AnguBt 31, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICUIiTDEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



159 



tnrning it round so that it may have the force of the water 

 directed against every part. The water should be heated to a 

 temperature of 160°, and to every three gallons add a wine- 

 •glassful of spirits of turpentine and 12 oz5. of soft soap. The 

 solution should be applied at a temperature of 140'. This will 

 ■destroy all the mealy bug escaping the hand-squeezing, but it 

 ia not applicable to all kinds of plants. Those with smooth 

 hard leaves it will not injure, but those with soft hairy leaves 

 it will destroy. Examples of plants which it will not injure 

 are Gardenias, Ixoras, and Stephanotis, and those which it will 

 injure are exemplified by the Gloxinias. In the case of soft 

 hairy-leaved plants, the best method is to persist in the hand- 

 cleaning, and syringing with water only at a temperature of 

 i20°. Either persisted in will soon clear the plants of those 

 pests — not that the insect may not return, which it assuredly 

 will do if of long standing. It hides itself in the woodwork, 

 plunging material, ifcc, and reappears when least expected. 



This remedy may, perhaps, be known to everybody, but it is 

 not applicable in every case, as it is impossible very often to 

 remove the subjects, and the solution applied to them may drip 

 on subjects it would injure. For individual plants it answers 

 well, but for a house something different must be used. That 

 something is guano, or the ammonia it gives off. The vapour 

 of turpentine answers the same purpose, but it will destroy 

 every leaf that has not ceased to inhale, and especially plants 

 that do so largely, as Gloxinias, Achimenes, Gesneras, and all of 

 their family, along with Vines, &j. The vapour arising from 

 guano, on ihe other hand, is invigorating to all but a few, and 

 to the latter, even, in less powerful doses. It is easy, however, 

 to remove such subjects as Gloxinias, Achimenes, Gesneras, 

 and Ferns, and with the house closed to scatter some of the 

 best Peruvian guano on the floors, just covering every part; 

 then sprinkle with water and keep moist. In about an hour 

 the ammonia evolve! will be suflicieut to make it strongly ap- 

 parent to the eye and nose. Let the guano remain on the 

 walks as long as yon please, keeping them moist, and in case 

 of any mealy bug being found repeat the application ; but I 

 Lave not found it necessary to do so. 



In addition to the guano on the floor, I put in each of the 

 •evaporation troughs (I have all the upper pipes troughed in all 

 Louses requiring a high temperature) a handful of guano, and 

 etir well up, repeating the application every fortnight during 

 the growing season, and this keeps off the mealy bug, and is 

 nseful against other insects, especially red spider, for which it 

 is a remedy. 



The value of ammonia to the cultivator is well known, and 

 the greater benefit of natural watering as compared with arti- 

 ficial wateiing is in a great measure due to its presence in 

 the one ca^e, and absence in the other. I am persuaded that 

 for sprinkling, for every three gallons used, 1 oz. of guano 

 would be vastly superior, more beneficial than water only, 

 which from its being drawn from a source deprived of its am- 

 monia possesses no stimulating quality. Strained I consider it 

 would be very beneficial for syringing plants. Having tried it 

 but to a limited extent, I cannot say more than that it has a 

 beneficial tendency similar to that of soot water, it is of an 

 .squally harmless nature as regards the foliage, and does not 

 discolour paint, &o. — G. Abbey. 



THE FOREST TREES OF HINDOSTAN. 

 Foremost amongst the crowd of leafy princes in ornamental 

 beauty and commercial value stands the Ironwood tree of the 

 Burrampooter valley, Mesua ferrea. Tall, straight, and sym- 

 metrical, it rears itself some 60 or 70 feet high, tapering upwards 

 in its glossy green mass of waxlike foliage, beset with snowy, 

 ifragrant, golden-centred flowers of the Camellia character, its 

 timber unmatched for weight and hardiness by any other in all 

 the immense wildernesses of Ind, and its worth enhanced by its 

 comparative rarity, for the axe has played sad havoc with the 

 very partially-scattered groups to be met with at the present 

 time. The dried flowers are sold as a perfume. There are 

 certain conditions of soil, clime, and natural production which 

 iave hitherto baffled the zealous arboriculturist in his labours 

 to propagate this beautiful wonder of the woods. I sent large 

 quantities of seed to the Koyal Botanic Gardens in Calcutta, 

 and ill success appears to have attended all the attempts at 

 introduction, besides the unavoidable catastrophe of those 

 gardens being more than once utterly demolished by frequent 

 hurricanes, known as " cyclones." When I was building a 

 house in Assam, I succeeded in finding and felling some first- 

 elass ironwood timber, and when it was ready for use had to 



employ no less than three lusty elephants to drag each of the 

 best specimens to my locality, a few miles distant, and they 

 found it hard labour, too; the ground being soft and marshy, 

 with no vestige of a roadway, all stumps, and bushes, and bogs, 

 putting wheels or rollers quite out of consideration. Slowly 

 and surely my mast-like logs found their way to my work ! I 

 will return to this little-known order of Garcinacece presently. 



A rival in beauty and utiUty, though quite of another type, 

 appears in profuse array, the gorgeous Ligerstro3inia reginte — 

 every spike of rose-red flowers enough to fill a market-basket. 

 Grand in its regal bloom and stout in its growth, yielding 

 durable though crooked logs, preferred by the Burmese for 

 ship's "knees," and by the 'cute Anglo-Indian adventurer for 

 the roof supports of his residence, this lovely tree attains a 

 moderate size in cultivation, and flowers annually in the gar- 

 dens of Lower Bengal. 



On entering Central and Lower Assam, the European stranger 

 is overpowered with admiration of the gigantic woodland scenery. 

 As he ascends the noble Burrampooter, winding among ranges 

 of little hills and grand mountains, he will with his telescope 

 scan the interminable tracts of dark forest, and occasionally 

 define its constituent " Sylva." Spreading over the lower 

 country, his glass will, from the poop of the steamer, proclaim 

 that here Shorea robusta is indigenous and paramount, its 

 sombre and silent shade telling the well-known tale of death- 

 dealing malaria, which has laid low many a bold hunter and 

 brave botanist in the regions of heat and moisture, the combina- 

 tion so necessary to the life of this valuable timber tree, attain- 

 ing its proudest dimensions here, and in the equally noxious 

 atmosphere of the Nepaul Terai. The Government gun-car- 

 riages, the transport train, the military buildings, the ware- 

 house of the merchant, the craft of the native boat-bnilder, all 

 constructed of the heavy fibrous wood, supporting great strain 

 and shock,_ while so heavy as to sink in water, and hence 

 requiring rafts of bamboo and earthen pots to give it floatage in 

 conveyance by river. Were it not for the annual conflagrations 

 caused by the primitive custom of burning the old grass lands, 

 India would at the present time have been indeed overstocked 

 with this invaluable tree. Most of your readers may not be aware 

 that dammar is the gum or resin of Shorea robusta, which is 

 annually collected by woodmen, who pay a license for gathering 

 forest produce — i e,, charcoal, honey, beeswax, gums, and the 

 flowers of Bassia latifolia for the distillation of spirits. I once 

 visited a noble forest of this tree, the hereditary property of a 

 Mahometan priest. It had evidently been tended and con- 

 served by past generations, for the giants appeared as clean 

 and regularly placed as in a recent plantation ! I was allowed, 

 as a special favour, to fell one of the monsters of the many 

 hundreds standing in proud state, and found the timber very 

 solid and mature. The grain of the wood is much like that of 

 our English Elm. The railways have availed themselves largely 

 of its comparative abundance and good qualities, and the Go- 

 vernment conservators are keeping a strict eye upon the herds- 

 men and other incendiary tramps, to save tlae young seedlings 

 (self-sown) from annihilation. 



This is not the only precious individual in that remarkable 

 order, Dipterocarpacea^, for Vateria indica supplies that elegant 

 resin known to commerce as East Indian Copal, closely 

 resembling amber, and often containing flies and other minute 

 natural objects. I have had beads and mouthpieces for pipes 

 made of this substance, but it is too brittle for much handling. 

 Combined with boiling linseed oil and a little pale dammar, it 

 is in general use by carriage and Louse painters in the East as a 

 varnish ; while among the aborigines of Malabar it is manu- 

 factured into candles, which burn with a clear light, no smoke, 

 and fragrant odour. This gum resin is highly electrical. Va- 

 teria lancifolia yields the incense used in Hindoo temples near 

 the coast. Dipterocarpus lasnis and angustifolius furnish the 

 balsamic oil known as gurjun. An old tree will supply by 

 tapping and charring 40 gallons in one season, but will soon 

 perish ; for this reason I presume the product is rapidly rising 

 in price. I have found it a famous solvent for the most diffi- 

 cult soluble substances. The virgin forests of our north-east 

 frontier and alsoBurmah are its localities, growing in the most 

 dark and pestiferous jungles. 



Cedrela species are superb timber producers, yielding the 

 finest woods for cabinet work, the darker kinds being almost 

 equal to mahogany, and taking an exquisite polish. The older 

 the timber, the finer the grain and the darker the veins. This 

 is the favourite wood of the cabinet-makers and Louse carpenters 

 of the luxurious East. Such furniture as bedsteads, dining 

 tables, chairs of every shape, sofas, cabinets, chests of drawers, 



