AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9395, 29 December 1893, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

SUGAR PLANTATIONS.

It is stated that the large sugar plantations on the Hawaiian Islands require more workmen than the native population can furnish, as they employ 20,000 labourers, of whom 9379 are Japanese and Chinese under contract. Altogether there are 30,000 Asiatics living on these islands. In addition many Hawaiians, Portuguese, and others are employed for various kinds of work, mostly as month or as day labourers. Several plantations are worked on the share system. For one-fifth of the sugar made from the cane a small planter leases a part of a plantation and agrees to plough, plant, and cultivate and harvest the crop, paying for hi« tools and labour from advances made by the landlord, to be deducted from the one-fifth share of the crop. This is very similar to the plan on which the Southern negroes work the American cotton plantations. ENGLISH FRUITGROWERS. Speaking at the Mansion House when the Fruiterers' Company presented its annual trophy of fruit to the Lord Mayor, Dean Hole said, "If England were deprived of her apple tarfc, for the first time he would contemplate emigration." The Dean was nob ab all complimentary bo English fruibgrowers. From long experience, he did nob hesitate to say that owner, occupier, and labourer were most profoundly ignorant of fruit. He though we had retrograded. He missed the ribstone pippins of his youth. The gardeners told him that the peaches and nectarines would nob grow upon the wall. It was their own idleness— they would not clean the trees. Leaving out Hereford and Devon, the orchards of England were a disgrace. He told how he planted six apple trees himself, many years ago, and they wore liberally tended. One year they brought in £40. He would like to see the degrees D.D., Doctor of Damsons ; and M.A., Master of Apples. INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AT LYONS. Arrangements have been made for holding a universal, international, and colonial exhibition at Lyons next year. lb is to include a section devoted to horticulture. There will be a permanent horticultural exhibition open from April to October, divided into sections, including exhibits relating to all branches of horticulture, arboriculture, and market gardening, as well as various temporary " coneours," which are to be held every month, and to last for a week. The several classes are open to anyone employed or interested in plant-culture, amateurs as well as professional florists, fruit-growers, market gardeners, etc. All countries are invited to exhibit. The exhibition is under the direction of M. Faure, the president, M. Gerard, vice-president, and M. Anb, Rivoire, secretary. Applications for space in the horticultural section should be directed to M. J. Claret, Palais Saint Pierre, and other communications to the Conseil Superieur do l'Exposition, Lyons. PEACH TREES FROM CUTTINGS. The American Fruit Growers' Journal claims thab a certain successful horticulturist in Louisiana has accomplished something unheard of before in thab section of the country. He propagates peaches from cuttings and has an unusually large and fine orchard, from which he derives a very handsome income. When the sap starts in the spring as shown by the swelling buds, he cuts off the end of the limb back to where it began growing the year before, as is shown by the ring around the limb. On this limb are the buds which make the blossoms. When ib has been cub off and sharpened ib is planted from 8 to 12 inches deep. Long rows of these twigs are planted each year, and the result has been very gratifying to the originator. He says he invariably gets good trees from one-half to three-fourths of the cuttings, and thab they are absolutely certain to produce the same fruib as the tree from which they were cut. He considers his plan much easier than budding and advises all fruib-growors to try ib. BLEACHING WITH SULPHUR. Ib appears that some of the Californian fruitgrowers have discovered that bleaching with sulphur has largely ruined the market for peaches and apricots, the drying and marketing of small green fruit having helped. The fault is said to be that the fruit is placed upon galvanised wire neb trays, and is lefb too long also exposed to the sulphur. The effect is to produce a poisonous chemical salt by the action of sulphur on the zinc of the galvanised wire. It is asserted that even if wooden trays or slats are used with sulphur the fruit will be impregnated with sulphuric acid to some extent, bub if used only in moderation, the quantity absorbed will nob be injurious to health. There can be no doubb whatever thab the appearance of the fruib is very gVeably improved by the sulphuring process; bub in the effort to secure the most perfect brightness of colour, the quality and wholesomeness of the product is impaired. Moral: Be careful nob to sulphur too heavily. TEST OF COOKING APPLES.

Under the heading of " A Cooking Tesb for Apples" the Journal of Horticulture lately published the following About) a

——————— — mi nrf I hundred varieties were tried, with 4h# ; following result:—Firab quality: Rich,, crisp, juicy, and briskly acid, some having' a distinct perfumed aroma. Bismarck, Th» Queen, School Master, Stirling Castle. Stone's or Loddingbon and New Northern Greening. Second, very good : Tender, juicy, sugary, and pleasantly sub-acid, soma briskly acid. Warner's King, Peasgooda Nonsuch, Cox's Pomona, Hawthornden, Small's Admirable, Prince Albert, Omar Pasha, Striped Beefing, Old Winter Pearmain, Holland Pippin, Tower of Glamis, Ecklinville Seedling, Cellini, Beauty of Kent, Gravenstein,, Blenheim Orange, ley's Seedling, Rymari and Normanton Wonder. Third group, the Codlin type, the best Being Ke3\vick Codlin, Lord Suffield, Pott's Seedling, Domino and Golden Spire. Fourth group: More or less unsatisfactory in flavour. The Crab, Cockpit, Betty Geeson, Lord Grosvenor, Annie Elizabeth, Lord Derby, and Sturmer Pippin. AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT.

An interesting experiment with vegetation is thus reported :—The air which is contained in the interstices of the soil is well known to be richer in carbonic acid gas than the atmosphere. In soil thab haa recently been manured with stable droppings, etc., the proportion may reach tea per cent. The experiments made by Boehm, some years ago appeared to show that a, large proportion of carbonic acid gas ,18 injurious to plants. Recently S. Jintyshaa re-studied the matter, growing plants in glass pots, and passing in, through a tube inserted in the bottom, air enriched with a known amount of carbonic acid gas. He found thab in almost all cases the result of supplying the roots and soil with air containing four, five, and twelve per cent, of carbonic acid gas was injurious to the plants experimented upon, namely, haricots, rye, and lupines., Wheat, however, ia an exception, and ib is possible that plants which do nob thryve ia recently-manured soil are particularly susceptible to this action.