i May, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 339 
| “manila, the price of sisal hemp has risen, and high prices are being paid for 
| tal fibre of suitable length (over 6 feet). Manila hemp is produced from the 
1 tof 
| the 
| test 
| "iste, and a product of great value is ignored. 
ON TOMATOES. 
] Ie By an INDIAN EXPERT. 
a 
1\ December, 1897, we published a very excellent article on tomato culture by 
| . Tardent, manager of Biggenden State Farm. As it is probable that 
hy farmers have not seen the article alluded to, and considering the very 
| a Value of the tomato as a most healthy and agreeable vegetable or fruit, 
7 © Speak of its undoubted market value, we now supplement that article by 
Written by an Indian expert in the Pioneer :— 
VARIETIES. 
} x T may say at once the varieties are very numerous, but by no means so 
} ;, tous as the perusal of half-a-dozen seedsmen’s catalogues would lead you 
t | laggy PPOSe- We all have our little failings, and your seedsman_is nothing 
| aoe Hence it comes that some tomato is one seedsman’s “ Conqueror,” 
| ofp, YS “Ne plus ultra,” or “ Robinson’s Invincible,” and as a simple matter 
eT | mace this tomato is Brown’s, Smith’s, and Robinson’s leading line in tomatoes. 
} #,"Y fine thing you will find it described, and it is probably quite true; but 
qt buy it from the three it is 100 to 1 you will get one kind of tomato. 
by 28 & practical illustration. Some eleven years ago a very fine tomato was 
aia i out, called “ Empress of India.” TI have grown that tomato ever since, 
in vis very fine—even to-day, brilliant in colour, beautifully shaped, and fine 
ih Hyaity and large. Now I find some difficulty in finding Empress of India 
«vee lists; it has undoubtedly slipped out of a lot altogether, but another 
| mq 78 pretty general, and variously termed “ Perfection”: that I have grown, 
J Wa nd it simply my true friend Empress of India tomato, and about a 
| {,..¢ Of a hundred of other kinds grown are largely synonymous. The 
fq ,o-Stower will do well, therefore, to select a real good type and stick to it, 
le qyrove the improvements so-called one or two at a time. and on no account 
“lided into a multitude of varieties, : 
