320 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICtLTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1900. 
with lime or basic slag. Some danger has been 
anticipated from the encouragement given to 
fungoid pests by this means, but up to the 
present the danger has been found to be illusory, 
especially since lime and basic slag have been 
buried with them. It seems essential, liowever, 
writes Mr. Mann, that the prunings should be 
(1) buried green, (2) completely buried, (3) buried 
with some " blight destroyer' such as lime or 
basic sla^. Of these two " bliglit destroyers," 
basic slag is usually preferred as it also affords a 
means of applying phosphoric acid and the lower 
oxide of iron at the same time as the lime. 
Mr Mann has been assured that in almost every 
case where the trials continued for a sufficiently 
long time, this burial of the prunings had been a 
distinct success. On one estate he was shown 
prunings, buried six months before, filled with 
the feeding roots of the tea plant, while the 
prunings themselves had a pleasant "leaf mould" 
smell. As to the further manuring of tlie tea plant 
opinions are divided, says Mr. Mann, as to whether 
a more or less " forcing'' mixture should be ap- 
plied ; as to whether the manuring should 
be for quantity or quality, and as to whether 
the manures should be forked in round the tree 
or buried in the holes where the prunings had 
previously been put. Opinion seems, liowever, to 
be tending in favour of not attaching too much 
importance to a large immediate increase of yield 
by means of a "forcing" manure, the final 
result of which may be to wear out the 'oush, 
but rather to try and obtain a moderate increase 
of yield at once, at the same time build up the 
bush for future seasons. 
The manures Mr. Mann found chiefly in use 
■were cattle manure, rape cake, castor cake, dried 
blood, sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of potash, 
superphosphate, basic slag, bones and potasli 
manures. Castor cake was in much favour, but 
manures containing very much sulphate of am- 
monia or nitrate of potash were not recom- 
mended by the best authorities. 
Mr. Mann states that although green manur- 
ing — say, with a leguminous weed such as 
crocolaria striata — had been strongly recom- 
mended, he was not able to find an estate, in the 
course of his tour, where it had been tried. 
Green manuring with the ordinary weed growth 
of the land is not used in Ceylon, for on prac- 
tically all estates hand weeding is adopted and 
all weeds kept down. Mr. Mann was astonished 
at the general freedom of gardens from insect 
dests and fungous blights, after what he had 
previously heard. 
« 
THE HARD WOODS OF PARAGUAY. 
Quebracho is one of the most profitable woods 
in Paraguay. It yields an extract used for tan- 
ning leather. The forests of Paraguay are said 
to be full of it, and among other trees in the 
unexplored territory west and north-west of 
Paraguay are the following :— Virapuita, virara, 
lapacho (very heavy, and a fine hard wood much 
in request in Buenos Ayres), jacaranda, palo 
santo (which derives a fragrant odour from its 
resin, and from which a line extract is made), 
and curupay, which is excellent for building pur- 
poses, and whose bark contains tannic acid. The 
United States Consul at Ascencion says that 
quebracho and the other woods named are found 
in the west and north of Paraguay. In the 
pouth-eastern part, milea along the Altg 
Parana, stretches a forest full of the most pre- 
cious hard woods as follows : —Incienso, with an 
extract used as incense in the churches ; 
curupay and lapacho, the last more abundant 
than in the north ; urudai, timbo, iyiraro, 
piteribi, quayavi, &c. Cedar grows widely, the 
trees are about 80 feet high and 12 feet or 15 
feet in circumference. The bark is used for ta n- 
ning. A league of land in Paraguay containinji 
cedar costs about £200.— -J^ot(/-/i«? of tlie Society of 
Arts, Sept. 14. 
PLANTING NOTES, 
Forest CoNSEBVANCY. -The very pith of 
Mr. Broun's Report for 1899 is in the fol- 
lowing : — 
Re-oeganization of the Depabtment. — During the 
year under report the Department has made a new 
start and a vigorous one. The proposals of the Forest 
Re- organization Committee having been approved ol 
by Government, no time waa lost in carrying them 
into effect. Fellings, instead of being made, as 
hitherto, here, there, and everywhere, were concen- 
trated in specified localities accoraing to market 
centres, trees were stamped for sale, and ennmerationi 
of growing stock were made to ascertain the potential 
capabilities of our forests. At the same time, demar- 
cation lines were cut, round proclaimed reserves, 10 
feet broad, round other forests 6 feet broad, and 
compartment lines were cleared, the total length of 
lines cleared and re-opened aggregating to about 
1,084 miles. Notwithstanding the expenditure on 
these works, the surplus revenue of the Department 
increased very considerably, as can be seen by refer- 
ence to Chapter V., and, generally speakine, tb« 
Department can congratulate itself on the progress 
made. 
The Esparto Grass Trade. — The Jounial of the 
Board of Trade publishes reports from our consular 
officers in Tunis and Algeria on the causes of the 
diminished supplies of esparto grass. From Tunis it 
is reported that the low piicen in England do not 
make it worth the while of the Arabs to pluck the 
grass and take it down from the mountains to the 
coast. Several years ago the price on t'ne English 
market was £12 per ton, while recently it has been only 
about £3. When the barley crops are good it is mnch 
more profitable for the Arabs to attend to them than 
to collect esparto, and even when the latter is col- 
lected on the mountains the Arabs sometimes leave 
it there rather than run the risk of loss in carrying 
it to the coast. Political troubles or military move- 
ments have had nothing to do with the supply of 
esparto. The acting Gonsul-General at Algiers saya 
that the esparto business is mostly confined to two 
areas, in one of which labour could not be got to 
pluck the grass because of the barley harvest and the 
great fall in prices in recent years, while in the 
second, or Oran, area, political troubles and the mili- 
tary situation in Southern Algeria, as well as 
the excellent barley harvest, have had their effect 
on esparto. Much labour was required for mili- 
tary transport, and numbers of camels died, so that 
the means of carriage were diminished to a large 
extent. In addition, the esparto fields in part of 
Algeria are being exhausteiJ by continual plucking, 
and the arrangements for transport to and payment 
in Great Britain are unsatisfactory, as there is no 
regular communication and the practice is to pay in 
England according to weight and quality there. The 
Acting Consul-General strongly recommends English 
buyers to have an agent at the port of loading to 
look after their interests and make all necessary 
arrangements for them. Competition amongst buyera 
at Oran is said to be so keen that prices are being 
paid in the interior which are higher than the 
market value in Great Britain.— London 
^epterube^ 14, 
