop may 

 safely follow after either clover or c^ow-peas have been 

 plowed in to enrich the soil. — Aniirirtiii Ariricii/hirUl 



Ci.'iT{\\Ti\n THE MAM.Morii Seqi'oia or (Jai.i- 

 lOiiNMA. — To the Editor of this magazine, one of th» 

 most interesting lessons learned in California, was one 

 which only one experienced in the culture of trees could 

 learn ; namely, that the Se-pioia gigantea is by nature a 

 swamp tree. The places where they grow now are com- 

 paratively dry ; hut two or three thousand years ago they 

 followed the track of receding glaciers, and they received 

 the melting snows from the tops of mountains that 

 have no summer snows now. J'he ground on which 

 these manimotli trees stand, once very wet or even 

 swampy, has become drier through the long ages. 

 Horticulturists know that swamp trees generally grow 

 very well iu ground that is comparatively dry, but seeds 

 of such trees will not .sprout in anything but the moist, 

 oo-/y moss on the top of a swamp or damp ground. 

 Hence, the only young trees we find in the mammoth 

 tree locations, are where a chance seed happens to fall on 

 a moist rock, or other damp) situation. Young trees are 

 common only in one locaticni where clouds condense 

 against a mountain, side, and the whole situation 

 abounds with springs and oozy spots. Here iu the east 

 hundreds of trees have been plftnt^id during the past 

 quarter of a century, but rarely has oni* lived more than 

 a fi-w years. They do not mind the winters. We have 

 known them stand 20* below zero uninjured, but some 

 fungus, fa\nrt-d by a dry atmosphere, carries them off 

 gradually during the summer season. Profiting by 

 these facts, the writer brought three strong plants from 

 (California ami set them in a swamp. I ■siially when we 

 set swamp trees in. a swamp, they will not grow unlcKS 

 tle-y are suffered to grow into the swamp themselves. 

 We make a mound and plant them in the mound, from 

 wheuce they iodI down as suits themselves. These 

 thrt'i' plants li..ve li;id tvv>) winters and one summer; the 

 past winter being a terribly severe one. To day they 

 look perfectly souml ami finurishing, and the Editor 

 believes that he has at last discovered how to make the 

 great tree of California thrive in eastern gardoun. — 

 (i'irdtiner.i' Minithfy 



