582 
Stipplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." [Feb. 1, 1901. 
will be placed on a couple of dozen smMll olive 
trees, planted in pots, and covered with fine 
muslin so as to prevent their escnpe, and tliey will 
be released. After watching their action on the 
black scale on these pot plants they will be trans- 
fered to the orchard if they do well and permitted 
to scatter among the trees and propagate, 
The other parasite {Masicira pachytyli) has 
just been brought over to California together 
with dead grasshoppers in the refrigerating 
room of the steamer to prevent the development 
of the parasites on ti e voyage. On arriviU tliey 
were placed in a glass breeding jar, and after 
being allowed to issue, they were liberated in 
localities where the grasshoppers are now 
breeding. The parasite belongs to the genus 
Tachina, nearly all the members of which are 
parasitic or insects injurious to orchards, vineyard 
and farm products, and it is said that they 
cannot even be starved to eating any vegetable 
growth. The parasite resembles a house fly. 
The eggs of the female are deposited on the grass- 
hopper, and their hatching produce maggots which 
burrow into the fly. It has been found that from 
60 to 90 per cent of the grasshoppers have Ijeen 
known to have been destroyed in districts where 
the parasite has been introduced. 
According to tlie British Medical lieuiew, 
Dr. Jenni has found that it is possible to free a 
town from mosquitoes (unless the conditions are 
exceptionally unfavourable), and that the cost of 
bringing about such a consummation in a town of 
60,000 inhabitants will be from Rl,500 to E2,000 
a year. The procedure consisted mainly of 
finding the breeding places of the mosquitoes 
and destroying the larvae by means of petrcleum. 
The New York Merchants lieview has the fol- 
lowing amusing reference to the nutmeg tree : — 
A peculiarity of the nut-pigeons inhabiting the 
Indian Archipelago is that they shallow the nut- 
meg fruit bodily and discharge the nut undigested. 
This cariosity which leads to tlie distribution of 
the plant was formerly connected with the sex 
as shown in Vogel's remarkable passage: "If 
the bird that drops the nut is a male, the tree 
growing from it will be a male too; if the bird 
is a female, the tree will be a female as Well, 
■whilst if the bird happens to be still a virgin, 
the tree that grows from the swallowed nut will 
be one of the best in the wood.'" 
The following are as nearly ns possible the 
correct quantities to sow pur acre : — Barley, 
broadcast 1 to H bushels ; drilled ^ bushel. 
Beans (broad) drilled 1:^ bushel ; (Krench) 1^ 
l.usliel ; (Horse) 2 bushels- Beet (drilled) 5 lbs., 
Buckwheat, broadcast, 1 to 2 bushels. Cabbage 
(field), iu seed beds, 2 lb- Carrots, drilled, 5 to 
7 lb. Clover, broadcast, 12 to 20 lbs. Grasses, 
jjrairie, 1 bushel : ItnliriM rye, 4 bushels; peren- 
nial rye, 2 bushels; rib,; ^ bushel ; couch, ^ bushel ; 
permanent mixed pasture, 3 bushels ; imphee, 
20 lb- ; kohl-rabi, drilled, 2^ lb. Lucerne, broadcast, 
20 lb. ; drilled 10 lb. ; Maize, broadcast, 3 bushels ; 
drilled, i bushel. Mangolds, drilled, 5 to 6 lb. 
Millet, broadcast. 1 bushel. Oats, broadcast, 2 
bushels. Onions, broadcast, o lb. ; drilled for 
setts, 20 lb. Panicum, broadcast, 20 lb. 
Parsnips, drilled, 8 to 10 lb. Peas, broadcast, 3^ 
bushels ; drilled, 2 bushels. Potatoes 14 cwt, of 
cut setts ; if planted with the American potato 
planter 10 cwt. Rye for grain, broadcast, ^ bushel. 
If for saddlers' u>e, H bushels. Sorghum for 
grain in drills 10 lb., broadcuat for green fodder 
20 lb. Swedes, 3 lb. to 4 lb. Turnips, globe and 
yellow, drilled 2 lb. Vetciies, broadcast. 3 
bushels. Wheat, broadcast, 1 to H bushels ; 
drilled. ^ bushel. Paddy (rice), -SO'to 40 lb. 
Cow })ea, 8 lb. .Jerusalem artichoke, 3 to 4 cwt. 
The weights per bushel of the principal farm 
seeds enumerated above are: — Barley, 50 lb.; 
beans, 60 lb. ; buckwheat, 50 lb. ; couch grass, 
40 lb. ; cocksfoot, 20 lb. ; clover, 60 lb. ; flax, 60 
lb. ; grasses (mixed), 20 lb. ; oats, 40 lb. ; 
imphee, 40 lb.; prairie grass, 20 lb.: perennial rye 
grass, 20 lb. : peas, 60 lb. : rye, 60 lb. ; rib grass, 
60 lb.; sorghum, 40 lbs.; lucerne, 60 lb.: panicum, 
60 lb.; mai»e, 56 lbs,; wheat, 60 lb. 
AVhen the bark of rubber-producing trees is 
soaked in dilute sulphuric acid, it is found that 
the acid decomposes ilie tissues without affecting 
the rubber which is thus got quite pure. This 
process is maintained by tlngineer a? having 
been described before the Society of Civil Engi- 
neers of France. To French chemists is also 
attributed the discovery of extracting rubber from 
the Candolphia vine by crashing the vine in hot- 
water. The ordinary method of stepping is im- 
practicable owing to the latter hardening quickly. 
C. Staiger, late Government Analyst of 
(iueensland, found the seeds of kekuua (Aleurites 
triluba) toj consist of the following : — 1. The 
dry nuts ; shell, 70 per cent ; kernel, 30 per 
cent. 2, kernel, free from shell ; oil 54*3 per 
cent ; amylaceous and nitrogenous substances, 
4-j*7 per cent. 
