602 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March 1, 1901. 
A THRIVING AVATTLE PLANTATION. 
Oq the mountains, not far from Maiitzburg, in 
Natal, the Town Hill V/attle Company ei^ht years 
ago acquired a tract of 3,000 acres, and commenced 
to plant wattle trees for bark. At the present time 
2,400 acres are planted, the trees standing six feet 
•Bpart in rows twelve feet wide. The soil is poor 
in quality, of a red colour, and light and porous. A 
correspondent of the Natal Af/ricultural Journal 
recently interviewed the maniiger of the plania- 
tion, sir JAP Ellis, and it is thought the follow- 
ing particulars from his report may be of considerable 
value to peoDle in Nov? South Wales interested in 
the production of wattle bark, for which there is so 
great a demand and so little- provision. The laud is 
broken up about Christmas-time and well harrowed. 
In February the planting is done, and the ground 
receives no further attention until the autumn of the 
following year, v/hen the space hetweeu the young 
trees is ploughed to aerate the soil, and at the 
same time protect the trees from the ravages of 
fires. Trees in Natal do not reach their prime, either 
as regards bark or timber (the company have a market 
for all their wattle timber for mining purposes and 
firewood) till about the tenth year. Insect pests, in 
the shape of locusts and bag-worms, do considera- 
ble damage to the trees, and grass-fires are a great 
source of anxiety. "In August and September no 
plantation in Niital is absolutely tafe in the event 
of fire starting with a high wind, tor the undergrowth 
in most cases is sufficient to feed a fire in hot 
wind." To protect their plantation, the company 
have nearly fifty miles cf fire breaks, boundary and 
dividing. It is costly work, but is regarded as a 
sort of insurance premium. The stripped bark is 
brought in by means of a tramway, which also 
connects with the nearest railway station. 
The shed for drjing the bark is 250 feet in length, 
with its back to the weather quarter. From the 
back, along the whole front of the building, a seties 
of very broad-gauge tram lines, six feet six inches 
orcm the ground, on wattle posts, like an overhead 
raihvay, run, out a distance of 126 feet. On what 
may be called these tram-lines there rests a flexible 
ladder of thin poles overlapping the rails on either side 
by a foot. The sides of the ladder are light chains, a 
dog-spike at the extremities of the wire rungs entering 
the chains at fifteen inches apart. The last rung is a 
stoutpolefor the haulitig wire, which wire runs overa 
pully at the extremity of the tram line. As the bark 
arrives for drying it is thrown over the riings of 
the extended ladder. When rain or mist threatens, 
a wire fro;n the biick of the shed is drawn by a 
couple of oxen, and the flaxible ladder with its load 
comes under the shed, the load of bark hanging from 
each rung being closed up coii'pactly like the bellows 
of a concertina or the laths of a Venetian blind, if they 
were run in horizontally from a couple of guides. 
On the return of fine weather, the ladders are again 
drawn out. The capacity of the shed is one hundred 
and twenty tons. At one time there was apprehen- 
sion that it might become necessary to send the 
wet bark down the hill below the mist line for dry- 
ing—for much depends on the proper drying of bark 
but this system of shed drying has disposed of the 
necessity for such costly procedure. 
Close by is the shed "for chopping the bark, sawing 
the poles, cVc, the motive power being a twelve-horse- 
power engine. All the machinery is well set on ex- 
ceptionally solid foundations and the ahed seemed 
advantageously planned for avoiding unnecessary hand- 
lin", both as regards the placing of the machinery 
and' the run of the tram Biding^. In reply to a 
question, Mr Ellis said be had not been able to do 
anytliing profitably with tannage or cutch. The 
foriiic-r, as many know, is an infusion of tannic matter 
derived' generallyfrom the waste Bniall branches of the 
tan treos, and the latter (cutch) is the same inspissa- 
ted—evaporated to a solid consistency. For making 
cutch he said that a plant of vacuum pans, &c., 
coating £8,000, would be required. 
From a commercial point of view the company's 
operations have been attended with great success. — 
From The Aqricvltural Gazette, New South Wales, 
for December, 
KUBBER TRADE IN LAGOS. 
At a meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Com 
meroe, on the 12*h inst., Mr. .John Thomson, presi- 
dent, in the chair, the minutes of the African 
Sdctional Committee containing the report of a dis- 
cussion by the committee on the Lagos rubbsr-tree 
regulations, which were recently brought under iis 
notice by the Laaos Chamber, were laid before the 
Chamber. The " Manchester Guardian." in a report 
of the above meeting, stales that it appears that, 
with a view to the preservation of the rubber in- 
dustry, the Lagos Colonial Govcvnmei.t has placed 
restrictions on the " tapping of trees and the sale 
and purchase of rubber in certain districts. The Lsgos 
Chamber a few weeks ago addressed a letter to the 
Lieutenant-Goverr'. r of the colony urging that these 
restrictions should be removed, or at least modified. 
It was stated thiit " trade is extremely bad iu the 
colony, and the Chamber is of opinion that it is partly 
due to the restrictioHs, which are diverting the 
rubber industry to other colonies." The African Com- 
mittee h.iving 1-st week had ihe adviintage of an 
interview with Sir William M'Gregor, the Governor 
of Lagos, resolved to recommend to the Board that 
a letter be addressed to the Secretary of State for 
the Colonies to the following effect; (I) That the 
Chamber is not sufficiently well informed to express 
an opinion on the demand of the Lagos Chamber 
that the restrictions on the rubber trade should te 
withdrawn. (2) That the matter is of sufficient im- 
portance to make it advisable that the Governor 
should receive instructions to inquire into all the 
points raised by the Lagos Chamber, after his 
return to the colony, so that he may be in a position 
to judge whether it ispossible to modify the restric- 
tions. (3) That in the opinion of the committee 
some restrictions are needed, and that the best way 
of making them effective is by securing the goodwill 
of the chiefs and by working through their agency. 
(i) That the chiefs should be encouraged to ptevent 
overtapping the trees and to plant young trees in 
place of those which are killed. (5) That it is desir- 
able to pass an Ordinance making it penal to buy 
or sell "root rubber." (6) That measures should 
be taken which will render it impossible for the 
native police to show the undue harshness to the 
people which is alleged to have been manifested. 
The Board sanctioned the despatch of a letter to Mr. 
Chamberlain in accordance with these suggestions. 
— India- Rubber Trades' Journal, Dec. 24. 
HOW MUCH SEED TO USE. 
Most people are very indifferent as to how 
much seed to use. Iu writing us for seed corn 
lately, some correspondents thouojht a quart of 
corn should plant cue acre, others seemed to tliink 
that it would require a bushel. From my own 
"experience, I find tliat four quarts will plant one 
acre, not more than four grains to a iiole, 4ft 
by 4ft which is a good standard distance to se- 
cure a favourable return. Where rats and mice 
are giving trouble by eating out the seed, it is 
"judicious to steep the seed in a decoction of bitter 
NVood or in water with kerosene added, for a few 
hours, but even that does not Secure immunity 
from some mysterious pests, (which I know are 
not rats or anis— the people say the f ffenders are 
frogs, but I do not be ieve it) which scoop out a 
hole and do away with the grains. For this 
reason, it is better to drop six or eight seeds in 
the hole and thus gire a better chance to secure 
