June, 1910.] 



490 



Edible Products> 



which will thus be taken off with the 

 bud shield, may be removed if it slips 

 readily. If not, it should be left in 

 place. The lower end of the shield is 

 then taken between the thumb and 

 finger, arid gently inserted in the incision 

 prepared for it, pushing it up until it is 

 held firmly in place by the surrounding 

 bark. 



Tying and Wrapping,— The stock 

 must then be tied with raffia or some 

 other soft, but strong, tying material, 

 so as to prevent drying out. The cut 

 surfaces below the actual bud are usually 

 covered with grafting wax, and the 

 whole is then wrapped with a waxed 

 cotton bandage, beginning at the lower 

 part and winding spirally to the top, 

 exposing only the actual bud. This 

 method of wrapping protects the bud 

 and the wound from the access of 

 water. The bud is shaded by a short 

 piece of bandage hung over it and held 

 iu place by being laid under the upper 

 strands of the spirally wound ban<iage. 



Subsequent Treatment.— In about 

 three or four weeks, if the bud remains 

 green, the stock should be lopped at a 

 point about 7 inches above the bud. 

 Care should be taken, in thus cutting 

 stock partly off, to avoid splitting 

 downward. It should be made to split 

 upward into that portion of the stock 

 which is to be destroyed. This lopping 

 will serve to force the bud into growth. 

 Many other buds, on the sides of the 

 stock, will start into growth before 

 the new one. These must all be cut off. 

 It has not been found necessary to 

 remove the tyiug and wrapping material 

 until the bud has made two flushes, 

 and often it is not necessary at all since 

 the raffia is usually beneath the waxed 

 cloth, and the latter naturally expands 

 with the growth of the stock. When 

 the bud has started into growth, the 

 top of the tree may be completely cut 

 off and destroyed. The stump remain- 

 ing above the bud may be cut off with 

 a sloping cut close to the bud, after the 

 latter has made three or four flushes. 



Advantages op the Method.— It has 

 been found that buds can be set quite 

 rapidly by this method. In the ex- 

 perience of the writer, five or six buds 

 could be set, by this means, to one by 

 the bud method. Speed may be increased 

 also by the use of unskilled labour in 

 the tying and binding operations. The 

 operator can set the bud and pass on 

 to the next without any danger of its 

 getting out of place before the helper, 

 who immediately follows, ties it. 



Perhaps the most important advant- 

 age in this method of budding lies in 

 the fact that it may be used success- 

 fully when the bud-wood is not in an 



active growing condition. The most 

 tedious part of patch budding is in 

 removing the bud, and frequently in 

 doing so it will be broken. Further, 

 it is often impossible to get bud-wood 

 of a desired variety in active condi- 

 tion when the stocks are ready to be 

 operated upon. 



The method may be applied most ad- 

 vantageously to seedling trees in orchard 

 form when they have become large 

 enough to be operated upon, when the 

 buds should be set only a few inches 

 above the ground. It may also be used 

 in top-working old trees to new 

 varieties. 



WORLD'S VANILLA CROPS. 



(Prom the Chemist and Druggist, Vol. 

 LXXVL, April, 1910). 

 Mr. Hermann Mayer, Senior, sends us 

 the following statistics of the 1909-10 



Vanilla production : — 



Tons, 



Seychelles ... ... 10 



Bourbon ... ... 35 



Mexican ... ... 70 



Comores, Mayotte, etc. ... 40 



Madagascar and Nossi-Be ... 25 

 Mauritius ... ... 2 



Ceylon, Java, Fiji, Zanzibar, etc. 10 

 Guadeloupe and Martinique... 15 

 Tahiti ... ... 180 



Total (about) 390 

 This quantity falls 110 tons short oj 

 the 1908-09 crop, and as Tahiti shows an 

 increase of 40 tons, the actual deficiency 

 in the finer qualities totals 150 tons, or 40 

 per cent, on the previous year's yield, 

 which was of full average extent. 

 Prices during the past twelve months 

 have moved in accord with the statisti- 

 cal position, showing an improvement 

 of 30 to 40 per cent, for all varieties ex- 

 cept Tahiti. These have profited by the 

 shortage of all other sorts and main- 

 tained their value, notwithstanding 

 the larger returns. Only unimportant 

 balances remain in the Colonies, and, as 

 new crops are unlikely to be landed in 

 quantity before November next, statisti- 

 cally the position appears exceptionally 

 sound. 



VANILLA CULTURE FOR TRO- 

 PICAL QUEENSLAND. 



By Howard Newport. 



(From the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. XXIV., Pt. 4, April, 1910.) 



The culture of Vanilla offers facilities 

 to the settler iu the northern parts of 

 the Agricultural belt of Queensland that 



