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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[June i, 1886. 



Tea and Otheh Planting Industeies in Oeylon 

 in J885. A good field for investment. By A. M. and 

 J. Ferguson, Colombo. This is on intere.«ting book on 

 the subjeet of tea in all respects— culture, consumption, 

 the family tea-pot, &c.. tcc.—SoHllieni Planlrr. 



Hints fob Prunimh.- \Y\un it is nec-essan- to 

 prune large linilw the .saw .should cut a little way upon 

 the UMiler side to prevent Ihe branch from .splitting off 

 down the body when the main cut is made from above. 

 All wounds more than an inch in diameter .should be 

 covered with paint to exciu'e air and promote rapid 

 healuig over of the cut surface. Outs made with a saw, 

 however small, should be painted.— .S-r)«(//(rrn Plant,, 



The Electric I-ight v.s. (!as.— As regards Ihe 

 matter of cost the electric light, according to Mr 

 Preece's experience, comes to just twice that of gas' 

 but he IS of opinion that there can belittle doubt on 

 which side the balance would appear, if tlie value of 

 ste.ady light, pure air, absence of heat, matches, cand- 

 les, and oil were taken into account, as well as other 

 advantages, such as cleanliness, durability of decorations 

 etc., which entitle electric light to a preference over 

 gas. — Fhariiiaceuticul Journal 



Paiu KniiBEi!.— From Me.ssrs. Hecht, Lewis & Kalm's 

 Caoutchouc Report for 18H5 we learn that an increase 

 took place ni the crop of Para rubber, the imports 

 mto London and Liverpool amounting to 4S00 tons 

 against .UilO tons in KSSI-the total exports from 

 I'ara to all parts for 1885 being estimated at 12,500 

 tons agjiiust 10,900 tons in 1884. Of Ceara scrap 

 rubber, trom Manihot Glaziovii. the imports into Liver- 

 pool amounted to &:, tons, the quality being moat 

 satisfactory. Of Central American the "imports were 

 100 tons, and of other kinds the imports and sales 

 were good.— Giti-deiura' Chrnniclc. 



Thk Editor of the New York Phnnnaceuthche Hunds- 

 rlKiuCDr.F. Hoffmann) has been giving a considerable 

 amount of attention to a "non-secret" remedy that 

 has been put forward, under the name of " Kaskiue, the 

 New Quiuine," with the modest claim, based on .alleged 

 certificates from eminent medical men, that it '■ stands 

 unequalled and unrivalled in the world of .science as 

 the only medicine that can destroy the germs that 

 cause each particular disease." Kaskine appears to 

 have been sold in small Hat green glass bottles at a 

 dollar a bottle, each containing about twenty grains of 

 a sweet odourless white granular powder, freely soluble 

 lu water, which Dr. Hoffmann ascertained to "be finely 

 powdered Migar ptiret simph !—Phannnc,,iticnl Jom-nal 

 PkronospoHA of the A'lNE.— This fungus is almost 

 as much dreaded in Fr.anco as the Phylloxera itself- 

 neverthtdess, according to Profe.s.sor Kit.m, it is e.asily 

 kept ui check by the .application of dilute kerosene 

 emulsion with a small quantity of carbolic acid 

 applied with a spray-producer. .SuljAur, which is so 

 useful for the Tine mildew, is of little use for the 

 Peroaospora. Another remedy is made as follows — 

 Take Sulphate of copper 18 I!,, to 22 gallons of water 

 and 34 lb. of lime nii.xed with 7 gallons of water. 

 Mix the two Kulutioiis, when a bluish paste will be 

 fornied, which may be applied to the leaves with a 

 brush, taking care not to touch the berries.— G'fi)v«<?n<;/-.« ' 

 Chronicle. 



Himalayan BAnrBoo.- In a note read before the 

 Royal .Society of New South Wales, ].)r. P,randis, the 

 late Director of the Forest Dejiartment of India, men- 

 tions Arundinaria falcata (not the plant generally grown 

 in this country under that name, and which the late 

 General Munro determined to be Thanmocalamus Fal- 

 coner!) anil Thamnocalamus spathiflorus., The canes of 

 the latter are exported to the plains of Hindustan for 

 water-pipes, fishingrods, baskets, &c. This is the kind 

 commonly known as Ringal. It grows with the Deodar 

 Cupressus toiulosa, Abies Smithiara and Webbiain" 

 generally inhabiting mnisi, climates. Dr. Hrandis give.s 

 an acnouut of the chnr,uti-rs of tlie two species, and 

 takes the opportunity of correcting some errors of detail 

 into which In; fell when describing the plant.s in the 

 /•Vi/«« Flora nf .Vnrtli-ir,:<t ■fiidlVnhat /mlia. Both 

 sij"oies woulil probably tlirive in our south-western 

 ruuties, and in South Ireland.— C/rm/(-)ifr.«' Clii-nnir/e 

 The Uoi.D Wave IN Florida.— As u good- deal of 

 interest has of late attached itself to the reports of 



the Weather of Florida, it may be worthy of note that 

 a reiiort on the subject has just been issued by the 

 American Government. In this it is stated that an 

 abnormally cold wave passed over the State between 

 • Ian. H and 14, sending the temperature down to 15-" F 

 in some of the northern counties, and on two mornings 

 Im-mmg lee, on pnnds of water .'ift. deep, of suflicient 

 strength to boar a man. At one place, ten miles ea.st 

 ilo i'*' thermometer marked on one mor.iing 



:.i , and ice formed three-quarters of an inch thick in 

 ,,", -Tj"**^"®,'-'; ^," *" northern counties the oats were 

 all killed, and further south all tender garden vegetables 

 suffered the same fate. The citron, lime, ami lemon 

 trees suffered severely, as did also the smaller and 

 diseased orange trees. In the middle counties the large 

 and healthy orange trees lost one-half their leaves, and in 

 places further north all the leaves are gone All over 

 the State oranges have dropped off and been lost. It 

 IS estimated by those best informed that the loss to the 

 V:,*, ;,i^ consequence of this cold spell, will be at least 

 1200,000 in fruit, and another .£100,000 in the gardens 

 Ihe absolute damage to the State is greater than in 

 a? ,?' ■""?" T^ thermometer at St. Augustine marked 

 8 I.., and when most of the orange trees were killed 

 outright. The reason for this is that since that d.ate 

 the number of trees have increased a thousandfold 

 Owing to the small shipment of cattle last year and the 

 abandonment of cotton planting in all those portions of 

 the State where fruit growing has been exclusively 

 entered upon, this loss by the cold falls exceptionally 

 heavy, and must result in much financial embarrassment 

 The agent for the United States in Florida hopes that 

 the result will be to call attention to the necessity for 

 a greater diversity of crops than at present.—Field. 



OocA.— We are imlebted to the courtesy of Dr Bidie 

 ofMadras for a copy of his pamphlet on Coca. It 

 consists of the lecture delivered by Dr. Bidie in March 

 last, and which we noticed some time back. The pam- 

 phlet is accompanied by an illustration of the plant which 

 IS now .speedily assuming such importance. Dr. Bidie has 

 favoured us with the following remarks on the subject- 

 Subsequent to the publication of my lecture in the 

 Madras papers, several planters wrote to' me making 

 enquiries on the subject, but the difficulty hitherto has 

 been in getting seeds or plants to begin the culture 

 Some, I beheverbave sent to South America for supplies 

 ol seed, and one or two are in po.ssessiou of plants 

 and they will no«- of course propagate as fast as 

 possible. The local Agri-Horticultural Society has also 

 pl..nts, and will no doubt do its best to meet the 

 demands for seed. So far as I have heard, the Coca 

 in south India does not seed freely al elevations over 

 3,n00 feet, but this may not be confirmed by further 

 experience. In Madras town it grows well kiid seeds 

 profusely, .so that we shall have no difficulty in pushing 

 the culture on this side of India, I have a few 

 plants in Madras raised from the original stock 

 brought direct by Mr. Cross of I Cinchona fame) from' 

 South America, and also one raised from a single 

 seed that I found amongst .some old American leaves 

 liately also a London friend sent me some few secd.s 

 picked out of a consignment of Bolivian leaves, but 

 they have not yet germinated. I rather think the 

 coca does not get on very well in Calcutta, but Dr 

 King will be able to give you information on this 

 point. At present I am trying to get a quantity of 

 leaves of an indigenous species— Brv/A.-orv/m, AFoiwi/t/- ' 

 ?1 ion— collected for analysis, with the view of ascer- 

 taining whether they contain any principal like that 

 of E. coca, n-., cocahm. During the late faminethe 

 leaves of the indigenous species were largely eaten by 

 the starxpoor.and this, at the time, led me to suggest 

 that they also contain some alkaloi.l, capable of al- 

 laying hunger and staving off fatigue. Dr. Bidie has 

 very kindiv promised to send us a sample of a 

 few leavus and wo shall await their arrival with 

 interest. We may here note that Dr. Bidie's lecture 

 contains all the information available about this plant • 

 and those who wish to know anything about coca, should 

 g(^t a copy of this pamphlet, which is published by 

 Higginbotham and Co.. of Madras.— /«f/,-„„ Aqricul- 

 turi.it , 



