Nov. 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
311 
APPLES, PEAHS, CHERRIES AKD PEACHES. 
Mr. Cotton may well be proud of the brave show he 
has made this year with his apples. As with his other 
frnit experimentp, Mr. Cotton's experiment in apple- 
growing was only a small one at the start. The first 
plant he put down was of the variety known as the 
Kentish Fillbasket, which was also brought to him 
from Australia by Mr. Kellow. The tree is now about 
5 years old. with a growth of 6 feet, and it carries one 
single apple, ten inches iu circumference, when 
measured in the presence of the writer. The finit 
will in all probability be ripe in a fortnight more, 
and in all probability will he bigger then. Mr. Cotton 
says that this apple-tree took a long time to adapt 
itself to the soil, but now that it has done so it is 
rapidly growing up. Experiments are being made 
with other varieties of apples, viz., the Russet, the 
Emperor Alexander, the Beauty of Stoke and the 
Boston, and Mr. Cotton hopes soon to have plants 
of seven varieties for disposal to his licntele. 
The fruiting season of the pear trees is not yet upon 
u.'', but the trees in the orchard are already covered 
with a profusion of white blossom. The pear, found 
everywhere almost in Nawara Eliya, is what is known 
as the "cooking pear' ; but Mr. Cotton has succeeded 
in growing and eating pear fLe Comte pear) which 
has at last borne a fiuit, aifter a eeven-years period 
of coaxing and attention. 
THE AU.STRALIAN PEACH. 
Mr. Cotton state that his experience with the 
Australian peach is that it grows very luxuriantly in 
Nuwara Eliya but bears nnsatisfactoiily. He seems 
to think that the peach bears better outside a radius 
of seven miles from Nuwara iJliya. His trees are 
getting on as well as he could make them. Of 
cherries Mr. Col ton has many varieties, chief among 
which are the Verdua (a black cherry), the Waterloo, 
the Florence, and the Purple Jean. Several of these 
plants were imported lately and are already looking 
very vigorous. There are many varieties of young 
orange plants in the orchard, which are doing very well. 
Of the most successful varieties are the Washington, 
the St. Michael's the Rio, the Siletta, the Emperor 
Mandarin, are now being tried in the Nuwara Eliya 
Park, and Mr. Cotton expects to have some plants 
ready for sale by the beginning of next year. There 
are also about three sorts of lemons doing well in the 
orchard. One seven-year-old tree was practically 
loaded with as many as forty larpe size fruits. This 
pUut like several others was also imported by Mr. 
Kellow. 
THE CAPE GOOSEBEHRY. 
Another experiment the grower is very proud of 
his Cape Gooseberry, which is in full bearing now- 
He has several other varieties of gooseberries (viz,) 
the purple, the gieen, the red, the yellow and the 
white), but Mr. Cotton thinks that the cultivation of 
the Cape variety was a happy experiment. This does 
not signify that the other varieties (which are essen- 
tially English) are not doing well in Mr. Cotton's 
orchard. They were put down lately only, and not 
enough time has elapsed to prove the success or 
failure of the experiment, which is, according to Mr. 
Cotton, unique in Ceylon. 
Mr. Col ton also has tbiee beds (60 feet x 30, 40 feet 
X 30 and 90 feet x 30) of straw berries in his orchard. 
The plants are in bearing at present, and as many as 
20 ponnds of fruit have been collected from these beds 
of a morning'. 
STRAWBERKY AND GOCSEBEREY JAM. 
The writer was favoured with thre samples of jam 
made by Mr. Cotton from his strawberries, goose- 
berries, and tree tomatoes respectively- The joms 
were well prepared and tasted every bit as good as the 
tinned variety ordinarily met with. Mr. Cotton states 
that there is a demand for these jums, which he pro- 
vides for by always having the jam ready in glass 
jare, sealed for delivery. 
In a separate enclosure, Mr. Cotton has experimented 
on currants. He has four bushes here, all doing well 
and one bearing a small bunch of clusters. In this 
same enclosure are two grape vines (Muscat of 
Alexandria) trailing along frames attached to brick 
walls. These vines are from grafts imported from 
Australia. Another small vine has just begun to 
trail ; this was produced from seed from the ordinary 
market grape. An apple tree in this enclosure (which 
was raised from seed from imported fruit) is 6 years 
old, but has not yet come to any good although it 
looks vigorous and stands about 3 feet high. 
APICULTURE. 
Mr, Cotton is of opinion that much of the success 
of his orchard depends ou the beehives he has in it, 
the little insects helping materially in fructifying 
the flowers. There are two hives (in ordinary earthen 
pots and well-protected) in the orchard one of which 
is quite full of comb now. 
FISH BREEDING. 
A description of Lake View orchard would not be 
complete, if the writer omitted to mention that in 
addition to the above, Mr, Cotton has three ponds 
(connected by a small runnink! stream) in one of 
which he rears a few trout, two of which are about 
4 lb. in weight each ; in the second pond he has 
twenty-four trout fry, averaging IJ inches, and all 
doing well ; in the third he had carp, but he haa 
taken the last of these out. 
Mr. Cotton's achievements unmistakably what well 
directed exertion can do, and bis future experiments 
in fruit culture will be watched with the keenest in- 
terest by a growing section of the public. — Local 
Times. 
ORNAMENTAL SEEDS. 
Under the term of minor industries it has been 
proposed by Dr, Morris, in The Agricultural Neics 
of Barbados, to introduce new commercial plants, 
natives of other countries, but adapted for cultiva- 
tion in the West Indies. In a recent number, in a 
paragraph on ornamental seeds, the writer saya 
that " the present age is one in which there is a 
great demand for curios, and the increasing number 
of winter visitors to these colonies, should enable 
aged people and those who are only able to follow 
light sedentary occupations, to establish quite a small 
industry in mounting and preparing the ornamental 
seeds of the West Indies." It is pointed out that 
there are in the islands numerous seeds of an orna- 
mental character, and that they deserve to be more 
widely known. It is, indeed, somewhat surprising 
that many of these seeds have not come more 
generally into European use than they have dono, 
for they have always figured prominently among 
the exhibits at the several International Exhibitions 
of London and Paris, but mostly as ornamental 
beads, simply strung on strings for use as necklaces 
or bracelet?, or perhaps for ornamenting table mats. 
Many of them are specially adapted for such 
purposes, but there are others that might well be 
used in a superior class of jewellery, in connection 
with which the following may be noticed :— Horse- 
eye beans. These are the seeds of species of Mucuna, 
chiefly those of M. lu-ens, and they get their common 
name from the fact of their appearance being 
similar to that of the eye of a horse, though some- 
what smaller. They are the produce of climbing 
plants of the tropics, belonging to the order Legu- 
minosee, and are well known to travellers, in eon- 
sequence of the pods in which the seeds are 
contained being thickly clothed with sharp, stinging 
hairs, which are readily detached by the slightest 
shake. A familiar illustration of the annoyance caused 
by these hairs penetrating th» skin is to be found 
in the allied species, JIucuna pruriens, which furnish 
the cowhage, or cowitch, of pharmacy, at one time 
much used as a vermifuge. The horss-eye bean. 
