816 
l^HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June 1, 1901, 
Crawford, Consul-General for the United States at 
St. Petersburg, presented to his Government a report 
dealing in detail with the sunflower-seed agriculture 
of Russia, and this report aroused so much attention 
among farmers and others that the Agricultural 
Department of the United States has issued a buUeiin 
on the subject for the guidance of firmers who 
propose to raise crops of this plant. The industry 
first began to assume importance in Russia about 
1830, and since that time has steadily increased. 
The seed is the most useful portion of the plant, 
and this is commonly eaten raw or cooked, while the 
oil obtained from it is used as a substitute for 
almond and olive oils. The oil-cake left after the 
expression of the oil forms a valuable cattle food, 
being superior in this respect to maize or linseed 
eake, while it is also said to act as a natural 
''condition powder" for horses, owing to its eagy 
digestibility and its great nutritive value. There is 
also a very prevalent opinion in America that the 
plant acts as a preventive of malaria in low-lying 
districts, which is probably founded on its capacity 
for absorbing water rapidly, and so improving 
Bwampy country. In America the seeds are at present 
mainly employed in feeding poultry, although they 
are also to some extent used as a cattle food. For 
the cultivation of the plant, it is stated that the 
best results are obtained by sowing the seed in 
April or May in a light soil, such as that which 
gives good results with Indian corn, liberal manur- 
ing being carried out, unless the land ia very fertile. 
The number of seed heads to each plant should be 
limited, the superfluous ones being removed as they 
form. In harvesting the seeds, the heads are 
removed just before they are quite ripe, and the 
seeds obtained either by beating with a flail, or by 
holding ths heads againt a rotating disc studded 
with iron nails. The united States Agricultural 
Department has collected a considerable amount 
of information regarding the composition of various 
parts of the plant, of which the following selections 
may be given, the composition of other better-known 
foods being added for comparison : — 
So 
=3 -S P 
^ < A 
Sunflower 
heads ... Maine 
Peas, whole 
plant ... „ 
Sunflower 
heads ... Canada 75-6 1-35 2-35 7-94 7'88 4-86 
Sunflower 
stalks ... 
84-0 1'16 2-18 4'21 5'96 2-49 
861 ia2 2-59 4-51 5-29 -39 
84'45 1-93 -96 5-67 6 12 
•87 
Sunflower 
seeds ... 
Gardens \ 
of Agri- 1 
cultural M-43 3'41 14-97 29'17 20 94 27-08 
Depart- I 
^ ment ^ 
- 7-57 7'4o 17-19 30-0 35'18 2-61 
Black-eye 
peas — 
It will be seen that the plant possesses a high 
content of nutritious constituents, and since it is easily 
grown it should become an article of more general 
oaltivation. It appears that no sunflower oil is 
made in America, several attempts to express the 
oil having given very poor yields in the hands of 
oil makers. It is now pointed out that the poor 
yield is due to the great absorptive power of the 
seed busks, which should be carefully removed 
before the ftxpression of the oil is attempted. — Imperial 
fnntiM.e Jourml, 
FERTILIZING ORANGE TREES 
J'wi °^ growing oranges, we must remem- 
ber we are not treating our orange trees in their 
natural condition, as forest treet-. They are entirely 
artifacial, ana we are trying to improve upon nature 
as tar as fruit and flower are concerned, though nt 
present, in this Colony, the fruit is our only consi- 
llT :.; :: gp-cent. 
Lime .. _ 24i 
Phosphoric Acid . . ii " 
Magnesia peroxide of iron, sulphuric acid and silica 
comprising the remainder. 
Thetreeis:-Potash .. n .^^j 
Ijime ... 55 
. Phosphoric Acid 17 " 
Ihe rest in small quantities. " 
Fruit and tree together thus give •— 
Potash .. ' 
Lime .. ;; 
Phosphoric Acid ... 28 
Soda . . "' 
These chemical elements are extracted from the 
soil and what is contained in the frait actually^aken 
away For instance, suppose Ihe average ^orange 
weighs 4oz., a oozen weigh 31bs. and 250^ dozen or 
3,000 oranges Ci cwt. A full bearing orange tree 
removes of absolute soil or soil element^ which 
70 trees to the acre nearly two cwt. per acre Now 
It appears that nearly the ha f of this in the case 
of the fruit IS potash, the other half lime and 
phosphoric acid • and as potash is not supplied to 
the soil by water or the atmosphere, like some other 
essential elements, but exists in the soil in varying 
quantities, and is every year being used up, thirefore 
as you cannot have the ^ie after%ou have eaten ?t' 
you niust in some form return the potash to the 
ground, and the moral is, when you^ throw awa? 
your wood ashes, throw them away around yZr 
ruit trees. But here comes the rubf How are^yoa 
to determine short of analysis of your soiKwnether 
ouLtUv?"n '^""f' wanting or in insX enl 
quantity ? One and one hint only, have I coma 
across by which you may be able'^to judge of Tn 
lTw^h''.rrv, ° appeiraLe and 
growth of the tree, and that is an excessive growth 
of weak, iminature, angular wood, which does not 
harden up. The effect of nitrogenous farm manure 
mv,*° ^^"i^ •''■^u, expense of fruit. 
This IS desirable while the trees are yonng but if 
continued large fruit will result, bad in colour and 
very thick in rind and rag, and the evidence of a 
sufficiency of nitrogen in the soil is the beautiful 
dark green colour of the foliage; inclining to yellow 
IS an indication of its supply failing & J 
Some rough and ready method is badly needed to 
enable farmers to supplement their observations as 
to quality and constituents of their soils. It ia not 
enough to say the soil is deep and rich and only 
requires moisture. It may be lacking in one essential 
element, and one general lack in deep flat landi 
here is lime. Bemember the ash of the orange 
trees shows 55 per cent, of lime, and one roulh 
and ready method to find if your soil is deficient in 
hme is to pour a little muriatic acid upon it. If 
it bubbles, hme is present , and you can gnes. 
pretty near how much, if yon mix lime in the 
testing soil say half and half, and notice how 
much It bubbles, then try less and less till tob 
come to the pure soil, which will bubble very 
little and yet may be sufficient for a fertile soil, 
but not enough to giow oranges successfully in. 
I find the orange groves, counting their existenca 
by centuries such as in Spain are on dry situation, 
well drained to carry off superfluous moisture. 
Sivange bIso to say, ehelter belts were not ftBciewtJy 
