936 
The tftOHCAL AGRICULTUftlST. 
(June i, i892_ 
iiig, the earth is well ploughed and harrowed and 
tho seed sown in September. About six weeks later 
the young plants are transplanted about two feet 
apart, ana tho hold is kept free from weeds, and 
otherwise carefully attended to until February, 
when the nlants are almost ripe. Tho crop is ga- 
thered in March and April. It is tlien 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. Those hands are 
then hung up in rows upon bamboo polos under 
long sheds, which aro open on all sides, and when 
they aro almost dry they aro piled up on the ground 
and allowed to ferment. The leaves are then dried 
again and packed into bales for shipmoiit to Manilla, 
wliero Uiey are repacked and pressed into hales for 
export, or sent lo the factories to he converted into 
cigars and cigarettes. It is not sold by weight at 
the plantation but by tho which contains forty 
hands. All tho 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 of the leaves. In Manilla there are 
twelve largo tobacco factories, one of which, La 
Blor do Isabela, the factory of the Compania General, 
manufactures seventy-five brands of cigars, ten brands 
of cheroots, six gnvdes of cut tobacco, and eight 
brands of cigarettes. These twelve factories give 
employment to about 11,000 persons. Besides those 
there are numerous small factories owned by natives 
and Ohineso. Corn holds a very unimportant place 
among the agricultural products of the Philippinoe, 
although it is cultivated to some extent. All tho 
corn produced is that knowni as maize or Indian 
com. The method of cultivation is .similar to that 
followed in more advanced countries, but tho imple- 
monts used are of a very primitive character. As a 
rule the land is ploughed with a sharpened stick 
drawn bv a buffalo, after wliich a heavy wooden 
frame, about four feet square with long wooden teeth 
on the under side, is drawn over tho ground to break 
tho lumps. The com is then hood 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 glow without cultivation, and are 
gathered by the natives in the hills and oven within 
the limits of the cities and towns, wlio bring them to 
Manilla and sell them in the streets and imirkets. 
Consul Webb says that no attempt has ever been 
made to export any of those fruits except a few 
mangoes, wnicli are sent every year to Ilong-Kong 
and other neighbouring ports, although it is quite 
probable that under a proper system of cultivation, 
rafting, drc., some remarkably good fruit might bo 
evoloped that could be preserved or canned, and 
sold at a gieat profit in Europe and tho United 
States,— t/ya/'art/ of the Society of Acts. 
CALIFUKNIAN FRUIT FIIODUCTIOX. 
A correspondent, writing to tlie Knnumiiste Fruu^iaiH 
says that at the present time California is one of 
the principal fruit-producing centres of the world. 
It is more particularly in the southern part of tho 
Btate that tnis industry is the most developed, and 
Sacramento is the centre of it. It produces all kinds 
of fruits — pears, peaches, figs, grapes, tVc. The pear 
which is one of the choicest and most easily trans- 
portable of fruits, was the first to attract tho 
attention of the grower, and was cultivated on a very 
considerable scale. I’he pear tree in Califoinia bears 
the end of three years, but it is only in full 
bearing at the end of six or seven. An acre of ground, 
well planted and carefully attended to, should yield 
at the expiration of thislporiod about n.5,(M)0 lb. weight 
of fruit, worth i:2lK). Grapes are of three descrip- 
tions— those for the table, .for wine making, and for 
drying. Each description 1ms its own special centre 
of production. Grapes for drying are grown in tho 
valley ©f Ban Joaquin, those for wine making, furthur 
the north, and tho table fruit is cultivated in tho 
neighbourhood of Stockton and Sacramento. South- 
ern California is distinguished by very VRri< A a imates, 
which admit of all descriptions of fru»t culture. 
The choicest kind of table grapes are those known 
as Tokay A San Francisco paper — tlie California — 
states that over an ai’ea of fifteen acres planted with 
Tokay grapes, the vines being foiu’teen years old and 
well tended, the gross yield was valued at nearly 
£1,000. Deduction l)eing made of tho expense of 
cultivation, irrigation, transport, aud commissions, 
the net product is estimated at iT,73H, that is at the 
rate of t'1‘24 per aero. This, however, is stated to 
be an exceptional case. After grapes come the figs. 
Tliese latter arc cultivated in very large quantities 
in California, and there aro many different descrip- 
tions. An attempt has been made to acclimatise 
the true Suivrna fig, hut it has not hitherto been 
a success, although fruits have beeu grown very 
nearly reseinhling it but inferior in p crfuuie. Tho 
cliojcest variety and the one most easily obtained 
is the fig called the “white Adriatic.” At Ventura, 
where it is moat auccossfnlly 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 yiekf will amount to about 
1,250 cart loads of fruit, which at the rate of one 
cent, a pound will poduce an amount of ,C50,()O0. 
The fruit growers of CaMfornia having a supply of 
fruits greater than is necessary for homo coustimp- 
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 tho fruit season an exhibition of choice 
fruits is sent over the principal lines of the Union 
in a Mpecially constructed wagon, which is called 
“California on wheels.” I’lie cost of this travelling 
exhibition is borne liy the Board of Trade of tho 
Btato of California ond tho Southern Uacitic Com- 
pany. At the same time the Board of 7’rade supports, 
not without considerable expense, at Ban Francisco, 
a permanont exhibition of fresh fruits. '^I’he Eastern 
Ktatos. the large cities such as New York, Boston, 
Bliiladelpbia, and more in the west Chicago, and in 
the South Bt. Louis, equally receive regular supplies 
of fruits. Railways have been constructed to unite 
the principal producing centres of California with the 
great transcontinental lines, and to carry the fruits 
rapidly from one end of the country to the oth r. 
But no matter liow abundant the yield may be, and 
the cheapness of transport, fresh fruits are stUl a 
luxury, aud^ 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 thoevapora- 
tion system, and tho fruit was then packed in boxes. 
This industry has had an ononnous development, 
and the manufacturers of tin boxes in California 
are considered among tiio most skilful and the richest 
in tho world. Blnce 18H5 the yield of fruit has been 
HO abundant that the Sf ecial appai-atns for artificial 
evaporation have been insufificieut, and recourse has 
therefore been had to natural evaporation i)y solar 
heat, but the latter system has not given, everywhere, 
satisfactory results. In the greater part, however, 
of California, the air is extremely dry, and tho de- 
siccation of fruits under the influence of the sun is, 
8^lyfl tho Kvonomiste, absolutely perfect .— of the 
Society of Ai tn. 
TIIK FKI’FKRMINT INDUSTRY OF ST 
JOSFUII (!OUNTV, MICiriGAN.^^ 
Next to Wayne country, New York, St Joseph 
country in Michigan is tlie largest peppermint pro- 
ducing locality in tho United States. As early as 
1S-1() farmers legan to cultivate the plant in this 
locality and the industry has continued to grow ever 
since. Most every farmer thereabout now raises some 
peppermint, Imt usually in connection with other 
crops, while a few devote their whole time to its 
cultivation. By far tho principal grower is Mr. Henry 
* F'rom the rhaitnawiUic(,d JL'ni, April 1. 
