Edible Products. 



420 



[November, 1911. 



amount of manure, is essential. The 

 land between the trellises should be 

 ploughed at least twice a year and 

 harrowed regularly, particularly after 

 rain during summer and autumn. A 

 spriug-tooth harrow is very useful for 

 the purpose. 



A liberal supply of stable manure' 

 when plentiful, should be given ; if not» 

 artificial manure as recommended for 

 young plants should be used at the rate 

 of 4 lbs- per plant or 8ewts. per acre and 

 harrowed in during early spring. 



Pruning. 



The vines should not be pruned until 

 the frosts have disappeared. Young 

 plants suffer badly from frost. They 

 should be protected for the first two 

 years by branches of evergreen trees 

 being placed around them ; old hessian 

 also serves the purpose. When a young 

 plant becomes frost-bitten, the diseased 

 parts should be removed with a sharp 

 knife ; the cut should be made about 

 | in. into the sound wood. If any of the 

 diseased wood be allowed to remain, 

 decay continues. 



Superfluous wood and foliage should be 

 allowed to remain on the older vines 

 until after the frosts are over, as they 

 help to save the vines. They may then 

 be removed with advantage. 



Diseases. 

 Old passion vines are very subject to 

 Collar Rot (Fusarium). This disease is 

 more easily contracted, and is more 

 difficult to deal with, when the plants 

 are allowed to establish themselves by 

 throwing up a number of leaders from 

 or below the surface of the ground (e). 

 The stems should be kept clean and 

 about 3 in, long, like (/). This can only 

 be satisfactorily done by putting the 

 plants on the wires while young, and 

 thus rendering the work in connection 

 with their requirements easy. This 

 disease maybe kept in check by scraping 

 off the diseased bark at the collar and 

 spraying with Bordeaux mixture. 



Passion plants also suffer from Brown 

 Spot of the leaf and fruit (Glocosporium). 

 This disease may be suppressed by 

 thinning out the diseased parts, and by 

 the judicious use of Bordeaux mixture. 



The vines suffer but little from insect 

 diseases. Occasionally the stems and 

 roots are attacked by the White Ant 

 (Termes australis). These ants rarely 

 attack young vigorous plants, but con- 

 fine their attention mostly to old and 

 decaying ones, or those which are 

 affected with Collar Rot. Such plants 

 should receive immediate attention, as 

 recommended, when the ants will share 



the fate of the Collar Rot. If this were 

 found to be ineffectual against the ants, 

 kerosene emulsion might be injected into 

 the diseased parts. Old vines which 

 have ceased to produce remunerative 

 crops through disease or other causes 

 should be grubbed out and burned. 



TOBACCO INDUSTRY. 



Its Cultivation and Future in the 

 Philippines— Gives Assdrance op 

 Splendid Returns to Capital. 



(From the Manila Bulletin.) 



Among the many industries in the 

 Philippines that promises large returns 

 to investors, those with small capital 

 equally as well as to those with large 

 capital, is the tobacco industry. 



The possibilities offered for the future 

 cultivation of tobacco and its present 

 importance in the island industries is 

 set forth in a very clear manner by Mr. 

 H. M. Pitt, in Reciprocity and the 

 Philippines. 



Mr. Pitt says :— 



Tobacco is grown generally through- 

 out the Philippines. In nearly every 

 province of the archipelago patches 

 may be found, and the leaf is used by 

 the people who grow it and their neigh- 

 bours. The better commercial grades 

 come for the most part from the valley 

 of the Cagayan River, in the north 

 part of Luzon, the island on which the 

 city of Manila is located. This valley 

 extends for upwards 200 miles along the 

 river and is very sparsely populated. 

 During the rainy season the river over- 

 flows its banks and floods the flat 

 stretches that border it. There is thus 

 deposited each year a natural fertilizer 

 in the form of silt which makes the 

 soil extremely rich. The valley being 

 protected on the east and west by 

 mountains, is freed from most of the 

 winds that pass over the islands, but 

 the result is that the weather is exceed- 

 ingly warm. Conditions are thus found 

 to be particularly favourable to the 

 cultivation of high grade tobacco. There 

 is so much land available in the region 

 and the population is so small, that 

 there is no necessity for intense cultiv- 

 ation, and the native settler can readily 

 move from place to place, cultivating 

 new ground after one or two crops have 

 been raised on the old. 



The Spanish Government formerly 

 maintained a tobacco monopoly, and 

 while this did not materially benefit 

 the grower, it did tend to improve the 

 quality of the product, as none was 

 accepted unless of approved grade. This 



