Nov.  r,  1895.]  THE  TROPICAL 
isles.  Bananas  are  largely  grown  on  Grand 
Canary  and  Tenerille,  llonrisliing  only  on  well- 
irrigated  land  in  warm  localities  near  the  sea. 
Eami  bunch  is  made  up  of  from  150  to  250  lingers, 
and  in  189.3  (rrand  Canary  alone  exported  217,095 
bunches.  Canaiy  oranges  .are  of  excellent  llavour, 
and  recall  the  now  .almost  extinct  St.  Michael 
oranges.  The  trees  unfortunately  are  little  cared 
for,  and  they  are  consequently  badly  allected 
with  disease.  Tlie  tomato  industry  is  quite  a 
new  one,  but  it  has  increased  by  le.aps  and 
boirnds.  Not  until  1887  were  .any  tomatoes 
exj)orted,  by  1893  tliere  were  54,641  cases,  and 
in  the  first  half  of  1894  the  tot.al  was  85,000  cases. 
The  actual  cost  of  growing,  p.acking,  ami  delivering 
in  I.oudon  is  estimated  at  2d  per  lb.  Tlie  potato 
trade  is  conlineil  to  the  early  months  of  the  ye.ar, 
dowm  to  the  end  of  M.ay.  In  the  first  lialf  of  189.3 
the  number  of  cases  shipped  was  15,101,  and  for 
the  corresponding  period  of  1894  it  rose  to  32,60!). 
There  is  still  some  tr.ade  in  wine  cocliine.al, 
cere.als,  sugar,  and  many  other  fruits  and  vege- 
tables, hut  it  is  evident  that  the  inhabitants  are 
concentrating  their  energies  mainly  on  bananas, 
potiitoes,  and  tomatoes,  for  the  English'  markets 
in  the  hast  place. — Monxmcj  Post. 
A FICUS  STRANGLING  A M.ANGO  TREE. 
Our  illustration,  taken  from  a photograph  kindly 
furnished  by  Mr.  G.  M.  Woodson,  College  of  Science, 
Poonah,  exhibits  a Mango  tree  growing  in  a grove 
near  Lanowlee,  on  the  Western  Ghauts,  India,  being 
killed  in  the  embraces  of  a Ficus.  The  process  of 
destruction  is  well  and  correctly  described  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  by  Mr.  .James  Rodway  in  the  Guiana 
Foreit 
“ Woe  betide  the  forest  giant  when  he  falls  info 
the  clutches  of  the  Clusia  or  Pig.  Its  seeds  being 
pi'ovided  with  a pulp,  which  is  very  pleasant  to  the 
taste  of  a great  number  of  birds,  are  carried  from 
tree  to  tree,  and  deposited  on  the  branches.  Here 
it  germinates,  the  leafy  stem  rising  upward,  and  the 
roots  flowing,  as  it  were,  down  the  trunk  until  they 
reach  the  soil.  At  first  those  aiirial  roots  are  soft 
and  delicate,  with  apparently  no  more  power  for  evil 
than  so  many  small  streams  of  pitch,  which  they 
resemble  in  their  slowly-flowing  motion  downward. 
Here  and  there  they  branch,  especially  if  an  obs- 
truction is  met  with,  when  the  stream  either  changes 
its  course  or  divides  to  right  and  left.  Meanwhile 
leafy  branches  have  been  developed,  which  push 
themselves  through  the  canopy  above,  and  get  into 
the  light,  where  their  growth  is  enormously  acceler- 
ated. As  this  takes  place  the  roots  have  generally 
reachejS  the  ground,  and  begun  to  draw  sustenance 
from  below  to  strengthen  the  whole  plant.  Then 
comes  a wonderful  development.  The  hitherto  soft 
aiirial  roots  begin  to  harden  and  spread  wider  and 
wider,  throwing  out  side-branches  which  flow  into 
and  amalgamate  with  each  other  until  the  whole  tree- 
trunk  is  bound  in  a series  of  iri’e^ular  living  hoops. 
The  strangler  is  now  ready  for  its  deadly  work.  The 
forest  giant,  like  all  exogens,  must  have  room  to 
increase  in  girth,  and  here  he  is  bound  by  cords 
which  are  stronger  than  iron  bands.  Like  an  athlete, 
he  tries  to  expand  and  burst  his  fetters,  and  if 
they  were  rigid  he  might  succeed.  . . . The  bark 
bulge  between  every  interlacing — bulges  out,  and  even 
tries  ki  overlap ; out  the  monster  has  taken  every 
precaution  against  this  by  making  its  bands  very 
numerous  and  wide As  the  tree  becomes  weaker 
its  leaves  begin  to  fall,  and  this  gives  more  room 
for  its  foe.  Soon  the  strangler  expands  itself  into 
a great  bush  almost  as  large  as  the  mass  of  branches 
and  foliage  it  has  effaced If  we  look  carefully 
around  us  wo  see  examples  of  entire  obliteration — 
a Clusia,  or  Fig,  standing  on  its  reticulated  hollow 
Eillar,  with  only  a heap  of  brown  humus  at  its 
ase  to  show  what  has  become  of  the  trunk  which 
once  at(5od  up  in  all  its  majesty  on  that  spot.” — 
OarxTAieva'  Chronicle,  Sept.  21. 
AGRICULTURIST. 
A FIRE  RESISTING  TREE. 
An  interesting  .account  of  a fire  resisting  tree 
IS  given  Mr.  Roliert  Thomson  in  a Consular  re- 
port on  Golomhia.  He  writes  : — The  thousands 
ot  square  of  natural  pastnr.age  on  the  pl.ains 
.and  lower  hi. Is  of  Tolinia  assume  during  the  rainy 
season  tlie  most  lie.autiful  verdure.  But  in  tlie 
.alternate  season  of  drought  the  gener.al  aspect  is 
that  of  a desert.  These  lands  were  originally  ac- 
quired at  a nominal  cost.  No  conservation  of  the 
natuial  fertility  of  the  Land  has  ever  been  taken 
into  consideration.  On  the  contr.ary,  the  natural 
grasses,  interinixed  avith  scrub  or  brushwood,  have 
been  systematically  Imrncd  from  year  to  ye.ar,  and 
the  Ijurnings  effected  during  the  most  scoi'chino' 
periods  of  drought.  Tlie  principal  object  attained  by 
this  process  of  despoliation  is  the  reproduction  of 
new  and  tender  herbage  or  p.astnrage,  which,  with 
the  advent  of  the  rainy  season,  forthwith  covers 
the  p.arc  I led  surface.  V.ast  pastor.al  regions — scores 
of  thousands  of  square  miles — in  tropic.al  America 
are  thus  m.aint.ained.  Half  a century,  or  it  may 
be  a centurjq  of  this  treatment  suffices  to  extin- 
guish almost  every  trace  of  fertility  in  the  .soil. 
In  Tolinia  alone  hardly  less  than  2,000  square 
miles  of  savannahs  and  hills,  ascending  to  .some 
3.000  feet,  have  in  this  waay  been  tr.ansformed  into 
comparatively  barren  wastes.  And  in  other  parts 
of  the  Republic  many  thousands  of  square  miles 
have  similarly  lapsed  by  thib  devastating 
process. 
A STRANGE  SIGHT. 
This  persistent  burning  of  the  savannahs  and 
hills  for  crops  of  renewed  p.astnrage  plays  des- 
perate havoc  ivith  all  other  vegetation,  trees  and 
brushwood.  Isolated  p.alm  trees,  with  their  in- 
tensely hard  trunks  and  endogenous  structure, 
together  with  groups  of  brushwood  in  sheltered 
or  humid  spots,  sometimes  avithstand  the  fury  of 
the  flames.  There  is,  however,  one  phenomenal 
exception  to  this  subversive  power  of  the  fires.  A 
humble  tree  with  contorted  and  rugged  trunks  and 
blanches  and  scabrous  leaves,  a tree  presenting  the 
most  subdued  and  iveird  aspect  conceivable  ; "this 
pigmy  tree  not  only  resists  the  fury  of  the  flames, 
but  fire  is  actually  congenial  and  subservient  to 
its  existence,  for  the  tree,  instigated  by  the  con- 
flagrations, forms  itself  into  great  plantations.  The 
name  of  this  tree  is  chap.arro  (Rhopala  obovata), 
indigenous  to  Colombia  and  other  South  American 
countries._  It  attains  a height  of  15  to  20  feet, 
and  its  distorted  trunks  measure  from  nine  to  12 
inches  in  diameter.  It  is  avidely  distributed  in 
Colombia,  for  I have  found  it  at  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
of  S.ant.a  Marta  and  dispersed  inland  1,000  miles 
from  the  sea.  In  contact  with  great  forest  fires 
it  maintains  a precarious  existence.  But,  as  al- 
ready explained,  it  usurps  dominion  in  places  where 
no  other  tree  can  grow.  In  Tolinia  it  abounds  on 
the  slopes  and  ridges  of  the  hills  at  elevations  from 
1.000  to  3,500  feet.  In  this  department  alone 
hundreds  of  square  miles  of  the  lower  hills  which 
hav'e  been  reduced  to  sterility  by  incessant  burn- 
ings .are  occupied  by  this  diminutive  tree,  and  it 
assumes  theasjieetof  vast  systeni.atically  formed 
and  well-kept  plantations.  This  is  more  than  .a 
triumph  of  the  “surviv.al  of  the  fittest.”  It  is 
very  remarkable  th.at  these  fire-begotten  plantations 
are  noivhere  crowdeil  to  excess  ; on  the  contrary 
the  trees  are  so  regul.arly  pl.aced  that  their  aspect 
vies  with  that  of  the  most  c.arefiilly  formed  planta- 
tions. There  is  a popular  belief  in  Tolinia  where 
alluvial  gold  abounds  that  this  tree  flourishes  only 
on  those  seductive  lands,  serving  as  a guide  to 
searchers  after  the  precious  metal,— PtoRecr, 
