jtLV i, 1887.] "i'HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
47 
Knightia Excelsa : Rewarewa (pronounced Rivi- 
rivi).— Grows to 100 ft., wood handsome and curiously 
flowered, splits easily and is used for shingles. 
Common about Auckland, would make good boxes or 
chesls— weight of timber about the same as Rimu — a 
sample is sent. 
Podocakpos Totaea.— Totara— grows to '20 feet, 
with a diameter of 4 to 10 feet, wood durable with 
a clean grain, red in colour, resembling cedar and 
works very freely. Grows in both islands and is fairly 
abundant about Auckland, weight 40 lb. a cubic foot, 
value about 8s per 100 feet. I regret I cannot send 
a sample, but it is well suited for your chests as it 
is less thought of than Kauri. 
Libocedkus Doniana, Kawaka.— Libocedrus Bid- 
willii Pahanted, known as "N. Zealand cedar." I 
send a sample, but am not sure of which variety. 
It is a free working wood of fine grain, the second 
variety being more brittle than the first. This is well- 
adapted for your chests, but I cannot quote the price. 
Dacrtdiom Oolensoi.— Manvao, yellow pine— very 
durable, used for furniture. Grows in both islands. 
Podocabpus Spicata. — Black pine— common in the 
South Island, wood yellow, of close grain, weight 40 lb. 
a cubic foot. Is not so common in the North Island. 
I think I have given the names of the most com- 
mon woods, easily procurable which are suited for tea 
chests. Should you think of ordering a trial shipment 
I would advise you to have them all cut in lengths 
of one size for chests and half-chests. Your native 
carpenters would then only have to nail them to- 
gether. This is such a simple matter, when French 
nails of drawn wire are used, that there would be no 
difficulty. If you want the sides and bottoms to be 
extra strong drive the nails diagoually. This 
increases the holding power of the nails very much. 
It is a good plan to do what I have noticed in Indian 
chests and have a triaugular slip of wood nailed into 
the corners of each chest : this preserves the lead. 
Mr. A. T. Anderson, late of Ceylon, is now a com- 
mission agent in Melbourne (his address is care of 
Gibbs, Bright & Co.). He could find out the cost of 
shipments via Melbourne both of New Zealand and 
Tasmaniau timbers. Mr. Arthur Horsburgh Parnell, 
Auckland, New Zealand, would he able to help you 
about shipments from Auckland via Brisbane. 
Should any order be sent for planks, I would 
advise the exact sizes being given, so that the sides 
and ends of the chests would be, made of one piece 
of board. I do think this would increase the cost 
aud it would facilitate putting them together on the 
estate aud make a stronger chest, more waterproof 
than wheu two boards are used, and less likely to 
oxidize the lead by damp. 
Of the New Zealaud timbers I have mentioned, I 
think the following most likely to suit your purpose : 
1. Kauri — Dummara Australia', 
2. Kahikatea — Podooarpus dacrydioides, 
3. Rimu — Dacrydium cupressinum, 
4. Totara — Podocarpus Totara, 
all of which could be got at Auckland and shipped 
from there to Brisbane.— I am, gentlemen, your ob- 
edient servant, (Signed) R. O. Haldane. 
THE FLORENTINE STRAW INDUSTRY. 
An account is given in the report just issued by 
Oonsul-General Colnaghi, of the Florentine straw in- 
dustry. It is stated that this industry was originally 
confined to the Contado of Florence, where it existed 
In the L6H1 century. From tliis district it gradually 
spread into other parts of Tuscany and of Italy. The 
in lustry appears, however, to have become of importance 
only at the beginning of the 18th century, wheu Do- 
menico Michelacci introduced or perfected the culture 
of spring wheat (urnno marzuolo), sown thickly, from 
which an excellent straw is obtain nl. The first ex- 
periments were made on the hills round S : gna, and 
thi ir success caused this culture to bo quickly extended 
to the neighbouring districts. The industry now is so 
geuernlly extended throughout the Florentine district, 
that there is scarcely a family in which some of the 
members are not engaged in this work. Children 
begin to plait at five and six years of age, while the 
mothers of families, in addition to their domestic 
occupations, and females of all ages and almost of all 
conditions, who do not follow the business as a means 
of livelihood, employ their leisure time in it. Formerly 
when the production was carried on by persons con- 
nected with agricultural labour only, the work was not 
constant, but now it goes on all the year round. In 
the cultivation and preparation of the straw, the seed 
used is carefully selected with regard to the nature 
of the soil in which it is to be sown. The quality em- 
ployed is always a variety oE spring wheat (Triticvm 
cestivum). As the object of the cultivator is to pro- 
duce a fine long straw, and not a full crop of wheat, 
all the usual conditions are reversed. Thus a spring 
wheat is sown in winter, a mountain variety on low 
lands ; the seed is thickly instead of thinly sown &c. 
The thicker the seed is sown the finer the straw comes 
out. Straw is largely grown about Campi, Sesto, and 
Prato, in the plain between Florence and Pistoia, 
diminishing in quantity in the neighbourhood of the 
latter city. The cultivation is important between 
Florence and Empoli, principally on the south-west 
side of the Arno, on the plain, and on the hills com- 
mencing in the vicinity of Signa. In the principal 
centres of cultivation straw is grown on nearly every 
farm. Plots of land are also hired at a money rent 
for this culture. The seed is sown very thickly towards 
the end of November, or the beginning of December. 
The ground is dug up and manured in May, and gene- 
rally sown with spring beans and the like, which are 
often dug in. About October the ground is ploughed 
for sowing, and at the end of May, or the beginning 
of June following, when the ear is beginning to swell, 
the straw is pulled up by hand, a sunny day being chosen 
for the operation. The straw is then made up into 
bundles containing as much straw as can be easily 
held in the hand, and these bundles are tied up with 
broom. The gross produce of ahectareof land, thehectare 
being equivalent to about 2'47 acres, is calculated, ap- 
proximately, jit from 19,000 to 20,000 manate or bundles. 
The next operation which the straw undergoes is that of 
beiug bleached, which is effected by exposure to the sun 
by day and to the dews by night. The bundles are 
spread in fan shape on a bare river bank of other 
open space, which must be entirely devoid of veget- 
ation. After four or five days' exposure the straw will 
have acquired a light yellow colour. The bundles are 
then turued over, and the under part exposed in its 
turn for three or four days more, wheu the straw, 
after being well dried, is gathered in. "When the dews 
are light, the process is slower but more perfect. In 
case of rain, the straw is at once heaped together 
and covered over to prevent it becoming spotted. 
The straw is now ready for manufacture, the first 
operation of which is the spilatura or unsheathing the 
euds, leaving only the inner portion to be worked up, 
this is generally done by children. When unsheathed, 
the straw is carried to the factories, and after having 
been slightly wetted it is first exposed to the fumes 
of sulphur in a tightly-closed room. The straw has 
next to be sorted according to its different thicknesses. 
This is done by means of an apparatus which con- 
sists of a series of vertical metal cones placed on a 
stand in a dwuble row, and provided with movable 
copper plates perforated at their lower ends. The 
holes in each succeeding plate are a size larger than 
those in the preceding one. The numbers generally 
range from 0 to 13, but sometimes they run up to 
20, O represents the fiuest stems. A bundle of straw 
being placed in the first tube of the series, a saltatory 
movement is given to the machine by means of a 
combination of cog-wheels, generally worked by hand. 
The finest straws pass through the holes of the plate, 
where they are suspended by the ear. The larger 
straws are then put into the next tube, and so on 
until the whole is assorted, a coustaut supply beiug 
maintained. The sorted straws which have pavsed into 
tho holes up to the ends, by which they are suspended 
and prevented from falling through, are then drawn 
out by the oars and placed iu separate receptacles. 
The first thing after assorting the straw is to cut off 
tho ears, an operation termed apiqatwvn, which is donjB 
