112 
THE TROPICA!. 
AGRICULTQRIST. [Aug. 1, 1903. 
Tea and Minor Pests.— It will be observed 
that several correspondents agree with us 
that there is the risk of too much 
being naade in the public prints of the various 
minor troubles affecting tea. Mr. J. Eraser, 
shows that the 30 years old tea on Abbotsford 
is full of vigour— another good test. Still 
another is given to us in the vigour of the 
tea on Avisawella, the oldest estate in the 
Kelani Valley. It has always been carefully 
cultivfited but has not had much manure and 
yet few lowcountry gardens look becter at 
the present time. 
Mexican Legctminos^e — M Langlasse visited 
Mexico as a collector of .plants, especially of those 
as might be of interest for horticultural or eco- 
nomic purposes. The Leguniinosse, of which 237 
specimens were collected, were critically examined 
by the late Marc Micheli, and the results of his 
labours are now before us in the form of a 
posthumously published msmnir wherein the 
species are enumerated or described, and no fewer 
than tvvanty-eight quarto lithographic plates are 
given. Twenty-six new species and one new genus 
were described by M Micheli. They came espe- 
cially from the Sierra Madre at a height of about 
2,000 metres, and form, with the Coinposilse, the 
dominant vegetation. Mimosese are especially well 
represented. The memoir will possess a special 
but melanclioly interest for those who knew M 
Micheli, and were in sympathy with him in his 
horticultural and botanical work. — Gardeners' 
• Chronicle, June 20. 
A Record Green Tea Month.— The Green 
Tea statement (July 7th) shows that during 
the second half of June a larger quantity 
of green tea earned the bonus than in any 
previous half month since the commence 
raent of the bonus system. The figures were 
881,959 lb. and with 710,790 lb. for the first 
half of the month this brings the June total 
of Green tea manufactured upon which bonus 
has been paid up to the record figures of 
1,592,749 lb. This is remarkably good and if 
July shows a similar result the 4 cents bonus 
will be exhausted at the end of the present 
month and the 3 cents era inaugurated. It 
looks as if after all the 12 million aimed at 
will be attained this year. It is not ex- 
pected that the claims in July will be quite 
so heavy as in June. In the course of a 
comment on the exports from Calcutta for 
the month of May we see in the Entihshman 
to hand today that only 102 lb. of green 
tea were exported for the month of May ! 
Experimental Farming.— In this progressive 
age every farmer must needs bean experimentalist. 
The one who studies the nature of the soil and, 
by the proper use of fertilisers, often increases 
his yield by 20, 30, or even 50 per cent. Mr J 
Davidson, in the Journal of Agriculture of South 
Australia, says :— " To be thoroughly progressive, 
both as regards stock-breeding and crop-raising, 
every farmer should be an experimentalist. Portions 
of his land should be set apart for trying the 
qualities of featilicers and their effect on various 
kinds of crops, and ascertaining the most suitable 
fodders, etc, for his particular ~ locality and 
nature of soil, which would prove a most valuable 
source of gaining exact knowledge for himself. 
Notbins could posaibly take the placeJ;jof such 
gxpevimente," 
"Protection op Birds on Estates."— 
This question first started by Messrs. George 
Steuart & Co. — and not a day too soon — 
is the subject of a very suggestively practical 
letter elsewhere, from Mr. John Friiser who, 
writing from the "best-wooded" tea planta- 
tion in the island, must know of what lie 
is speaking. His suggestions will no doubt 
be carefully considered by his brother 
planters. 
Mr. Donald Mackay has been writing to 
the Straits press on the subject of Australia 
and Coloured Labour, showing how the 
" labour party" though in a minority, over- 
rides for the time the majority on this 
question, and how hard it is on tropical 
Queensland whence Kanakas who have been 
20 years in the country, are about to be 
deported ! 
Hausaland in Western Africa— is the 
latest tropical paradise. Dr. Tonkin writes 
in the " Empire Review " for Ma / : — 
Hausaland is situated roughly between the 7th 
and 13th degrees of north latitude and east and 
west for about two hundred miles on each side 
of the meridian of Greenwich. The meau alti- 
tude of the upper parts of the country will prob- 
ably be found to be somewhere about one thou- 
sand feet. It contains some small ranges of 
rocky hills, and several considerable patches of 
very precipitous country ; bub it has no notable 
peak— nothing, certainly, I should think, over 
four thousand feet high. The country is well 
watered and fertile. It contains almost every 
variety of physical feature common to the Tropics. 
There are mountain uplands, densely vegetated 
belts, fertile plains and desert solidities. A few of 
the most useful and some of tiie most magnifieenb 
trees in the world are included among ics flora. 
Mighty baobabs {AdamsoJiia digitata) with 
trunks like church towers, tlirust their massive 
branches like colossal fingers into the sky. Stately 
cotton trees (Bomhax) rear their majestic heads 
over nearly every village. The Kadauya or Shea 
Butter tree (Bassiu Parkii), with its dense 
wood and valuable oil-bearing kernel, is a prolific 
native. The feathery foliage of the tamarind 
feeds the silk-worm, which is the foundation of 
one of the national industries. In some parts of 
the country crotons are common. Almost every 
variety of palm, date, oil and dum, is represented. 
Groves of acacias stud the plains ; pawpaws 
{carica papaya), nutmegs and sycamores, are to 
met with iu every courtyard ; wild plums and 
custard apples grow by the wayside. Nor are 
flowers wanting, though the heavy fragrance of 
the jessamine only serves to accentuate the barren 
beauty of the rest. The lotus floats lightly on 
the surface of the pools. I have seen lilies grow- 
ing by the acre, and here and there one comes 
across a flower like a chrysanthemum. In the 
south a convolvulus is common, and there are 
also many shrubs and trees that literally blaze 
with blossoms, the names of which I regret that 
I am not botanist enough to be able to give. 
Among the indigenous plants of value may be 
mentioned indigofers, cotton and tobacco. Of 
cereals, wheat, rice, dhurra (sorghum vulgare), 
and several varieties of millet. Of edible veget- 
ables, the sweet potato (econvolvulus batatas), 
the yam, manioc, several kinds of beans, onigps, 
banauas, raeloas and liniesi 
