THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. fJuLV i, rSgj. 
was once driven from • ohryBknthemnm plant, of 
which ib«y had taken entire ponsefiioo, by placiog 
• bit of cloth 4 inches long and 2 inches wide near 
the recti, bnt not ftarroandiog them. Of course tbiH 
•loth waa saturated with the mixture of lard and 
oorrosire cublimate. Another method of applicttion 
iti firat to wrap a cloth around the truck of a tree 
higher thau children can reach ; then wind two or 
three layers of the saturated string over the cloth 
wrapping. The anta will leave in disguat. It you 
will take the pains to rub a circle around the in- 
fested tree with ordinary chalk, making a band about 
9 inches wide and taking care to make this as 
smooth as possible, the ants cannot crawl over it. 
For some reason they slip and loee their hold. They 
will sometimes cross a chalk mark on the floor, bnt 
they cannot climb over a chalk band made on tl e 
legs of a table or on a tree. 
HOW TO HATH A HICB LAWN. 
Oity people love to see a beautiful lawn in front 
of tbeir honsee, so do the folks in the country, htnce 
we give the following, showisg, how they ought to 
be treated. The charm of a lawn eonsists largtly in 
its dark green colour, luxuriant growth and freedom 
from weeds. Many try to secure this result by eover- 
ing their lawns with rotten mannre in the autumn 
or early winter. A much pleatanter m«1bod is to 
sow a mix'ure of, say — equal parts nitrate of soda, 
superphosphate muriate ot potash on the lawn this 
BUtnmn, and then next spring give another dressing 
of nitrate of sod*. Apply this autumn tlie above 
mixture at the rate of half a too per acre, or eay a 
small handful to each square yard. Sow it broad-cant, 
f-s evenly as possible. In the spring tow 3001b. of 
nitrate of soda per acre, or say a small handful to 
each tbree or four square yards of lawn. The above 
treatment will not only greatly improve the lawn, 
but will also give increased luxuriance to the trtes, 
shrubs, roses and flowers that may be on tLe Iftwn. For 
pasture lands many will think tbry cannot affcrd tn be 
so liberal in the use of fertilizers. Pi thaps i.e*^. But 
there is great pleasure in seeing a closely croppt d pasture 
clothed with dark green, loxuriaot grass that looks 
fresh every morning and smiles in the sunshiae (luring 
our hot weather. We believe there is profit as well 
es pleasure in such a field of graaei. Put on a giod 
do'e of ni.rnte and superphosphate and potash this 
autumn, and an additional dressing of nitrate of sc da 
in the spring. 
TRUNKS OF TREB8 
It is a general impression that the trunks of trees 
Itngtheo, but this is not the cate. The t'.unk of a 
tree, being once formed, does not lengthen a fraction, 
no matter if it lives to one hundred yetri. A branch 
from a trunk that is now say, six fe«c from the ground 
will have the centre of that branch ^till six feet 
Tom the ground, no matter how many years elapse. 
If btanohes are, therefore, now too low they bad bet- 
ter be cut off at once. Again, it is worth remember, 
ing in cutting off branches that they should always 
, be cut close to the trunk or to any main branch, so 
that the wound may heal over. If the branch ia very 
large, so that the wound is likely to take sereral years 
to heal over, it is better to paint in to keep the water 
from rotting the wood until it is properly healed. More 
good trees are spoiled through leaving an inch or two 
of stamp to a oat-o& branch than people have any 
ide* of. 
FOTAEH WOOD A8HB8. 
It ia quite probable that much phosphate soon passes 
beyond the condition in which it can be osed. While 
there is nothing in salttotakothe place of phosphate 
it may be better to make phosphate in the soil avail 
able than an txtra supply of that mineral. Potash, 
especially in tbe form of wood asbea, has also the 
same effect, with the c dvantage that the ashes, besides 
furnishing carbonic acid, are themselves a supplier of 
potash, one of the direct constituents of all plants 
Wood ashes are a necessity to tbe vineyardist and 
orcbarJ:st. Possibly farmers raising crops that require 
less pot:isb, can keep their soil fertility available, 
for a time at least, more cheaply by tbe use of aslt^ 
But whenever the time comes that potash is ex- 
hausted, as it is apt qnickly to be on sandy or 
grsvclly eoilf, salt will no longer be of any benefit, 
and resort must be had to sopplieg of potash. — Hor- 
ticultural Times. 
LONDON PRODUCE REPORT. 
TRAVANCORE TEA. 
(From Patry and Pasteur, Limitad, 
M»y I7th, 1892. 
Teavascohk. — Prices generally hare ruled eaaier 
during this week for all classei? except those 
shoning individuality, either in leaf or liquor. This 
depression is due to the too plentiful sopply of low 
medium kinds from Oeylon, which hds Men going 
on for some weeks past. 
Fine thick liquoring kinds, or teaa posaassing 
are badly wa- ted, and command stiff rates. 
The quality of the 898 packages under offer 
good medium. 
tip. 
Bon Ami 
a 
6 
n 
Seafield Is Id 
Endnwa 
Eamnm 
04 
9d. 
S^d 
8d, 
7id 
3 
O 
T. 
Ph 
8d 
o 
I 
lO^d 
Hi, 
8d 
Vid 
8d 
eid 
8d, 
7id 
8d, 
75d 
7fd 
7ld 
Balamore unassorted 
Sfd.Sjd litOche. 9}d 
6d 106|r-ch.8id 
7}d,6d 115 chs. Sfd 
Corrimony 
Merchiston 
Fairfield 
Venture 
Invercauld 
Glenmore 
lOjd 
95d 
lid 
Bid 
8fd 
74d 
7|d 
74d 
6fd 
Tfd 4id 
7id 5^d 
6}d 5d 
78 i-ch. 8ld 
45 .. sjd 
46 chs. Hid 
115 ,. «d 
126j-ch. «d 
»0 „ 7{d 
50 half-chest 83d. Linwood 
unassorted 46 half-chests 7|d, and Arnakel 18 chests 
broken pekoe HJd per lb. 
Total 899 packages, averaging 8^d per lb., against 
8d last week, and 6|d for corresponding we«k last year. 
MANURES AND THEIR USES. 
If we consider tbe different substances nted for 
fertilising purposes, their great taiirty must at once 
strike us very forcibly. There are, for instance, stable 
manure, compost, lime, bonr-dnst, superpbospbates, 
gypsum, ashes, not to speak of tbe sundry artifi- 
cial or commercial manures. Tbe question then arises: 
— What is it that enables a substance to exercise 
manorial effect to promote and enhance the growth 
of plants? This consists of tbree things. Such a 
substance must cfford direct nourishment to tbe plants 
or it n-'Utt render the nourishing elements of the soil 
absorbable for plant? ; or it must improve the physical 
conditions of the soil by making it either more loose 
and porous or more compact and dense, or by warm- 
ing it by its decay. 
What, then, is it that affords couriehment to plants? 
The greater constituent part of all plants, aside from 
water, consists of combustible materials. Of these,' 
again, the greater portion are woody ibre, starch, and 
other similar bodies, which are made up of oxygen, 
hydrogen, and carbon. The plant takes the material 
for those bodies from carbonic acid and water, which 
two substances are at its dii-posal, both in the air and 
ground, iu eufficient quantities. Only a small porticn 
of tbe constituents of a plant contains, besides carbon 
oxygen, h; drogen, slso nitrogen. To prepare these 
the plant Leeds b»: sides carbonic acid and water, also 
ammonia or nitric acid. 
Now, in consequence of dec-ying plants and animals 
there is always ammonia in the air and the ground 
to be abBO£bed by plants through their leavee nad 
