522 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. [Feb. 2, 1903. 
to the peDdant one o£ the growing bean, fhe bean 
often turns over a branch oi If-nf or the wiiheriug 
fi iwer stiosB to soniRthins thai eventing tViebean 
from hanging straight. This makes a cinoked be--u 
and crooked beans invrir'ab y ie»d to crooked iaiigu 'ge- 
on the pa' t of the carer, when he has to tie thc-m 
into bundles. Unle-s tak.-n in hind young there is 
no hope straighte'iing these c ooked ones, bo each 
bunf.h should be looked over several times during the 
fei'iilising season a'<fl the beans arranged so that 
they on.n grow straight. 
The flowering f-hoots i.ppfar at the axils of the leaves, 
an't on eatth of these shoo s are from five to twenty 
five fliwer .* Authorities differ as to the number of- 
fl wers wi'ich should bs fertilised but 1 think all 
are of (he opinion that some of the last flowers 
should bs removed. Hove the planter must use his 
own judgement. While one vine may be able tf' curry 
ten beans to a bunch, another misjht have diSicalfy 
incanying three. No hard and fast, rule sh'aild be 
set. lu my pr-irtice with V. pnmpona I fertilise from 
eight to fifteen fl, wers on a buncli au'i latter reduce 
thfm to anywhere from six to twelve beans by 
removing th shortest beans. I like to have about 
one fifth m re fi iwers fertilise than I intend to 
have b^ans just for thi.=i purpose of selection. V. 
P.lanifoli't =hould hive fewt r benns Iff c, never more 
than eight to a bunch. In our market all beans 
are bought at one price, so it is not very necessary 
for the grower to be very particular in cutting the 
short ones Had 1 to sell my b^acs in a maiket 
where an increased prise wi« p id for the longest 
beans, I would leave yet fewpr on the vines than I 
have reeommeDded.- Tnnvhid Bulletin for August. 
( To be continued.) 
GERMAN SOUTH WE3ST AFRICA. 
N\TIVB VEiETATlON. 
I am sending v .u a smil! ba? containing seeds of 
the so-r-alled Caffir W>.ter- Melon, a variety of Citrul- 
lus vulgaris, if'-rgely grown bv the Ilereros in Oka- 
handyii, and manv other places in Hereroland. 
[Sent to Chisw'ck. Ed.]. The whites do not cultivate 
it. Whilst I was there, two months ag<i, no Water- 
Melons vs'ere to be bought ; ihe Cnffu- Water-Melon 
being very Ute, i- but now beginning to ripen. 
C 'ffir Wnter-Mt lons can be found in the native 
gardens of Okahandva in various forms, differing in 
shspe, colour and weiaht, but I bslieve not in the 
seecis, the colour of these b^ing always red, but never 
bi^ick or white, at least T anw red ones only. You 
•will find the seeds rather laiger thsn those of our 
sweet vaiioties. The weight of Unffir Mellons of 
all the three or four varieties is generally 6 to 10 
kilograms. The fl sh is very solid, end when not fuHy 
ripe and still tender, it may well be used instead 
of Cnciimber, which is not easy to cultivate; the 
female flowers pre generally fertilised by a fly. The 
ripe fruits remain hard, nnd are not sweet, but 
they may be kept four months in a dry room 
wi'hont rotting. The Herems slice them, and dry 
the slices in the sun for winter provision. As re- 
quired, the dry s'ic^s a e boiled with v/ ter to a soup. 
Id the 'Iry east ro red sanHy region (0 nahek) which 
forms part of the Kalnchaii, there grows in many 
places in masses, the so-called '• Sweet DiichammaH " 
the common or bitter Dacbaramas is CitruUus 
vulgaris, the ancestor of our sweet Water- 
Melons), which is not at all sweet, but is at any 
rate perfectly f'ee from ' olocuinth flavour, as is the 
cultivated C><ffi.- Melon. That w ' tevless area is in 
some parts habitable for men and oxen only, owing 
to the pre^enfe of the pwfet Dafhamnia''." The 
Caffir Wfiter Melon rt quiiiug no ciiltivaii jn, might 
advintageou>^ly bf nmuralised in waleiless, desert 
regi' ns, as for instance, along ilie SoulhHrn Algerian 
wadis (our rivei i), Egypt, S. California, and West and 
Central Australia. 
• Ofte^i 30 to 4f.— (Ed) 
Okahandya is doubtless the most promising place for 
horticulture in the cei'tral part of our colony. Droad 
meadow?, consisting exclufivelv of Gynodon dactylon 
grais, edge the Okihandya river, interspersed with 
welcome gronps of Acacia hebeclad-i, and sometimes 
of Acacia ppirocarpodes ; 1 50 to 2m. below the thick, 
g'-assy carpet, the Wf ter peicolates in quantities, 
and is of the purest quality. The alluvial soil below 
the grass (to esurpate which is a rather expensive 
woik, the li'ng stolons being as tough as wire) is a 
highly fertile clayey ra'id 
'Ihe cultivation of Tobacco is increasing in a very 
satisfactory manner. For sowing Tobacco, cliy pota 
4 to 5 inches in diameter are now used ; formerly 
the seed was sown broadcast iu beds, and the seedlings 
were planted out without balls of earth, so that 
they flagged for tlnee week's, in spite of small huts 
covering tbern against the burning snn; they are 
now planted in any weAlher, when of the proper 
size, and with a large ball of earth. Pliinted 
in this condition, and at once watered they do not 
flag for a single hour, but continue to grow nniater- 
ruptedly. 
Although pots obtained from Germany are rather 
expi-nsive here, this method of raising Tobacco is 
unquestionably to be preferred to ail other ways. 
Every plant, once in the plantation, grows, and there 
are no dead plants to be replaced; the expensive 
building of huts made of grass, dry dung, &o., over 
each transplanted seedling is obviated, and the 
planting from pots can be effected even by carelesa 
natives. This planting out from pots may be strongly 
recotnmeuded to Coffee-phinters for these reasons 
as well as to foresters for any kind of evergreen tree 
even in the driest tropical places, where the seeds 
are not sown directly in their final position; thus 
one transplanting is avoided. For thi^ po'pose, pots 
of firm cardboard, which Schmidt & Co., Elberfeld, 
have introduced, mav be irsed with great advantage. 
They are to be had m several sizes, and very cheaply 
and they do not break as do clay pots: the cai'riage 
also is inexpensive (2.fi0tl pots of 7 centimetres, price 
per mile 18 marks, make only nine post-parcels of 
5 kilograms each). These pots last urtil the trees 
reared in them are large enough to be planted out. 
It is true a clay pot lasts for three or four years 
on an Bverage when carefully handled, but the price 
for 5,000 such pots of 7 centimetres, costing at 
Erfnrt about 75 ma;ks, is here, in the interior, 
about 400 marks. To return to my account of the 
Tobacco : the fermenting is now done heie in a proper 
manner, the leaves are first partly dried, then 
sprinkled wi'h water, and then fermented: or they 
are fermented green os they come from irhe plantation. 
The latest plan, which is carried out by one firrn 
is. that the quite fresh leaves are cut with the 
tobacco-cutting machine, and put into large heaps. 
Snch heaps get warm very quickly, and they are 
then turned over infide out in a few minutes, whilst 
the same quantity of leaves wonld require the labour 
of one man for half <«. day. The product is very 
uniform as regards colour, which is almost black. 
All the Tobacco cultivated in the country is t r local 
consumption as good cigar tob ccos cannot apparently 
be cultivated here, the weed being too rii.h in nicotine. 
At this nionent only American vaiietits are cultivated, 
very seldom N. rustica. Although iu Okah.indya in 
winter as much as 4° C. and even more is often ex- 
perienced, the place being over, 1,000 metres above 
Ibe sea level, snd on the borders of a river from 600 
to 800 metres broad, nigh ly radiating, unhindered, 
the suuhhine absoibed in the daytime. 
Bat ana cultivation is found possible and stradily 
increasing ; and it is not that of the wild small kinds 
liki^ M. C.vendishi, but one of the medium-sized 
fo;ms. which are go extensively cultivi;ted in the 
Oiinaiies. I am convinced, that under proper cultiva- 
tion Bananas would j ield lemnn )ative crops at Oka- 
handya and in many other places situated north of thia 
village, not for export, but for home consnmptiou. 
There are, even at Windhoek, several gardens where 
