THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



285 



Bananas. 



"Bananas don't do well with me ; they 

 require a good but sandy soil, which I 

 have not got, wet seasons, and proximity 

 to the sea is desirable. 



MAND^iRINS. 



"Mandarins — I am keeping to our 

 popular names of naartjes and nuuidarins 

 —arc cultivated in just the same way as 

 the naartjo. The mandarin, which is a 

 stronger and handsomer tree, is less liable 

 to disease, and bears about the same quan- 

 tity of fruit. In ripening it lollows on 

 the naartje. 



Depeedators. 

 "Xo, I don't troul)lG about the in- 

 jury done by the birds. 1 like to see 

 them about, and 1 believe in what is cal- 

 led the balance of nature. They kill oil' 

 . hosts of insects— the cliief enemies of the 

 oichard— and in recompense they are, for 

 my part, welcome to their hi I of fruit."' 

 \Vhile riding round the farm Mr. 

 James pointed out some sugar cane bit- 

 ten through and sucked by monkeys. 

 Here again his views were marked by 

 calm philosopliy. In reply to mv ques- 

 tion as to the desirability ' of destroying 

 these depredators, he said that to get rid 

 of them he would have to cut down the 

 patch of natural forett remaining on a 

 neighbouring krantz, and he held that 

 the beauty of that little bit of primeval 

 nature more than balanced the lo.ss of a 

 little sugar cane. This sugar cane was 

 growing on fiat, low lying land, not suit- 

 able for citrus trees. The cane is sent 

 for crushing to the neighbouring central 

 mill. The de_predations of the Indian 

 held hunds were, however, a different mat- 

 ter. All hands, he explained, were al- 

 lowed to eat as much fruit as they liked, 

 but the mischief was that they would 

 steal it for sale. It was not an infrequent 

 thing to find fruit secreted in lots along 

 the farm road leading to the Verulam 

 railway station, and these caches of fruit 

 were put on his own wago-ns for con- 

 veyance to Verulam, and there disposed 

 of. The audacity of the whole business 

 evoked from Mr. James appropriate in- 

 dignation. He has now engaged a native 

 police constable, and is much satisfied 

 with the man's seryices. 



The Bamboo and its Uses. 

 Small copses of bamboo form one of 

 the most striking features of the farm, 

 or estate, to use the more common Coast 

 designation. The bamboo serves many 

 purposes. Primarily as a shelter to the 

 fruit crops from wind it is of great value. 

 Then it has very material and direct uses, 

 and on this account Mr. James urges 

 general cultivation throughout the Col- 

 ony. On the Coast the growth, of course, 

 is more luxuriant than can be expected 

 in the upper and colder parts of the 

 Colony, but as there are immense varie- 

 ties — many excellent kinds growing in 

 parts of Japan and China, where the win- 

 ters are of intense severity — he believes 

 that even for the coldest parts of South 

 Africa suitable^ varieties might be found. 

 When he first planted a few clumps some 

 twenty years ago, he did so with two ob- 

 jects in view; firstly, to give shelter, and 

 secondly, for selling to Indians as poles, 

 for their house construction. A ready 

 sale for the poles is found from 3d. to Is. 

 each. The top height of his bamboos 

 is about 70 feet,' but there are kinds which 

 reach in India 120 feet, the diameter at 

 the Imse l)eing one foot, and from sections 

 of this thick part the Indians make bar- 

 rels for oil. 



Boxes. 



The bamboo fruit box often seen in 

 Durban, and sometimes in Maritzburg 

 and beyond, was, so to say, invented by 

 Mr. James. He now has imitators, and 

 he would be glad to see more. The boxes 

 are of great strength, and for permitting 

 the free circulation of air among the 

 fruit they are perfect. The only sawn 

 wood required is for the ends. The ends 

 for the sm iU boxes -weighing with con- 

 tents about 100 lbs.— are solid, while for 

 larger boxes the ends are square frames, 

 and are HileJ in with small bamboo slats, 

 and are filled in with small bamboo slabs. 

 These boxes can be made of any size, 

 and as they cost less than half what 

 boxes cost made of ceiling boards, they 

 would serve admirably for sending 

 certain kinds of farm or gar.len pro- 

 duce fr'om a distance to market. The 

 manufacture is simple, and more- 

 over it is easily learnt by Indians or 

 by intelligent natives. The poles, which 



