July  i,  1896.] 
TilK  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
29 
substitution  of  twocillcdum  for  tvvceiUccIcc  is  only 
another  instance  of  tho  reactioiuivy  tendencies  of 
the  Brokers'  Association.  For  years  it  has  been  a 
grievance  with  ihc  vast  majority  of  the  Mincing  Laac 
drug  mci chants  that  only  brokers  are  cligiblo  as  arbi- 
trator;-. It  is  lu'toiious  tliat  disinUes  consU.ntly  arise 
in  which  the  presence  of  a lueivhaut,  a luanufactiirei , 
a lawyer,  or  an  rnialyst  upon  Die  Arbitration  Board 
would  be  of  great  advantage;  and  wo  hope  wc  shail 
not  be  thought  w-anting  in  respect  for  an  eminent 
fraternity  if  we  h ut  that  brokers  are  not  always 
possessed  of  a reasonable  clcaierits.ry  knowledge  of 
the  articles  upon  which  they  are  called  to  arbitrate. 
Furthermore,  the  Mincing  Lane  organism  is  complex. 
Thereare  wheels  within  wheels,  and  it  is  whispered  that 
there  have  been  cases  in  which  di.s])utants  \»'ere  merely 
“ men  of  straw  ” the  b!oker.s  whom  they  appoiiited  to 
attribute  on  their  behalf,  ovrice  versa.  For  those  and 
many  other  reasons  tliere  is  a widespread  distrust 
of  tiro  present  arbitration  system,  and  the  sooner 
the  oligarchy  that  controls  it  open-s  its  doors  to  some 
of  tho  Mincing  Lane  “Uitlandcrs”  w'ho  do  the  hulk 
of  the  business,  but  are  now  without  voice  in  the 
settlement  of  their  “undoubted  grievances,”  the  better. 
We  are,  therefore,  glad  to  hc.u'  that  the  Loiidon 
Chamber  of  Commerce  propose  to  call  a meeting  of 
members  connected  with  the  drug-trade  to  discuss  tho 
arbitration  question,  and  we  urge  all  those  who  desire 
a fairer  way  of  settling  disputes  to  bo  present  at  that 
meeting. — Vhanist  and Drwjijist.lslvby  II. 
♦ ^ 
OllA^^GES  IN  CALIFORNIA. 
The  Los  Angeles  Salwdaij  fJcpras  of  California 
had  in  a recent  issue  a report  of  a visit  to,  an 
interview  with,  a well-known  Caiiforniaii  orange 
grower,  at  his  orchard  in  Duarte.  Mr.  Thomson  is 
the  originator  of  the  ‘improved,  or  Thomson,  navel 
orange  —a  fruit  that  is  fast  supplanting  the  old  navel. 
It  lias  all  the  good  qualities  of  the  Washington 
navel,  the  Mediterranean  sweet,  the  St.  Michael  and 
the  Malta  blood.  It  has  a delicious  flavour,  a thin 
skin,  a delicate  colour  and  the  best  shipping  qiialiiy. 
Tlic  question  of  how  this  new  variety  was  produced 
brought  out  an  illustration  by  Mr.  Thomson.  VvMiip- 
ping  out  a pruning  knife,  he  cut  two  buds  and  a 
branch  from  a tree.  lie  cut  tho  buds  in  half,  united 
the  tw'o  halves  and  iilaced  them  under  a slit  in  the 
bark. 
‘ There  you  have  it,’  said  he.  ‘ I took  the  buds 
from  two  varieties  and  made  them  grow  ; did  the 
same  thing  with  two  other  varieties,  and  tliey  grew. 
Then'  I took  the  buds  from  those  now  products  and 
did  the  same  thing  with  I hem.  The  result  was  a 
combination  of  all  the  four  varieties  of  oranges.’ 
■ Orange  trees  are  as  peculiar  as  people,’ said  Thom- 
son ; ‘ they  have  habits  and  inoods  and  dispositions 
the  same  as  individuals.” 
As  an  illustration  he  pointed  out  one  tree  that  al- 
ways bore  fruit  more  abundantly  than  those  right 
around  it,  though  it  did  not  dilfer  from  tho  others  in 
appearance  and  the  soil  was  the  same.  Anotiior  thiee 
b-jre  fruit  of  a richer  coljiir  tlian  its  neiglibours,  yet 
the  conditions  seemed  no  different.  Tho  orchadist 
told  how  fast  the  trees  developed,  and  he  pointed  out 
trees  loaded  with  fruit  tliat  had  been  budded  less  than 
two  years.  Tlio  branches  wore  weighed  down  with 
the  golden  spheres,  and  the  oranges  wore  bright  and 
clean  as  though  polished  at  a dago  fruit  siaud. 
‘ Will  there  bo  much  development  in  tho  orange  in 
tiie  future  '/  ’ was  asked. 
‘ Just  as  much  in  the  next  twenty  years  as  in  the 
past  twenty”  was  Thomson’s  reply.  While  ho  con- 
fessed lie  had  gained  some  experience  in  his  work,  he 
freely  admitted  that  others  who  came  after  liini 
would  add  to  the  quality  and  character  of  the  citrus 
fruit. 
All  this  time  Thomson  picked  specimens  and  loaded 
up  his  visitors.  Everybody  was  weighed  down  with 
the  best  in  the  orchard.  ’The  Ohio  girl,  who  just  a 
month  ago  beggeu  for  tho  privilege  of  picking  just  one 
orange  from  a Lioo,  tliat  she  might  bring  hack  Jiast  of 
the  exploit,  was  asking  to  be  relieved  of  her  load — 
that  is,  :dio  expressed  herself  as  well  as  she  could  be- 
tween mouthfuls  of  the  delicious  fruit. 
‘nowmiicli  did  you  malio  last  year’?’  the  Monrovia 
editor  asked  Thomson. 
• I'T-om  seven  acres  I sold  -1,000  dols.  worth  of  fruit 
and  prices  were  just  half  what  they  were  anv  previous 
yc.ir.’ 
liast  year  Thomson  sold  grafts  of  Ids  new  navel  at 
‘2'bU  dols.  each,  and  the  previous  year  they  were  in  d-;- 
mand  at  5 dols. 
‘ Some  people  say  my  new  variety'  is  no  better  than 
the  old  ; but  why  Uo  they  pay  me  ten  times  as  much 
for  the  grafts  if  that  is  the  case  V’ 
Nobo'.iy'  tried  to  answer,  for  it  was  not  necessary. 
B.  C.  AFRICA:  CURRENT  CHAT. 
It  is  calculated  that  there  are  1,750,003  plants 
in  the  Cholo  District  alone. 
Mr.  Bradshaw’s  crop  is  estimated  at  about  20 
tons  p.i-rehnient. 
iMr.  White  (Cholo)  has  planted  out  100  acres  this 
season. 
Mr.  Livingstone  .at  Ma-gomero  has  planted  out 
about  70,000  plants  this  season  Pride  of  India  has 
been  planted  thiity  by  thirty  as  a shade  tree. 
Mr.  Mitchell  at  Namiwavva  has  planted  up  about 
00  acres.  Now  that  his  assistant — Mr.  Greenshields, 
— has  arrived,  Mr.  IMitchell  will  proceed  with  tlie 
opening  up  of  his  Pahn  Stream  Estate. 
Mr.  Israel  has  about  150  acres  planted  out  at 
Chipande,  Chiradzlo.  lie  has  pa,rtly  removed  his 
maiden  crop. 
We  hear  tiiat  Mr.  Keillor  lias  also  partly  stripped 
off  his  maiden  crop  as  he  was  afraid  of  his  bushes 
ovorboaring. — Central  African  Planter,  April. 
DR.  WATT’S  REPORT  ON  WHITE.  ANTS. 
(COMMUNlC.VTUn.) 
If  the  remainder  of  Dr.  Watt’s  notes  on  pests 
that  infest  the  tea  bush  are  of  as  little  value  as  those 
on  white  ants,  the  tea  planting  community  will  have 
derived  very  little  benefit  from  his  visit  to  tho  lea 
districts,  and  it  is  high  time  that  an  expert  should 
he  appointed  to  bo  controlled  by  tho  tea  industry 
itself  alone.  Y^our  Hare  Street  contemporary',  no 
doubt,  holds  a brief  from  Dr.  Watt  to  echo  his  trum- 
pet on  subjects,  regarding  which  its  portly  propri- 
etor can  know  hut  little,  if  anything,  beyond  the 
uestrutcion  of  a few  office  almirahs  ! I doubt  ex- 
ceedingly if  he  ever  saw  a tea  bush  growing,  except, 
perhaps,  in  the  glass  case  in  the  Crystal  Palace.  Some 
time  ago  I ventured  to  say,  that  all  those  supposed 
scientiMc  reports  amounted  to  very  little  in  tho  long 
run,  beyond  affixing  an  unpronounceable  name  to  the 
Ijarticular  post  enquired  about,  and  this  chapter  on 
white  ants  bears  out  all  I wrote.  There  are  veiyfew 
planters,  one  would  think,  who  could  not  have  answered 
the  question  he  puts.  Whether  they  will  attack  “living 
as  well  as  dead  wood”  ? At  any'  rate,  there  is  sel- 
dom a day  but  evidence  is  put  before  them,  and 
it  is  their  own  fault  if  they  don’t  grasp  what  tho 
eye  secs.  With  regard  to  remedies,  one  of  them, 
that  the  bushes  should  be  pruned  up  the  stem  for 
a space  of  three  or  four  inches,  carries  absurdity  on 
its  face,  as  every  planter  aims  at  getting  a large 
number  of  stems  instead  of  one,  so  that  the  sap  may 
flow  freely.  The  tendency  of  the  indigenous  tea  is  to 
run  up  into  a tree,  and  in  order  to  stop  this  as  much 
as  possible  a bash  has  to  be  pruned  in  its  infancy, 
and  if  the  bush  still  persists  in  attempting  to  become  a 
tree,  the  recourse  is  to  what  is  known  as  “collor” 
pruning,  of  which  a great  deal  more  is  done  in  Assam 
piopcr  than  in  Cachar,  Sylhet  or  the  Doors.  The 
reason  of  this  is,  most  probably,  that  the  indigenous 
variety  was  first  favourite  in  planting  out  new  gardens 
in  Assam,  many  years  before  it  become  the  rage  in  tho 
other  districts.  Here  then,  we  have  a remedy  recoin- 
mended  against  all  laws  of  nature,  and  without  any' 
consideration  as  to  after  results  to  the  plantation. 
Many  practical  planters  will,  no  dmibt,  have  observed 
that  if  an  indigenous  bush  has  been  nursed  in 
coll.ir  pruning  and  has  only  the  single  stem  re- 
cc mnu  i.dc'l  in  the  report,  that  if  allowed  to  go  on  for 
a year  or  so  with  ordinary  light  pruning,  strong 
