392 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1985. 
interesting to larger numbers. Possibly the explan- 
ation is, that those concerned in gardening are. 
speaking generally, a more enlightened body of men ; 
any way, the fact is incontestable, that the intere-it 
in gardening is greater than tliat in farming. 
" The point on which we desire to lay the largest 
stress is, how far mere teaching without practical 
experience will be of real benefit to those who 
attend these technical lec tures. We are very mucli 
afraid that what goes in at one ear will go out at 
the other; and if this l)e so. a vast amount of the 
good teaching now being given will be wasted. 
Gardening operations must, to be permanently 
effective, be actually done by the students. 'J"he 
very best teaching niay be available, but if it is not 
supplemented by practice, so that the teaching may 
be congealed in the minds of the students, we can- 
not lielieve that its effect will be permanent and 
enduring. If this is not so, it will be of little real 
value. Doubtless there is a great future for garden- 
ing in this country, and its chief hope is dependent 
on the proper education of the rising generation, 
who will be taught to do their work not by rule of 
thumb, but on the basis of well-ascertained principles. 
If we can by means of the popular technical education 
lectures, or in any other way within our reach 
train the gardeners of the future in the days of 
their youth, when they are most susceptible to 
teaching influences, so that when they come in con- 
tact with actual practice they can apply their theoi-e- 
tical knowledge, and liring to bear an awakened 
intelligence in dealing with their routine daties, very 
important results may be antici|juted. So far as we 
can judge, the great want in tlie existing state of 
affairs is the absence of practical training, ('ountry 
lads, however intelligent, may listen time after time 
to the most practical lectures about horticultural 
methods, but unless they have the chance of patting 
the instruction to the test of actual practice, much 
that they heve will pass away from their remembrance 
and leave no trace behind. But if after a lecture 
on, say, pruning fruit trees, they are set to do the 
work they have been told is advisable, and especially 
if this work is done under the inspection of a com- 
petent instructor, there is no doubt but that some 
definite ideas will be fixed in their minds, and some 
real good will have been done; and so witii all 
other operations which the competent lecturer will 
commend to their attention. 
" The practical conclu;ion from these remarks is, 
that in every centre where technical instruction is 
given in horticulture, there should be an opportunity 
afforded for the students to gain practical experience, 
and thereby to apply and consolidate the theore- 
tical teaching they have received. It seems to us 
that there should be a gardeir provided at every 
centre of technical instruction iu horticulture, where 
the students could put in practice what the lectui'er 
has told ttiem they should do." — Gardeners' L'hroHulc. 
A NEW PLANTING GENERATION. 
It is interesting to note how in many casea 
ton is Bucoeeding father in the planting districts 
of Oeylon, and how the names of pioneers are 
oatried on in a new generation. If wd ran over our 
planting districle, we oould now make out quite 
a considerable li&t of those who represeut a 
jounger geueratioa, in pjgseasion or management 
or in training for the mamgement of th3 property 
originally opened by piternal relatives. The latest 
addition to the list is one whom wa heartily 
welcome to Ceylon in Mr. Porbas, younger of Ka- 
dienlena, Kotmale, sou of Capt. J. Arthur Forbes, 
K-N.; and nephew of Mr. 0, W. Forbes, the original 
proprietor, whose name goes back to the very early 
days of planting out here. We wish Mr. A. G. 
Forbes, who has just oome to the oobny, every suo- 
oess iu his training aa a planter under such good 
guidanoe as that of Mr. Elder and Mc. Gray on 
Eadienlena. 
VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL NOTBS. 
A NliwCuEMlCALTuKAXMENT FOB STABLE MaNVHE. — 
Two Italian horlicullurists have recently proposed to 
Ereveut the loss of ammonia from stable-duug, Ac. 
y means of sulphuric acid, which ia employed in 
the form of a composition termed " arotol. ' This 
composition is obtained from organic substances, 
containing liydrogen and oxygen in the same pro- 
portion in which they are contained in water, such 
as dry straw, sawdust, Ac; to 50 per cent, of 
such matters are mixed with 50 to 75 per cent of. 
sulphuric acid, allowed to stand till cold, and then 
reduced to powder. The charred power contains up 
to 75 per cent, of free sulphuric acid, and in this 
state may be ad\antageouslv scattered about on dung- 
hills, or left exposed in staLles. — Gardtuerg' Vhromde. 
Kew Bulletin. — The numbers for February and 
March are isisued under one cover, and contain au 
exhaustive article on the Paliu-weevil iu British 
Honduras, by Mr. Blandford. The principal, but 
not the only culprit, is a beetle known as Rhyacho- 
phorus palmaium. Of this insect, the history and 
mode of life are given, and the available remedial 
measures discussed. Mr. Kolfe contributes a fifth 
decade of new Orchids. In this list, whenever a 
personal name is used adjectivellv, the word is 
spelt without an initial capital : tfiuB Epidendrum 
lancheanum; but whenever the word is used as a 
substantive, then the initial letter is written as a 
capital, thus Stanhopea Lowii. This plan, though 
open to somo objections, has the adviuilage of ac- 
centuating the fact that the teniiination "anum" 
or " ana " is used merely as a complimentajy epithet, 
and does not iuiply that the person whose name is 
used has had any thing v^hatever to do with the 
plant. Where the capital lel!*r is used, and the 
genitive from i or ii employed, the infertuce is that 
the person whose name has been used ia in some 
wav or another directly cancerned with the plant.— 
Ibid 
The Siam Teak TmDB.— The BrUisb Coneul at 
Bangkok, reporting on trade of that port for 
Bays that rioe and teak are the two chief indus- 
tries of Siam. Concerning teak, the continued 
depression of the London markets oflered little 
inducement to shippers in Buiij^kok to charter 
tonnage for direct shipment to P^urope. It was 
found more pr. litablo to 8'jpply the local demand 
which was snOioieotly keen on account of ezten- 
sive building in Bankok to keep three Europeaa 
steam saw-mills fully employed during the eeas in. 
There was elso a fair market in Hongkong, to 
which most of the eeeondary wood is shipped. 
The quality of the teak which has been shipped 
to London fjom Bangkok, has much improved of 
late. Shipmeula are now ooctined to these British 
firms, and great care is exercised in selecting the 
choicest wood. Burmab wood has still the beat 
reputation in home markets, but there is now 
nothing to choose between the tvo. The prefer- 
ence is certainly to be given to Siam as regards 
cube average tu I length, the former of which 
occasionally reaches 50 feet, and the average length 
is sfcldon below 28 feet. The ehortar lengths of 
15 to 20 ft. seem to be pleatiful in Barmah cargoes, 
which is due to the fuC; that the forests of the 
Burmah side are probably more exhausted than 
whose of Siam. When the improved quality of 
Bangkok shipments become more generally known 
to buyers in London and on the Clyde, Siam teak 
will doubtless be more in demand than that of 
Burmah. Of the British firms engaged in the teak 
trade, in which a large amount of capital has 
been invested, two have leases of forests in the 
north,. and have bten obliged to advance large sums 
of money to foresters lor the purpose of working 
cut the wood. With prices at 9?. 10«. per ton, 
anJ stocks iu London going oft rather slowly, the 
prospects of the teak merchants are not particularly 
encouraging. — Gardeners' Clironicle. 
