126 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1891. 
fire, and a valuable wharf aud a huge stock 
of timber were also destroyed. The Fire Brigade 
under Mr. Superiutendent Beat worked splendidly. 
At times so hot wore the flames that while 
one party of mtn played on the fire anothor party 
had to torn their hoses on thsm to keep their clothes 
from taking flto. This fire was witnessed by some 
thousands of, persons who covered all til* heights sur- 
rounding the harbour, ond altogether the rpootacle 
was grand in the extreme. During the Bister mili- 
tary encampment at Sydney thire was a sad catas- 
trophe. A field day was being held, and at one atage 
of the operations a oultsr with a crew of two offloera 
and twelve men belonging to the Snbmerine Miiiere 
Corps left the wharf with two submarine torpedoes 
which they were to lay and fire (by moans of a Sm- 
mene dynamo whioh they carried in the boetl forihe 
edification of the Governor and others assembled to wit- 
ness the sight. A mine or torpedo of 1001b. gun- 
cotton was laid aud the boat drawn efl so as to tiro 
it when throii>h some unaccountable blunder the 
wire belonging to tho other torpedo of 150 lb. 
still hanging at the stern o! the Inat was placed 
in the dynamo. They cons'^qucntly fired tho 
mine still alongside the boat aud blew themselves 
to atoms. The two officers and two men were thus 
destrojed. The remaining ten men esesped with 
comparatively trifling injurin', although it is feared 
that one of them has been rendered permanently 
deaf by the force of the explosion. 
After a rosidenoo of twelve months at Milton sur- 
rounded by dairy farmers wo have oome to spend the 
remainder of mv furlough amongst tho orange groves 
and orchards of Parrsmatta. Fruit growing although 
not so profitable as dairy farming is still n great 
industry and is ir.croasing. The chief drawback seems 
to lie in the difficulty to secure lemnneralive prices 
for the fruit. The orchardists of California make 
large fortunes out of their fruit, but then they have 
a population of 62 millions of fruit eaters to sup- 
nly whereas our Australian population is only 
about 3i millions all told. Kfforts are being 
made to send the surplus fruit, oranges in parti- 
cular to Kuropo ; hut hitherto this business has 
been attended with great risk on account of the 
length of the voyage and other difficulties. A friend of 
mine Mr. Acres, has recently soutS.OOOcasea of oranges 
to London with very unsatisfactory results. As all of 
tho fruit arrived more or leas damaged from two 
causes— the skins of the oranges were not dry enough 
whan paokod iiad tho cool chambers of the ship were 
too damp. Still under proper oimditions Mr. Acrea 
feels sure that it is possible to deliver vast quantities 
of oranges in London and elsewhero in Luropo m 
sound 0 mditiou at the very time of the year (August, 
September and October) when there is least fruit 
there from other parts of tlio world to compote 
wish ours. In this neighbourhood the orchards vary 
iu size from 10 to 400 acres, aud in those are grown 
oranges, lemon*, apples, pears, poachu', apricots, 
plums, nectatinos, loqnats, quinces and pa'sion- 
fruit. The orange soasou is from ,Tuno to about 
November. Lemon* bear all the year round ; 
apricots etc., osllod summ'r frnit, oomo in from 
November to May. The trees are planted 100 
to th<r acre, and conm into partial braring iu abmit 
four years and into full bearing probably in teu years, 
at whioh time oscU tree ought to yiel.l a tolurn of 
fruit to tho value of fnur •liilliog* per tree, or £20 por 
acre : an orotard of 20 acres will thus yield a gross 
income of £4O0 per annum. The cost of working «uch 
a place would be about £150, leaving £2.50 uett t : tho 
owner. Dsar labour is tho great drawback iu this 
country whore "One man one vote" is aimed at, and 
where the majority being of the working class are 
doing their very best to keep out oho»p labour so ns to 
keep the rate of wages to a* high a point as possible. 
False policy, as, with cheap labour, m ist ol these very 
people who now work so hard could b re im.r omplcyers 
of labour, occupy more laud, make more money and 
enjoy life as we do in tho Tropics. A properly managed 
orobard must bo kept well worked and oonstautly 
ploughed and much like a well-mauaged coffee estate — 
be kept free from weeds. The trees must bo well 
t washed with mixtures ooutaiuing soft soap or sulphur 
or other chemical to destroy the various insects snd 
fungoid pests. Bone dust and chemical manures are 
necessary to supply the lack of lime or plioaphnte 
or other wants. Certain trees requiring oertaiu 
chemicals, «. g., oranges and lemons require phos- 
phate of lime, sulphate of lime and sulphate of 
ammonia : penohes require in addition to theso siilphste 
ofpotash&o. Unimproved orchard land costs in this 
district £30 per acre, and it is difficult to secure a 
good well-planted orchard at even £100 per acre- 
There is a good deal of hard work necessary on an 
orchard ; but to one capable of woiking a place on 
soientiho linos the work is most interesting as well 
os profitable. Thou'onds of acres ot splendid orchiirdi 
have gone cut of oiiliivstioii in conseqneuoe of the 
ignorance and the slothfalnees of tho owners. “Know- 
ledge is power” hero as well as elsewhere. The 
climate here is colder than that of Milton i we have 
already had several nights of hard frost. In Milton 
wo had no frost until July. I must now close. In 
my next I shall have something to say on the ques- 
tion of “ Ceylon Tea iu Australia.” 
HENRY R. PIGOTT. 
ECHOES OP SCIENCE. 
The Gov-rument of tho United States have appro- 
priated 'J,U0O dole, to assist some exporinionts iu tho 
produoiioii of rain, whioh arc abjiit to bo undertaken 
by Colonel Dyenfurib, of Wasbiegtou, daring this 
inonili in tho Stat* of Western Kainas. Tho piinoiplo 
of tile experimeuts is the well-known effect of ooa- 
cussiou in producing rain. It has often been remarked 
tliat artillery fire in battle lias brought down showers 
of rain; and Colonel Dyoufurth prupuses to send up 
balloons filled with oxygen and hydrogen gas into the 
atmosphere, an.l explode them by means of un electric 
spark sent along a wire a’ tached to the bsllo ms. Tliese 
elevated oauoussiouB will also he assisted by dynamite 
explnsions on the ground. Rain is a great desideratum 
ill the Western I’rairie States, and lieuoa the Ooveru- 
nient support. 
A new machine for taking the oontour of a country 
iu a short time is iu uour.se of ooiistructiou. It is a 
bicycle which is simply wheeled on .theground, and 
nsitrisesover a hillocdusceiids into a hollow, traces 
the curve ot tho surface on a sheet of paper by means 
of an adjusted pouoii. The tlioory of the machine 
is too mathematiral to enter into ; but engineers in 
trying climates will be glad to avail themselves of 
au instrument so convenient 
Mr. E. Deville, the Surveyor General of Canada, has 
introducoil a speedy method of surveying in the Kooky 
Mouulain region of the Uominiou. It is to pliotogrspli 
the oouotry by a specially designed camera, whioh is 
carefully lovelled and adjusted. Ortho-ciiromatic 
gelatine plates were found to give tho best reMUlt*. 
Jlr. Deviiie considirs the photographs as aoourato 
as a plan which hai beea laid down by moans of a 
very good protractor. Tho method is likely to bo 
useful in military operations. — Olobe. 
CONSTITUENTS OF COCONUT MILK, IN 
UNKIl’K AND RIFE NUTS. 
Our readers will observe, by the following extract, 
that the weight of the liquui in unripe coconuts 
ranges from 230 to 383 grams, while iu ripe fruits 
the weight of the milk w..s reduced to betwoeu 
lO'J and Jol. Tho explanation, ot oourse, is 
tho salidifyiog into kernel iu ripe ooeunuti 
of a very large proportion of tho aubstauoes 
whioh were liquid m the young fruit. The pro- 
portion of water in the olear milk of young coco- 
nuts ranged from 01 per oont to 96, whioh in tho 
turbid milk of ripe coconuts was reduced to 91, 
The socobarino matter in tho milk of young oooo- 
nuts is in the form of gluooso, varying from 3'45 
per cent to 4‘&8. In the milk of the ripe nut, 
