296 
Supxilement to the " Tropical Agriculturist" [Oct. 1, 1902. 
known commercially as " butter yellow" {Dime- 
thylamido-azo-benzene) and is generally supplied 
ready dissolved in oil, either cotton seed, rape, 
linseed or sesame (gingelly) oil. Tropoeolines, 
derived from coal tar, are also coming into use. 
400 lbs. vs^eight of fowl manure is equal in 
Talue to 2,400 lbs. farmyard manure. In one ton 
of the former analysis showed 48*60 lbs. phos- 
phoric acid, 48 lbs. potash and 67 lbs. nitrogen ; 
while farmyard manure contained only 6 lbs. 
phosphoric acid, 10 lbs. potash and 11 lbs. nitrogen 
in a ton. 
Kice-paper, says the Weekly Scotsman, is not 
made from rice, but from the membranes of the 
bread-fruit tree. This is certainly news. The 
rice-paper tree is well known to be Fatsia papy- 
rifera, the paper being manufactured out of the 
pith. The famous papyrus used as paper by the 
ancient Egpytians, was, however, prepared from 
the pith-like tissue of the tall stems of a sedge 
(Cyperus). 
In sowing colv peas, 10 lbs. will suffice for an 
acre if sown in drills, and 40 lbs. if sown broad- 
cast (which is not to be recommended). The 
fattening value of the cow pea will, it is expected, 
bring it into the near future into general cultiva- 
tion. 
Other names for the common gram used aa 
a horse food with paddy (know in the vernacular 
as "kadala") are Bengal gram, chick pea, rams' 
horr, and coffee pea. The plant is said to be 
a native of Armenia, and has been cultivated 
as a human food for over 3000 years. Next to 
cereals it forms the largest part of food in Spain, 
India, and Africa. The presence of oxalic acid in 
the clammy exudation on the leaves makes 
them unsuitable for fodder. The crop ripens 
in about 4 months, and the yield of seed is some- 
times as high as 100 bushels per acre. 
Tagassrte {Cytisus proliferm albus), so much 
written about as a fodder plant, is a shrubby 
perennial legume. The seeds are slow in ger- 
minating and need soaking for about 24 hours. 
At: the end of about the third year cattle or sheep 
miiy be turned into the field, and the crop will 
require no further attention except occasional 
cutting back to prevent too high growth. The 
leaves and twigs are said to be very nutritious, 
and the plant worth a trial in dry hot districts, 
for when once established it is practically un- 
affecced by draught. 
The vines of the sweet potato are in some 
places used to make an excellent hay; while 
in India Crotolaria juncea (Sin. Hana) is grown to 
feed milch cows. 
" What doe? my land require ?" is a question 
we have been told many a .struggling farmer 
would like to have answered, but it is not easy to 
give an answer. It may be obtained most readily, 
it has been thought, by analysis of the soil. That 
it is obvious must be unsatisfactory unless there is 
a considerable area of the soil evidently all alike 
in its component parts. Where the land is so 
mixed as it is on most parts of our coast country, 
any analysis can only be useful for a limited 
area. It has been urged that cheap analyses 
would be a boon to farmers ; but to be useful 
they would have to be numerous, and would 
thus run away with money. Soil analysis, like 
mill testing, is good as far as it goes ; but as the 
dairyman looks to his churn for proof of ex- 
cellence, so the arable farmer must look to his 
crops for proof of the quality of the soil. 
A correspondent to the Queensland Agricultural 
Journal says that warts on a cows' teat could 
be cured by the application of molasses twice 
a day. 
