326 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1881, 
satisfactory. To show this in another way. Excess 
of leaf 99 lb. 7 oz. say 'f = 25 lb. tea per the i 
acre, or 50 lbs. per acre, the increase due to the 
mixture, which was certainly most horrible stuff for 
the olfactory nerves, so much so, that I had to pay 
the coolies exbra, and supply them with a bandage 
for their nasal organs before I could prevail upon 
them to apply it. 
Assuming that 30 % of outturn is made by 8th 
July, which was actually the case in this season, (the 
yield per acre from manured piece would be nearly 
7 maunds tea per acre, and from unmanured plots 6£ 
maunds tea per acre. To make the comparison more 
equable, however, so far as can be clone by calcula- 
tions on the quantity of tea made in the 8 flushes 
prior to the application of the manure, and which, 
as I have stated, is about 30 % 01 year's outturn, 
and which would be 152 lb. tea per acre on the un- 
manured plot, and allowing an increase of 14 per 
cent, equal to 21 lb. tea on this due (o manufactur- 
ing, the real yield of tea per acre should be 7£ maunds 
nearly, that is between f to 1 mauud of tea in ex- 
cess per acre of the outturn on the piece of ground 
not so treated. Say, however, the increase is one 
maund per acre. The manure was made at Koosteah, 
the railway terminus in that direction, and origin- 
ally cost there E105 per ton, some said R110, but I 
take the former, and I found that to bring it to 
the garden and apply it to the bushes cost exactly 
B.87-6 per acre. Now as the increased crop is but 
80 lb. tea per acre, it is evident no object is gained 
by its application but a loss, unless the tea sold at 
Rl-3-3 per lb., which would precisely square the 
account, allowing R9 per maund as cost of manu- 
facture. There is this to be said however, that its 
beneficial effects, if any, extend over about 3 seasons, 
and although I have never weighed the leaf on the 
plots of ground and experimented beyond the year of 
application, I have observed that the weeds grew 
more quickly and flushes came out earlier, and also 
more abundantly on the manured piece than on those 
next to it, I also manured another flat hill of very 
poor soil the same year with this mixture, and the 
increase of yield was very marked ; but I never kept 
an account of how much. On this area likewise the 
effects were apparent for about 3 years in all. I 
doubt, though with the prices the teas have been 
until lately selling at, whether it would pay to use 
this manure, spreading the cost over three seasons, 
unless the produce averaged about 8 annas per lb. at 
least. 
I have tried animal guano from Australia in 1873, 
but the results were not satisfactory, and I have lost 
my notes regarding it. I recollect, however, \ lb. 
was applied to each bush, and I made the unpardon- 
able mistake of not mixing the powder well with earth 
before putting it in the ground round the bushes. 
This was done though thoroughly with Money's and 
Ponder's mixture, and before removal to the field, 
which is most essential always when using artificial 
manures. 
My experience has led me to believe that plant 
food of this description, although it increases the 
yield for a time, is much too stimulating for tea ; 
and granting that its effects of 2 cwt. per acre ex- 
tend over 3 seasons, I have noticed that after that 
period the bushes begin to fall back again, and actu- 
ally yield worse than prior to its application, which 
is proof I think that when once nrtificial manures 
are used, the supply must be maintained at stated 
intervals ever afterwards. Why the bushes fall off 
subsequently i3 due mainly to the soil being impover- 
ish^! in consequence of the excessive and abnormal 
demand made upon it by the bushes in extra yield. 
They themselves also suffer from the latter cause. 
F. McL. Carter. 
A Walnut Wood Famine.— Canadian and American 
papers are full of complaints of the scarcity of wal- 
nut wood, and fears are expressed that the etock of 
this valuable tree is being rapidly exhausted. At 
one time the Province of Ontario, then known as 
"Canada West," produced an abundance of walnut 
of fine quality, but it now yields little or none. In 
the United States, Indiana has been looked upon as 
the "Walnut State," but the supply is not now 
equal to the demand, and " lumberers " are at their 
wits' end to meet the requirements of the furniture 
manufacturers in the States. Considerable quantities 
of walnut exist further south, but there are swamps 
and various other physical difficulties in the way of 
the full development of the trade there. The threat- 
ened walnut famine is only another proof of the 
recklessness with which timber is destroyed not only 
in America but in all new countries. The needs of 
the present moment are gratified, but no care is 
taken for the requirements of the future. The plant- 
ing of young trees as old trees are cut down is 
seldom systematically carried out, and the consequence 
is that tbe supply is gradually exhausted. Nor does 
the evil end here. As we have frequently pointed 
out, the whole climate of a country may be altered 
by the clearing of its forests, and its very fertility 
seriously affec f ed if the due proportion of forest-land 
to open country is not maintained. There is not a 
Colony, however large, and however abundant its 
natural supplies of timber, which can afford to go 
on felliug and burning without planting. The recent 
experience of Mauritius, and the example which that 
Colony is setting, should be taken to heart by every 
other Colony. —Colonies and India. 
Tomatos. — A clever writer has declared that in the 
eating of tomatos lies tbe hope of the human race 
for deliverance from liver complaints. This should be 
good news alike to unfortunate sufferers from the 
ills to which the liver is heir and also to growers of 
the tomato. We may be pardoned for thinking that 
this assurance is a little exaggerated, and that, fur- 
ther, it is not probable that because of the discovery 
medical men will have to shut up shop. If but one 
tithe of the virtues found or said to be found in 
various fruits or compounds were genuine, death should 
long since have become unknown to us, and the 
human race should be enjoying the felicity of living 
in perfect health aud beauty for ever. But whilst 
we may throw just a shade of doubt over the light 
of the tomato discovery, we can hardly desire to 
offer any check to the general, and, if the public 
like, unlimited consumption of that fruit. That they 
will ever becomo acceptable as ordinary uncooked 
fruit seems improbable. A boy who would devour 
sour apples with gusto, and think himself the envy 
of the human race if he had a bushel of such acid 
and indigestible products, would turn with disgust 
from the mawkishly sweet tomato. We must train 
for a long while to get an appreciative palate for 
them, and when we have obtained that, too probably 
the appreciation for better fruits will be gone. There- 
fore we must fall back upon the tomato in its cooked 
form, if we are to be saved from the horrors of bile 
and disorganised livers, and there it is our troubles 
begin, because it is not every one who can cook a 
tomato. We may go further and say that, what with 
the difficulties with which bad seasons now and then 
beset the plants, it is not every one who can grow 
them. All the world eats potatos, and to these we 
have already ascribed certain antiscorbutic properties : 
who will so far become the benefactor of mankind, 
particularly that portion troubled with deranged livers, 
as to tack on to the potato the medicinal properties 
of its brother solanum, the tomato? That would be 
indeed a glorious result, worthy the approbation of 
grateful humanity.— Gar dene) s' Chronicle. 
