178 
THE tROHcAL AGRICULTURIST. t-S EPT - ». 
an apology and the Company resumed their gcod 
humour. 
And they sip and sip, Have their friends on the 
hp, 
And of foibles and faults and caprice.* make a 
handle, 
While round goes the rojm, the liquer, and the 
scandal. 
A. M. Ferguson. 
ECONOMY IN WORKING WIRE 
SHOOTS. 
Under this heading a notice appears in tho 
Ceylon Observer regarding Miohie's Patent 
" Lubrioa" Runner with best cast steel wheels 
and bodies, a specimen ot which and diagram 
can be seen at our office. Wire Shoot Runners 
now in uec fail and are short lived because of 
imperfect lubrication of the bearing surfaces of 
axle and wheel ; and many Runners are made 
without any attempt at provision for lubrication. 
The new Runner is lilted with an enlarged axle 
in the body of which an oil cavily is formed. 
This cavity or lubricant receptacle is filled with 
oil after the Runner is placed on tbe rope ready 
to start and the bearing surfaces draw their 
supply from it when the journey down the rope 
has commenced. The arrangement has been 
formed to work admirably. 
♦ 
AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 
The Need of the Analyst and the Planters 
Working Together. 
A planting correspondent sends us tho following 
cutting from the Queensland Sugar Journal; — 
In coonec iou with the general fetling in Queens- 
land in favour of the appointment by the State of au 
agricultural anlytical chemist, tbe following from tbe 
Planters' Monthly (Hawaii) is interesting: — 
During the lute sessions of the planter's meeting in 
this city, the subject of establishing au experimental 
station hero was brought forward and urged with au 
eiiroestness which gives strong assurance to tbe hopei 
ot all interested in it that an effort will be ready to 
secure it without unnecessary delay. The benefits 
which have resulted from these oentres of agricultural 
research, havj been so great in evtry oouutry whtre 
they have been established, ai to leave no doubt cf 
their value in the minds of those wbo have followed 
the teachings derived fiom the scientific investigations 
made. . 
We all know that to chemical research is in a 
large measure due the prc-eminenco of European 
beet sugar culture. But it was not by chemistry a'one 
that thid has been achieved, rather by the hippy 
combination of science with practice ; tho practical 
beet grower called the chemist in to aid him, an 1 it 
Was by their mutual efforts that the beet finally reached 
its pTeaent high quality. Workiog alone, neither 
would have attained such success, or at least not until 
the grower had become a chemist, or, what is more 
likely, the chemist had beoome a grower. 
And this is the point we would emphasize here. It 
is an easy matter to secure the services of a chemiet 
■who would be able to analyse oar soils and fertilisers, 
but before he could be of value, beyond that of a mere 
analysing machine, he must learn the practical and 
diverse details of our cane culture. How otherwise 
can he draw an intelligent conclusion ; how can he give 
to each fact its logioal meaning, if he must first learn 
the very rudiments of our practice ? And not alone 
the practioe but cane eulture in genera'. 
What oould be expected even from, the most learned 
doctor of chemistry, if lie must at the outset be handi- 
capped by learning such a simple thing as how to phnt 
cane? The true agricultural chemist must first b e a 
farmer, he must conduct his experiments and interpret 
bis results in the light of cane field work, the soils, 
meteorological conditions, practical necessities, eco- 
nomical considerations, etc.* - 
* True, also of tea. This 
opinion-— ■ A Veijlon Plantw, 
has. always been my 
FLORA AND CULTIVATION IN HADRAMUT, 
SOUTH ARABIA: 
l'ROM AN ALLBE3S DKLIVEBED BEFORE THE LONDON 
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, ON THE lOlH JOLT, BI 
J. lUEODTBE BfcST. 
During our stay at Al Kitan we had ample means 
for studying the habits of the inhabitants and their 
primitive system of agriculture. The cultivation 
of date-palm is tbe most important feature in 
Had rum ut, the staple food for man, and in raaDy 
cases for cattle, for they grind the dato stone and 
feed tbe cows with the powder. Around (he palace of 
Al Kalsn the palms extend for miles, aud all this 
cultivated area ia irrigated by wells sunk in the 
sand, tbe water which is drawn up by bullocks 
being conveyed to the lie ds by email channels 
executed with great r kill. A stroll round theee 
cultivated acres it) interesting and instructive ; 
there are several spices grown for tab'e use — 
zamouta, an umbelliferous plant, tbe eoed of 
which is used in coffee, babetarsobs, a nemopylla, 
the sesds of which are used for putting in tbe bread; 
coriander, fennel, chilis, cress and radishes ; 
luoerne and clover is grown for tbe cattle ; 
beans, eggapples, cucumbers and water-melon* 
climb about under the shade of tbe trees; then 
there are henna trees, the leaves of which 
tbe women dry and pound to make a paste for 
decorating their bands and faces. Indigo (or dyeing 
purposes is largely grown, acd ojteide tbe town 
indigo is manufactured in large jars, for tbe uni- 
versal dye for all clothes is dark blue, jowari or 
dourra is tbe ohief grain produced beie for cattle 
and tho cultivation of this occupies many acres 
around ElKatao. Then we saw a man going round 
with an apron full of dried male spa'.bes with which 
to fructify tbe female palms. With surprising 
agility he climbs up the stem, and with a long 
rounded knife cuts eff the bark which enoitcles the 
female spatbe, and shakes it out into a busby 
shape, then bo takes the male spatbe and shakes 
into it the driel pollen, and as he does 10 be sings in 
a low chant, "May God make you grow and be fruit- 
ful." The palm is the life and soul of the Arab, and of 
all dates those of tbe Hadramut are reputed the best. 
On a journey a man oarries a skin of dates and 
requires no other sustenance ; the dato flower 
provides tho bees of the Hadramut with material 
for the most delicious honey, honey which is 
celebrated all over this part of Arabia, the merits 
of which Pliny extolr, and tbe flavour of which 
I consider superior to any of the far-famed boneya 
of Italy and Greece. 
The flora of the Hadramut is also meagre and 
to the oasual observer uninteresting. Our botanist 
only collected a little over 200 specimens during 
the whole of our expedition, but these contained 
Ihree new genera, and new epecies of such genera 
as Aloe, Adenium, Arthto3olen, Littonia, Statice. 
and Vellozia ; they are now being worked up by 
the authorities at Kew, and as they are tbe first 
received from Southern Arabia eastward of Aden 
they are of considerable interest and value. — 
Chamber of Commerce Journal, 
Royal Gardens, Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous in- 
formation for J uly has the following contents : — Comioo 
Trees of Colombia— Artificial Production of Citric 
Acid (continuation) — Supplementary Note to tbe Flor* 
of British Irdia — Cultivation of Vanilla in Tahiti— 
Vanilla at Fiji— Flora of the Solomon Islands — Methods 
for exterminating Locusts in the Caucasus — Preser- 
vation of Books in the Tropics— Table Oils from Beech 
aud Linden — Cultivation of Vegetables — Production of 
Pore Turnip Seed-Miscellaneous Notes, 
