846 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1894. 
Beferring to the success of the uboad tibe onor- 
NANCE in Placer county, the Sacramento Record Union 
says :—" The waggon rolled over the road should 
be a road maker, not a road deslroyer. It ought 
to conserve hauling the heavier than the lighter 
load. The broad tire does this. In France are 
found the best roads in Europe, and over them 
roll only wheels of the broadest tires. It is the 
law there that the load shall be destributed over 
the largest possible surface consistent with the 
weight carried, the power exerted and the needs of 
the people to wheel loads to market. The tires of 
the French market waggon are all the way from 
3 to 10 inches in wid'h. The greater number ate 
from 4 to 6 inches. There, too, the hind and for- 
ward wheels do not track. Each pair of wheels 
tracks alone, and thus the combined width of the 
four tires serves the purpose of a road roller to 
keep the roof of the road smooth, compact and 
free from cut outs, or wh»t are generally known as 
chuck holes." In Ontario the Depaitment of Auri- 
cnlture advises that for waggons without springs 
the tire should never be less than 2i inches in 
width for a load of from 500 lb. to 10(X) lb. per 
wheel. For loads of from 2000 lb. to 3000 lb. per 
wheel the tire should have a diameter of not less 
than 6 inches. It is understood that this recom- 
mendation will be adopted. 
How very seldom it happens — sajs the Melbourne 
Leader — that farmers or orchardists study the life 
HISTORY OP THE INSECT OB FUNGOID PESTS whioh 
annually work such an enormous amount of des- 
truction. The work is almost invariably relegated 
to the scientist : yet it is on the farm or in the 
orchard that the most reliable information can be 
obtained. The cultivator who exerts himself to 
study the diseases that maybe attacking his crops, 
trees or vines occupies a position analogous to that 
of the physician in a hospital who has his patients 
always under his eye, and is therefore in a position 
to note every change that takes place and watch 
the oftect of the remedies given. Scientific men en- 
gaged in studying insect or fungoid pests must ne- 
cessarily do a large portion ot their work in the 
laboratory, and therefore have not the same op- 
portunities for closely studying the various 
diseases of farm crops or following them through 
their different stages. If the farmer could be 
induced to study the history of each special pest 
whicb may be common on his particular farm, agreat 
deal of valuable information would in time be 
gained that might be of great assistance to the 
scientist in devising a remedy. The microscope 
opens up a most fascinating field for research for all 
who have learned to use it, and it is extremely desir- 
able that it should be fouud on the majority of 
farms. Agricultural societies have a partiality for 
giving cups and medals that are useless, and not 
always ornamental, as prizes for exhibit at their 
shows, Par more benefit to the community would 
result if a good working microscope and a text book 
of agricultural microscopy were given iu lieu of 
articles which no one particularly cares about or 
values highly. Microscopes are now obtainable at 
a moderate price, and if they were more generally 
made use of they would become the means of dis- 
seminating a vast amount of knowledge, and would 
place at the disposal of the scientist a great deal 
of information which he has now some difficulty 
iu obtaining. Given a miscroscope and the means 
of learning how to intelligently use it, and the young 
farmer would be able to enter upon a highly in- 
teresting and important field of research, and many 
of the problems which now puzzle the pathologist 
would, in all probability, have light shed upon them. 
We fuel sure that the younger generation of far- 
mers would eagerly avail themselves of an oppor- 
tunity to become acquainted with the use of the micro- 
scope. We commend the suggestion to agricultural 
show committees and the doners of special prizes 
for shows. 
A good deal has been saii4 abotiti tii§ healthful- 
.0110 ruijii-ia x'ly/ u wC; 
ness of LEMONB. The l&bett advice bow to use them, 
so that they will do the most good, is as follows: 
—Most people know the benefit of lemonade before 
breakfast, but few kuow that it is lyore than doabhd 
by taking more at night ^o. The way to gel the 
better of the bilious systou, without the use of 
medicines, is to take the juice of one, two, or 
three lemons, as appetite craves, in as maeb water 
as makes it pletsant to drink, without sagar, be- 
fore going to bed. In the morning on rising, at 
least half an hour before breakfast, take the juice 
of one lemon iu a tumbler of water This will 
clear the Bystem of bile with efficiency, without any 
of the weakening effects of drugs. People should 
not irritate the stomach by eating lemons, how- 
ever, as the powerful acid of tha juice, which is 
always most corrosive, invariably pro luces inflam- 
mation after a while, but properly diluted, so that it 
does not burn or draw the throat, it doet- its 
lucdical work without harm, and when Uie stomach 
is clear of food, has abundant opportunity to work 
ov r the system thoroughly, says a medical authority. 
Had it not been for an accident of fashion the 
gentler sex would bo striding their horses still, and 
that the sidesaddle is not an invention due to the 
modesty of advance civilization. It appears that one 
Anna of Bohemia, eldest daughter of a German 
Emperor and wife of an English King, introduced 
the custom, not from delicate repulsion to the 
old method, but simply because she was afflicted 
with some sort of deformity that rendered it impo.s- 
sible for her to ride upon the saddle in conim n 
use. In those days it was imperative that a woman 
should ride , accordingly, the first sidesaddle was 
invented. lioyalty had then, as now, snohbisU 
followers, ever on the alert to adopt fashions 
honoured by its patronage, and iu a few months 
every woman of position in England possessed a side- 
saddle, and the custom was established. 
M. Girand in his notes on Asabian Coffeb, in the 
Queenslander, writes thus rrgardiug the aual^sig of 
the bean : — 
Ceffeee berries contiin witer, cellnlar, and organic 
matter, 93'31, oiiaeral salts 6'69. The mineral stlts 
oomprite potash and sadi from 35 lo 40 per cent 
phosplioiio acid from 12 to IS per ceut. silica frooi 
15 to 20 par cent^, magnesia from 9 to 13 per cent, lime 
from 3 to 5 per oen*^, oxide of iron and manganes?, 
' o irbonio acid and ch'orbydric acid, iu eiualler proper- 
! ti ms. Taking the average crop to be 5001b of coffee 
I beans per acre, the loss m alkaline salts suttaiued by 
! oue acre of soil alter every crop wi 1 be — potash and 
j soda, about 180 lb phosphoric about 581b ; and lime 
! about 201b. whioh would have to bo retarLe"! iu the 
I shape of artificial manures contiioiug the t'ai l inure- 
I dieuta in maximum quantities and the others iu smaller 
i quantities. 
I « 
IvoBY AND BoKE.— I fanoy I could tell one from 
the other on inspection; or at least when sight waa 
j better I could do so. But I have not had experience 
of ivory which has been in a grave. Ivory is homo- 
geneous, and is non- poroue. Bone, ou the other 
hand, is always porous. Each, however, ocntaias 
phosphate of lime, bo boiling would not be a test. 
If " Antiquary" were to get a bone which can re- 
ocgnise as the part of the leg of an animal, and 
whioh has been exposed to the weather, he will see 
i what I mean by its being porous. Again, if he 
eubjects a bone to red heat iu a muf&e furnace, be 
I will get a skeleton (so to speak) of the bone oom- 
I posed of phosphate of lime, and very beautiful they 
I are. But I believe that a piece of ivory similarly 
treated would only fall to powder of phosphate of 
' lime, and be amorphous or without shape. A bone 
with water heated in a digester eo as to get a greater 
heat than boiling point of water 212° Fhr., leaves a 
baautiful skeleton of bone. Ivory so treated does 
1 not, nor fish bones. — English Mechanic, 
i 
