June  i,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
775 
VARIOUS  AGRICULTURAL  NOTES. 
The  Transvaal  and  Fruit  Imports.— The  reports 
from  the  upper  districts  of  Natal  are  to  the  effect 
that  large  crops  of  Apples,  Pears,  Plums,  &c.,  have 
been  gathered,  which  would  have  been  sent  to  the 
Transvaal,  but  for  the  prohibitive  duty  of  15s.  per 
100  lb.  load  on  fruit.  This  also  affects  the  fruit 
grown  at  the  Cape;  and  thus  producers  in  both 
colonies  are  severely  hit  by  this  heavy  and  surely 
injudicious  duty. — Gardeners'  Chronicle. 
Technical  Education.— On  the  19th  ult.  evening, 
Mr.  Rr.  Cock,  County  Council  lecturer  on  cottage 
gardening,  gave  an  interesting  lecture  in  the  school- 
room at  Sandon  (Staffs.).  Mr.  Cock  spoke  first  on 
bees  and  bee  keeping,  illustrating  his  remarks  with 
magic-lantern  views.  He  strongly  recommended 
cottagers  to  try  bee-keeping  as  a profitable  business. 
He  afterwards  dealt  with  winter  work  in  the  garden, 
discussing  insect-pests  among  other  things,  and 
recommending  fruit-growing,  which,  with  care,  could 
be  made  to  pay  well.—  Ibid. 
Fruit  Cultivation  in  England,  and  Imported 
Fruit. — The  following  interesting  statement  as  to 
the  cultivation  of  fruit  in  England  was  made  by 
Mr.  H.  R.  Williams  (the  acting  Master)  at  the 
dinner  of  the  Fruiterers'  Company  lately : — “ The 
following  was  the  area  under  small  fruit  cultivation 
in  England  and  Wales  in  each  of  the  following- 
years 1888,  36,700  acres;  1890.  46,200  acres;  1891, 
58,700  acres.  Compared  with  1888,  there  is  an 
increase  in  1891  of  no  fewer  than  22,000  acres.  Of 
this  increase,  1760  acres  were  added  to  the  small 
fruit  area  in  Kent,  the  area  for  that  county  for  the 
year  1890  being  10,061  acres,  and  for  1891,  19,821 
acres.  From  these  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  Kent 
maintains  its  pre-eminence  in  fruit-growing.  Or- 
chards also  show  a gradual  and  not  inconsiderable 
increase  in  area.  In  1881  the  returns  show  185,000 
acres,  while  in  1891  the  total  was  210, 0C0  acres,  an 
increase  in  ten  years  of  25,000  acres.  Market  gardens 
also  show  a considerable  advance  in  area.  In  1881 
there  were  under  cultivation  46,604  acres,  while  in 
1891  there  were  81,368  acres,  an  increase  in  ten  years 
of  34,764  acres.  In  1882  the  raw  fruit  imported,  ex- 
clusive of  Oranges  and  Lemons,  amounted  to  5,000,861 
bushels,  while  the  quantity  in  1892  was  7,387,670 
bushels.  The  Oranges  and  Lemons  imported  in  1690 
represented  a quantity  of  5,746,135  bushels  of  the 
value  of  £1,756,832,  while  in  1892  the  imports  came 
to  6,763,276  bushels,  of  the  value  of  £2,052,561. 
City  Press. — Ibid. 
Moisture  and  Vegetation. — M.  E.  Gain  has  been 
conducting  some  comparative  experiments,  with  a 
view  of  ascertaining  the  effect  of  a moist  soil  and 
of  a moist  atmosphere  on  the  development  of  plants. 
M.  Gain  finds  the  action  of  moist  soil  very  variable 
according  to  different  circumstances,  especially  the 
physical  conditions  of  the  soil.  The  period  of  flower- 
ing is  retarded  either  by  dryness  of  soil,  or  by  moist 
atmosphere,  and  it  is  hastened  either  by  dry  air  or 
by  moist  soil.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  in 
practice  the  conditions  are  combined  or  mixed.  The 
two  factors  which  retard  flowering  are  a dry  soil 
and  a moist  atmosphere.  These  conditions  only 
occur  in  a foggy  or  clouded  country  where  the  soil 
is  very  porous.  A combination  (1)  of  moist  air  and 
moist  soil  is  very  common  in  wet  seasons  on  a 
retentive  soil;  an  analogous  combinat'on  (2)  of  dry 
soil  and  dry  air  is  common  in  some  hot  countries. 
In  the  first  case,  the  delay  caused  by  the  moist  air 
deprives  the  plant  of  the  advantages  derivable  from 
the  moist  soil,  and  the  period  of  flowering  is  very 
much  retarded.  In  the  second  case,  the  advantage 
consequent  on  the  dry  air  brings  about  an  earlier 
flowering.  The  two  favourable  conditions  may  be 
realised  in  southern  countries  by  irrigation,  the  re- 
sults of  which  are  as  every  one  knows  very  remark- 
able. To  sum  up,  it  may  be  said  that  dry  air  is 
very  favourable  to  the  production  of  flowers ; moist 
soil  is  favourable  ; dry  soil  is  unfavourable,  moist  air 
very  unfavourable  to  flowering.  The  full  details  may 
be  read  in  a recent  number  of  the  Conqites  Rcndus, 
p.  890. — Gardeners’  Chronicle. 
Tree  Planting  in  Ireland.— The  Irish  Land  Com- 
mission, encouraged  by  the  success  of  their  operations 
in  this  direction  last  year  on  the  west  coast  of 
Ireland,  have  been  introduced  to  extend  the  woods  in 
the  exposed  district,  and  are  importing  large  quantities 
of  forest  trees  from  He  principal  nurseries  of  the 
country. — Gardeners'  Chronicle. 
Cion,  or  Scion?  — “The  difference  between  “ cion” 
and  “ scion  is  not  generally  known.  Oion,  refers 
to  the  cutting  of  a tree,  and  scion  to  the  animal 
kingdom,  no  matter  what  Tiebstev’s  Dictionary  may 
say  about  it.  This  difference  was  recognised  by  all 
of  the  early  English  scholars,  Bacon  included.” 
Andrew  S.  Fuller,  in  Gardening.  [It  is  true  that 
Bacon’s  Sylva  Sylvarum  has  “cions”  (ed.  10,  1676). 
Evelyn’s  Sylva  (1678),  has  grafts  (French,  greffes), 
Insitions  (Latin),  and  cions  ; Parkinson,  who  wrote 
more  genuine  English  than  Evelyn  (1629)  has 
“ grafts,”  and  does  not  use  the  word  cion  or  scion 
at  all.  Miller  (Dictionary)  writes  cion.  Littre’s 
Dictionary  gives  “scion”  in  the  sense  of  shoot  or 
graft,  but  not  “cion,”  which  latter,  accordingly  is 
the  truer  English.— Ed.].— Ibid.  6 
Lecture  on  Horticulture  at  Beckenham  S E 
— Professor  Cheshire,  iu  the  course  of  a lecture  at 
Beckenham  on  Tuesday,  November  22,  alluded  to 
the  subject  of  the  deficiencies  of  the  soil  in  regard 
to  certain  items  of  plant  food.  Mr.  Cheshire  said 
he  was  trying  to  find  ideal  manures,  which  would 
be  more  perfect  in  their  character  than  anything 
they  had  hitherto  used.  The  three  principal  in- 
gredients  of  which  the  soil  was  likely  to  be  deficient 
were  nitrogen,  potash,  and  phosphorus,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  testing  which  of  those  were  required 
he  advised  them  to  take  four  flower  pots,  and  re- 
presenting these  elements  as  one,  two,  and  three 
to  put  some  mould  into  the  pots,  and  mix  the 
manures  one  and  three,  one  and  two,  two  and  three 
and  so  on,  and  then  plant  half  a-dozen  Barley  seeds 
or  some  other,  and  see  in  which  pot  they  grew  best 
and  by  this  process  they  would  be  able  to  tell  what 
the  soils  wanted  most.— Ibid. 
Tasmanian  Fruit  Exports.— Growers  of  fruit  in 
this  colony  are  at  present  apprehensive  about  the 
success  of  the  oncoming  Apple  crop,  owing  to  un- 
favourable weather,  and  the  probable  value  of  the 
fruit  when  placed  on  the  London  market — if  it  should 
be  ample  enough  to  justify  a large  shipment.  New 
orchards  it  is  supposed  will  make  up  for  failures 
through  unfavourable  meteorological  conditions  and 
greater  care  in  picking,  choice,  and  packing  will  this 
season  be  looked  to,  last  year’s  experience  on  these 
lines  having  been  costly— not  everything  will  do  for 
the  English  market,  it  is  found.  Should  the  Aus- 
tralian crops  prove  short,  of  which  there  is  some 
prospect,  then  a local  demand  will  be  experienced 
and  shipments  for  England  be  restricted -but  a short 
time  will  settle  these  matters.  It  would  appear  that 
much  more  attention  is  being  paid  to  the  cultivation 
of  sorts  best  suited  to  the  English  market,  and 
altogether,  recent  bad  fortune  would  appear  to  have 
been  looked  at  in  the  proper  light.— Ibid. 
Frozen  Flowers  from  New  Zealand. — On  Friday) 
February  24,  there  was  an  exhibition  at  the  Ipswich 
Fine  arts  Club  of  flowers  grown  within  12  miles  of 
Wellington.  Tliese  flowers  were  procured  by  Mr  E 
Herbert  Fison,  of  Ipswich,  a director  of  the  Bank 
of  New  Zealand,  preserved  in  ice,  and  were  placed 
by  him  at  the  disposal  of  the  Ipswich  Scientific 
Society.  The  flowers  were  almost  all  those  of 
European  garden  plants.  It  would  have  been  much 
moie  interesting  to  have  sent  New  Zealand  flowers. 
New  Zealand  has  flowers  which  are  fit  rivals  to 
any  the  world  produces,  and  yet  we  see  that,  as  in 
oilier  colonies,  Ohr  santhemums  and  other  European 
fancies  are  preferred  at  flower-shows.  That  is  a 
matter  of  taste,;  but  when  our  colonial  friends  send 
flowers  to  this  country,  they  would  do  well  to  re- 
member tliat  native  flowers  would  be  more  novel 
and  more  appreciated.  Alas  ! the  beauty  of  the 
flowers  iades  as  the  ice  melts  — fit  subject  for  the 
moralist.  A Dendtobium  we  saw  lately  at  Messrs. 
Sauders’,  presented  but  a sorry  spectacle,  even  though 
the  ice  was  only  partially  melted.— Ibid. 
