148 
Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist:'' [Aug. 1, 1894. 
Liberia have already been put in the nurseries, 
and the phints are coming up beautifully. 
(To be continued.) 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
Mr. J. H. Maiden, the Consulting Botanist 
of New South V/ales, thus refers to the need 
of educntion for forest officers : — I think 
the time has now arrived for officers in Gov- 
ernment or municipal employment who have, 
in the ordinary course of business, to diag- 
nose hardwood, to pass an examination in the 
subject, just as professional men have to 
do in regard to other materials of construction. 
The pity is that we have so many men here 
learned in European and American timbers, and 
only possessing a rule-of-thumb knowledge of 
the timbers of the country in which they were 
born, or in which their lot is cast. How the 
knowledge shall be imparted or tested is a mere 
matter of detail ; that the reform is desirable is 
undisputed, and I hope I may live to see it 
carried out. Knowledge of colonial timber can 
only be obtained by handling it as sawn stuff, 
and by careful observations as to the circum- 
stances under which it grows in the forest. 
The subject is not an easy one, and I don't 
intend to say it is. There is no more a golden 
road to a knowledge of colonial timbers than 
there is to a knowledge of Greek. Very often 
the man who knows least about our colonial 
timbers is readiest to assail them. We must 
suspend our judgment with regard to the ab- 
solute merits of many of them, and what I plead 
for is a systematic attempt to get at the value 
of each timber — to test it from various points 
of view. Many of our timbers have not had a 
fair " show." These are times of reduced ex- 
penditure, but I would like to see £10,000 spent 
on a proper survey, examination, and test (not 
merely of strength), of colonial timbers. The 
sum mentioned might be spread over five years. 
I am sure that such a sum would be a justifiable 
expenditure in regard to a national property 
which is reasonably valued at millions of pounds. 
Pish guano is a material the use of which is 
largely increasing, says the Farmer's Gazette. 
It consists of dried and powdered fish or fish 
refuse. Sometimes it is made from whole fish — 
sprats, herrings, menhadden, etc. — which are 
boiled to remove the bulk of the oil (which is 
a valuable commercial product) the residue being 
then dried for manure ; sometimes — and very 
largely — it consists of the residue of offal from the 
cod-fisheries, haddock and herring curing oper- 
ations, market fish offal, etc., similarly treated or 
simply dried. The more the oil has been ex- 
tracted, the better the manure, for the more the 
rapid is its decomposition. Oil retards this, and 
is in itself useless as a manure. In good fish 
guauos the nitrogen varies from 7 to 8 per cent 
up to 10 or 12 per cent, and the phosphates from 
about 6 to 16 per cent. As a rule, the higher the 
nitrogen the lower the phosphates. Like Peruvian 
guano, fish guano furnishes both phosphates and 
nitrogeu ; but its nitrogen is all in the form of 
undecomposed animal matter, whereas in guano it 
is already largely in the form of actual ammonia. 
Peruvian guano, therefore, acts much more rapidly 
than fish guano, and while the former is generally 
best applied in the spring, fish guano is generally 
best applied in the autumn, so that it may become 
well rotten by the time it is wanted. It is much 
valued in market gardening and as a manure for 
hops. Considering the abundance of fish in Indian 
rivers, it is surprising that an industry in making 
fish guano out of putrid fish and offal is not 
started by some enterprising capitalists. 
Dn. W. J. Beai., of the Michigan Agricultural 
College, says: — By possessing great vitality, seeds 
of weeds may last in the soil ten to fifteen 
years or more, until the soil is turned up, ex- 
posing them to conditions favourable for ger- 
mination. It is now nearly fifteen years since 
1 buried in bottles with barren soil" numerous 
lots of seeds of twenty kinds, fifty t-eeds of 
each kind in each lot. Most of one lot grew 
after remaining in the soil for five years. The 
seeds of another set were tested alter remaining 
buried for ten years. 
Soot is not used in gardens half so much 
as it should be. In Borne respects, says the 
Indian Agriculturist, it is better than any kind 
of artificial mauure, inasmuch as it not only 
enriches the soil, but destroys many sorts of 
insects. It may be dug into vegetable garden 
soils with much advantage, and mixed with 
soil for potting the majority of plants. There is 
no vegetable that is not benefited by soot, and in 
soil for onions, carrots and all kinds of roots 
it is excellent. It is not, however, lasting in 
its effects which hardly last a year, but it is 
cheap and easily obtained, and may be put in 
any quantity annually. It should be spread over 
the surface of the ground and dug in either into 
cattle manure or by itself. When sown in drills 
with potatoes it prevents them from being worm 
eaten. It cannot be sown on the surface after 
the crops appear, and if put on when rain is 
falling will be washed down to the roots. This 
is a good way of applying it ; soot-feeding im- 
parts a deep green colour to vegetation, and then 
satisfactory returns are sure to be the result 
Potting soil sprinkled with soot always remains 
free from worms, and plants so treated always 
assume a bright, healthy appearance. It may 
be sprinkled on the surface of the pots and 
watered in, or, better still, given in the form 
of soot-water. Newly-potted plants, and those 
with few roots, do not require it, but when the 
soil is full of roots soot-water proves beneficial. 
Pines, vines, strawberry plants, kidney beans, 
orchids, pelargoniums, and nearly all growing 
vegetation may be watered with it safely. In 
some cases a difficulty is experienced in getting 
soot to mix with water. The best way is to 
put the soot into a sack, tying up the mouth 
of the bag ; then put it in a pail, cask, or tank, 
and the water will soon penetrate through the 
foot, making it into a pulp, thus making pure 
soot-water. There is no time or season in parti- 
cular in which soot-water may be especially 
used, as it may be given to fruiting and flowering 
plants all the year round. When it is desired 
to make the foliage assume a deep green, healthy 
colour, or the flowers a brighter hue, judicious 
application of soot-water will accomplish it better 
than anything else. 
