June I, 1886.J 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUK15 



^79 



trailiction, I call it the model agricultural college of 

 America. Less than ten years of age. it is fairly 

 roote<i in the hearts of the farmers of Outario. How 

 can it have other than a bright future ? It was 

 the afternoon of tlie second ilay wiien I closed my 

 visit. I felt as I left that I could profitably stay a 

 week studying the reasons why this youug school 

 was so rapidly gaining distinction." — Pioneer. 



Tire Toon Tree i.\ Qieenslan-d. — Mr. Simmonds, 

 in a recent paper stated : — " Irrespective of the 

 immense home consumption in Queensland, there is 

 a large export trade, ranging in value from £30,000 

 to £t)O,0tXl. .\lready the Oovernment have seen it 

 necessary to pass a measure for the conservation of 

 the red*cedar {Ctdrela Toona.) This tree grows to a 

 height of 100 to 150 feet, with a diameter ranging 

 from 3 to I feet, is easily worked, and is in dry 

 situations very durable. Some trees have been cut 

 on the Kichmond river yielding 30,000 feet of sale- 

 able timber. The market value of this tree in Queens- 

 land is from JO shillings per hundred superficial feet, 

 according to colour and size. — Indiim Forester. 



lM-i,i'EN'CE OF Plants ox tue At.mosphebe. — The 

 Willimantic (Conn.) Threid Company some time since 

 accidentally illustrated the intiuence of plants on the 

 atmosphere. The nature of the operations of this com- 

 pany ilemanded a reasonable and constant humidity 

 of the atmosphere in their shops. To obtain this they 

 ha*l employed two men and a spraying machine; but 

 Colonel 15arrows, desiring to increase the comfort and 

 a pleasure of his operatives, commenced the cultivation 

 of plants around the factory and placed many in the 

 rooms, employing one gardener to take carelofthem. 

 The atmosphere was at once changed in character ; 

 the spray machine was no longer needed, one man's 

 wage-s were saved and the operatives were surrounded 

 by bea'itiful flowers, and their lives made morc.pleasant. 

 — Giirdf'iers' Chronicle. 



The Toon Tbee in New South "Wales. — In a 

 review of a book on the Timber trees of New .South 

 Wales in the Iwlian Forater, we find the following 

 information : — Our author has divided the softwoods 

 into three sob-classes — (1) Cabinet and fancy woods, 

 (2) Coach-building woods, (3) Stave woods. Under 

 the head of cabinet and fancy wootls, the red cedar, 

 our Indian friend Cedrela Toona, is placed first as 

 the most useful and valuable of all. It is said to 

 attain a height of 150 feet ivith a girth of 10 feet, 

 and to yield sometimes upwards of 30,000 superficial 

 feet of saleable timber per tree. The great demand 

 for tiin timber has completely extirpated it in many 

 localities, .ilthou;jh it was formerly abundant in all 

 the brush forest, and fears arc entertained that unless 

 protective measures are shortly tikeu, it will soon 

 be no longer found in the colony. Many of the othor 

 woods are of great beauty, strength aud durabihty, 

 and often exquisitely veined, marked or fragrant, but 

 are little known and seldom used, though superior 

 to many kinds now largely imported. Amongst the 

 coach-building woods, we have *coachwood,' Cf.rato- 

 petaUnn ajiittUuni, and many others. The silky oak, 

 Grtvilica robiisia, is excellent for copper's work, as 

 well as the green wattle {Acacia decnrrett.'f) aud the 

 silver wattle {Acacia decdbata), and many others whose 

 names are hardly known in India. 



The rnvLIxjXEKA i.\ 1'h.vnce. — This malady still 

 tuakes great devastation in the wine districts in spite 

 of the energetic measures taken a,'ain.st its diffusion. 

 The prize of 30,000 francs, offered by the Government 

 has brought forward no remedy that answers the re- 

 quirements, so that the means for the destruction of 

 the pest are those which hive been previously re- 

 comTnond»d and with only partial success hitherto. 

 It is notified thit several d'partments have become 

 infoctel, and thit others hive received permissiou 

 to employ the American Vines, which are either wholly 

 or but little susceptible of injury from the Phyllox- 

 era. Since'iti introduction into Krauc over l,000,O((0 

 hectare-s have been destroyed, but so rapiilly have new 

 plantations been laid down that at the present time 

 not more than 500,000 hectares are fallen out of Vine 



cultivation — about ono-fifth of the whole area undor 

 "N'inos. By ministerial dtcret fields for demonstration 

 (champs de demonstration) are to be set apart, wherein 

 infected Vmes be practically treated for the instruc- 

 tion of the wine farmers, and from whi<'h good results 

 are expected. The insect 'has appeared in a few vine- 

 yartls in Algiers, and the difiiculty of meeting the 

 danger there is increased by the refusal of the .ship- 

 ping companies to transport the rather dangerous com- 

 pound used in its destruction. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



ToHAcco Cui.ri'KE HY Fakjieus. — The Daili/ Kens of 

 April 19 states : — " Under authority from the Ijords 

 of the Treasury the experimental cultivation of Tobac- 

 co is to be permitted in the United Kingdom. .\ny 

 occupier of land intending to plant Tobacco must, on 

 or before May 5, give notice to the Secretary of In- 

 land Revenue, Somerset House, setting forth the ex- 

 tent of the laud to be planted, and the place, parish, 

 and country where situate. Bond under approved se- 

 curities will be required in a penalty of i'lOO if over 

 an acre of ground 1)0 cultivated, and .&50 if under an 

 acre, in order to secure that all Tobacco grown and 

 gathered shall be removed to drying rooms and kept 

 there until properly cured, when it shall be packed 

 in bags, bales, or casks of an [approved size, and must 

 then be weighed by a revenue officer. After weigh- 

 ing the packages the duty must be paid, or the To- 

 bacco be deposited in an approved customs or excise 

 warehouse. lu answer to letters addressed to the In- 

 land Revenue Department by the ensilage Society, of 

 which Lard Walsiugham is President, and Mr. Kains 

 .Tacksou, Hon. Secretary, repHcs have been received 

 that permission will be granted to certain responsible 

 agriculturists named by the Ensilage Soeiety to make 

 experiments in the growth of Tobacco, provided they 

 comply with the memorandum printed above." 



The Jarkah or Western Austuaija, it has been 

 confidently asserted, cau resist the attacks of even 

 teredo nnra'is, but this has recently been denieit. 

 In the Indian Forester, however, occur the following 

 statements : — The wonderful capabilities of the .Jarrah of 

 "Western Australia, /:,'. marifinata, was the theme of 

 the majority of speakers in the discussion following 

 Mr. Simmonds ' paper. Of the twelve saw-mills in 

 the colony, the most important are the Jarrahdale 

 Company of Rockingham, with a railway to the port 

 23 miles long, employing nearly 200 hands ; the 

 "Western Australian .Jarrah Company, at Lockville, 

 with lij.^ miles of tramway ; Davie's Karridale saw- 

 mills at Angasta and Port Hanelin, with (j ndles of 

 tramway, au'.l employing 100 to 150 men; and the 

 Canning saw-mill, with ^h miles of tramway, em- 

 ploying about 50 men. In I8S2, there were shipp**d, 

 chiefiy to the neighbouring Colonies and Imlia, lt<.73(l 

 loads valued at £03,650, £5 a load ; and in 1^83 

 19,9 10 loads valued at £79,760, £1 a lo.-id. While there 

 is a palpable diminution iu the supi)ly of scented wood 

 {Santahtii. cijfinorum), the other valuable export of 

 the colony. Western Australia, has more than 3u,00() 

 square miles covered with eucalyptus, 2-1,000 miles of 

 which consist of the white gum (/'.'. viiniualis) and 

 jarrah (E. tnari/inata). Mr. Simpson, wh ) ha I thirty- 

 two years' pr.actical experience of the colony, stated 

 that almost everything iu AVestern Australia was 

 made of this timber, work-boxes, pianofortes, buildings, 

 wharves and jetties; it seemed to defy all known 

 forms of decay, and was untouched by white anfs and 

 all other insects, so that ships built of it did not 

 require to be coppered. A specimen on the table, 

 cut nearly thirty-two years ago, wdiieh had been ex- 

 posed to bush fires, to the summer sun of Australia, 

 aud to wind aud rain in the wet sea.son, was as sound 

 now as the day it was fellotl. Another as sound piece 

 was exhibited cut from a bridge certified by the 

 Oovernmeut resident to have been thirty-six yi;ars in use. 

 There were about fiftt:cn varieties of the timber, and 

 it could be obtaine<l of any reasonabh! length up to 

 60 or 80 feet, the tnmk of the tree having no 

 branches whatever. It did not burn freely, but only 

 charre.d. If a sheet of gla.ss and a piece of this 

 timber were put intti a white ant's nest, the ants 

 would bore through the glass rather thau touch tho 

 jsrrab. 



