470 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [November i, i88r. 
It is from September till March that the root is 
gathered, and goes through a process of drying or cur- 
ing before it is considered marketable, 
Liquorice root is also found and gathered in Asiatic 
Turkey, Greece, Italy and the Sicilies, and in Spain. 
In Italy and the Sicilies very little, if any, is ex- 
ported as root, it being used in the manufacture of roll 
or stick liquorice. There is a small section in England 
which produces a limited quantity. The United States 
also have liquorice root hi several parts of the country, 
but the quality is not such as to give it value. 
The quality of root produced in the different count- 
ries is as follows : — Asiatic Turkey, decidedly bitter ; 
Greece, bitter, but not so bitter as Asiatic Turkey ; 
Sicily, sweet ; but less so than Spanish ; Spain, rich 
and sweet ; Italy, richest and sweetest of all. 
Malaga has not, up to the present season, been 
considered an important shipping port for the root, 
Seville, Alcante, Barcelona, and Bilbao being nearer the 
producing districts. It is probable that during the com- 
ing year of 1881 there will be some shipments from 
Malaga. 
The value of this root does not admit of its being 
increased in crop by cultivation, and the quantity ga- 
thered depends greatly upon the severity or mildness 
of the winter. If severe, it lessens the quantity gathered. 
Again, if other crops are good, labour being scarce, less 
root is gathered ; consequently prices are higher. There 
are one or two large French establishments in Spain 
for making paste and stick liquorice, one in Seville and 
the other in Saragossa, besides a few small Spanish 
concerns also engaged in the manufacture of liquorice 
paste. 
A YEAB IN FIJI ; OE, AN ENQUIBY INTO THE 
BOTANICAL, AGRICULTUBAL, AND ECONOMICAL 
EESOUECES OF THE COLONY. 
By John Hobne, F.L.S., &c. (Stanfoed.) 
(Academij, 17th| September 1881.) 
Mr. Home investigated most thoroughly the two large 
islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, and visited several 
of the smaller ones, the number of which is reckoned at 
about 200. Furnished by the Governor with a circular- 
letter to all the chiefs, he met with attention, civility, 
and assistance wherever he went. Indeed, his experience 
reflects the highest credit on the civilising agencies, 
both lay and spiritual, which have been at work among 
the Fijians. In each town both a church and school 
were to be found. In small villages one building served 
both purposes. The schools were well attended, most 
of the rising generation being able to read, write, and 
cipher to some extent. And family worship was con- 
ducted in most native homes both night and morning. 
What difficulties Jhe met with in his journeys arose 
from the nature of the country, not from any jealousy 
on the part of the natives, whom he found " extremely 
kind." 
It would be difficult to find any other portion of our 
globe so well adapted, both from climate and soil, to 
varied and extended production as Fiji. Yams, bananas, 
sugar-canes, coconuts, bread-fruit, and dalo, or taro a 
tuberous plant, have long been cultivated by the Fijians, 
of whom Mr. Home says that then- instincts are agri- 
cultural, and that they find a use for all the vegetable 
products of their country, and have a name (sometimes 
several) for each individual plant ; coffee, cotton, tobacco, 
and arrowroot are grown with success ; most of the 
exotic fruits, spices, and vegetables which have^ been 
introduced have succeeded ; and the climate is, in the 
opinion of the author, well adapted to all our vegetables, 
to potatoes, cinchona, tea, rice, and the rearing of silk- 
worms. The fruits of the temperate regions do not 
generally succeed ; the grape-vine, though it grows fairly, 
becomes an evergreen, and bears only occasionally a few 
bunches of fruit. The climate is not too hot, but the 
want of success in the production of grapes is due to 
the vine not getting a season for rest. Cattle, as well 
as sheep and angora goats, thrive. Maize is grown 
chiefly for the discharge of taxes, which are paid hi 
kind. The principal staples of the Fijian group are 
likely to be sugar and coffee, but the production of both 
requires much labour, and the former machinery in 
addition. The procuring sufficient and competent labour- 
ers is one of the great difficulties the settlers have to 
face. The Fijians are not to be depended on ; and, in 
the opinion of Mr. Home, India is the country to be 
looked to for supplying this pressing want. The Fijians 
have a passion for the sugar-cane ; they are constantly 
sucking its juices, and the quantity they will consume in 
an idle hour, or when listening to a story, is astonishing. 
Though the natives spend some skill and labour in culti- 
vation, yet they allow the land they have been at the 
pains of clearing, and from which they have taken but 
one crop, to return to its natural state. So vigorous 
is vegetation in that favoured climate that land so aban- 
doned is at once overgrown with reeds, wild sugar-cane, 
tree ferns, and large creepers, and after a few years it 
is covered with forest trees. Mr. Home considers the 
climate of Fiji, though tropical, to be very healthy. 
Malarial fevers are entirely unknown, even on the edge 
of mangrove swamps. However, during the months of 
December, January, and February, a heavy, languid, 
oppressive feeling is experienced, accompanied by an 
unwillingness for the least exertion, either mental or 
physical. The dull, indolent habits of the natives, too, 
have a depressing effect on those who are in contact 
with them. To judge from the meteorological tables 
furnished in the Appendix, the climate is singularly 
equable : cold is unknown, and the mean temperature 
of the year only varies by three degrees. The rainfall 
is excessive, and the damp was very hostile to Mr. 
Home's botanical collections. With the exception of 
some tender ferns, he found it impossible to dry his 
specimens in paper, and was at last reduced to wither 
them well in the sun and ah before they were pressed 
at all. The flora of the group is very interesting, and 
is carefully treated by the author. He added to the 
plants of Fiji already known 300 species of flowering 
plants and thirty-five ferns. One observation of his is 
specially worthy of notice, that, though the mountains 
attain a height of 3,000 feet, there appears te be no 
ascending scale of vegetation, great numbers of plants 
ranging from the tops of the mountains to the sea-level, 
and many sea-level plants being found at the highest 
elevations. The forests of Fiji furnish many sorts of 
valuable timber, but they are diminishing from the con- 
stant fires, and Mr. Home is urgent as to the necessity 
of replanting. It certainly seems anomalous that in so 
damp and rainy a climate bush fires should be so frequent. 
MANUEING FBUIT TEEES. 
{Field, 3rd September 1881.) 
In no part of gardening has a greater change been 
observable between the last few years than in that of 
fruit culture, more especially as regards the application 
of rich solid or liquid foods in the shape of top-dress- 
ings or abundant applications of manure water ; for it 
is now pretty generally admitted that our old terror of 
farmyard manure, as being the forerunner of most of 
the ills that fruit trees are heir to, was entirely with- 
out foundation, and that barrenness is oftener the result 
of exhaustion than of over-luxuriance. I have lately 
had the good fortune to see some of the finest ex- 
amples of fruit culture that I believe are to be found 
in the United Kingdom. I may mention Barham Court, 
where what may be caUed the French system is so well 
carried out that I question if sunny France or the 
Channel Islands can show a better example of all-round 
fruit culture ; for not only is every kind of pear and 
