808 
THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1903. 
Palm so common on the lake-side is, like Sanseviera, 
extremely abundant. BDth of these items could be 
propagated to any extent by planters hers at a trifling 
cost. We have some common Bami?, or 'China grass' 
growing very favourably. I consider that many parts 
of this country are peculiarly well suited to Ramie 
growing. I am not aware it the difficulty of finding 
a really suitable and practicable machine to prepare 
this splendid fibre on the field has yet been overcome. 
The indigenous cotton is a very fair sample, and im- 
ported sorts which we have experimented with on a 
small scale do very well; the fibre was favourably 
reported on in Manchester. The only drawback is a 
tendency on the part of some varieties of known 
perennial habit to become annual, dying off as soon 
as the crop is matured," 
[The Mlanji Cedar, Widdringtonia Whytei, was 
first described by Dr. Bendle in the Transactions of 
. the Linnean Society. Oar illustration (fig. 69J, which 
we owe to the courtesy of the director of the Eoyal 
Botanic Gardens, Kew, shows a young plan growing 
in the gardens at Entebbe. In our number for June 
16, 1894, p. 746, we extracted from the Ken: Bulletin 
of' 1892, some interesting particulars relating to the 
tree. En :]—&ardeners' Chronicle, 
MANURES EOE PASSION VINES. 
The description of the soils is as follows :— 
Mr. Arnold's. — Chocolate loose loam. 
Mr. Dale's.— Shaley loamy clay. 
Mr. King's.— Black soil and a loamy soil. 
Mr. Taylor's.— A very loose saudy and gravelly loam. 
The commercial manures used were based by the 
Chemist Mr. P. B. Guthrie, on the assumption that 
the bearing passion-vine removes from the soil (in 
a year) about 
6J oz. nitrogen, 
li oz. phosphoric acid, 
4 Oz. notash, 
as determined by analysis, and costing between 4d. 
and 5d. per vine. 
Complete manures in every instance showed them- 
selves far more preferable than single manures, and 
the following were the best used : — 
"No. 21—52 oz. dried blood, 
9 oz. superphosphate, 
6§ oz. potassium chloride. 
"No. 23.— 40 oz., nipho. 
24 oz. Sugar Co.'s 'A' manure. 
16 oz. Australian potash. 
"No. 22. — 43 oz. nitrate of soda. 
9 oz. superphosphate. 
6J oz. potassium chloride. 
" No. 39.-32 cz. sulphate of ammonia. 
18 oz. superphosphate. 
8 oz. sulphate of potash. 
" This last mixture answers well for the very dry 
season we have experienced, and is the best for 
summer dressing. These manures are the best so 
far used, and side by side with the single manures 
the comparison is very mailed; and as regards the 
rows left between, and which received no manure, 
they look half starved and in a hang-fire condition 
when compared with the vigorous growth of the 
well-fed vine carrying a crop of well-developed fruit,— 
clearly proving that commercial manures will pay 
when we can arrive at the exact requirements of the 
various soils. It was strikingly apparent in these 
tests that the results in no two cases were exactly 
alike, the manure in each class of soil producing 
difference in growth, (Src, more or less slight, but 
nevertheless notio-able." 
To this report, the Fruit Expert, Mr. Allen, adds : 
" So far as the experiments go, it is clear that on 
the soils on which they are being conducted it is 
absolutely necessary to manure if anything like good 
returns are to be expected. The manurecl vines are 
80 far ahead of those untreaded that, generally speak- 
ing, there is no compariecn between them, and while 
the manured vines are in good condition after carrying 
their last year's crop of fruit, and promise well for 
the coming season, the unmanared vines appear to 
have become exhausted and look as if they had 
little vitality left tor the approaching season. In 
my opinion, passion-vine growers cannot afford to 
allow a season to pass without assisting the vines 
by the application of some manure, and, so far as 
the present experiments enable me to judge, the 
complete manures undoubtedly give the best results." 
The Chemist, Mr. P. B. Guthrie, reports: "1 
visited the orchards in which the experiments are 
being carried out, with Mr. Allen, iu November. The 
results were striking and the differences between the 
manured and unmauured vines very marked. The 
experiment is being watched keenly by the orchardists 
in the district, and provides an invaluable obje.3t 
lesson as to the efficacy of manuring. I arranged 
with Mr. Allen for a further set of experiments for 
this season, to test particularly those mixtures which 
are giving the best results. 'These are so arranged 
that the crop for each row can be picked and packed 
separately, so that the actual money -return from the 
use of the different manures can be ascertained." 
Messrs. Taylor. Dale, and King will keep a record 
of the quantity of fruit taken from each of their 
plots of sixty vines to which the manures were applied, 
so that there will be available reliable figures for 
future guidance. Mr. Taylor will also keep a record 
of the quantity of fruit taken from six of his best 
plots of nine vines, which will be determined by 
independent ins'pections.— Agricultural QazetteofN.S. IF. 
GREEN TEA FOR AMERICA. 
[By T. Gossupp in Times of Ceylon'j 
New i^ORK, February 20tk, 1903. 
There has been of late a much larger trade doing 
it Ceylon green teas, owing to the fact that between 
Pebruary and May, there is generally a shortage of 
Japan teas and this year has been no exception. 
The new Japans arrive in this country in fair quanti- 
ties about June, and between June and December 
the balk of the crop is sold (a quantity to arrive 
in the early part of the following jear); but it is 
a fact that each year there has been a shortage of 
Japan teas, the quantity shipped from that country 
being less than the requirements of the United 
States. 
It has, therefore, been a very good opportunity 
during the last month to introduce Ceylon green teas, 
but I regret to say that the majority of the uncoloured 
Ceylons (called basket-fired here) are coloured and 
packed in Japan half-chests and faced with paper 
facings, outside the packages, and matted to represent 
Japan teas. I have written before pointing out the 
necessity to most of the Ceylon planters to wake up 
to the fact that if they wish to get hold of the 
United States green tea trade, they must conform 
to the wants of this country by shipping pan-fired 
or sun-dried (both coloured teas) in Japan half-chests, 
to uett SOlb., the packages faced with paper bearing 
the following inscription : — 
TIA SUEZ CANAL. 
Chop Mark: letter as 
H V 
or a Lion, etc. 
T 
EXTRA CHOICEST FIRST PICKINGS, 
GENUINE CEYLON-JAPAN TEAS. 
Pan-fired, nett 801b. 
" I have seen recently some very good Indian green 
coloured teas made by the Deane-Judge pan-firing 
machine, and these teas are the best that I have 
