836 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1889. 
Ceylon Products in Australia. — Messrs. Brown 
& Maodonald, of Brisbane, announce in our 
advertising columns today, that they are making an 
endeavour to open up the market in Australia for 
pure Ceylon tea. We believe this to be a good 
firm, and as Messrs. Brown & Macdonald's 
travellers are all over the colony, we think there 
is a good chance here for pushing our other 
Ceylon products, besides tea. 
Felling Trees by Electricity.— Hitherto machines 
for felling trees have been driven by steampower, but 
this is sometimes inconvenient, especially in thick 
woods, and electric power has recently been adopted 
in the Galician forests. Usually in such machines the 
trunk is sawn, but in this case it is drilled. When 
the wood is of a soft nature the drill has a sweeping 
motion, and cuts into the trunk by means of cutting 
edges on its sides. The drill is actuated by an electric 
motor .mounted on a carriage, which is brought up 
close to the tree and shackle! to it. The motor is 
capable of turning round its vertical axis; and the 
drill is geared to it in such a manner that it can 
turn through an arc of a circle and make a sweeping 
cut into the trunk. The first cut made, the drill is 
advanced a few inches and another section of the 
wood removed in the same way until the trunk is 
balf-severed. It is then clamped, to keep the cut from 
closing, and the operation continued until it would 
be unsafe to go on. The remainder is finished by a 
hand-saw or an axe. The current is conveyed to the 
motor by insulated leads brought through the forest 
from a generator placed in some convenient site. 
— Times. 
Horticulture in Oaraccas.— We, Garden and Forest, 
have already referred to Dr. Ernst's first article, 
published in the Garteiiflora, on " Horticulture in Oar- 
accas." It has been followed by a second chapter that 
contains much interesting information with regard to the 
plants which flourish in the Venezuelan climate, and 
those which, upon trial, have been found ill-suited 
to it. The cultivation of useful plants, he tells us, has 
lagged so far behind that of flowering and ornamental 
plants, that it is no exaggeration to say, not a single 
new fruit or vegetable has been introduced into the 
country during the last fifty years. On the other hand, 
the prices paid for flowers are enormous, running so 
high in the case of native Orchids, that their re-importa- 
tion from Eugland may prove profitable. A specimen 
of Cattleya Wagneriana, with twelve leaves and eight 
blossoms, had recently been offered to the author for 
45 dols., and he attributes such demands to the fact, 
that collectors for Euglish firms have given such enor- 
mous sums for white-flowering Cattleyas, that the 
natives in consequence have " lost their heads " to a 
degree which can only be cured by a persistent absten- 
tion from purchase on the part of local customers. 
That they have by no means lost their cunning is 
shown by the statement that they treat the common 
Oattleya Mossire with sulphur fumes so as to make 
it look like O. Reineckiana, bring the plants bear- 
ing these blanched blossoms to unsuspecting amateurs 
in twilight hours, and often receiving high prices for 
them. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Clay Dressings for Light Soils.— Few who hav e 
to do with light soils exclusively have any idea what 
good a dressing of clay does, especially if put on dur- 
ing the winter at a time of hard frost, when it can 
be got on the land easily, and the frost shivers it into 
powder. In the garden here we are able to tell to 
a yard, by the look of the crops, where the clay 
was put ; and one quarter that has had several dress- 
ings always carries better Strawberries and culinary 
vegetables than either of the others, which have not 
had any. The land on the first-named quarter is more 
holding of moisture, the clay taking in moisture from 
dew and rain, and which it retains better, and absorbs 
more of the juices of the manures used than the un- 
dressed land. This winter I have dressed a large piece 
of ground with stiff blue clay, that is at this moment 
crumbled all to pieces. I wait for drying winds to 
ender it less sticky, and render it fit to tread on and 
dig. Some years ago the Pear trees were in a bad 
state, and I treated them to about eighty cartloads 
of clay ; and this was done by removing a commen- 
surate portion of the gravelly subsoil, and trenching in 
the former, the trees being left standing on a base 
of about 3 feet square, and the roots were laid 
into the fresh mixture as the work went on. By so 
managing the work the trees were not disturbed suffi- 
ciently to check them much, and there was soou a 
great improvement visible in their apperance ; and 
to-day they bear fine crops of clear-skinned rruit, where 
before, all of it used to crack, and be scarcely worth 
the gathering. Roses like it, too, as I have found on 
lifting them that they will bring it up'on their roots. 
For mixing with light loarn for potting Strawberries, 
elay is of great value, and so it is used in the same way 
with manure or leaf-mould for growing Melons, which 
like stiff soils, but in either case it should be such of 
it as has become ameliorated by exposure to the 
weather. Some gardeners, no doubt, have too stiff and 
unworkable a kind of clay, and long for the lighter 
material, but the remedy in their case lies the other 
way, and road scrapings, leaf-raking?, and rubbish- 
heap ingredients, properly and continuously employed, 
will soon effect an improvement in the staple. — 3. S. 
— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Export of Basic Slag to Germany. — The ques- 
tion might well be asked, " How is it that English 
agriculturists do not appreciate the fertilising 
qualities which lie in basic steel slag ?" While 
in Germany the demand for this class of fertili- 
ser cannot be sufficiently met, in England the 
call for it iB extremely limited. The explanation 
would seem to lie, says the Colliery Guardian,, 
in a want of education on the part of our agri- 
culturists. Be that as it may, however, the fact 
remains that instead of keeping at home what is 
a valuable product, English basic steel works are 
compelled to export it if they are to find a sale. 
For a long time past great quantities of basic slag 
have been going away from the north-eastern 
steelworks and perhaps other northern basic steel 
establishments also, to the order of German im- 
porters, where it is ground to exceeding fineness 
and sold for manurial and other purposes. And 
now it is announced that the Staffordshire Steel 
and Ingot Iron Company (Limited), Wolverhampton, 
are taking the same course. Some time ago this 
company went to much expense to lay down 
grinding plant, but experience has proved that the 
demand from the English market has been in- 
sufficient to consume anything like the whole make, 
and now the company have obtained orders from 
Germany to export this product direct to the 
Fatherland in the raw state. It is intimated that 
the Germans will take pretty much all the com- 
pany can produce, and at the present time a stock 
of 12,000 tons of unground slag and 900 tons of 
ground slag is about being dispatched from the 
Staffordshire Works. It is distinctly gratifying 
that if English steel makers cannot find a mar- 
ket in their own country for all their products a 
market can be found beyond their own shores ; 
but it seems scarcely creditable to native appreci- 
ation of what is valuable that English agriculturists 
should allow the Germans to buy up our steelworks' 
waste in this manner. This country is compelled 
to part with what she should certainly keep at 
home for her own benefit. It is estimated that 
at the present time German is grinding up some- 
thing like 500,000 tons of basic slag per annum. 
There seems to be hardly any end to the tale 
of the immense benefits which the discoveries of 
Messrs. Thomas and Gilchrist, Mr. Riley, and 
other English steel inventors have conferred 
upon the continental iron and steel industries. — 
European Mail. 
