THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. LAwm- ». •«d4. 
grades of curly Pins' are used for the mannfactare 
of furniture; and it is sd.id that for bedsteads it is 
adoiirab'y adapted, as the resinous wood is a pre- 
ventive to inroads of insects and such pests. The 
resinous products of Pine wood supply many parts 
of the World with pitch, resin, and turpentine, and 
contrary to opinions formerly held in this respect, 
it is said thai the tapping of the Pine tree for 
turpentine strengthens instead of weakens the 
wood. — Gardeitcrs' Chronicle. 
OOFFEE PKOSPECTS FOE THE CURRENT 
YEAR. 
Uiifortnnately there are not many estates in 
Ceylon which are interested in the prospects of 
coffee, for only on a few high -lying place i is any 
appreciable acreage left of our old friend. Last year 
mafiy thousands of acres were finally got rid of after 
being deprived of their primaries and allowed to throw 
np suckers for a time. On some few estates outside 
01 Uva, and on many in Uva, however, there is a 
certain acreage which so far has escaped the des- 
troyer, and, if a faovuiable season can put a crop 
cm the trees that are left, then they ought this year 
to justify their retention or make way for a pro- 
duct which gives better returns. We suppose the 
old coffee trees will have to do this in any case 
before long ; but we hope that the encelleut pros- 
pects before those who nave been bold enougn to 
keep their best coffee going so long will be rewarded 
with a comparatively good crop this year. It is 
many years since so lavorable a season for coffee 
faa^ been experienced, indeed, one of the oldest and 
most experienced plauters this side of Nuwara Kiiya 
tells us that he never remembers a tmrc favorable 
B asoa. The amount of sunshine so essential to 
harden the wood and bring on spike has this year 
been abundant, and yet the drought has not been 
fio prolonged aa to weaken the trees and prevent 
the blossom from setting. Fairly good showers fell 
all over the hill districts a week or so ago, sufficient 
to set one blossom and bring on another which is 
now in small spike. Not only so, but the trees 
appear to be unusnally free from disease — both leaf 
disease and green bug — and promise with a little help 
from manure to carry their crop well. But we im- 
agine that they will require this assistance in al- 
most every case. Nor is this likely to be omitted, 
BO that there is every prospect that those estates 
with any acreage of cocfee left will secure an un- 
expectedly large return from a source from which 
little has been obtained for some time past. We 
hear that Wannarajah, for instance, has a magni- 
ficent blossom set, and as the Company has a very 
considerable acreage under coffee still — and very 
good coliee too— it ought to do exceptionally weil 
this coming year- All coffee in Dikoya ought to do 
well, for wherever there is coffee there is blossom, 
and this holds good of all districts without excep- 
tion. That it will set and mature well is earnestly 
ts be hoped, for all very weak and diseased coffee 
has long since been cut out, and only the best 
has been retained ; so that, with care and " back- 
ing," a fairly good crop ought to be secured. It 
must not be forgotten that all estates in the island 
have long since made themselves independent of 
coliee ; so that what they secure from that source 
is more or less iu the nature of a windfall — and a 
very welcome one. We wish we could think that it 
presages a new era for coffee in Ceylon ; but in 
all probability this crop will be the last much of 
it will bear, for the trees in all probability will 
be weakened, and this will tend to hasten their 
removal to give air and light to the tea, which in 
most cases has long since been planted beneath. 
It is, however, in Uva that the largest area 
of coffee remains, and it is there where the present 
reason will have the best effects. All that is re- 
quired to allow the trees to carry their crop in that 
quarter is an absence of green uug for a few monthd, 
tnough, of course, the nigh-lying coffee will not 
blossom BO freely at this time of year as that at 
ft loa^ei altitude, io aa; caeetbec9 ia every pr9S< 
pect that a good retnm will b« obtained from aJl 
coffee that has been kctpt up at ail, and, coming 
at a time when prices for tea are anything but good, 
it will be a very welcome windfall. — i^ucal '•Times." 
VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 
The Abaucaeia at Kew.— From the A'eir JtuIUiut 
we learn that sections of the trunk of this f«'oou& 
tree have been placed in ihe Museum. The trunk 
measures about 5(0 feet in height, and is 1 foot 4 
inches in diameter at the base. Nothing is eaid 
about the transverse section, but a c«xef ul atody of 
the rate of growth in different years would have 
exceptional value from the known history of Ihe 
tree form infancy, till its premature dec*y a year 
or two ago. — Oarderurs Chrviiich. 
Thistlbs.— Baron Sir Ferdinand Von Mueller has 
prepared for the Agricultural Department of Victoria 
an illustrated account of the commoner Thistles. 
None of these is indigenous in Australia, but 
having been introduced, they have thriven to saeb 
an extent, that a special law hag b«en pAssed to 
facilitate their eradication. The first thing to do 
is obviously to be able to recognise the offender— 
and this is facilitated by the pampfJet before a* — 
and to know his mode of life, which requires obser- 
vation on the part of the cultivator. Meanwhile, it 
shows some reraissnesii on the part of chemists and 
cultivators that they have not ere this been able 
to utilise these plants in some way. Has any 
analysis of a Thistle been made 1—lbid. 
Bbanches casting THEitt TiPB —This habit is ©b- 
pecially affectt-d by trees that are accustomed to cold 
climates. A. F. Ir'ocoste hae recognuied it in certain 
American and other trees, viz., Cataipa speciosa, 
Staphylea trifolia, Ailanthus glandulosa, iEsculos 
hippocastanum, Tilia americana and platyphyllos, 
which shed the tips of their branches at the end 
of the period of vegetation. He considers that this 
habit has been acquirei in order to secure a deter- 
minate growth of the branches, and to obviate the 
useless expenditure of energy when the branches 
are killed back by winter frosts, as is always the 
case with many trees. — Ibid. 
Tbopjcal Gabdenino in Bbitish Gciaka,— We are 
frequently asked to mention a book on gardening 
within the tropics, and do not always find it easy 
to do so in a way suitable to our correspondent's 
requirements. The present little book is well suited 
for its purpose. It is the work of Mr. J. F. Wfcby, 
wh o has had long experience as a gardener in tbe 
West Indies and in Guiana, and is published in 
Demerara at the Argosy Press. It deals with the 
general preparations, such as formation of drskins, 
wains, hedges, shelters, Ac., the construction and 
maintenance of the tlower garden, tbe kitchen 
garden, and the orchard ; aud the last section is 
devoted to the several methods of propagation. All 
this is included within little more than loO pages, 
so that it is evident the writer does not waete his 
words. — Ibid. 
Califobnian Fruit— A. Californian correspondent 
sends us the following from a San Francisco paper : — 
Sixty-six carloads of fruit were hauled over the 
sjmmit of the Sierra JSevadas yesterday on their 
way east, woile the daily average for some weeks 
has been between 50 and 60 cars. Six 12-wheel 
compounJ locomotives are doing little else but haul- 
ing these fruit shipments, It generally requires two 
of these big lecomotives tj pull 20 loaded cars up 
the steep grades and through the snowsheds. ii^acn 
car contains 24,000 lb. of fruii, and 6 tjns of ice, 
while the weight of each car is about 22 tons. 
Recently, i,55o carloads of fruit were sent east from 
Sacramento, For the same perioa last year the 
cars numbered 1,100, or an increise for this year of 
450 carloa^i. This large increase is attributed to 
the fact that the fruitmen, being unable to sell 
much fruit to the canners this year, are selling as 
much as they can in ttie eastern markets. The 
increased shipments have made it necessary for the 
railroad to haul hundreds of cars back from tne 
east empt^ to ^1 the demand for mofe ca» b«r&>^ 
