228 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUKIST. [Oct. 1, 1899. 
the second leaf appears, the seed and its expansion 
have dropped off, and it comes from the base of 
the petiole of the first leaf, which forms a sheath 
for the second leaf, and between the first leaf and 
the sheath of the first; leaf. It thrusts the first 
leaf out of the central part and takes the centre 
of the plant itself. The third leaf acta in the same 
way to the second leaf, and the fourth to the third 
leaf, and so on, just as the second did to the first. 
The third root forms just below the first leaf, the 
fourth root below the second, and so on, the roots 
getting gradually higher and higher up above the 
collum point the later they develop. There seems 
to be a centrifugal tendency about these roots. This 
can be further observed from the fact that young 
palms have none of their roots above ground sur- 
face level; but, the older they become, the more 
such roots above ground appear; and in bamboos 
sometimes they are seen springing from the lowest 
two or three nodes above ground level, when the 
rhizome is fully crowded out. The same is seen in 
Caryota and Borassus, but ordinarily the nodes are 
not so distinct, and they seen to come out between 
the nodes. 
Endogenous growth of wood is generally said to 
consist of a cellular tissue in the centre with a com- 
pact net-work of fibro-vascular bundles outside it, 
forming a rind. It was generally supposed that these 
fibro-vascular bundles came from the outside of the 
rhizome, passed in towards the centre of tlie stem, 
and passed outwards again towards the rind and 
into the leaves. A celebrated botanist (French, I 
think,) whose name I cannot just now recall, took 
exception to this, aa it was found that tracing some 
of the fibro-vascular bundles back from the leaf 
they passed towards the centre of the stem, then 
came back to the rind considerably higher up than 
the rhizome. I think an investigation of these speci- 
mens will explain the matter. The fibro-va»cular 
expansion from the seed forms the fibro-vascular bun- 
dles of the first root ; those of the fir=t root form 
those of the first leaf and sheath, those of the sheath 
form those of the second root and those of the first 
leaf from those of the third root; and so the bundles 
are formed in succession from root to leaf and from 
leaf to root. In the mean time cellular tissue is 
being formed in the centre of the plant, kept there 
and prevented from expanding much outwards by 
the fibro-vascular tissue. each leaf develops it 
takes the centre of the plant, forms a small portion 
of stem (between the nodes), and is then pushed 
on one side by the next leaf. As each root develops 
it takes a position more and more away from the 
centre, and higher and higher up the stem; but it 
must be remembered that above ground it cannot 
come out of the stem, i.e, it trust lie dormant un- 
til the sheaths of the leaves havo fallen away from 
the stem. As the tree develops the fibro-vascular 
bundles have to pass from the side of the root (i e. 
not the centre) to the centre of the stem when the 
leaf develops at the top and centre of the stem, and 
is pushed back to the side of the stem by the de- 
velopment of the fresh leaves; and the more the stem 
increases inside, the greater will be the curve of 
the fibro-vascular bundles, until it is flattened by 
Other bundles coming inside it. 
It does not necessarily followed that, because the 
fibro-vascular bundle has to pass to its root, that it 
necessarily passes to the bottom of the tree ; for 
the roots appear on the tree higher and higher up 
the stem, as the tree becomes older ; and there must 
be many dormant roots which have been prevented 
from coming to the surface by the persistent sheaths 
of old leaves. 
It seems rather curious that weight is attached to 
the difference in growth between endogenous palms 
and acrogenous Tree Ferns ; for the difference seems 
merely in degree. Both consist of cellular interior 
tissue, with fibre- vaacular exterior tissue ; in the 
case of palms the fibro-vascular tissue from a leaf 
appears to descend to form a root before forming 
naother leaf, whilst in the case of tree ferna it 
appears to ascend direct to form the next leaf. 
The rind of endogenous is consequently far stronger 
and more continuous. The term acrogenous, too, 
seems to be misleading, for in the endogenous 
Ealms, each leaf comes to the central summit 
efore being pushed aside by a new leaf ; the same 
happens with the Tree Ferns. 
A. \V. LUSHINOTOH. 
PROFITABLE TOBACCO GROWING. 
By R. S. Nevill, Tobacco Expert. 
To the question, " la the growing of heavy export 
tobaccos profitable, or can Queensland growers compete 
with other countries in other markets ? " the answer 
is — Yes, if the farmers are willing to adopt modern 
methods, and conduct their farming operations upon 
lines followed by other agricultural communities. 
Not only that, but they can practically monopolise 
the market for this class of tobacco in these colonies, 
as it is conceded that, so far, . this colony gives 
promise of being able to produce the best tobacco 
grown in Australia. Given the soil and a suf&cent 
rainfall, the cost of production in this colony should 
be less than it is in the United States, for the 
following reasons : — The Queensland farmer does 
not require to feed his working stock through a 
long hard winter, his taxes are little more than 
half those imposed on the farmer in the United 
States, and he gets a larger yield than the latter, 
while the price of a labour is about the same. 
Ordinarly, the amount of tobacco produced here 
is not commensurate with the labour performed, and 
for the reason that the labour is often not properly 
directed. 
It is doubtful if any one crop, to the exclusion of 
all others can be made profitable one year with another, 
employing only one-third or one-half of a man's time, 
and the balance idle or doing wage work when he 
can get it. By diversifying the crops of the farm, 
and making tobacco one of the crops, the farmer 
does not then depend upon the one crop for the 
whole of his income and sustenance, and he ia sure 
to get a good price for one or more of his products, 
besides producing his own food, which he can do 
cheaper than he can buy it out of his tobacco money. 
METHODS. 
It goes without saying that the one-crop system 
requires a higher average of prices to be profitable 
than that of several crops. By diversifying their crops, 
the farmers of the United States have found tobacco- 
growing fairly profitable at Sjd. per lb. 
The cost of production in Queensland can be ma- 
terially lessened by substituting the plough tor the 
hoe, aa I have heretofore suggested — a process which 
will increase the quantity and improve the quality, 
improved curing-sheds and improved methods of curing 
will also give additional weight to the tobacco, 
besides improving its quality. The labour of trans- 
planting can be much lessened by a thorough pre- 
paration of the ground beforehand, by deep ploughing 
and deeper cross-ploughing, and thorough harrowing, 
and getting the soil into the best of tilth. By this 
means a proper arrangement of soil particles ia 
obtained, and the land is in the best physical condition, 
influencing beneficially both the temperature and 
the moisture; the free acceaa of air is secured, sup- 
plying the necessary amount of oxygen, and the soil 
is in such a condition of fineness aa to allow a 
perfect root development. 
These are all essential to healthy plant life ; and 
when these conditions exist, the farmer will have 
fewer plants dying from transplanting, and the labour 
will be materially lessened. It should be evident to 
everyone that the soil in such condition aa to sup- 
ply, fully, all that plant life demands of it, will give 
the best results in every particular, and this con- 
dition cannot be obtained without the free use oj 
the plough, 
