THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [S eptembe r 
special reference to supplies of vegetable seeds required 
by European residents in the Tropics. Seeds of Kidney 
Beans in Jamaica I have found useless on numerous 
occasions after being kept for a period equal to that 
mentioned in Mr. Watson's note in italics ; and Peas 
especially are well-known, by all who have grown them 
in the Tropics, to be of very uncertain growth after 
a few months only. These facts are no mere theory, 
but have been ascertained by personal observation dur- 
ing a series of years. Even the negro cultivator hesit- 
ates to purchase from a seed-store until he knows that 
some friend has purchased, and that the seed was fresh 
from actual trial. To make certain of seeds growing, 
residents in the Tropics should make it a practice to 
order at intervals, and always keep a fresh supply on 
hand for use, but they can order at longer intervals 
if the seeds are in sealed cases, and only opened as 
required. 
The cause of the failure of so many seeds is un- 
doubtedly the humidity and high temperature which 
we experience. If we could find in the tropics such 
a convenient drawer as Mr. Watson describes, it 
would not have been necessary to write upon the 
subject, but when we have a state of humidity repre- 
sented by 77, taking saturation at 100, and a mean 
annual temperature of over 77° Fahr., the conditions 
are somewhat difficult to estimate and understand 
by residents in a temperate clime. To enable Mr. 
Watson to estimate the value of such conditions, I 
would recommend him to place a series of seeds in a 
tropical-house at Kew, where a relative humidity 
and temperature to that mentioned could be con- 
veniently maintained, and correctly registered by 
the hygrometer. I think the result would enable 
him to discuss the subjeot on rather different lines, 
and with much greater force. 
When writing my note supporting Mr. Thierry's 
assertion, that seeds lose their vitality much sooner 
in the Tropics than in Europe," I was not in any 
way depreciating the easy and generally successful 
method adopted at Kew, and many other places for 
the transmission of seeds, but was pointing out how 
Nature showed us the way to preserve the vitality of 
seeds by giving to some such a hardened exterior 
coat that they have been known to survive immer- 
sion in sea-water for months, perform a long voyage, 
and then germinate. Perhaps we could not seal as 
effectually as Nature does, but we cannot dispute the 
fact that the sealing preserves the seeds, for after 
cutting one of a similar character through its ex- 
terior it will germinate immediately, but as long as 
it remains intact and undecayed the vital germ is 
kept in a state of preservation. — J. H. Hart, Super- 
intendent of Botanic Gardens, Trinidad.— Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
♦ 
Orange and Olive Growing in New Zealand. — 
In the province of Auckland the cultivation of the 
Orange is making rapid headway, and it is believed 
that in the course of a few years the industry will 
be one of some importance. For a number of years 
Orange trees, chiefly seedlings, have been grown 
here and there, and in not a few instances have 
yielded excellent crops ; but only very recently has 
the regular planting of Orange groves been carried 
on. In one particular district, where both soil 
and situation are favourable to their growth, there are 
already some thousands of Orange trees set out, the 
greater portion of which have been grafted or budded, 
as worked trees bear so much earlier than seedlings. 
It is calculated that in this district during the 
present season there will be crops of fruit, on com- 
paratively young trees, amounting to 30,000 Oranges. 
There are quite a number of trees, not yet six years 
old, that been 100 to 200 Oranges each. During 
the next decade, no doubt, the planting of the Orange 
will go on vigorously, so that there should be plenti- 
ful supply of fruit, if not for export, at all events for 
the people living in the colony, the supplies hitherto 
having como from Fiji and other islands, and some 
from Australia. Some orchardists are of opinion 
that the culture of Oranges will be more profitable 
than that of Apples or Pears. It may be mentioned 
that Lemons of good marketable quality have been 
raised for a number of years. Limes, too, have been 
grown, which on being analysed, would compare favour- 
ably with those grown in other countries, and showing 
that these fruits might be profitably cultivated for the 
manufacture of citric acid. In regard to Olive grow- 
ing, for a number of years experiments have been 
carried on just outside Auckland city by Dr. Campbell, 
on a portion of his valuable estate, suitable, for the 
culture of the Olive. The experiment is a somewhat 
extensive one, inasmuch as upwards of 20 acres have 
been planted with trees, according to the quincunx 
system, 20 feet apart every way. As a start for this 
Olive plantation 5,000 seedling trees were obtained from 
Adelaide some years ago. These were afterwards grafted 
at different times, though the grafts did not all succeed. 
Transplanting took place in due course, and there are 
now some 2,500 trees thriving vigorously, and this season 
bearing abundance of fruit. Arrangements have been 
made with the Auckland oil and Oaadle Oo., for treating 
the Olives when perfectly ripe, Dr. Campbell having 
decided that the oil shall be placed on the market 
in a form and with a quality equal to the imported 
article. So far as climate is concerned, the experiment 
may be said to have settled the point whether the 
Olive would do in New Zealand— AVilliam Morgan, 
Purekohe, East Auckland. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
The " yellow-eyed beetle " is still doing good work 
in the way of devouring scale-bugs. The lady-bugs are 
also very plentiful, and it is hoped are doing good work. 
It may be well to protect, as much as possible, these 
enemies to the scale-bugs. — Orange Tribune. 
Soils are formed by the disintegration of rock and 
the decomposition of vegetable matter. The rock fur- 
nishes the mineral part and the vegetable the organic 
part. Hence the character of the soil will vary with 
the kind of rock from which it was produced, the ex- 
tent of the decomposition it has undergone, and the 
kind and amount of organic matter that is mixed 
with the decomposed rock. — Rural Californian. 
Rice Growing. — Before our civil war, rice culture 
was an important industry in several of the Southern 
States. Cheap slave labor enables Southern planters 
to compete with the coolie labor of India, and the 
rice from this country, being of better quality than 
that furnished elsewhere, had the monopoly of our 
own market and was to some extent exported. It 
is one of the signs that labor has about got down 
to bed rock, that the rice-growing industry in this 
country is picking up. Last year one hundred and 
fify million pounds were grown, and about one hundred 
millions more imported. This year our production 
is estimated at one hundred and seventy-five mill on 
pounds and perhaps more. Rice is being substituted 
for sugar on plantations in Louisiana, where the 
latter has been found unprofitable. It is also grown 
to some extent in Minnesota, though this is mainly 
wild rice, and the chief expense ©f the crop is in 
harvesting and cleaning it. To grow rice under the 
best conditions, the land must be alternately flooded 
and drained. The crop requires promptitude in har- 
vesting as when fully ripe it soon shells and wastes. 
An average crop is thirty bushels of rice, besides 
some waste, broken rice and meal that is used for 
feeding stock. The wholesale price now is 4| to five 
cents per pound, and a bushel weighs about twenty- 
eight pounds. In many retail groceries, broken rice 
is mixed with the whole grain, and as this can be bought 
for one cent per pound, the mixed product can be 
sold low and yet realize a good profit. There are many 
risks in rice growing and the prioe often fluctuates 
largely. In those countries where rice is a staple 
food famines are more frequent than in those where 
dependence is hard on a greater variety of grain. 
It is hardly probable that at present price rice grow- 
ing will prove profitable in the Northern States. If 
tried it should be either on some lakes or ponds on 
the borders of whioh rice formerly grew, or the 
upland rice should be sown, which may be cultivated 
and harvested the samo as other grain. — American 
Cultivator, 
