■ ■ . n . 
661 
This testimony is confirmed by all the leading agri- 
cultural chemists and by practical agriculturists with- 
out number. We may say that this Litter has been 
used by Her Majesty's Government, and by many of 
the leading railways, tramways, collieries, and more 
than a thousand of the nobility and gentry in the 
kingdom. 
A very emphatic word of caution should be given 
here against the Peat Litter imported from Germany, 
whioh, the success of the article we are noticing has 
induced German traders to put upon the English 
market. This foreign material comes from the dead 
and decayed bogs of North Germany, and lacks all 
the health-giving and antiseptic properties possessed 
by the Gompany's Moss Litter which is manufactured 
from living and growing vegetable matter and fibre, in 
as good a state of preservation as hay or straw. 
On national grounds thanks arc due to Mr Wells, 
for his object orginally was a national one. When 
he first attemped the utilisation of Peat ai a com- 
mercial industry it was with a view to make this 
enormous national waste a labour-producing and pay- 
ing commercial enterprise. After much hard work 
and expenditure he has abundantly succeeded, and 
apart from any commercial success which he has 
realised, he has the satisfaction of knowing that die 
has not only turned a vast waste into a great national 
profit, but also provided remunerative labour for 
hundreds of the unemployed. A most interesting 
article might be written descriptive of the philan- 
thropic side of his enterprise above. 
The Pure Vegetable Charcoal manufactured by this 
company may also be termed a national blessing, in 
connection with sheep and cattle breeding. There is 
abundant testimony that 80,000 sheep had been cured 
up to 1882 by the use of this charcoal of fluke or 
rot, for which it has been proved that there is no 
other preventive or cure. — Railway Supplied Journal. 
♦ 
FIGS :— A PROFITABLE INDUSTRY. 
SOME PRACTICAL POINTS IN FIG GUOWINO. 
The great impulse which fig culture has of late re" 
ceived in California has elicited numerous question 8 
«s regards culture, pruning, etc., many of which ar e 
of the utmost importance for success. The fig is iu 
many respects a tree which requires entirely different 
methods of pruning and culture from ordinary deciduous 
fruit trees Put here as with different varieties of 
peaches, etc., different kinds of figs need somewhat 
different treatment, dependent upon the habit of the 
varieties, the soil on which they are grown, and the 
purpose for which they nre grown. The only tested 
fig which in California has proven of superior value is 
the Adriatic, and our remarks will therefore only apply 
to this variety. 
The most suitable trees to be set out in orchards are 
those which are woll matured as to wood and which 
have been grown on dry, sandy land. As the only 
suitable place for this fig is dry, well drained soil, the 
drier and sandier the soil in which the trees were 
started better of course. The tree-, will stand trans- 
planting. In connection with this I may mention that not 
all figs require dry soil; some varieties do well iu, or 
even prefer, moist and rich land. 
The question if t ie trees dlould be headed low or 
given a standard of 3 to I feet is of leas impnrtanco, 
as the troes in course of time grow to an euormous 
size, and n ally outgro.v our possible calculation. If 
wo want the frees for drying only, then tho Smyrna 
way of raisin ,- the standard to li feet may bo imitated, 
as it nllows u< tii undisturbed pick tho dropping 
fruit from the ground without being intetfored with by 
low brunches. Put when flic fig is only cultivated for 
tho sake of t'ibin figs, a low head seems more profitable, 
as it enables us to pick much of the fruit without tin' 
aid of a hi' der In young, low-hcadn I trees the quality 
will be better than in standard, but when the trees got 
old. I believe tho difference in quality will be 
UOho. 
Prom the very first, the pruning of the fig treo in Of] 
tho greatest importance, much more so than ih gener- 
ally realized. Iu forming tho head of tho tree, the 
b ranches should be started at least six inches apart, 
as, if tho brunches start out too close, they aro apt 
in after years to break or split at the junction. The 
branches to form the head is enough. If more are left 
they will toon crowd each other, and some will have 
to be cut off, much to the detriment of the tree and 
its fruit. After the head is formed, the trees should 
be left alone, and only occasionally a branch which 
crosses another branch be cut off. The tops oi the 
branches should never be cut off except in groat em- 
ergency, because any such trimming will seriously for 
years to come injure the quality of the jigs, Several 
cases of such sudden deterioration of the figs after 
pruning have been reported to me, and one has come 
under my ocular experience : Two years ago a friend 
of mine owned a good-sized tree of the Adriatic which 
had been bearing the choicest kind of fruit for several 
years. That year all the branches were topped and 
the consequence has been that tho figs for two seasons 
have been very inferior as to quality, sweetness and 
flavor, and only littlo larger as to size. A marked 
difference was also found in the skins, while the same 
formerly were thin as tissue paper ; they became after 
the trimming thick and coarse. So great was tho 
change that if I had not been positively acquainted 
with the quality of the figs from that very tree, no 
one could have made me believe that the figs pro- 
duced were of the same variety. I have heard of old 
fig tees which, after being pruned, did not recover 
for ten years. This seems to me undisputably prov- 
ing that figs should not be topped. 
Deep and constant ploughing of the fig orchard ia 
not necssary. Iu Smyrna where the finest figs are 
grown the orchards are seldom worked to any depth, 
only the weeds are cleared away, so as to allow the 
figs to be seen when they drop to the ground, and 
from the same be picked up without being injured by 
sand and dust. 
I regard the mesa soils of Southern California as 
specially suited for fig culture. — Gustav Eisen. — Rural 
Oalifornian: 
4 
PLANTING AND MINING IN NORTH 
BORNEO IN 1987. 
The year 1S87 having passed away, it is again our 
task to review, at the beginning of the New Year, 
the events that have happened, and the progress made 
in the Territory during the by-gone twelve months. 
Planting, — First and foremost, the year 1887 is to 
be noted for the large extent of land taken up in 
the plauting iuterest, more especially in regard to 
the cultivation of Tobacco. Thanks to the operations 
of Mr. Gibson in Sandakan Pay, and Mr. Persyn, 
the manager for Couut Geloesd'Elsloo at Ranow in 
Marudu Bay, it has been demonstrated to the satis- 
faction of all coucerned, planters, and buyers, that the 
soil of British North Borneo is capabie of producing 
au article not inferior to the famous Sumatra leaf 
for which Deli has so long been pre-eminent. The 
prices realized by the Suan Lambaand Kanow tobacco 
have had tho effect of bringing many other planters to 
our shores eager and ambitious to ''go and do like- 
wise." In Durvel Bay, Baron von Steiu's Company 
havo taken up 20,000 acres at Lahad Data, have 
cleared a largo quantity of ground, and erected 
bungalows, offices &c. At the Sogauniiu river further 
to the Eastward of Lahad Datu, Messrs. Stephens, 
Mullor, — the latter gentleman formerly Mr. Gibson's 
right baud man at Suan Lamba, — have commenced 
operations, and wc learn it is Mr. Stephen's intention 
to take up some haud on the Segama river, some- 
where in tho neighbourhood of the restlinuse on 
the b fl bunk. Me should certainly find no difficulty 
in suiting himself iu this locality, nor would he have 
much trouble in connecting his laud bore by road with 
the Sugaunan Estate, the intervening jungle fieing flat, 
with only a few low rnl^c-. and tin- river di-tance 
some six to eight miles. In Marudn Bay, Count Oeloea 
d'l'.lsloo has taken up more land, while thi C rmau le'r- 
DOO> Company havo also applied for laud in tlm won 
locality. Selections havo aU i been taken up ou th*, 
Labuk and Sugut rivers, an 1 wo hear likewise ofap- 
