344 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. i, 1894. 
tivator at Borobridge stated that he kmw a ginger 
growing for forty yeirs in the sama patoh. 
Seaford Towa ia a German colony and one of 
the original colonists, Sotners, an aottve old man 
of 86 year3 of a»e, has been cultivating ginger 
and arrowroot there since hia youth ; he and the 
other oolonista have been in the habit of planting 
a small patch a year leaving it to ratoon aa long 
as it was profitable then throwing it up or growing 
other planti until after a term of years they again 
plant the same patch with ginger, This is an irre- 
gular rotation of crops. "Plant ginger" the produce 
of planting is of better quality than the ratoons, and 
the ratoons in each succeeding year are inferior. 
When the ground is too poor to grow " white 
ginger" then "blue ginger" the inferior variety can 
be grown. 
More depends upon the curing of ginger, consider- 
ing the crop m a livelihood than aoil. At Seaford 
Town there was a wet season about two yeara ago, 
the people could not dry the ginger in the sun it mil- 
dewed, there was consequently very little sale, and 
the cultivators suffered some distress. I believe from 
what 1 saw that aa a rule careful attention i3 given to 
the curing, and that the badly cured ginger brought 
sometimes to market is due to wet weather rather 
than to want of care. 
It is difficult to make any recommendations on 
the subject but the following hints may indicate what 
points ate worthy of consideration by the cultivators. 
The first is the application of manure. There is a 
Erejudioe against its U39, some maintaining that it 
reeds worms, and that there also is a dimculty iu 
getting it in any quantity. It Is probable that 
those who have not sucoeeded with manure, have 
used it improperly by applying it freah or not 
sufficiently mixed with soil. As to obtaining 
it in quautity, example sh>uld be taken from toe 
Chinese labourer who preserves every pvrticleof 
matter that can in anyway be utilised aa mauure, not 
only cattle mauure, but decaying matter of any kind, 
night-soil, etc., even soapy water left after washing 
is moit useful. To imitate the formition of forest 
soil, a pit might befitted With alternate layers of bush 
and manure, everything in the nature of m mure or 
deaaying matter should ba thrown in and a layer of 
soil directly over the manure would ba usafal. Tae 
pit ought to be lined with day to prevent the very 
valuable part of the liquid of the manure from escap- 
ing, and a cover of some kind, e.g. a sheet of corru- 
gated iron, should be fixed in soma way over the pit to 
keep out rains. I noticed several head of cattle in 
the Seaford Town district, and apparently the maour a 
is lost, because the cattle wandar about in aearoh of 
food. Possibly grass or clover might be grown in old 
ginger grounds, and the cattle tethered so a3 to confine 
them in one place and the manure easily oollected. 
To facilitate curiug and even somatimis to nave the 
orop, the chief 3torekeaper in a distriot, who baya the 
ginger might find it advantageous to himself aad the 
people to invest in an Amerioau Evaporator and dry 
the ginger artificially. 
Possibly the Government could take steps through 
the Surveyor-General to prevent the forests from 
being ruthlessly destroyed. 
The export of ginger is on the whale ou tho 
increase as seen from the following table, but if this 
is aocompanied by the general destruction of woods 
and forests it ia doS a subject for congratulation. 
Year. 
Cvt. 
Value. 
188T 
9,927 
£17,789 
1883 
10,223 
19,463 
1889 
8,952 
18,615 
1890 (| year) 
4,948 
11,133 
1891 
10,885 
24,493 
1892 
16,272 
40,631 
1893 
13,832 
27,264 
1891 
14,932 
44,796 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
The essential oils, which ware prized by the ancients 
have been faund to kill bacteria by Ohamoerhnl 
Mauuier and otaets. Tha uvast aoti'e essences are 
tho<e of cinnamon, lavendar, maxjora n, cbva 
gertniun vervain, and ti'o<rm. Ta 1 vipairi i 
these essences will, it is siil destriy the garms of 
cholera in an hour. 
Tin ctmphor tree of Caiua aul Japan is a large 
evergreen not unlike a linden with a white flawer 
and rsl berry. The gum is liken fro n chips oat of 
the no i or basa, which yield 5 par oeut. or more of 
it. The Japaa»sa Government owos larga foraet] of 
camphor treat, able to keep up the average supply of tie 
gum for 25 years ; aul young plantations are growing 
up. Thess are unier the Japanese Forestry D -part- 
munt. Hithert) the gim bat only betn taksn frxn 
trees 70 or 8 J ye»rs old but it is proposed to operate 
on you iger ones in future. — Globe. 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE- 
Cheap Tea and the Inducements to Bov It. All 
kinds of articles ae offerei by retulers with the tea 
sold by th m, varying from a frjin<pan to a suit of 
boy's clothes. So long as some grocers appeal to the 
public in this way there will always be a demand for 
cheap and inferior tea. Tie buyer of a pound of tea 
who riceives a il u roa or a looking -glass with it 
cares n jthing for the quality of the tea. 
Ninbtv per cent ok Chicorv.— A groaer wai recently 
summonel for selling adult-r a'e I aoffoa. Toe puhlio 
analyst certifiad th at the sample oonsisted of 10 per 
cent, of ooffea and 90 per oent. of ehicory. Defend, 
ant tol 1 the Bench that ha puxuased th-s mixtura 
wholesale at lOd per lb., an 1 ratai ed it at Is. per lb. 
Th a id t« of ca ling this coffee at all is preposterous. 
The venlor should have been charged with selliog 
ohioory a Jul tented with coffee, 
A Gigantic Ooffee Plantation.— At a mealing re- 
cently hsld iu Liverpool of a Company interested in 
ooffei planting in Ligoa, a rep art from tha planta- 
tion was retd, showiog that 15,06) ooffee trees had 
bsen planted, as wall as 1034 coooa traes and 1,500 
coaoa seeds. Other reports received showed thai 
satisfactory progress hal been male with the work 
n the pltntatioi, on whoh it is p-opased to es- 
tablish a regular oolouy of coff ae growers of African 
nationality. —//. and C. Mail, Sept. 28. 
VARIOUS PLANTING NOTES. 
Libebian Coffee. — Wa notiae that at the London 
auctions at the beginning of th a month 90 baga 
of Travanoora Libarian Coffee, ohiefly bold yellow 
and brownish, sold at 85s. per cvt., aad at the sama 
time fifteen bags of L'.bariaa, fi ie bold bright yellow, 
from Freetown on the West Coast of Africa realised 
91a 6d.— M. Mail. 
Agricultural Experiment. — Me. B. Rsgunathj 
Rao, the Dawan Peiahear of the Trevandxum Divi- 
sion is carrying on agricultural experiments, on a 
soientifn basis, ia riae cultivation. We hear that 
soma very promising results have been aohievei 
in the direction of bumper crops. As rioe ia the 
staple food of Trayanaore, and for that matter places 
outside this State, the publication of Mr. Reganatba 
Rjo'a mathois in a popular and easily understood 
form is oa'calated to do much good.— Western Star. 
The Madras Season Reports. —Yesterday the 
Board of Ravenu9 telegraphed to the Government 
of India for the week ending the 6th instant as 
follows :— " Moderate rainfall in the greater portion 
of the Oircars and South Canara ; light scattered 
showers in parts of the Daooan, Southern Districts 
and Malabar. Agricultural operations are going on. 
Standing corps are generally fair, but more rain ia 
wanted in the Deaoan, Oanlral and Southern dis- 
triofcs. Harvests continue with fair outturn. Pas- 
ture is generally sufficient ; fodder is available. 
Condition of oattle is generally good. Prioes con- 
tinue falling slightly though still somewhat higher 
than the average."— Madras Mail, Oot, 10. 
