190 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept. 1, 1900, 
Majesty's Government for service in South Africa 
but they were not required. Tiiey are reoAlytor 
service tliere or elsewhere and when called up- 
on will give a g;ood iiccount of themselves. 
A regiment of Malays could not fail to be 
of great irse, in China or even in India, 
stiould the necessity arise for its transfer ; 
for, no peojDle have a higher reputation than 
the Malays for courage and persistency as 
soldiers when well led. 
GUTTA-PERCHA. 
It is one o£ the strangest faot^ in tlie evohrtional 
history of man that the discovery of the insulating 
qualities of gutta-percha ahonld have been so nearly 
coincident with tlae demand for snoh a mateiia!, when 
ocean telegraphy became a pressing need. India- 
rubber, a similar gum in many ways, foims no re- 
liable substitute, especially because it has been found 
to deteriorate in sea-water, while gutta-percha not 
only improves under the enormous pressure of the 
deep-sea waters, but appears to be absolutely imperish- 
able: a material, indeed, of essential consideration 
when the cost of an ocean-cable may possibly exceed 
a million of money. Indii-rubber, too, presents many 
technical difficulties in its application ; pure it is use- 
less and vulcanised the sulphur comes in, as an 
uncertain agent. Hence, it is very doubtful, if gutta- 
percha had not " turned up," that ocean telegraphy 
would even now been practically useful. Here 
at once we appreciate what a debt we o've to the 
poking and prying investigator who saw this gum, 
tried it, and utilised it in other ways, and thus paved 
the road to the discovery of its insulating capabilities, 
of "which he certainly never dreamt, being an untutored 
and unknown native Malay. 
In 1843 one Jose d' Almeida, a Portuguese engineer, 
first sent over specimens of native-manufactured 
whips, knives, hats, &o., to the Eoyal Asiatic Society. 
A little later Dr. Montgomerie, a surgeon in the 
service of the East India Company, noted the pecu- 
liar faculty it has of softening in hot-water, and 
subsequent hardening in the shape then given ; the 
idea of surgical splints was thus suggested to hini. 
But it was not, according to some authorities, until 
1848 when Prof. Faraday took the substance in hand 
that its higher destiny began to dawn upon the world, 
though it is claimed on behalf of Dr. Werner Siemens 
that "be had suggested it as an insulating medium in 
1846 to the Prussian Government. In any case it 
eventually proved to be precisely what was wanted, 
and curiously enough, though it is now approaching 
half a century since it began to be used, and the 
comparative scarcity and difficulty of supply_ has 
stimulated research in all directions for a substitute, 
it still remains master of the situation, since it only 
requires to be cleansed and purified to be available for 
the purpose in view. The gam is yielded by several 
trees of kindred species, ,but chiefly from Isonandra 
Gutta, now mainly met with in Borneo, though first 
recognised in Singapore. Like all native products 
found to be marketable in savage countries, the 
utmost improvidence prevailed in its collectioo, the 
trees being ruthlessly cut down and drained of their 
sap ; and as it takes twenty-five years for a tree to 
attain a size capable of yielding an appreciable supply 
it is easy to see that even primeval forests, dotted 
only as they are with trees of the right descrip- 
tion, are sure soon to be entirely depleted. lu 1881 
alone, the export justified the belief that no fewer 
than 5 000,000 trees were felled in Borneo, aird as 
these are hewn down in the midst of younger ones 
without any consideration for the latter, it has been 
estimated tihat five times as many were destroyed. 
Although few people can grasp the idea of the 
enormous number of trees which go to form wide- 
spread forests, the expert will gather from these 
firawes that the waste is frightful, and would mean 
in time practical annihilation if it were permiltod 
to continue. Fortunately, ns in the case of the Cin- 
chona trees which yield quinine, so soon as the value 
of these native products is eetabllshed, and a constau 
demand begins to threaten extermimition, the bctani 
lends his aid, first, by determining exactly the specie 
best fitted to yield the supply; secondly, by inducing 
its cultivation in other parts of the world which his 
study leads him to think are congenial. The practical 
collector, too, replaces the savage, and finds that a 
partial draught from time to time upon the tree's 
resources can well be borne, so that the " goose with 
the goden eggs " is kept alive, and becomes a perennial 
source of profit. The Dutch have introduced the 
gutta- percha plants at Buitenzorg, and the French 
into Cochin China; and thus, with a jodioious check 
upon the extirpating native methods in the original 
fore^its of Borneo, Sumatra, and elsewhere, it is to be 
hoped that an adequate supply will be maintained 
and that we shall not find our transoceanic nervous 
system paralysed someday for the wint jf its proper 
integuments. — Chas. T. Drucry, F.L S. V.M.H. 
— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
RAISING ORANGE-TREES FROM PIPS. 
Mr. W. H. Hand, of Mount Pleasant, Penrith, 
asks for information as to the best methorl 
of raising orange-trees from pips. His idea is to 
estaljlisli a little nursery in connection with his 
citrus orchard from which to supply young trees 
to replace those that die off from mul di goma 
or any other cause. 
The Fruit Expert, Mr. W. .7. Allen, says :— The 
pips for growing orange stocks should be taken 
from seedling oranges, as they make the best 
and most vigorous trees. The pips may be al- 
lowed to remain in the oranges until the w'arm 
weather in spring, when they are taken^ out and 
planted in a bed prepared as follows : — If the 
land is not a nice sandy loam, cart in several 
loads of sand and mix it with the soil, to which 
add, if procurable, one bag of well-rotted sheep 
manure to every bed 4 feet wide by 8 feet long. 
Great care should be taken to get the manure, 
soil, and sand thoroughly mixed. 
Plant the pips about 3 inches apart to a depth 
of three-quarters of an inch, after which mulch 
the top of the beds with well-rotted, dry, fine 
manure scattered over the top to a depth of a 
quarter of an inch. This should be watered with 
a flue rose-pot every other day unless the weather 
be very dry and hot, when it should receive a 
good sprinkling every day. The beds should be 
protected from the sun by using frames raised 
from 12 to 18 inches above the bed, and covered 
with hessian or light brush fastened to them, 
so that the beds are slieltered from the driest 
rays of the suir, which would possibly burn off 
the young plants as they show above ground. 
As the seedlings grow% the covers can gradually 
be discarded, until at length the plants are robust 
enough to require no further shelter. The latter 
part of September is a good time to plant the pips. 
—Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales. 
— 
PREPARING VIRGIN LAND FOR 
FRUIT-TREES. 
A Correspondent at Lindfield, who is about to 
plant out a few trees for domestic use, asks :— 
1. How deep has the virgin ground to be 
broken up ? 
2. How long before you plant should it be pre- 
pared ? 
3. What manure (if any) should be given to 
each tree? 
The Fruit Expert. Mr. W. J. Allen, reports :— 
(1) Wherever it is possible, it is always best to 
break the around to a depth of at least 15 inches 
— that is, loosening the subsoil, but not bringing 
it to the top. (2) It is always well to prepare 
the ground a few months before the planting 
season, so that it may have an opportunity of 
sweetening. This however, is not absolutely 
necessary, but is always advisable. When this 
