936 
THl tRDKi6AL AQr^ieULTURIST. [June i, 1892, 
ing, the earth is well ploughed and harrowed and 
the seed sown in September. Abont six weeks later 
the young plants are transplanted about two feet 
apart, and the field is kept free from weeds, and 
otherwise carefully attended to until February, . 
when the plants are almost ripe. The crop is ga- 
thered in March and April. It is then made up 
into "hands " of one hundred leaves each, the leaves 
of each hand being fastened together at the stem 
ends with strips of bamboo fibre. These hands are 
then hung up in rows upon bamboo poles under 
long sheds, v/hich are open on all sides, and when 
they are almost dry they are piled up on the ground 
and allowed to ferment. The leaves are then dried 
again and packed into bales for shipment to Manilla, 
where they are repacked and pressed into bales^ for 
export, or sent to the factories to be converted into 
cigars and cigarettes. It is not sold by weight at 
the plantation but by the farclo, which contains forty 
hands. All the tobacco manufactured in the Philip- 
pines is made into cigars and cigarettes. The tobacco 
is classified at the plantation into first, second, third, 
fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, according to the size 
and quality oi the leaves. In Manilla there are 
twelve large tobacco factories, one of which. La 
Flor de Isabela, the factory of the Compania General, 
manufactures seventy-five brands of cigars, ten brands 
of cheroots, six grades of cut tobacco, and eight 
brands of cigarettes. These twelve factories give 
employment to about 11,000 persons. Besides these 
there are numerous small factories owned by natives 
and Chinese. Corn holds a very unimportant place 
among the agricultural products of the Philippines, 
although it is cultivated to some extent. All the 
corn produced is that known as maize or Indian 
corn. The method of cultivation is similar to that 
followed in more advanced countries, but the imple- 
ments used are of a very primitive character. As a 
rule the land is ploughed with a sharpened stick 
drawn by a buffalo, after which a heavy wooden 
frame, about four feet square with long wooden teeth 
on the under side, is drawn Over the groimd to break 
the lumps. The corn is then hoed by hand, and all 
that is necessary thereafter is to keep the weeds 
down. No manure nor fertiliser of any kind is 
used. No attention is given to fruit culture, and 
mangoes, bananas, apples, guavas and numerous other 
native fruits grow without cultivation, and are 
gathered by the natives in the hills and even within 
the limits of the cities and towns, who bring them to 
Manilla and sell them in the streets and markets. 
■ Consul Webb says that no attempt has ever been 
made to export any of these fruits except a few 
mangoes, which are sent every year to Hong-Kong 
and other neighbouring ports, although it is quite 
probable that under a proper system of cultivation, 
gi'afting, &c., some remarkably good fruit might be 
developed that could be preserved or canned, and 
sold at a great profit in Europe and the United 
States. — Jmrnal of the Societji of Arta. 
CALlFORNIAiV FRUIT PRODUCTION. 
A correspondent, writing to the /'Jconoiinste Franqaix 
says that at the present time California is one of 
the princii^al fruit-producing centres of the world. 
It is more particularly in the southern part of the 
State that this industry is the most developed, and 
Sacramento is the centre of it. It produces all kinds 
of fruits — pears, peaches, figs, grapes, etc. The pear 
which is one of the choicest and most easily trans- 
portable of fruits, was tlie first to attract the 
attention of the grower, and was cultivated on a very 
considerable scale. The pear tree in California bears 
ai the »nd of three yoarH, but it ia only in full 
bearing at the end of six or seven. An acre of ground, 
well planted juid carefully attended to, should yield 
at the expiration of this|period about :ir),()00 lb. weight 
of fruit, worth i;200. Orapcs are of tlnec doscrip- 
tiona — those for the table, for wine uuiking, and for 
drying. J>ac)i description has its own special centre 
of production. Grapes for drying arc grown in tlie 
viUley o£ San .loaciuin, tliOHC for wine riiaking.f iirtbnr 
the north, and tbe table fruit is cultivated in the 
neighbourhood of Stockton and Sacrament'^. South- 
ern California is distinguished by very vari flo imates, 
which admit of all descriptions of fru.i culture. 
The choicest kind of table grapes are those known 
as Tokay. A San Francisco paper — the California— 
states that over an area of fifteen acres planted with 
Tokay grapes, the vines being fourteen years old and 
well tended, the gross yield was valued at nearly 
£4,000. Deduction being made of the expense of 
cultivation, irrigation, transport, and commissions, 
the net product is estimated at ,£1,738, that is at the 
rate of £124 per acre. This, however, is stated to 
be an exceptional case. After grapes come the figs. 
These latter are cultivated in very large quantities 
in California, and there are many different descrip- 
tions. An attempt has been made to acclimatise 
the true Smyrna fig, but it has not hitherto been 
a success, although fruits have been grown very 
nearly resembling it but inferior in perfume. The 
choicest variety and the one most easily obtained 
is the fig called the "white Adriatic." At Ventura, 
where it is most successfully cultivated, one grower 
alone has planted a very large extent of ground, 
and estimates, judging from past results, that in ten 
years' time his annual yield will amount to about 
1,250 cart loads of fruit, which at the rate of one 
cent, a pound will produce an amount of £50,000. 
The fruit growers of Ca'ifornia having a supply of 
fruits greater than is necessary for home consump- 
tion, are naturally desirous of finding outlets for 
their supplies, and for some years they have been 
endeavouring to establish markets on the Atlantic 
coasts. In the fruit season an exhibition of choice 
fruits is sent over the principal lines of the Union 
in a specially constructed wagon, which is called 
"California on wheels." The cost of this travelling 
exhibition is borne by the Board of Trade of the 
State of California and the Southern Pacific Com- 
pany. At the same time the Board of Trade supports, 
not without considerable expense, at San Francisco, 
a permanent exhibition of fresh fruits. The Eastern 
States, the large cities such as New York, Boston, 
Philadelphia, and more in the west Chicago, and in 
the South St. Louis, equally receive regular supplies 
of fruits. Railways have been constructed to unite 
the principal producing centres of California wdth the 
great transcontinental lines, and to carry the fruits 
rapidly from one end of the country to the oth r. 
But no matter how abundant the yield may be, and 
the cheapness of transport, fresh fruits are still a 
luxury, and their sale cannot exhaust the produc- 
tion of California, so for some years now attention 
has been paid to developing the sale of preserved 
fruits. At first, these were prepared on the evapora- 
tion system, and the fruit was then packed in boxes. 
This industry has had an enormous development, 
and the manufacturers of tin boxes in California 
are considered among the most skilful and the richest 
in the world. Since 1885 the yield of fruit has been 
so abundant that the special apparatus for artificial 
evaporation have been insufficient, and recourse has 
therefore been had to natural evaporation by solar 
heat, but the latter system has not given, everywhere, 
satisfactory results. In the greater part, however. 
* From the I'haimaccutical Era, April 1, 
ji "^iwiiuiiiia, yie tuir is exireuieiy ury, ana me ae- 
iiccation of fruits under the influence of the sun is, 
iays the Econondste, absolutely perfect. — Journal of the 
iociety of Arts. 
rriE PEPPERMINT INDUSTRY OF ST. 
JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.* 
Next to Wayne country. New York, St Joseph 
jountry in Michigan is the largest peppermint pro- 
lucing locality in the United States. As early as 
184(1 farmers l^egan to cultivnte the plant in this 
ocality and the industry has continued to grow ever 
since. Most every farmer thereabout now raises some 
peppermint, but usually in connection with other 
jrops, while a few devote their whole time to its 
jullivation. By far the principal grower is Mr. Henry 
