1612 
THE TEOPICAL AGRIOULTTJRIST. [Sept. 1, 1903. 
all over the ground as an implement of desfcraetion, 
they left it lying in a side street. As may bs sup- 
posed, elaborate precintioas have been taken by the 
police authorities — preoautiong, it is sincerely to be 
hoped, that wiil lead to the capture of the delinquents. 
— Gardeners' Ohronicle. 
♦ 
GROUND NUTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 
The demand for these nuts has been good, prices 
are better than for some years past, and the stocks 
held by dealers are, we are told, small. This would 
indicate a good demaud for the next crop, as the 
consumption is a growing one both for domestic use 
and for oil and feeding purposes. We are strongly 
of opinion that, if better methods of preparation of 
the land and a better system of rotation were 
followed, and more cousideration were given to the 
requirements of the crop in the way of fertilizers, 
much heavier crops would be grown than the average 
BOW raised. The crop is an important one in Eastern 
Virginia and North Carolina, and the land well suited 
for ils production, bnt in many sections they have 
been too long grown on the same land without a 
rotation of other crops. According to the census 
reports, the area devoted to growing pea nuts in 1899 
in Virginia, was 116,914 acres, and the product was 
3,713,347 bushels, the average yield per acre being 
-31 bushels. In North Carolina, in the same year 
95,856 acres were devoted to the crop, and the yield 
was 3,460439 bushels, the average yield per acre being 
36 bushels. These yields are too small to be profit- 
able, and fall far short of what can easily be made. 
Fifty bushels to the acre can readily be made by 
planting in a proper rotation and by fertilizing 
scientifically. One hundred bushels per acre have 
been frequently grown, Too often the practice is to 
follow peanuts with peanuts, year after year, until the 
land will not produce a crop worth gathering. At best 
the only rotation is peanuts followed by corn, and 
then by peanuts again. This is too short a rotation, 
A more profitable way would be to grow cow peas 
or soy beans, and then follow with pea nuts, and after 
this crop plant sweet potatos, A dressing of 300 lb. 
to the acre of acid phosphate should be applied to 
the cow pea crop, and a mixture of 100 lb. of acid 
phosphate, 300 lb. of cotton seed meal, and 65 lb, of 
muriate of potash, or 30 lb. of kainit to the acre 
should be applied before planting the pea nuts, A 
dressing of 25 bushels of lime to the acre should be 
given every three or four years. We are satisfied 
that if such a system as we suggest be followed, it 
will result in a much heavier average yield of nuts 
and the fertility of the land will be maintained and 
enhanced. — Southern Planter. 
VANILLA IN THE COMORO ISLANDS, 
The following is translated from an article in the 
Bulletin da la Societe cJ' Etudes Coloniales for April 
1903, entitled ' L'agriculture aux Comores : — 
•The most profitable crop is vanilla. The first 
plantations date back ten years, having been started 
at Anjouan in 1893. At present there are more than 
70,000 vines in cultivation, which yield about 40,000 
kilograms (about 90000 lb.) of prepared vanilla yearly. 
In Comoro vanilla can be cultivated up to a height of 
800 metres (over 2,500 feet) above sea-level, it is 
nenally trained on " pignon d'Inde," which are forced 
to branch by cutting the ends when the plants are 
about six months old. The vanilla is planted at the 
foot of supports, the slips are from 20 to 40 inches 
long, and three or four nodes and internodes are 
buried in the eoil. The plants yield fruit in the 
third year. The pollination is carried out by women 
and children, and the flowers whioh are not fertilized 
9if9 Vivaaye^. •^Agricultural Nem, 
CACAO DISEASE IN ST. LUCIA. 
The cacao trees in St. Lucia have recently been 
sufteiing from the combined attack of a grub which 
barks the roots, and a fungus Diplodia cacaoieola 
(sse West Indian Bulletin Vol. 11, p. 190) which causes 
the branches to die back. Mr. George S. Hudson, 
the Agricultural Instructor, writes to the Agricultural 
News saying that he is combating these parasites by 
(1) high cultivation and mauurmg (2) cutting back 
aiiected trees to suskers, (3) planting thick over- 
head shade which seems to restrain Diplodia, and 
(4) injecting bisulphide of carbon into the soil. The 
object of the first measure is to increase the vigour 
of the attacked trees and so enable them to throw 
off the disease. Cuttimg back the affected trees will 
prevent the spread of the fungus further down the 
stems and if the diseased parts be at ouoe burned 
will prevent the infection of healthy trees. The 
injection of carbon bisulphide into the soil has in view 
the destruction of the root grub. It will be in- 
teresting to learn to what extent these remedies will 
prove successful. — Ac/riculfural Neios. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
PHE3IDENT RoOSBVELT AT HoME. — The Pacifio 
Florist for July his a portrait of the President of the 
United States, with axe on shoulder, on his way to 
fell a tree, Gladstone-wise, at his summer residence 
Oyster Bay, New Yavk. — (hardeners' Chronicle. 
ERR.4.TUM. — In Mr. Joseph HoUoway's letter on 
Cacao and the Experiment Garden, published on 
page 125 of our August issue, concerning the cocoa 
crops on the Pranklands Estate it was stated, " 18J4 
highest, 7 cwt per acre, 1900 and 1901 3 cwt per 
acre the lowest, owing to cultivating without shade 
trees." This sentence should read, " owing to catting 
out shade trees." 
AspLENiUM EBENOiDES. — Au interesting instance of 
a Fern hybrid's bearing upon botanical science is 
found in the case of the rare Fern known as Asple- 
nium ebenoides. In all botanical manuals this is 
set down as a good species, but there hag always 
been a suspicion that it i^ a natural hybrid — a theory 
which its extreme rarity and irregular occurence 
seemed to bsar out. Its indicated parents were Asple- 
nium ebeneum and the Walking Pern (Oamptosorus 
rhizophyllus), members of totally different genera. 
Acting on this suggestion. Miss IVIargaret Slosson 
recently planted sections of the prothallia of these two 
Ferns together, and had the satisfaction of raising, 
not Asplenium ebeneum or the Walking Fern, but 
true Asplenium ebenoides. Thus, after nearly fifty 
years, this Fern has been proved to be really a hybrid. 
W. M. Clute, " Fern Bulletin." 
The Gardens of the Vatican. — In the last issue 
of his weekly journal, Mr, T. P. O'Connor has 
gathered together many interesting details concerning 
that remarkable man the late Pope Leo XIII. For na 
here the particulars respecting the Pope as a gardener, 
and the setting forth of the gardens, possess interest, 
" T.P." says the late Pontiff took a great interest in 
the Vatican gardens — would watch the growth of 
flower and fruit and tree with daily solicitude. 
He was very proud of the fact that the gardens 
produced 10,000 tine Oranges yearly ; and one day he 
found that the gardener had allowed some of the Ivy 
to languish. The gardener excused himself on the 
ground that the soil was bad. The Pope replied, 
" You don't know what you are talking about or 
else you think we believe everything you are pleased 
to tell us." After which admonition the Pope gave 
the gardener a regular lecture, whioh made him 
exclaim, as soon as the Pontiff's back was turned, 
" He can teach anyone, from the cardinals to the 
gardeners. They can't get over him,"— Gardeners' 
Chronicle, 
