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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [0 CT0EER h l88l < 
but requires a moist, rich soil and a sheltered situa- i 
tiou, otherwise its growth is stunted. The young 
plants are apt to be broken by deer browsing on the 
leaves. The new shoots also suffer from the attacks 
of a grub which eats into the pith. 
If the soil is suitable it would be worth while to 
grow toon, as the timber is greatly esteemed for tea 
boxes and furniture. 
As regards the raising of sissu in a nursery as 
recommended by "E.," I think under the circum- 
stances it wauld be a waste of time. Sown broad- 
cast, sissu germinates very readily, and the seedlings 
grow far more rapidly than the plants raised in the 
nursery and then transplanted. It would be better 
to sow broadcast over the whole of the proposed belt 
and to thin out any plants required for planting in 
the tea replacing them by toon, &c. Sissu seed is 
very plentifully produced, and is easy of collection 
as the pods are indehiscent, and there is no danger 
in leaving it to get fully ripe upon the trees. 
Toon seed, however, should be collected a9 soon as 
the fruit begins to ripen, for if the capsules are left 
to open, all the seed, which is very light, will be 
lost Toon may with advantage be raised in a nursery, 
as it requires particular care to screen the seed 
beds from the sun and to protect the young seedlings 
for the first few weeks. To effect ihis, a rough roof 
of elephant grass or loosely- woven mats, through which 
the sunshine can filter as through a cullender, should 
be erected over the seed beds. The seed should only 
be lightly sprinkled over with earth. The best time 
for sowing is early in the rains, as soon after the seed 
has been collected as the grouucl gets damp and warm. 
The germination of the seed of Ficus etastica is rather 
difficult. It requires a well-drained soil, yet a w irm 
moist atmosphere like that of a greenhouse ; the seed 
should be fresh gathered ; the beds should be heaped 
op in little mounds and the seed sprinkled on the sides 
of the mounds. Pounded brick and charcoal have 
been tried as soils for the seed-beds. I would recom- 
mend a compost more apt to retain moisture, a mix- 
ture of pounded brick, charcoal, decayed leaf-mould and 
moss gathered from the branches of trees ; and that 
the mounds be made with this. 
Water should be given often enough to keep the 
seed-beds moist, but they should not be deluged with 
water, nor should very cold water be given but having 
the same temperature as the soil. 
The Ficm elastica grows readily from cuttings, if 
struck in soil that has been well hoed up, and the 
cuttings are put in during rainy weather when the 
soil is warm say July or August, in a sunny place. 
Wherever possible it would of course be preferable 
to utilize existing trees ; for, however quick-grow- 
ing the kinds planted may be, it will take a long 
time for them to attain their full height, or, in other 
words, their maximum protective effect. But it seems 
that the garden "P." alludes to is situated on an 
open space as yet too slightly wooded. To judge, 
however, by the opinion of a correspondent of the 
Indian Tea Gazette who writes from the Nilgiris, 
planters do not always select the site of their planta- 
tions with a careful regard to the local conditions 
aff-cting climate. He says : "I am inclined to the 
idea that a want of special knowledge has contrib- 
uted greatly to the non-success of tea growing here. 
In many instances very exposed windy situations 
have been chosen instead of the low-lying humid 
valleys ; and sometimes, I think, fixing the site of 
a bungalow on a nice spot, and having the tea culti- 
vation close by, has had something to do with it." 
It is interesting to see that tea planters who occupy 
a most important area in many districts and have 
a great landed interest in the country, take interest 
in forests for the sake of the protection they afford, 
as well as for the produce they may yield. 
AMERICAN CULTIVATION OF JUTE. 
Attention is being directed in America to the ad- 
vantages of cultivating jute instead of importing it 
from India, whence 82.471 tons was taken to the 
United States in the year ending 30th June 1880, 
the value being above rive million dollars. The de- 
mand is, of course, not eo much for paper manu- 
facture as for textile fabrics and cordage. 1 he South 
requires eighty million pounds of butts for bagging 
to cover her five million bales of cotton, as much 
more to sack her cotton seed, cake, meal, rice, and 
grain, while the great West and North, and Cali- 
fornia will probably require two hundred million 
pounds of the fibre for sacking grain and vegetables. 
The Paper World, our contemporary published its 
Holyoke, says that California has befcn raising enough 
jute for several years to furnish bagging for her other 
crops, and Louisiana and many other Southern States 
contain lands which are unquestionably admirably 
adapted for jute growing. In Louisiana the crop is 
considered a sure one, and can be raised as easily 
as corn. The yield of jute is estimated at from 2,000 
to 4,000 pounds of fibre per acre, and the price of 
jute butts is from three to six cents. The plants are 
not molested by insects and worms, and, indeed, are 
said to be less subject to disaster and bad weather 
than any other crop raised in the South. 
Professor Waterhou'e, of Washington University, 
St. Louis, says : — " All that is now necessary to the 
certain success of the undertaking is the invention of 
a cheap and rapid means of disintegrating the fibre. 
In the preparation of the fibre, nothing but chemical 
or mechanical agencies can successfully compete with 
the cheap manual labor of India, and convert the 
culture of jute in the United States into a great 
and prosperous industry." 
Our contemporary tells us that "the few jute fact- 
ories which have been established in the United 
States are doing a profitable business. They import 
the raw material from India. The import duties on 
jute and its manufacture are as follows : — Jute tow 
S20 00 per ton; gunny cloth 3 cents per lb.; bags, 
composed wholly or in part of jute, 20 per cent ad- 
valorem ; bagging, valued at 7 cents or less per yard, 
1J cent per lb. — over 7 cents per yard, 1\ cents per 
lb. ; jute yarns 20 per cent ad valorem ; butts S6 per 
ton. On all other manufactures, in whole or in part 
of jute, 30 per cent ad valorem. With such a pre- 
mium on the domestic culture of jute, and with the 
certainty that it will yet be in enormous demand, 
there can be little doubt that American ingenuity 
will devise some process which will effect the cheap 
and rapid disintegration of the fibre mentioned by 
Professor Waterhouse. — Indian Agriculturist. 
The Sale of Indian Teas in Australia. — The Cal- 
cutta Englishman says : — Very favourable reports re- 
garding the progress of Indian tea in Australia have 
been received by the Tea Syndicate from Messrs. 
Henty and Co. of Melbourne. Careful analyses of 
India and China tea have been carried out by Messrs. 
Cosmo, Newbury and Dunn, with results most fa- 
vourable to the former, and fifteen thousand copies of 
a circular, containing the analysts' report, along with 
other information, were being issued throughout the 
Colonies. A large firm of tea dealers had, further, 
espoused the cause of Indian tea with enthusiasm and 
were determined to advertise heavily and establish 
agencies in every important town in Australia. In Syd- 
ney alone no headway had been made, but success there, 
too will no doubt follow. The unprecedentedly low 
quality of the season's China teas is greatly in favour 
of the Indian leaf, as it will not only help to turn the 
public taste against the trash, but necessitate a larger 
use of Indian tea for mixing purposes. 
