Dec.  i > 1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
397 
(that  it  would  continue  and  flourish  for  ever),  was 
likely  to  come  true.  I have  also  in  my  possession 
several  leaves  of  the  sacred  Bo  Tree,  which  are  specially 
valuable  from  the  fact  that  they  can  only  be  got  by 
stealth  or  at  great  personal  risk,  as  the  priests  re- 
fuse to  allow  any  such  degradation  as  plucking  leaves 
from  the  tree  which  obtained  its  sacred  character 
from  the  fact  that  it  sprang  from  a branch  of  the 
Bo  Tree  at  Magadha,  under  which  the  great  Gautoma 
was  reclining  when  he  attained  Budhdahood 
We  now  come  to  the  third  class  of  celebrated 
trees,  namely,  those  that  have  acquired  fame  for 
some  other  reason  than  that  of  extrem  • height  or 
old  age.  Of  this  class,  perhaps,  fruit  trees  have 
gained  the  greatest  notoriety  for  the  extraordinary 
crops  they  are  capable  of  producing. 
In  Malta  and  Naples  15,fi00  oranges  have  frequently 
been  picked  from  a single  tree,  and  one  case  is 
recorded  of  a tree  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  which 
bore  20,000  oranges,  whilst  in  two  instances  in 
Southern  Europe  38,000  were  picked  from  one  tree. 
There  is  an  apple  tree,  near  the  homestead  of 
Bungamero  Estate,  in  Australia,  the  property  of  the 
late  Mr.  Hugh  Glass,  which,  when  45  years  old, 
measured  6 feet  6 inches  round  the  trunk  at  4 feet 
from  the  grouud,  and  yielded  3 tons  of  apples.  This 
tree  is  growing  in  a grass  paddock,  has  never  been 
pruned,  and  is  yet  perfectly  healthy. 
I read  the  other  day  of  a monster  Mardchal  Niel 
rose  at  YYarminster,  which  was  planted  on  April 
16th,  1888,  and  which  made,  the  first  year  after 
planting,  shoots  25  feet  long,  and  produced  200  roses 
before  it  had  been  planted  twelve  months.  Next  year 
its  shoots  reached  to  the  length  of  30  feet,  and  the 
number  of  blooms  amounted  in  1890  to  2000.  The 
plant  covers  at  the  present  time  an  area  of  450 
square  feet,  and  is  carrying  flower-buds  and  blooms 
of  more  than  3000  in  number.  As  these  remarks 
were  published  in  several  gardening  journals,  and 
never  contradicted,  I presume  they  are  correct,  and 
therefore  include  them  amongst  my  own  personal 
observations  on  celebrated  trees. 
No  doubt  many  of  my  readers  who  have  visited 
Archnacarry,  the  principal  seat  of  Cameron  of  Lochiel, 
have  been  surprised  at  the  double  row  of  beeches, 
the  outer  boughs  of  which  trail  in  the  swiftly  flowing 
Arkaig,  and  wondered  why  they  were  thus  planted. 
The  circumstances  attending  the  setting  of 
these  were  as  follows Just  before  the  rising  of 
’ 45,  Locheil  received  a quantity  of  young  trees  for 
planting  round  Archnacarry  ; when  the  summons  came 
for  the  clan  to  join  the  standard  of  Prince  Charlie, 
the  plants  were  hurriedly  consigned  to  trenches,  to 
await  more  peaceful  times.  But  the  men  whose 
duty  it  was  to  have  planted  them  out  “came  back 
to  Loohaber  no  more,”  and  so  the  plants  struggled 
on  in  the  trenches  as  best  they  could,  and  there  they 
stand  to  this  day,  so  closely  crowded  that  a man  can 
scarcely  squeeze  through  between  some  of  them. 
As  certain  trees  are  famous  for  their  height,  and 
others  for  their  age,  so  there  are  some  also  which 
have  gained  notoriety  from  the  enormous  size  of 
their  leaves,  as  for  instance  the  Inaja  palm  of  the 
Amazon  country,  whose  leaves  reach  a length  of  30 
feet,  and  a breadth  of  10  to  12  feet.  The  leaves  of  the 
Talipot  palm  of  Ceylon  are  also  very  large,  being 
frequently  20  feet  by  18  feet,  and  are  used  by  the 
Sinhalese  in  building  th>-ir  residences.  Indeed,  I 
have  myself  often  resided  in  huts  made  entirely 
of  talipot  leaves,  and  on  one  occasion  had  a stable 
built  of  them,  in  which  my  racehorses  were  quartered, 
when  in  training,  on  a private  racecourse  in  the 
Medamahanuweara  district  of  Ceylon. 
Before  closing  this  paper  I must  say  a word  about 
the  well-known  Banyan  tree,  the  sacred  fig-tree  of 
India.  One  could  hardly  call  this  a single  tree 
as,  owing  to  its  peculiar  mode  of  growth,  it  is  rather 
to  be  considered  as  an  aggregate.  The  branches 
keep  dropping  off  shoots,  which  take  root,  and  then 
the  branches,  continuing  to  grow  outwards,  drop 
other  roots,  until,  in  course  of  time,  the  area  covered 
by  these  trees  is  marvellous.  I have  seen  many 
very  famous  ones,  which  cover  large  areas  of  ground, 
but  the  largest  known  one  is  probably  that  in  the 
Royal  Gardens,  Calcutta.  Planted  in  1782,  it  now 
covers  an  acre  and  a quarter  of  ground,  although 
much  injured  by  cyclones. 
It  is  needless  for  me  to  say  that  there  are  many 
trees  entitled  to  a place  in  a paper  such  as  this  is, 
but,  wishing  to  give  only  particulars  of  such  as  I 
have  personal  knowledge  of,  or  am  convinced  of 
the  correctness  of  my  information  about  them,  I have 
abstained  from  mentioning  many  that  I would  other- 
wise have  gladly  referred  to.  I am  sure  that  there 
are  readers  of  the  Farming  World  who  could  supple- 
ment my  paper  by  giving  information  concerning 
some  of  the  more  celebrated  trees  that  they  have 
visited,  and  which  it  has  not  been  my  privilege  to 
see,  and  I need  hardly  say  how  pleased  I,  for  one, 
would  be  to  read  any  remarks  that  they  would 
kindly  forward  for  publication  in  the  columns  of 
the  Fanning  World. 
PLANTING  NOTES. 
The  Grocers'  Journal  of  21st  Oct.  discusses  the  ques- 
tion “ Is  tea  being  over-produced,”  Quoting  statistics 
it  says  that  from  them  it  would  uot  appear  that 
there  is  a plethora  just  yet  of  tea  from  India  or 
Ceyion;  and  adds: — We  feel,  looking  at  solid  fact 
and  at  consumptive  agencies,  aud  puttiug  as  de  the 
possible  loss  or  gain  for  the  maintenance  of  markets 
at  tneir  present  level  to  certain  sections  or  indi- 
viduals, that  any  attempt  to  ourtail  production 
would  be  far  from  beneficial  to  the  consumers  here, 
who  have  learnt  to  rely  so  much  upon  the  pro- 
ducts of  our  Asiatic  Empire  that  any  material 
cessation  of  supplies  from  thence  must  be  exceed- 
ingly prejudicial  to  their  pockets.  Aud  it  is  clear 
that  it  woul  i re-act  on  the  Indian  and  Cingalese 
planters  themselves  in  the  long  run,  because  it  is  a fact, 
which  is  known  to  most  of  those  who  watch  with 
interet  this  mighty  trade,  that  China  is  beginning 
to  feel  that  though  it  is  still  alive,  it  mustsoou  die  if  it 
does  not  improve,  aud  that  consequently  she  is  straining 
every  nerve,  even  going  so  far  as  to  adopt  modern 
methods  and  machinery,  and  taking  instruction  from 
her  ousters  in  the  Kangra  Valley,  in  her  anxiety  to  bear 
once  more  in  Europe  her  old  figure  and  regain  the 
prestige  and  the  profit  which  has  been  wrested  from 
her.  Lei  produoiion  onoe  fail  in  India,  aud  all  the  wit 
of  the  Celestial  tea-gardeuers  will  be  set  to  work  to 
increase  their  export;  and  as  “ the  finest  tea  the  world 
produces  ” can  still  be  obtained  from  the  land  of  the 
Great  Mogul,  it  would  be  wise  in  those  whose  interests 
are  antagonistic  to  hers  not  to  open  a doer  which  may 
be  closed  upon  thems;  Ives. 
The  Scientific  American  draws  attention  afresh  to  the 
danger  in  planting  Croton  oil  trees  among  tea  bushes, 
Here  is  a tea  joke  : — “ What  do  you  think  of  this 
rtory  of  tea  in  South  Carolina  “It  is  true,  of  course. 
You  can’t  spell  South  Carolina  without  it.”  In  this 
respect  Travancore  ecoreB  over  Assam  Ceylon,  Wynaad 
and  even  China, yet,  paradoxical  though  this  may  seem, 
not  over  the  Celestial  Empire. 
Here  is  another  joke,  from  the  city  of  the  coming 
World's  Fair  Customer  (in  restaurant) — “ Have  you 
any  crisp  green  letluce  ?”  Waiter — “ Yes,  sir.  Per- 
fectly fresh,  sir.”  Customer — “And  some  fresh  ber- 
ries?” Waiter— “ Some  brought  in  today,  sir.”  Cus- 
tomer— “ And  some  nice  green  tea?”  Waiter — “ Yes, 
sir.  I got  some  just  pioked  this  morning,  sir.” 
At  a meeting  of  the  Peermad  Plauters’  Association 
on  the  27 1 h October,  it  was  resolved  to  guarantee  the 
amouut  demanded  to  iusure  the  telegraph  line  being 
continued  tu  that  district  from  Kottayam,  and  the 
Travancore  Government  has  also  guaranteed  a con- 
siderable sum.  Comp>  tition  now  is  so  great  and  plant- 
ing has  become  so  much  more  of  a business  than  it 
was  in  the  days  of  coffee,  when  the  planter  could, 
“ like  the  fine  old  English  gentleman, ” eto.,  that  the 
telegraph  is  almost  indispensable,  and  if  that  of 
Travancore  is  connected  wiih  the  Peritur  works  it  wiil 
doubtless  pay  handsomely.  The  only  other  item  of 
interest  settled,  was  sending  a sample  oase  of  tea  from 
the  various  ostates  to  the  Chicago  Exhibition  and  all 
efforts  in  this  direction  to  advertise  iravancore  tea  is 
of  importance.  Planters  in  Ceyion  invariably,  eel« 
