374 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1899. 
there you are. I may tell you that when one of the prominent members of 
the British Beekeepers’ Association was over here during the Chicago Nxpost- 
tion he stopped at my place for awhile, and I was showing him this contrivance. 
Tt was in the morning, and I had little hope that I would be able to give hima 
practical demonstration of its usefulness. In going through the orchard, 
which was composed mostly of old trees—my bees were in the orchard—there 
happened to be what an Englishman calls a “ cast,” and evidently it had been 
there all night, and it was worth having. I took the stick and went through 
the simple operation with that little cluster, and in less than ten minutes the 
cast was upon my chimney-sweeper’s brush. He was so much interested in it 
that he wrote me, and asked me to give him a full description. This device 
will not cost more than 10 cents, and a boy of twelve years old could make one. 
The only thing that costs anything is a tin ferrule, worth about 5 cents. I 
would recommend every one of you here to try it, and I believe if you try it 
one season you will never dispense with its use.” 
ny Tropical Industries. 
MANURING OF TROPICAL PLANTS. 
PINEAPPLES. 
Sanpy loain soils, but rich in humus, and with a hard-pan clay sub-soil, are 
best suited for pineapple culture. The roots of this plant generally run 
horizontally at a small distance (1 to 2 inches) beneath the surface of the 
ground, and, in order to prevent fertilising materials or atmospheri¢ precipita- 
tions from penetrating into the deeper layers of the soil, the presence of a 
pretty high, hard-pan bottom is an important factor in the growth of the 
plant. Great caution should be exercised in clearing pineapple-fields of weeds, 
Pineapples must be manured liberally with all three of the essential 
plant-food ingredients ; they respond most readily to liberal nitrogen fertilisa- 
tion ; if lime is deficient in the soil, it should always be supplied before plant- 
ing. No definite rules can be laid down as regards the forms in which the 
several plant-food ingredients should be applied. Animal fertilisers, guano, 
dried blood, bone-meal, cotton-seed meal, phosphates, sulphate of potash, and 
kainit can be employed as sources of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. In 
applying stable-manure or compost, care should be taken that these substances 
are brought upon the field in a well-rotted condition; as a general rule, all of 
the plant-food ingredients should be supplied in as soluble a form as possible, 
Fertilisers that are still fermenting are apt to destroy the delicate roots of the 
lant. 
y The plants should be set 1°8 feet apart; this will allow each plant sufficient 
room for proper development, at the same time forcing the leaves to grow in a 
more upright position, thereby affording the necessary shade to the plant 
during a portion of the day. Experience has shown that fruit from plants 
‘grown at the distance mentioned are not smaller than when the distance 
between the plants is 4°30 feet. Moreover, the closer setting out at distances 
of 1:8 feet helps to keep down the growth of weeds between the rows. 
This fruit is apt to be attacked by the “red spider,’ a pest that is 
generally found upon the leaves at the germinal spot. For its destruction, 
Mr. ‘Th. E. Richards, of Eden, Florida, recommends 1s |b. sulphur and 20 Ib. 
lime, which are to be mixed with 24 to 26 gallons of hot water. ‘This mixture 
is then diluted 35 by adding cold water, and poured upon the plant at the 
germinal spot. ‘lhe remedy should be applied as often as necessary. 
lutein 
