?.0i THE TROPICAL 
particle until they are capable of pressing through a 
sieve having several thousd,ncl meshes to the square 
inch. But such pulverization as this would, under 
ordinary circustances, reduce the mass to a dull and 
unattractive powder. In the process devised by the 
owner of the best cocoa manufacture, this high degree 
of fineness is secured without any loss of Ijrilliancy 
in the powder — the color being of the bright red 
which is not only attractive in appearance, when con- 
joined with the natural chocolate odour and flavour 
is characteriatic of absolutely pure cocoa of the 
highest grade.— /rtnu'ca Ai/riciiltural Journal. 
FLAX CULTURE. 
The cultivation of flax for fibre purposes would 
doubtless yield a profitable return in many parts of 
this colony, and it is equally certain that on dairy 
farms where a large quantity of skim or separated milk 
is available for feeding calves and pigs the growing 
of flax seed for mixing with the milk would pay the 
farmer handsomely. The cultivation of this crop is 
simple and inexpensive, and for stock feeding purposes 
at least, it is one of the most useful products that can 
be raised. It is not necessary, nor is iL desirable, that 
the soil on which flax is grown should be very rich. 
On the contrary, excessive luxuriance of growth is in- 
jurious, and generally results in the crop being" laid," 
which renders it comparatively worthless either for 
fibre or seed. The best soil is a ;jound dry, deep loam, 
with a clay subsoil. By good and careful cultivation, 
however, flax may be grown on various soil, but the 
class of soil just mentioned will be found to give the 
best resnlta. In the preparation of the soil for the 
crop one of the points of greatest importance is that 
the land should be thoroughly cleaned of v/eeds, and 
made into a fine state of tilth of a moderate depth. 
The soil to a depth of three or four inches cannot be 
toofitie. If the autumn cultivation has been carefully 
carried out a good harrowing in spring will generally 
effect perfect pulverisation of the soil. Following the 
last harrowing it is necessary to roll thoroughly, in 
order to secure an even surface and consolidate the 
land, which may be broken up again with a short- 
toothed or bruih-harrow before sowing, drawn up and 
down in the direction in which the land had been 
ploughed. The seed best adapted for the generality of 
soils is Riga, although both Dutch and American 
varieties may be used with equal success in certain 
localities. In purchasing seed a point should be made 
in seeing that it is plump, shining, and heavy, and of 
the best brands, from a reputable merchant. It should 
be seen that it is free from the seeds of weeds; Jthis 
will save a great amount of trouble afterwards when 
the crop is growing. Homegrown seed is usually the 
most reliable, and we would, therefore, recommend 
every farmer to only sow each year as much foreign 
seed as would produce a sufficient quantity for his 
flax crop the following season. The produce of seed 
averages about 12 bushels to the acre, so that the seed 
saved of one statute acre would sow about six. In 
growing fi IX for fibre, it is better to sow thick than 
thin, as with thick sowing ihe stems grow tall and 
straight, with only one or two seed capsules at the top, 
and the fibre is found greatly superior in fineness and 
length to that produced from thinly sown, flax. The 
latter usually grows coarse and branchy, and produces 
a large quantity of seed, but very inferior quality of 
fibre. Ic is not advisable to grow fiix more frequently 
on land than once in three or four years. It does 
well, as a rule, after a grain crop, but in America and 
and the Argentine, the usual practice is to sow flax 
on the sod on newly broken up land. In those coun- 
tries it is held that the crop is more beneficial to new 
land than a bare-fallow, as it materially assists in 
pulverising the sod, and from the shade it affords 
heli)S to retain the moisture in the subsoil. There is 
every reason to believe that this practice would be 
equally successful in the wheat-growing districts of 
New S ulh Wales. It is true th, it flax is a somewhat 
exhausting crop on tlie fertility, but this may be more 
than compensated for in the better condition the soil 
AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. 1, 1900. 
is left after it, compared with the pulverising effects of 
a bare fallow, and the system is, at any rate, worthy 
of atrial. The flax crop is not easily drouthed if it 
gets a fair start, and covers the gronnd fully before 
the dry weather sets in. Its roots penetrate much 
deeper than the wheat plant, and it will succeed al- 
most anywhere with a rainfall averaging 20 inches 
and upwards per annum. — Sijdtuy Herald, 
E-\iME Fibre as a Substitute foe Cotton, — Mr. 
D. Edward Rxdclyffe, Regent's Park, writes that 
Linoashire is threatened in connection with the cotton 
industry with a serious loss, and he aek*! why this 
country does not profit by its lessons. When the 
last great famine took place during the American 
war Great Britain, he says, was shown the folly of 
relying on one country for its supplies. "We have," 
he adds, " a vast territory in which we could ^row 
Ramie, which is a fibre far superior to cotton. It will 
grow where cotton grows, and where it will not. The 
possibilities of this plant are enormous. It grows 
wild in India and many other of our possessions. 
It will make anything that can be made by flax, 
cotton, wool, or silk. If our Colonies would turn their 
attention to Ramie growing, the possibility of a vast 
industry being crippled for the want of supplies would 
be a thing of the ^xsi."—. Journal of llorlicidture. 
Cocoa in the Philippines — The Cocoa plant grows 
in great abundance in the Philippine Islands, and it 
is stated that there is a good opening for the manu- 
facturers of chocolate products of all kinds in the 
islands. The Cocoa plant in the Philippines is more 
like a shrub or bush, being about 10 feet in 
height, than the plant in South America, which 
averages about 25 feet in height, and forms quite a 
tree. The reason for the bushes not growing taller 
is to be found in the lack of proper cultivation, as the 
farmers of the islands give little attention to their 
farms. The large planters have as yet done little to 
develop the Cocoa industry, though their other crops 
are large and often well cultivated The Uocoa plant 
grows near the protected towns, and will furnish two 
crops a year without cultivation. In the mountains 
tons of Cocjago to waste every year. The leaves 
at certain periods of the year have a deep, rich, green 
appearance, A-hile the flowers take on different 
colours and are most striking. The fruit is a large 
pod, oval in shape, which contains the beans from 
which the chocolate is manufactured. If, says an 
authority, modern methods of working the product 
were introduced, much of the waste occurring through 
primitive appliances could be avoided, and the pro- 
fits be large. — Journal of Horticulture. 
The Lac Inlustry p Assam. — A recent report of 
the Assistant-Director of Agriculture in Assam deals 
in detail with the lac industry there. Lxc occurs 
in its natural state in various parts of the forests 
of Assam, as well as of Burma, but chiefly in parts 
of the Khasi and Garo hills, and the expert in 
recent years has averaged 16,000 maunds, or some- 
thing over .500 tons, but in some of the forests, 
owing to the ravages of the Kolaazi,r epidemic and 
depopulation, the production is declining. The pro- 
duction in Manipur is not sufficient for the local 
needs, and quantities of lac are sent there from the 
Kubo Valley of Assim. In Assam the lac is usually 
collected twice a year, first in Blay and June, and 
then in October and November. The first is mainly 
used for seed purposes, while the second forms the 
export. A few days after the collection, pieces of 
of stick lac containing living insects are tied on to 
the branches of the trees on which the next crop 
is to be grown. The usual pl iu is to place the 
lac in sm^ill bamboo baskets and tie these on the 
twigs of the trees. The insects soon crawl out. and 
spread over the young branches, on which they 
promptly beiiin to feed, and secrete the resin. This 
is allowed to go on for about six months, when 
the lac is collected ; but if the secretion has been 
defective or insufficient the insects remain undia- 
tarbed for another sis months, — Gardeners' Chronicle, 
