74 
Supplement to the "Tropical ^ gricuUurist." [July 1, It (2. 
bright amber colour, and if[eaten ■with pepper and 
salt they are palatable and of pleasant flavour." 
Another closely allied species is O. esculenta, the 
tubers of which are cooked in salt water and 
served with melted butter and cream. 
The following appears in the Victorian Agri- 
cultural Journal: — Beyond acting as a support, 
wood is not actually necessary to the life of bark 
and leaves. Any cylinder of bark from which the 
wood has been skilfully removed will, if its sides 
are carefully closed against air, go ou growing 
and deposit new layers in its inside until a centre 
of solid new wood is formed. This applies only to 
exogenous trees, or such as increase their diame- 
ter by depositing new layers on their exterior. 
Such are all our fruit trees, and when it is realised 
that the entire life of the superstructure is 
wrapped up in the bark, the need for careful and 
systematic attention to this substance is not to be 
over-estimated. — This statement is apt to mislead 
those who know no distinction between the heart 
wood and sap wood, for it cannot be said the sap 
wood is not necessary to the life of the bark and 
leaves. But of course the object of the above 
statement is intended to impress upon those, who 
are apt to think little of the bark of a tree, that it 
is not the least important part of the stem struc- 
ture. The agent that is really responsible for the 
deposition of new layers of wood tissue is the 
cambium which lies between the wood and the 
bast, or the inner part of the bark. 
Mr. A. Crawford, an authority on poultry, in 
reply to the question how much food should be 
given daily to fowls, writes to the West Austra- 
lian Journal of Agriculture : — This is rather diffi- 
cult to reply to, for so much depends upon the 
breed and the surroundings; in some places the 
fowls can pick up nearly their whole living when 
running about, while in others they are entirely 
dependent on what is given to them. Then there is 
the difference in the habits : some breeds are good 
hunters, and extremely active, always on the go 
in quest of what they can pick up, and will wan- 
der far afield, while others will hang round the 
homestead or sit in the shade waiting for food to 
be thrown out, and even when neglected do not 
seem to have the sense to try and make a living 
for themselves. Then again, there is the matter 
of size to be taken into consideration : a Leghorn 
or Hamburg will not eat anything like as much 
as an Indian Game or Cochin, but if we take ordi- 
nary fowl of moderate size, the following ration 
would be about an average of their require- 
ments : — For breakfast, from 3^ to 4^ ounces of 
soft food such as pollard, bran and pollard, pea 
meal, bean meal, oatmeal, etc., and for the evening 
meal from 2 to 2^ ounces of grain ; always remem- 
bering that it is better to rather underfeed than 
overfeed. 
The Journal of Agriculture, West Australia, 
does not approve of the application of lead paints 
and similar preparations for healing the wounds, 
but recommends vegetable oils, lard or other 
animal fat or grafting wax, which it thinks suffi- 
cient to ke^p cut disease geims, insects, tondstorla 
and extremes of heat and cold, so that any snp 
brought to the margin will remain active and form 
new bark. Wounds when intentionally inflicted 
(as in pruning) should be as smooth and clean as 
possible to induce quick healing. 
Says the West Indian Bulletin : — Uncooked 
sweet potatoes may be sliced and then dried either 
in the sun or in evaporators. They are prepared 
for the table by soaking and baking. Dried sweet 
potatoes were exhibited among the products of 
Japan at the Columbian Exposition. Their 
preparation is described as follows: — "Cleanly 
washed potatoes are placed in a suitable basket 
and immersed in boiling water for a short time ; 
when taken out of the basket they are cut in'o 
thin slices and spread over mats and exposed to 
the sun for two or three days. In order to make 
a superior quality, the skin of the potato is peeled 
off before slicing." As an indication of more 
recent developments it may be mentioned that a 
company has been lately started in New Jersey, 
America, with a capital of 1,000,000 dollars, to 
make flour from sweet potatoes. The early 
results are reported as being very successful, and 
it is proposed to erect mills all through the sweet 
potato growing fegion. The more important 
States in this region are North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, 
and New Jersey. 
Mr. Clark Nuttal writing in Longman's about 
tbe banana, gives us some idea of the increasing 
trade in the fruit in the following extract from 
his interesting paper : — The coast of Hondurus is 
a great centre of the export fruit trade, but in 
1883 one little schooner was sufficient for all the 
requirements in the way of transport. Now three 
lines of steamers and sixteen sailing vessels barely 
meet the demands made upon tbem, the greater 
part of the fruit they carry consists of bananas. 
The cargo of a steamer may be anything between 
8,000 and 15,000 banana bunches ; hence it is 
obvious great numbers are exported yearly. The 
West Indies, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Central America 
generally tell the same tale of increasing trade. 
Prom Jamaica alone we get millions of bunches 
now every year. • 
The fruiting of the "Male" papaw tr^e is the 
subject of a special note and illustration in the 
Queensland Agricultural Journal for May. The 
phenomenon— if it could be called so — is familiar 
enough in Ceylon where the papaw is so plentiful, 
but the fruit, as an inferior product, is looked 
down on — in fact never gathered. The papaw is 
as a rule dioecious, but when the "Male" bears, 
as it sometimes does, seeded fruits, the term 
male tree becomes a misnomer. The fact is thatthe 
papaw which is generally dioecious exceptionally 
bears hermaphrodite flowers on the "Male" trees. 
We read in the same Exchange of the suitability 
of Queensland for cinnamon, which, however, appears 
to have a deadly enemy in the shape of a black 
beetle that attacks the young plants. 
Banana bread made from the flour is now available 
in Chicago, and is voted excellent. . 
