300 
THE TEOPICAL AGlilCULTURIST. 
[Nov. 1, 1899. 
particularly o£ whale-oil soap, have jielded the most 
satiffactoiy results; and at the rate of two pounds 
to the gallon, under the conditioua of thorough 
drenching of the entire plant, with five or six days 
of subsequent fair weather, will destroy all the scales, 
whether applied in fall or in spring. The results 
with soap in less strength indicate that under the 
most favourable conditions the same result maybe 
reached with mixtures containing only a pound and 
a half or more £oap. The action of the soap at 
the rate of one pound or more to the gallon, ap- 
plied in the fall, is generally to prevent blooming 
and fruiting the following spring, but the vigour and 
healthfulness of the tree are greatly increased. Ap- 
plied in spring at the time of blooming, it does not 
ii.iuie the plant nor affect the setting of the fruit 
to any material extent in the case of the peach, and 
not at all in the case of the apple. 
' The experimente, as a whole, indicate the vastly 
superior merit of the soap wafli and its fall appli- 
cation. 'J he great vigour of the plant resulting 
from the fall treatment more than olfsets the pos- 
sible failing of bloom. Owing to the impossibility 
of controlling weather condition.?, and the practical 
difficulty of wetting every pnrt of the plant, one 
spraying cannot often be relied ou to accomplish 
the death of all the scales, but two conscientious 
drenchings may be expected to accomplish this re- 
sult. These may be (1) at the time of, or shortly 
after, the falling of the foliage in autumn, and (2) 
iUit before blooming in spring.' 
Other soaps Chard laundry soap) are efficacious, 
but not to the same degree. 
la another of the American reports* is an ins- 
tructive paper on insecticide scaps, by Mr, C. L. 
Marlatt, trom which I take the liberty of quoting 
largely :—' The decided insecticide value of the so- 
called whale-oil (more properly fish oil) soaps, 
against scale insects particulorly, has been fully 
demonstrated in the last few years in the work 
against the San Jose scale and has fully substan- 
tiated Professor Cornstock's early recommendation 
of this means of controlling scale-insect pests. The 
merit of these soaps is not only in their effective- 
nets as insect-destroyers, but from their being en- 
tirely without injurious effect on the treated pL.nt, 
In this respect they are perfectly safe inthehauds 
of any person, in contradistinction to all oily washes, 
which are very liable to be injurious in greater or 
less degree, although the injury may be insignificant 
or perhaps not apparent immediately, or during the 
first season.' 'The use of soaps is attended 
with certain difliculties.' 'To be satisfactory 
for insecticide use it must, when dissolved at the 
desired rate, say two pounds to the gallon of water, 
remain a liquid capable of being sprayed with an 
ordinary nozzle at an ordinary temperature. This 
may be determined by a very simple test, and one 
which should be invariably given any soap before 
it is accepted for spraying operations. It consists 
in simply dissolving a small quantity of the soap 
at the desired rate, and allowing it to cool. 
Many soaps solidify or become gelatinous and 
fenacious on cooling. These are useless for spraying 
■ purposps. The common country toip of Ceylon has 
this defect. I have experimented in a small way 
with soap mixtures; but it is difficult to obtain 
here a brand that combines suitability with cheap- 
ness Such a brand is a great desideratum. I find 
that one of the most useful properties of the soap 
mixtures is to prevent the escape of the young 
larvaj by blocking up the natural exists, and on 
this account the treatment is to be very strongly 
recommended. 
(To be concluded ) 
three years. It may, therefore, be of interest to put 
on record an observation bearing on this statement. 
Forest elephants in Burma are simply hobbled 
and turned loose in the nearest jungle to feed, and 
hence, unlike the Commissariat animals, are practi- 
cally in a state of nature, and breed freely. 
In June 1S97, one of the inahauts reported that 
his elephant had been covered by the tusker at- 
tached to the division, whilst the animals were turned 
out to feed. The act was observed every evening 
for about a week, from about the 18th to the 25th 
May, 1897. Neither of the animals showed signs of 
sexual excitement previously, though the male paid 
assiduous court to the female for a few days before 
coition was permitted. They were both at work at 
this period— dragging logs — and gave no trouble to 
their attendants. The report was noted, but, I am 
sorry to say, forgotten, till the 3rd November 1898, 
when in the evening, the elephant gave birth to a 
female calf. 
Fortunately, that day she had only carried a light 
load for a short march. The baby, though so weak 
that it had to keep itself upright by holding on to 
a bamboo with its mouth, was perfectly healthy and 
well formed, and after a day, could stand and suckle. 
The period of gestation, therefore, had been a little 
over seventeen calendar months, or almost exactly 
eighteen lunar months.— C. B. S. — Indian Forester. 
GESTATION OF THE ELEPHANT. 
Sir Our Burma viahavJs invariable maintain that 
^he period of gestation in the elephant extends to 
^V^^lJhli^Ho. 0 CNew Series), U.S. Department 
v£ Aiiricullutc (Division of Entomology). 
JOB'S TEARS (COIX-LACHRYMA-JOBI)-A 
USEFUL FODDER. 
Bv F. Manson Bailey, f. l. s.. Colonial Botanist, 
During Lord Lamington's tour rouud New Guinea 
in May last, at almost all the places visited was seen 
a luxuiiant growth of ihe grass known as Job's Tea's 
(Coijc 7.af7()7///"(-./oi(' of the botanist). The growth of 
the plant and the beauty of its seeds made such an im- 
pression on Lord Limington that he requested me to 
take seeds of each to Queensland for cultivation, which 
I did; and the accompanying plate illustrates the pro- 
duct of a single seed sown in my garden at Spring 
Hill, is by no means favourable sou or situation for 
foddergrowiiig. The plant represented comprised 26 
stems from 2 to 4h feet high, leafy throughout their 
whole length — in fact, it is a model fodder p'ant, 
suiting the climate both North and South of the cjlony 
and from this point of view is now brought to the notice 
of dairy men and farmers generally. The present form 
seems to be of a more succulent character than that 
generally found in garden culturo. The two kinds 
met with in New Guinea differed considerably in the 
form of the seed — The one being tear-shaped, and the 
other linear or oblong; both are usually of a bluish- 
grey colour. The stems of each, from a single plant, 
are numerous and very leafy. So far as I have been 
able to judge, the long-seeded form is of smaller growth 
but my seeds of this were sown later than those of the 
other. I may remark that I have had specimens of 
this grass sent to me for determination from different 
parts of Queensland by persons who have met vrith it 
in a naturalised state, but whether these belonged to 
the New Guinea forms or not I cannot say. One ad- 
vantage possessed by this plant over sorghum is that 
it does not make so strong a root, so that when necess- 
ary to plough out to renovate the plantation it will 
not form so strong a resistance to the work as the 
varieties of sorghum. The stems are also more slender 
and not so coarse. In sowing the seeds, place them 
about 1 foot apart in rows 2 or 3 feet asunder, during 
the months of September and October. The plants 
being perennial they will last for several years without 
renewing. The plant may also be increased by divis- 
ions of the stool, which allows of vacancies in the plan- 
tation being filled up. 
The natives of New Guinea seem only to use " Job'a 
Tears" for ornamentation purposes, the pretty bluish 
grey seeds being prized for making into necklaces and 
decorating their weapons, &o. I could not hear of 
the seeds lacing used for food by them, yet Sir J. D 
