812 
mm TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 1903. 
Citrus decumana (grape fruit'.— This species is rarely 
seen, and is nowwhere cultivated as a crop In the 
country. 
The production of oranges in the neighbourhood of 
Jaffna is carried on both by Arabs and by Bniv peans 
but the methods adopted by the two classes are 
identical, with the exception that the European 
planters have, as a rule, adopted machinery where 
possible. One of the chief factors in saccessf ul orange 
culture is eflacient irrigation, and every garden is 
provided with a well, from which water can be pumped 
either by the primitive Arab methods or by the 
use of oil engines, to all parts by means of stone 
canals. The groun i is dug either by direct manual 
labour, as the Arabs prefer, or by a plough cutting 
to a depth of from 19 to 38 inches. In this prepare ! 
soil seeds of the bitter oracge or cuttings of the 
sweet lemon are placed, a,!jd the young pUnta produced 
from these receive no further attention beyond 
regular watering. After two years' growth, they are 
taken up and planted out in the orange groves. 
This tranaplantation takes place all the year round, 
without distinction of seasons. The youug trees are 
planted very thickly, oiten not more than f jur or five 
square yards being allotted to each. After a further 
two years' growth in the orange garden proper, 
preparations are made for grafting the true Jaffna 
in the young stocks usually towards the end of the 
summer season, although there is considerable risk 
at this time of the graft being killed by the cold 
weather whioh is apt to come on suddenly. The 
trees begin to yield well four or five years after the 
ingrafting has taken place ; they receive comparatively 
little attention, but are watered about once a week 
and the ground is turned over three or four times a 
year, in order to facilitate the passage of water to 
the roots. The chief enemies the orange-planter has 
to contend with are a group of insects resembling 
wood-lice, which infest all parts of the orange trees 
and various vegetable parasites, which attack both 
old and young plants, and rapidly destroy them. The 
Arabs take no precautions to prevent the spread of 
these fungi, and even plant fresh young trees in the 
neighbourhood of old dead trunks covered with vege- 
table parasites of old kinds, so that an Arab orange 
garden often presents a pitiable spectacle to the eye 
of a modern ouUivator, As regards the future of 
orange cultivation in Jaffna, the authors are of 
opinion that the present careless methods of the 
Arabs will, if persisted in, lead to a great falling off 
in production, as has already occurred in other orange- 
growing districts, such as Majorca, Sardinia, and St. 
Miguel ; whilst, if a rational culture under European 
supervision could be secured, a considerable extension 
of the industry might be made, since, in face of the 
decreasing output of the other orange-growing districts 
over-production is scarcely possMe.— Imperial In- 
stitute Journals 
<» 
BAMBOOS. 
With reference to the flov;ering of the Bamboos 
and their alleged death in consequence of the pro- 
duction of seed^ we append an extract from an official 
report drawn up by Major-Gen. C. B. Lucie-Smith, 
when Deputy commissioner of the Chanda district, 
in the Central Provinoes of India, a tract of country 
some 10,000 square miles in extent, over more than 
half of which in 1869 the forest rolled league upon 
league, one mighty wave of trees and Bamboos 
Gen. Lucie Smith was for some years in the West 
Indies and South America, but he never heard that 
the Bamboos gvowiug in those countries died after 
flowering. 
" The uses of the Bamboo," he wrote, " are al- 
most infinite, iind it could probably be the least 
spared by the people of all the products of the torest. 
Xt is of two kinds— the common, and the Kutung 
Bamboo. The first grows in all light soilsj and in 
each clump there will be one or two canes which 
shoot up above the others, with only a sm^ll hollow 
at the core, being the " male Bamboo," so prized 
for the shahs of hog-spears. The Kutung is much 
larger than the common species, attaining a height 
of sixty feet, wilh a corresponding thickness of stem, 
and grows cliiefly on the banks of streams. In the 
Khalsi oonntry it is found principally in the dense 
Blohurlee foioit, but the Zemindarees have it in 
great abundance. 
" Dnring the rains the young cane shoots from 
grouud, and being then tender, thou£;h of considerable 
thickness, boi'ed and eaten by the Gouds. It 
seeds at irregnlir intervals, and the produce is 
cirefully collected for food. With the effort the 
Kafcnug dies, and people of all classes believe that 
seeding only takes pUce during years of scarcity. 
My own experience la that in each year since I8'i4 
various c'.nuips of Kntung have seeded in sncoes- 
aioD." — Gardener. ClironicU. 
« 
FEUIT CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
The importation of fruit plants into Ceylon by Mr. 
A. J. Pearson has been again satisfactory especially 
in regard to the various species of the citrus tribe 
which flourishes all over the island, and the imported 
varieties can be easily propagited by either one or 
the other process of grafting, budding, layering, 
inarching, etc., etc,, with the useless bitter orange 
and wild lime which grow in nearly every up-country 
and low-country garden. This is the most reliable way 
of propagating the species, as seedlings in the case of 
o:.'anges and lemons seldom turn out true to Eoed. 
Lemons are doing as well as oranges, and up-country 
baskets of excellent and large fruit from four-year 
old trees have been seen in Colombo. The im- 
ported varieties also grow very well in Colombo, 
and oranges, lemons and olives have been grown in 
pots and transferred later on into tubs. These 
plants have put on remarkable growth and, being 
root-bound, the trees show a tendency to run into 
fruit early. Olive {olea), which has been cultivated 
in the East from remote times, is another tree that 
grows almost all over the island, and the different 
imported varities, the eatable and the oil-yielding kinds 
can no doubt be propagated by grafting with the wild 
olive {Elceocarpus meatus; Sinhalese weralu). The pears, 
plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots naturally 
require a temperate clime, and the imported varieties 
are doing very well up-country. In this direction too 
the stock can be improved by grafting, and the old 
peach trees which are to be found in the region of 
Bandarawella and Badulla can by a simple process 
be converted into modern fruit bearers, Nectariues 
can be treated with psaches by budding and grafting, 
and it is not an uncommon thing for peaches and 
nectarines to be found growing on the same branch. 
The fig, which is another excellent fruit can also be 
grown in different parts of the island. Several 
varieties have been imported by Mr. Pearson and 
it will be interesting to know if the cultivated kinds 
can be grafted with some of the wild species growing 
in Ceylon. 
Old Boots im Vine Borders, — I was asked to 
examine some old Vines recently, and found in 
the border many old boots and shoes. They had 
apparently been buried under the idea that they 
were of manurial value. Most of us have heard of 
the folly of burying carcases of animals in Vine 
borders, but I was not previously aware that their 
hides had been used for the purpose after being 
tanned and made into boots. — T. Ooombeb, Headre 
Gardens, M-Oaraonth. —Gai'deneri' Chronicle. 
