pfetEMBER I, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
375 
Eleven varieties of watermelons were received from 
Florida, but the Cuban Queen proved the best. The 
heaviest individual specimen weighed 411b, and 0110 
plant bore five fruits aggregating 158 lb. West Indian 
gherkin sowu iu March and June germinated, but 
while the former did not bear any fruit the iatter 
wan quite a success. The plantation of the salt bush 
was very successful, nearly every see l came up with 
the result that 3,500 young plants are now in stock 
for planting out next autumn in the usar reserves. 
Too Teir grass also gave a good outurn, it consists 
of two varieties one with white mi 1 the other with 
led seeds, the former answer best for the dry 
m .is in and the latter for the rains. The March 
Bowing of the white variety gave an outturn of 
grain at the rate of 000 pounds per acre, and the 
red variety sown on the same day only yielded 17 
pounds per acre. Both kinds however gave a good 
crop of fodder in the middle of July, the red variety 
producing 11,022 and the white 7,136 pounds per 
acre. The hay made from the Teff wns preferred by 
the cattle to jower or sorghum sialks. The experi- 
ment with the Erythroxilort Coca was a failure not 
only at Saharanpore but. als) at Djhra. The cold is 
too much for them, and the superintendent of the 
gardens thinks that it is not to be expected that 
the plant could be cultivated with success in the 
North-West Provinces. We now come to the experi- 
ments with gypsum. The ground in which these 
OCops were grown received its full allowance of 
farmyard manure before being broken up by the 
plough, and gypsum was added iu the form of a top- 
dressing before they germinated but before receiving 
their first weeding. The first six varieties of crops 
for the purposes of the trial were each divided into 
two equal plots, one on which gypsum was not 
applied and one on which it was applied at the 
rate of live mauuds per acre m xed with six times 
its weight of ashea and dry soil which was done 
merely to increase the bulk iu order to facilita'e 
au even distribution of gypsum over the plot so 
treated. The remaining ten varieties of crops were • 
divided into three equal plots, one iu which gypsum 
was not applied, one ou which it was applied mixed 
with six times its weight of ashes and dry soil, 
ami one ou which it was applied mixed with six 
times its weight of river sand. The plots upon which 
the latter mixture was applied gave better results 
th in Hum- treated with gypsum, ashes and dry soil. 
Bill there wa* an exception in the case of " Landreths ' 
extra eaflj pes, and with the 1 whi e ' and 'chocolate' 
colored hoskh ss barlcvs, " for the gypsum treated 
pint-, yielded leas than the plots not so treated. 
Thu is attributable probably to the soil of the nou- 
treuted plot being naturally much richer than that 
of the plot upon which gypsum w is applied. Tho 
non-treated plot of the chocolate coloured variety 
ma To pounds per acre above the uypsum-tivated 
plot, and the nou-treated plot of the white variety 
was lHl! pounds per acre above i's corresponding 
gypsum treated plot. On th 1 other hand in the case 
of beans, lucerne, and potato's. One of the gyp nm 
treotod plots of lucerne shows au incren.se of 1,520 
pOOnda per acre over the non-treated plot. S -v.nl 
BXBOtimentl were made with the leavos of the AMtU- 
tom Vatica as an insecticide. It was tried iu two 
instanc s, on« upon an ant-hill and again upon th" 
maugo tly, but in both cises it failed to have any 
deterrent effect. Under the head of Arboriculture 
wo arc told that during the year under uotice 1,350 
plants were planted out while 25,013 had to bo out 
•town as overgrown stork and 50,037 still remain iu 
hand. Among the exotic plaids, the Divi-Divi Buffered 
from fro>t in the open, but in better protected cp its 
within the garden proper, where they have been 
plmted us ornamental npocimrni they have succeeded. 
NOt a dingle RpOcimen of the Mexican ebony survived 
the fro<t. The Japanese varnish tree is making 
very slow progress mil does not give any prominent 
hems' acclimatised. Tho Calalpa which bus faded 
in Saharanpore have thriven vary well in Axnigadh 
on the bill-., and prove I its suitability for such a 
1 limit • iu ludia. lh. paper mulberry ia as much 
at home in the plains as in Amigadh and was making 
rapid growth. Several mahogany trees were killed 
by the frost but those iu sheltered position ( scaped 
wonderfully. There arc five full-grown specimens in 
the garden, one of which has a circumference of nine 
feet at five feet from tho ground. The financial 
results of the Mussoorie gardens are as follows : the 
expenditure amounted to Kl,703 or Rl,597 below 
that of the preceding year. The income amounted 
to R361 or R65 above that of the preceding year. 
Fruit-trees to the value of 11103 were supplied graiis 
to the Political Agent, Quetti, in accordance with 
tho order of Government. The income derived being 
chieHy realize I from the sale of fruit trees and 
ornamented plants. — Indian Agriculturist. 
Tobacco at Amsterdam. — 295 bales Ceylon were 
in store on the 1st inst. On the 9th inst, 4,851 
bales Java, 295 hales Ceylon, and 209/2 bales Manila 
have been offered by tender ; 4,323 bales Java, 108 
bales Menado, and 501/2 bales Manila were bought 
in. — L. <£■ C. Express, 
Ceylon Tea in Request in China. — The follow- 
ing is an extract from the letter of a resident in 
China to a Colombo merchant : — " May I send 
you another order for Ceylon tea ? We shall be 
glad to have a box of 15 lb., or, if not made up 
in that size, one of 20 lb. Our last was called, 
I think, Abbotsl'ord, and met with great favour 
here." 
Ikon Ore in Congo, — It is stated that there is 
scarcely a couutry in the world so rich iu iron as 
the Congo basin, and that the mineral is not only 
abundant, but can also be easily reduced. In the 
opinion of M. Dufont, Director of the museum of 
natural History of Brussells, if the other con' incuts 
ever exhaust their resources of irou, the Congo basin 
can easily supply the rest, of the world for a long 
period. — Indian 4griculturi.it. 
Forestry Orators and theorists, — says the 
American Citltivatoi — must admit after this season 
of unprecedented rain that the rainfall is governed 
by causes beyond the range and influence of forest 
trees and wood lots. Common sense indicates that 
the spongy mass of moss and fallen leaves in every 
forest must assist in holding moisture back, and 
equalizing its flow, but common folks will still 
fancy that the existence of Jorge bodies of water 
and tho evaporating power of tho sun's rays have 
more to do with creating rainfall than the planting 
of forest trees or the preservation of overripe 
specimens of pine, spruce or hemlock, whioh have 
stopped growing and which stand in the way of 
the development of the youuger and more vigorous 
forest trees. 
Tasmania is evidently destined to becoiuo 
one of the leading gold and Bilver exporting coun- 
tri in tho world. From a letter to the Melbourne 
Ag by Mr. II. Wintle, f l.s., we quote us follows: — 
: ie cloud which has so long hung over the island 
colony is at \ast beginning to be dissipated into at- 
tenuated air in tho eyes of Victoria. Tho discovery of 
metalliferous wealth made Victoria what it is at the 
present tirao ; but mineral deposits are not reproduc- 
tive, and latest statistics show a great falling otf iu the 
gold returns of this colony. In Tasmania we have au 
islaud whofo physical structure consisted from end to 
end of high mountains and valleys, which bespeak, not 
to tho geologist alone, but to the most unscientific 
observer, the existence of mineral wealth which awaits 
rapi'al and enterprise to exhume it. The Centennial 
Inhibition will undoubtedly do inuoh towards making 
known the earth treasures of the island. Its great 
gold mine, the n un is seco id to mm in Au-tralia 
as au auriferous quartz mine, having yielded !» toua of 
solid gold iu little over nine years, the value ot the 
uharos of thin company being at the present time over 
h .li-a-iuillion sterling. Thin fact ipamkl with uo uu- 
ccrUiu aouud. 
