Februarv i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
519 
tho bird; INiny says, they were the inhabitants of 
the Islo of Delos, in tho Greciau Archipelago who 
first fattened poultry ; this was over 2,000 years ago. 
The Itomaus, Kill years B. 0., fattened young cocks 
on Hour aud milk ; moJirns proceed on tho same lines. 
In localities where fanners are not yet grouped 
into 00-operative associations, for the purchase of 
seeds, manures implements &c, nor the purchases 
subject to tho control of an agronomic station, the 
following plan is adopted respecting beet-seed. Buy 
tho latter a long time in advance of the period 
sowing. Select a fair sample of the seed, and 
test its germinative power according to the following 
standards of Sempotowski and I'etermann. The 
germinative power of the capsules is 75 to 
HI) per cent and (J5 to CO per thirtioth part of an 
Ounce (one gramme) of the naked seed. The pur- 
chaser ought to insist on tho merchant guaranteeing 
a certain number of germs, for a fixed weight of 
seed, aud to decline accepting his purchase, if the 
aeod dims not attaiu the determined minimum of 
germs according to tho venders' guarantee; a tolera- 
tion reduction of five per cent below the germ- 
standard, may be allowed. 
( larrots are taking more and more a greater ex- 
tension in the feeding of horses. Bulk for bulk, 
au acre of carrots would seem to supply more nu- 
triment, thau an acre of oats. Tho following is the 
average of a series of analyses of the respective nu- 
tritive constituents of both crops. 
Oats. Carrots. 
Water • 143. 850. 
Nitie/euous principles ... 12-0. 1*4. 
Fatty matters 4-8. 0 2. 
Carbonaceous matters ... 418. 1T0. 
The difference is very great ; but the carrot 
is aqueous while oats are dry. The former contains 
eight timos more carbonaceous than nitrogenous 
(or albuminous) matters; hence, ought to be ex- 
cellent for mixing with other rations, such as beans 
&c. Tuking the yield of oats per acre at one ton, 
and of carrots at 20 tons, the difference would be 
in favor of the latter, sinco oats have not a nourish- 
ing value twenty tirnea superior to that of the carrot. 
The quetion is being discussed, whether it is better 
to harrow meadows— to free them of moss and per- 
mit of the •• aeration of the soil — at the commence- 
nn nt of spring or in autumn. For grass hind in 
elevated situations, where the soil remains humid for 
a longer time in spring, perhaps autumn would be 
tin more propitious time to give a stroke of the 
harrow, the mora so, as in spring the transition of 
the soil from a moist to a dry condition is often 
Bndden. After the harrowing, apply the top 
dressing, which will work into the openings effected 
by the teeth of the implement. When spring arrives 
and the land has become dry, the passage of the 
roller will bind, refresh, and vivify the soil. 
The rearing of calves is a matter of serious im- 
portance in (Jennany, and it is therefore not surpris- 
ing to encounter much diversity as to tho best methods 
for tiding them over their firHt year. The bases of 
the rations mostly consists of oats, oat-mea], linseed 
cake, (food clover or prime meadow, hays. To this 
Rlgime is added in winter a small quantity of crushed 
carrots. Some give a little beet, but tho grand 
majority of roarers are against that practice. The 
tkm mi»t-|.owder produces excellent result?. It is 
essential that tho calves should have full liberty of 
movement, abundance of fresh air, and tbat the byre 
should not be toooold. Gnat regularity ought tone 
Observed in thell feeding, and a little salt given two 
or three tunes a week wdl Ur an excellent promoter 
of good health. The bedding must bo kept scr.i- 
puloudy Bleu, and tho troughs scourod in summer, 
wookly, and in winter, fortnightly. Acidity in thu 
luaogors is 0M011 the fruitful reuse of scour. A 
goo I indicator of the progress and tho coudition of 
th« 0*1tM la to weigh thorn once a month. Nothing 
more common in Pa j| ttUUI to koep a record of thu 
weekly weight of babies. A pair of uursery scalot 
is as rttftltal U a cradle. 
CINCHONA (AND COFFEE AND TOBACCO) 
IN JAVA. 
Wo call attention to interesting information re- 
specting these products on page 520. Wo shall 
shortly have somewhat to say of the pre-emin- 
ently prosperous position of lato held by 
tobacco— almost tho only ' product ' with a rising 
tendency in price for Borne years back. As regards 
coffee, our Java brethren are beginning to bo quite 
cheery, imagining the leaf-disease is finally dis- 
appearing while no other pest is anticipated. But it 
is in cinchona that Ceylon planters have 
most practical interest at present, and it is worth 
noting that on the authority of an apparently re- 
liable report, the number of private plantations 
in Java are put down as, at least, " sixty," 
that these are from 5 to 8 or 0 years old, and 
that the bark of these gardens is expected mainly 
to come into the European market during 1889-90. 
Let us suppose that on the 00 private cinchona 
gardens there is an average of 200 acres planted, or 
with growing trees — which is surely a liberal allowance 
considering what an acre of cinchona trees means, — 
and we get 12,000 acres under the product in 
private hands in Java. But such figures would, after 
all, convey only an inadequate idea of what effeot 
the Java enterprise may have on the world's 
market ; for, apart from the fact that the area planted 
may represent 15 to 25 millions of fully grown trees, 
each ready to yield 3 lb. of bark 12 to 18 months 
after this time, there is the astonishing richness 
of the Java bark to face. The results obtained 
from the hybrid ledgeriana in the report we refer 
to are truly amazing, and we may therefore oal- 
culate that by 1889-90, Java will be ready to 
supply 45 to 75 million lb. of bark three to four 
timos as rich as the average of Ceylon barks, or 
in other words that she will have for export 
the equivalent of 180 million lb. of bark of the 
same grado as that sent from this island during 
the past twelvemonth. Taking the world's demand 
for this quality at from 30 to 40 million lb. per 
annum, we have to face the probability of Java 
having about six years' full supply. We leave our 
cinchona planter readers to draw their own infer- 
ences from these figures, or rather to examine 
and criticize the information and calculation on which 
they are founded 
In this connection we shall later on call 
attention to some very valuable statistics in re- 
ference to the Ceylon cinchona hark exports fur- 
nished by Messrs. ('. & M. Woodhouse. The all- 
important question with home brokers and merchants 
still is, what has Ceylon to send into the home 
market during tho current and following seasons? 
We have given our estimate at ten million lb., 
for 1887-8, although we believe a larger export 
could be compassed if the market became 
specially encouraging or if the threat of Java 
swamping Ceylon barks altogether " next year " wore 
considered likely; but our estimate is based chiefly 
on the fact that most plantors with cinchona, 
outsido of Uva, have now to face tea plucking 
and preparation as well as cultivation, and we 
cannot help thinking that there will be far less 
labour to spare for bark stripping aud harvesting 
than in the past few years. Al tho same timo 
wo are hound to say that tho testimony of keen 
observers like Mr. T. C. Owen is to the effect that 
there is a marvellously less show of cinchona through- 
out tho country than was the case two years, or even 
ono year, ago. The same gentleman has just been 
reminding iix that tho alleged deterioration of bark 
in store is not borne out by tho many experiments 
rooorded in the Blue Hooks in the early days of 
cinchona cultivation in India. Very careful tests 
wero applied as to this very point and thersuitt 
