288 
Supplemmt to tU Tropical AgriculhtrifiV' [Oct. 2, 1893. 
only about \ cwt. was of real manurial value. In 
fact, all the valuable constituents in a ton of 
farmyard manure only amounted to about 81 lbs-, 
viz., 12 lbs. of nitrogen, 12 lbs. of potash, and 7 
Iba. of phosphoric acid. The nitrogen was, of 
course, the most valuable part, and as the largest 
proportion of it was contained in the liquid part 
of the manure, special pains should be taken to 
see that no part of the liquid manure was allowed 
to be wasted. The lecturer argued strongly in 
favour of all cattle courts and dung steads being 
roofed over, so that no waste of manurial sub- 
stances should be incurred through washing with 
rain-water. He also argued that when the manure 
was made up into large heaps in the field, it 
should be covered with a coating of earth to pre- 
vent nitrogen escaping. 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
Another suggestion to preserve eggs is to pack 
them in salt after wiping with vaselin* to which 
salycilic acid had been added. By this means 
•ggs are said to keep in good quality for over 3 
months. 
An enterprising firm in Cairns, Australia, has 
recently sent a trial shipment of Banana meal to 
London. The following are some particulars re- 
garding it : — " AVe dried by heating steam pipes, 
but found the process slow and expensive, 80 per 
cent, of fluid having to be evaporated to secure 
20 per cent, of solid. The packing and crying is 
an exceedingly tedious and expensive item. We 
are convinced it would take 8 to 10 dozen bananas 
to produce 1 lb, of meal or flour. We have found 
3 table-spoonfulls to make a vegetable dish of most 
agreeable porridge. We sell at IDs. 6d. per 
dozen lbs." 
The Hon. Alfred Deakin, writing on Irrigation 
in Egypt, thus refers to the agriculture of the 
country : — 
The principal products are cotton, wheat, barley, 
beans, maize, sugar cane, rice and clover. In the 
Delta, those grown in summer are cotton, rice, 
sugar cane, melons, cucumbers, and clover. Dur- 
ing the floods the maize, cotton, rice, and sugar 
cane are cultivated. The winter crops are wheat, 
beans, barley, and clover. The common rotation 
is a first year of cotton and clover, the second year 
of maize, wheat, and clover, and a third year of 
maize, beans, and clover. Cotton is too exhaust- 
ing to the soil to be grown every year. It could 
be grown every second year if the water supply 
was larger, but the present practice is to grow it 
every third year only, or, what is the same thing, 
not more than one-third of a farm is put under 
this crop in each year. It is by far the most pro- 
fitable product in Egypt, an acre being worth 
from £15 to £25, as against £7 for rice, £5 for 
wheat, and £4 per acre for fodder, - beans, maize, 
or lentils. In Upper Egypt, wheat,flax, and beans 
are chiefly sown ; while, by the use of sikiyehs. 
and shadoofs, millet, cucumbers, and melons are 
groyru in summer. Their relative value may be 
partly estimated from the exports of 1885, of 
which the chief are : — 
Cotton 
. . £-7,706,8&9 
Cotton seed . . 
1,439,191 
Sugar 
579,312 
Wheat 
149,866 
Rice 
129.71a 
Skins 
119,061 
Gum 
97,671 
Wool 
55,524 
Lentils 
41,054 
Maize 
27,352 
The food of the countrj', which is grown by irri- 
gation, of course does not appear in this return. 
Some fruit is grown, a great deal of forage, and a 
great variety of vegetables. Trees are compara- 
tively rare in the Delta ; but larger estates are 
sometimes planted with figs, mulberries, acaei&a, 
and sycamores, while the growth of other varie- 
ties, notably of the weeping willow, myrtle, elm, 
and cypress, are now being encouraged. Numbers 
of date palms are grown upon its borders. Large 
estates are reckoned to return a profit to their 
landlords, taking one year with another, of £5 
per acre ; those of moderate size, also with hired 
labor, £4 lOs- per acre ; while the Fellihin, in 
their own plots and with their own family labor, 
gain as much as £6 10s. per acre ; irrigation here, 
as in France and Spain, favoring the small pro- 
prietors. 
The results of experiments by M. E. Gain with 
a view to ascertaining the effect of a moist soil 
and a moist atmosphere on the development of 
plants, have established the fact, viz., that dry 
air and a moist soil are favourable, and moist air 
and dry soil are very unfavourable to the produc- 
tion of flowers. 
As a preventative against insect and fungoid 
pests, plants should be allowed plenty of room 
when being put into the ground. If, after some 
time, it is found that the trees have not suflicieut 
ventilation, the branches will require judicious 
thinning and shortening. All wood removed from 
the tree should be collected and burnt at once, 
more especially if the tree is infested. The opera- 
tion is best performed after the fruiting season is 
over. 
Prof. Wagner, Director of the Agricultural 
Research Station, Darmstadt, thus concludes a 
lecture in which he has exhaustively answered 
the question, " How are Nitrogen and Phosphoric 
acid to be obtained in the cheapest way 
" We have undoubtedly found a satisfactory 
solution of the question which we selected for 
discussion, which was, ' How are Nitrogen and 
Phosphoric acid to be obtained in the cheapest 
way ? ' And the reply is : That, at the present 
time, cultivation of leguminosse, Thomas slag, 
nnd potash salts are the three most powerful 
levers, by the combined action of which we must 
endeavour to raise to the highest possibbe magni- 
tude the yield of the soil, as well as the clear 
profit obtainable by cultivating fieldsor meadows." 
