June  i,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
Si 
3 
and  the  tree  will  not  bear  from  the  same  spot  the 
following  year.  If  the  pods  are  cut  oil  carefully, 
the  trees  goes  on  bearing  from  the  same  pot  year 
after  year. — Jamaica  LuHctin. 
OX  CKRTAIN  EXPEIUMRNTS  MADE  IN 
THE  FOREST  NURSERY  AT  HELLE- 
EONTAINE  (NEAR  NANCY). 
r>V  E.  BARTKT,  InSPECTEUI!  AujOI>iT  DES  Eokets. 
The  facts  set  forth  in  the  following  notes  are  the 
results  of  experiments  carried  oat  in  the  liellefontaine 
Nursery  on  the  raising  of  plants  for  forest  planting. 
The  nursery  which  was  established  in  1868  in  the 
Foret  de  Haye,  nearly  four  miles  from  Nancy,  and 
whose  situation  is  defective  from  several  points  of 
view,  constitutes  one  of  the  experimtntal  stations 
attached  to  the  Nancy  Forest  School. 
Whether  the  observations  which  I have  collected 
contain  anything  new  and  hitherto  unpunlished,  and 
whether  the  reader  will  find  in  them  anything  other 
than  the  confirmation  of  facts  already  made  known, 
I do  not  venture  to  affirm,  so  considerable  are 
the  numbers  of  works  carried  out  in  France  and 
elsewhere  on  the  subjects  herein  dealt  with. 
ON  THE  USE  OE  SAWDUST  AND  PEAT  FOlt  OOVElilNG 
SMALL  seeds. 
At  Bellefontaine,  for  covering  small  seeds,  a mixture 
of  mould  leaves,  well  decayed  manure  and  sifted 
earth,  has  for  a long  time  been  used.  The  prepar- 
ation of  such  a compost  is  costly,  the  use  of  it  has 
also  other  inconveniences,  for  when  a period  of 
drought  follows  after  prolonged  raiu,  it  gets  hard 
and  forius  a crust  liable  to  interfere  with  the  growth 
of  small  plants. 
These  considerations  led  me  to  try  whether,  for 
covering  the  seeds  in  question,  sawdust  and  peat 
could  not  be  used,  these  being  two  substances  often 
obtainable  in  abundance  and  at  a low  price  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  forest  laud. 
The  first  experiment  to  this  end  was  made  in 
April  1887  : — six  trenches  each  30  feet  long  being  sown 
with  Spruce  Fir.  The  following  were  compared  : — 
1.  Sawdust  of  Pophir,  alone. 
2.  Peat  alone. 
3.  A mi'ture  of  one  part  Poplar  sawdust  and 
one  pare  mould. 
4.  A mixture  of  peat  and  leaf  mould,  in 
equal  quantities. 
5.  A mixture  of  peat  and  sawdust,  also  in 
equal  quantities. 
6.  The  usual  compost  consisting  of  one-fourth 
part  leaf  mould,  one  fourth  decajed  ma- 
nure and  one  half  well  sifted  mould. 
Before  using  the  sawdust,  it  was  carefully  satur- 
ated with  water. 
The  resu’to  v\ero  quite  as  satisfactory  in  Nos.  1 
and  2 as  in  the  otuer  lines  and  that  as  much  so 
during  the  [eiiod  of  ger  i.inati.iii,  as  during  the 
rest  of  the  season  of  veget.uion.  It  was  even  noticed 
that  under  nothing  but  sawdust,  the  seedlings  of 
Spruce  made  their  appearance  earlier  and  more 
completely  than  anywhere  else. 
In  the  spring  of  1888,  another  trial  was  made  of 
the  comparative  effects  on  Spruce  seed  of  sawdust 
alone  and  of  the  compost  above  mentioned,  No.  6. 
The  advantage  was  again  on  the  side  of  the  saw- 
dust, although  this  had  not  been  specially  watered 
before  using,  it  having  been  simply  exposed  to  tie 
rain  for  six  months. 
Finally,  in  the  same  year,  1888,  the  best  and 
most  conclusive  results  were  furnished  by  a trial 
made  on  Spruce  seed  of  very  tine  sawdust,  not 
made  from  species  such  as  Poplar,  but  from  0,ik. 
In  spite  of  its  being  watered  every  two  days,  the 
working  of  the  tannin  into  the  soil  in  no  way  re- 
tarded either  the  germination  of  the  seeds  or  the 
subsequent  growth  of  the  living 'plan  s. 
It  is  therefore  almost  certain  that  sawdust  derived 
from  almost  any  species  w’hatever  might  be  employed 
in  this  way,  provided  that  it  is  well  saturated  with 
water  at  the  time  of  its  being  used. 
When  the  sawings  are  maoe  in  lines,  rather  less 
than  a pint  of  dry  sawdust  is  required  tor  a foot 
of  trench 
DESTItUCTION  OF  MOLE  CRICKETS. 
Ever  since  I have  had  charge  of  the  Bellefontaine 
Nursery,  I have  had  to  deal  with  a formidable  in- 
vasion of  mole-crickets  which  has  given  me  the  op- 
portunity of  experimenting  on  the  various  methods  re- 
cominouded  by  experts  for  the  destruction  of  these  pests. 
AXith  the  e.xception  of  hunting  for  their  nests  and 
for  the  holes  in  which  they  take  nfug^.  the  only 
method  which  has  been  successful  is  that  which 
consists  in  placing  small  pots  with  smooth  and  al- 
most vertical  sides,  in  the  earth,  in  such  a manner 
that  the  insects  may  fall  into  them  in  the  course 
of  their  uoctunral  ramblings. 
To  place  these  traps  along  all  the  galleries  would 
be  practically  impossible  when  one  has  to  deal  with 
thousands  of  these  enemies.  In  such  a case  it  is 
found  best  to  proceed  as  follows. 
The  parts  most  infested  should  be  enclosed  with 
boards  placed  edgewise  and  buried  lA  inches  in  the 
soil,  about  1 inch  of  their  width  remaining  above 
ground.  When  the  area  thus  enclosed  is  moie  than 
120  square  yards,  it  should  be  divided  into  compart- 
ments by  a number  of  boards  similarly  disposed  to 
those  above  mentioned. 
It  is  then  all  along  the  sides  of  these  boards  in- 
side and  out  that  the  pots  are  placed  at  15  to  20 
ft.  distance  one  from  the  other,  taking  care  that  the 
edge  of  each  pots  is  a little  below  the  level  of  the 
soil  and  that  it  t itches  the  board  vt-ry  exactly. 
In  constructing  their  galleries  the  mole-crickets 
run  against  the  planks  and  turn  aside  along  these 
until  they  fall  into  the  traps  laid  for  them  and 
from  which  they  can  be  collected  every  moruino-. 
The  pots  of  the  shape  of  an  ordinary  plant  "pot 
are  the  best,  they  only  need  to  be  about  6 inches 
deep  and  about  the  same  width  at  the  top,  the 
bottom  having  a diameter  of  about  half  that.  The 
hole  to  receive  these  can  be  conveniently  made  with 
a piece  of  wood  previously  prepared  to  the  required 
sliape  and  size. 
It  is  perh.aps  siqieifluous  to  add  that  if  ordinary 
plant  pots  are  used,  the  hole  at  the  bottom  must 
he  plugged  up  with  something  sufficiently  hard  to 
prevent  the  insects  getting  through. 
Pots  with  thick  rims  should  not  be  used,  as  with 
these  the  edge  of  the  pot  cannot  ho  placed  exactly 
against  the  plank.  ^ 
Finally,  the  pots  must  be  kept  free  from  earth, 
leaves  and  rubbish  or  the  insects  may  escape. 
Trials  of  chemical  manures. 
The  results  were  not  conclusive, 
— Indian  Forester. 
TEA  AND  COFFEE  CULTIVATION  IN 
INDIA. 
{Board  of  Trade  .Tournal  for  March.'\ 
From  official  statistics  published  by  the'  Denart 
ment  of  Revenue  and  Agriculture  of  the  Indian 
Government  it  appears  that  the  area  under  tea 
in  India  at  the  end  of  1804  extended 
422,551  acres,  a little  less  than  two-thirds  of  this  area 
(nearly  64  per  cent.)  being  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Brahmaputra  and  Surma  which  contain  as  much 
268,796  acres,  15-1,284  in  Assam  (the  Brahni^trs 
Valley),  and  114,512  in  Cachar  and  Svlhet  Sc 
Surma  Valley).  In  extent  of  cultivation  Bengal 
comes  next,  though  the  acreage  is  much  smniw 
than  in  either  of  the  divisions  of  Assam,  the  Sea 
under  tea  being  121,121  acres  or  about  29  per  cenf 
or  the  whole.  In  the  North -AVestern  A-ovinces 
the  area  under  tea  in  1S'.)4  was  7 65“’  flc,-o=  • 
the  Panjah,  8,921  acres;  in  Madras,’  6,102  acres'^ 
and  in  Travancore  and  Cochin,  9,079  acres  There 
IS,  besides,  a smaller  area  of  880  acres  in  Burma 
The  area  under  tea  has  expanded  from  year  te 
year  without  a pause  during  the  last  10  veer. 
Ill  1885  the  area  was  283.925  acres;  in  1394  ,•(.  u„N 
to  «-2,551  the  h.cre.i  be  L to 
the  ratio  of  18'8  per  cent.  ° 
The  average  of  the  acreage  added  in  the 
five  years  was  very  much  larger  (17,770  LS 
than  the  average  increase  (12,444  acres)  in  the 
four  preceding  years.  The  largest  increase  of  a I 
it  may  be  observed  in  pa,ssing  was  in  the  two  yeS 
