90 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Feb. 2, 1920. 



plant as hedge or tree in a pig yard. The leaves falling allow the sunlight 

 to reach the soil on which the pigs have lain during the summer, and any 

 parts which may have hecome foul and unhealthy are subjected to the 

 disinfecting and sweetening influences of the sun's I'ays. All contaminating 

 and decomposing matter is thus destroyed, moulds and bacteria on the 

 surface are rendered harmless, and the area is made healthy for occupation 

 in the same way the following season. 



These trees are readily propagated from the beans, taken from the 

 blackened pods in winter. The seeds should be stored in a dry place until 

 ready for sowing, and prior to sowing in the early spring they should be 

 soaked in water at a temperature of 150 degrees Fah. for a few hours, to 

 assist and hasten germination. Sow in a light loam, fairly damp, in a 

 shaded corner of the garden. The seeds germinate freely and the plants 

 grow with great vigour, so that when twelve months old they can be planted 

 out in their permanent locations. Many trees raised from seed are found to 

 be thornlees, and these may be especially selected for decorative or shade 

 purposes. 



We thus find that this handsome shade tree is not only a valuable addition 

 to our native trees for purposes of shade and decoration, but that it possesses 

 the additional advantages of providing food for stock, pigs and bees, as well 

 as (by its deciduous habit) giving a sweetened and healthy soil surface for 

 resting stock. 



What Departmental Help Stands For. 



The substantial benefit the farmer may derive from the activities of an 

 Agricultural Department has been recently instanced in the water-melon 

 industry in the south-eastern United States, where (according to the " Weekly 

 News Letter " of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) losses were reduced 

 from 20 per cent, in 1918 to 2 per cent, in 1919 as a result of the treatment 

 of the stems of water-melons against stem-end rot. 



The enormous loss that was going on made it obvious that the water-melon 

 industry in the area in question was threatened with extinction by reason of 

 the one disease alone, and a campaign for the control of the trouble was 

 started in the spring of 1919 under the supervision of the Washington 

 Department. It was found that a large percentage of the losses occurred 

 among melons that had been infected at the cut stem after they had been 

 removed from the vine, and that disinfection of the cut stems at the time 

 of loading the melons into cars would eUminate much of the waste. The 

 method adopted was to cut off a section of the stem as the melons were packed 

 into the cars and to apply a small brushful of disinfectant paste to the freshly 

 cut surface. 



As indicated, losses were quickly curtailed. Particular evidence as to the 

 efficacy of the treatment was offered by comparison of the melons in two 

 halves of one car load, one half being treated and the other untreated. An 

 examination at the conclusion of the journey disclosed only 4 ])er cent, of the 

 melons in the treated half to be decayed while in the untreated half 28 per 

 cent, were affected. 



