raised above the surrounding surface from eight to twelve inches, at distance varying according to the strength of the soil, from three by four to four by five; thus the rows are four feet apart, as with Indian corn, and the hill in the row three feet distant from each other.

The plants are allowed to stand unmolested till they begin to throw out suckers, which must be carefully removed by hand, as often as they appear. By hoeing or ploughing all weeds must be kept under, as with corn or cabbages in a garden; when the plant has thrown out eight or twelve well sized leaves, according to the strength or richness of the soil, it must be topped; by which is meant, if the ground be rich, twelve leaves may be left; if poor, only six or eight; the best way is to leave only six to ten. The plants being kept free from worms or caterpillars, which prey upon them, are left to stand until they are perfectly ripe ;-this is determined by the thickness of the leaf, and the crackling sound produced by breaking it; they are then cut with a knife, and placed upon poles, horizontally exposed to the sun for several days, till they die, and become of a yellow or brownish hue; care meantime being taken that they be not exposed to rains, or very heavy dews.

From the field, hanging on the same poles, they are removed into loghouses, and hung upon the roofs. Under them, during wet weather, slight fires are kept up, the smoke ascending from which dries the stem and prevents mould; after hanging thus three or four weeks, the plants are, when in a very dry state, taken from the poles, and carefully packed on the dry floor, and covered with straw, to guard them from frost. If the winter be very wet, they are several times hung up, and dried partially with the smoke of wood fires, and replaced in bulk. Finally, in the month of May, the plants are all hung up, and allowed to remain till a tolerably warm and moist day, when they are taken down, and the leaves being kept from the stalk, are tied up in bundles of six to seven leaves each, with a leaf binding them together, and are thus packed carefully into hogsheads-1,200 to 1,500 lbs. are put into each hogshead, the but ends of the tobacco touching the cask, and the points directed inwards to the centre.

Smoking is injurious; and if the season be sufficiently dry and warm, it is better to cure the tobacco entirely by the aid of the sun.

INDIGO.

If Indigo can be cultivated as cheaply at Natal as it now grows luxuriantly, it will be another important article of Export. The consumption of England alone is about 2,250,000 lbs. per annum. It should add immensely to the wealth of Natal; I have no doubt that with good laws as regards laborers we shall compete with India.

The coloured people of Natal, although capable of industry, are not yet habituated to the cultivation of this comparatively minute plant. It is also more uncertain than cotton, more expensive in its manufacture, and rather deleterious to the health. Mr. Indigo Wilson at Natal has tried it, and his samples have been declared to be worth 3s. 4d. to 3s. 6d. per b. He has this year (1849) fifteen acres under cultivation and therefore we shall soon be able to speak positively. The process of fermentation, drying, &c., on any scale, entails heavy expense; and while labor may be so well employed in cotton and other cultivation, that of Indigo being one of speculation, is not to be recommended to the attention of the RECENT emigrant. Such pursuits will be followed in due course. The soil in many places is covered with this indigenous plant; so that on this score there is no difficulty; but planters want experience and laborers want training.

PLANTING AND PREPARING INDIGO.

The land must be perfectly clear from weeds. If moist, the land must be made perfectly dry. Seed should be narrow drilled a foot apart. Rainy season is the best for sowing, otherwise the seed heats before germination can take place. The crop is fit for cutting in two or three months, and this may be repeated in rainy seasons every six weeks. The plants must not be allowed to come into flower, as the leaves then become dry and hard, and the Indigo is not so valuable. The plants must not be cut in dry weather, otherwise they will not spring again. A crop in India usually lasts two years.

Being cut, the herb is first steeped in a vat till it becomes macerated, and has parted with its coloring matter. Then the liquor is let off into another vat, in which it undergoes the peculiar process of beating to cause the fecula to separate from the water. This fecula is let off into a third vat, where it remains for some time; and is then strained through cloth bags, and evaporated in shallow wooden boxes placed in the shade. Before it is perfectly dry, it is cut into small pieces of an inch square, and finally packed in boxes or sewn up in bags for sale. It is probable that Indigo may be cultivated with greater certainty in Natal, than in India, where they are more subject to hailstorms, which injure the plants. In Bengal there are more than three hundred Indigo manufacturers. The quantity manufactured in India now is about eight and a half to nine million pounds weight, worth from £2,700,000 to £3,000,000. In 1828, the produce was twelve million pounds; and yet fifty years ago the manufacture of Indigo in India had not been attempted, all being imported from Spanish America. Thus there is hope again for Natal.

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'Mr. Wilson, who has grown the most Indigo in the Colony, states that his attention was first forcibly drawn to the cultivation of this material, by some seed imported by Mr. Kenlock, from India; and after a few experiments, the writer succeeded in manufacturing some samples, and this encouraged him to try indigo planting on a more extensive scale. For this purpose he allowed all the plants to run to seed, and intended to plant equal quantities of Bengal and native indigo. He states, that the country abounds in a variety of species of indigo, which he found to be rich and abundant, and to be used by the natives, who call it Umpekumbeto. On more extended investigation, he found that Natal possesses more species of indigo than the whole world besides. Hence he infers that this part of the African continent is its native soil and climate, where it would thrive if cultivated. He had obtained from the 1-140th part of an acre, the proportion of 300lb. of indigo per acre; and had ascertained that the plants would cross successfully. He observes, 'It is along the coast that we must chiefly look for cultivable land, at least for cotton and similar productions; which has also the advantage of being near the port. It also has the advantage of an abundance of natives, that great blessing of Natal, which a great many people seem anxious to have removed; but without them, though the country were as fruitful as an Eden, it would avail us nothing. The time is fast approaching when we shall hear the colonists saying, 'I wish there were more natives.' He adds, The growth of indigo is said to be somewhat uncertain, but in my opinion, if cultivated in conjunction with cotton, it will not be subject to so many casualties, and will be found a valuable article of exportation." He says, Just fancy from 300 to 500 lbs. of indigo per acre, at 5s. per pound.”*

*The price is too high, 3s. 6d. is high enough to calculate on.-Ed.

SILK CULTURE.

"

From the decided success which attended the efforts in Silk culture of Mr. Olmsted, a gentleman of East Hartford, in Connecticut, nine of the United States offered premiums in encouragement of the culture, and it is more than probable that several other states have since followed the example. One of the advocates of silk culture, in alluding to the (so called) "mania prevalent in favour of it, says, time was when the incipient cultivation of cotton was doubtless described as a cotton mania ;" and yet, after a comparitively short period in the history of mankind, one State alone, that of Georgia, had already achieved an annual cotton export, valued at no less than five millions of dollars. In respect to silk, one of the early experiments of Mr. Olmsted was made upon one-eighth of an acre of land, cultivated and planted with the mulberry 3 feet apart, on the previous year. The results were 1194 lbs. of mulberry leaves, which fed 32,000 silk-worms, producing nine bushels of cocoons, from which we obtained nine pounds of silken material fit for sewing silk. Subsequent trials were still more satisfactory, and Mr. Olmsted was at length able to pronounce that even in early days 100 lbs. of sowing silk, worth ten dollars per lb., might be obtained from a single acre, making an annual produce of more than £200 value, in English money, besides supplying profitably the thinnings of the mulberry plantation for a market.

More recent accounts describe the culture as spreading far and wide from Maina to Florida. The mulberry tree chiefly in request is the Moras Multicaulis, commonly known as the Chinese mulberry, of which millions of cuttings are sold during a single season. One successful grower is known to have sold 500,000 plants or cuttings in two years, and to have made 30,000 dollars by his labours.

We need scarcely assure our horticultural readers, that every kind of mulberry thrives admirably in this colony, and may be grown to any extent.

It may be remarked too that silk culture is an employment in which people of all ages and conditions and both sexes, may find amusement, recreation, and even solace. Besides which, in recommending the cultivation of the mulberry, we need feel no hesitation; for the tree being of rapid growth, is calculated to become quickly ornamental, to every rural dwelling and homestead, and its extension in gardens, orchards, or plantations, would be the means of providing a large present supply of wholesome and delicious fruit, and a most certain means of ensuring the future production of a much admired material, and a pre-eminently valuable article of export. We hope the day is not far distant when every rural inhabitant of South Africa will add to their vines and fig-trees, the cultivation of the mulberry, and some knowledge of the manufacturing worm so wonderfully appointed to provide for the personal wants and commercial uses of mankind.

(The above shows the hopes entertained of growing silk in the Cape Colony. At Natal there is reasonable hope; frost is less common than in Italy or Murcia; the wild mulberry is common; there is no doubt that this article will succeed to admiration. A commencement has been made in Mauritius.)

A silk plant, in the cup something between cotton and dandelion, exists in the colony and deserves attention. The fibre is strong, three inches in length, and would answer it is supposed for Hats, &c.

In 1842 the quantity of raw silk consumed in England was 3,146,705 lbs., of waste, knubs and husks, 1,343,815 lbs., and 246,651 lbs. of thrown, total 4,757,171 lbs. Averaging the price at 15s., we have the amount of £3,567,877 sterling. India is the only English possession whence we derive a pound

of this article of such vast importance. And yet the Cape, perhaps, might produce the whole of it. Remembering wool, let it not be thought a rash expectation that Cape silk will yet vie with China, Indian, Modena or Valencia, or Brussa. The Cape soil is exactly suited for the growth of the mulberry tree. Miller observes that it delights in a rich light earth, and where there is depth of soil. In a stiff soil, or in shallow ground, whether of chalk, clay, or gravel, the trunk and branches are commonly covered with moss, when the fruit is small, ill-tasted, and ripens late. Abercrombie says, the mulberry thrives well in a deep sandy loam, and succeeds in a fertile mellow ground, having a free situation in the full sun. It, therefore, appears that soil and sun are particularly in favour of the cultivation at the Cape. In England the mulberry is planted in grass plots, or pleasure grounds, as a standard tree, but sometimes as an espalier or wall tree. Its propagation is more successful with layers, cuttings, or graftings, than with seed. In Spain and India, and also China, the white or silkworm mulberry is always propagated by cuttings, three or four being planted together so as to grow up into a bush. At Munich, where the white mulberry is propagated extensively for feeding the silkworm, the finer varieties are grafted on the common seedlings. The dwarf mulberry thrives quite as well as in China; but the common silkworm is not in the colony. Among the wild moths, which spin their cocoons among the shrubby plants of Africa, is a species nearly as large as the atlas, whose food is the leaves of the Protea Argentea. This worm might be turned to some account, as it resembles the insect of India which spins the strong silk known by the name tussack. Home consumption in 1811, raw, 3,146,705 lbs.; waste, knubs, and husks, 1,343,815 lbs.; thrown, 266,651 lbs.; in 1849, the quantity imported into England was about 5,264,425 lbs., and the value about £4,000,000. Raw and thrown silk, unless dyed, is duty free.

FLAX AND HEMP.

We have been shown within the last few days a sample of New Zealand Flax, (Phormium tenax) grown on the farm Orange Grove, on the Kareiga River, Eastern Colony, Cape of Good Hope, in this district. This sample, which is said to be of good quality, has been raised without any difficulty, or particular attention, this climate being, as far as can be judged, particularly suited to its production. Of a million cwt. of Flax, used by the home manufacturers, more than two thirds are obtained from Russia, and hence, the importance of introducing this valuable product into those colonies which are suited to its growth. Flax seed, usually called Linseed, is also valuable in the English market, while for the oil from the crushed seeds there is also a constant and remunerative demand.

On this important article Mr. Barrow writes thus:-"The Cape might also be rendered valuable to the state on which it may be dependent, by the cultivation of the different kinds of hemp for cordage and canvass, and which might be carried on to an unlimited extent. The Canabis Sativa, or common hemp, has been long planted here as a subtitude for tobacco, but its cultivation was never attempted for other purposes. When sown thick in the ground, as in Europe, it shoots up exactly in the same manner, ascending to about the height of eight feet, and giving, to all appearance, a fibre of equal strength and tenacity to that where it is usually cultivated, and it requires very little trouble in keeping the ground clean. The different plants of India, cultivated there for the purpose of hemp, have been found to grow at the Cape fully as well as in their native soil. Of these the most common are the Rabinia canibina, affording a fibre that is durable under water, and on that account used in the

east for fishing-nets and tackle. The jute of India (corchorus olitorius,) thrives very well, as does also the Hibiscus Cannabinus, whose leaves of a delicate subacid taste, serve as a salad for the table, and the fibres of the stem as a flax fit for the manufacture of cordage. A native species of Hibiscus, which I brought from the vicinity of Plettenberg Bay, yields a hemp of an excellent quality, perhaps little inferior to that of the Cannabis, or common hemp, which is most unquestionably the best material yet discovered for the manufacture of strong cordage. The Janap of India, Crotularia Juncea, from which gunney bags are manufactured, seems to thrive well at the Cape in the sheltered situations, but its slender stem is unequal to the violence of the south-easterly gales of wind. Home consumption of foreign hemp in 1841, was 621,515 cwt.; duty on colonial dressed, 2s. per cwt.; undressed, ld. per cwt. Flax and tow, or codilla of hemp and flax, raw 1,338,213 cwt.; dressed or undressed, 1d. per cwt.

INDIAN CORN.

Indian Corn or Maize. No cereal plant is so productive, nor, for general purposes, so valuable in a household, as Indian corn. Two out of every three grains planted, may be calculated to yield. Each produces two or three cobs or heads, and each of these yields from 200 to 450 grains. The unripe cob put hefore the fire, with a little butter, pepper, and salt, is a dinner fit for the children of a squire. It may be pounded and made into bread in its green or turning state, when it is a complete delicacy. As flour, it is wholesome and strengthening; in porridge, pies, and puddings, it is excellent. A recent report respecting the agriculture of Lombardy, (Italy) made to the British government, says,- 'It is worthy of remark that the sawyers of the Alps, although they scarcely taste any other food than Polenta,' (a sort of pudding made from Indian corn,) and drink only water, are stronger and less exhausted by labor than the inhabitants of the plain, who use both animal food and wine." It is the same at the Cape. The natives, finding it grow with so little labor, cultivate nothing else, to any extent. In Natal, I have seen it growing on high lands without irrigation; but in low lands, watered, the crops are surprising. In Natal it is common to see Indian corn at the same season, in every degree of maturity, some rising from the ground, some full ripe.

Aloes.-This plant is indigenous to Natal, and may be made a valuable article of export. Its manufacture is so well understood that the simple process adopted in the colony requires no improvement or instruction.

Colombo Root.-This may be made an article of export to some amount. The root is dug up, cut in slices, and dried on cords in the sun. It is a drug useful in dysentery, cholera morbus, and many other diseases.

Castor Oil.-A valuable plant, indigenous to superfluity. And if farmers and others would use this oil in the colony, and export their superfluous fat or convert it into soap, colonial wealth to a certain extent would be obtained, rendering us independent and unindebted for imports from Europe.

To prepare Castor Oil.-The seeds are taken out while the pods are turning brown; bruized in a mortar, then tied up in a linen bag, then thrown into a large pot with a sufficient quantity of water (8 galls. to 1 gall. of seed,) and boiled till the oil is risen to the surface, when it is carefully skimmed off and kept for use. Thus prepared, the oil is entirely free from acrimony, and stays on the stomach when it rejects all other medicine.

The London College of Physicians directs this oil to be pressed from the seeds in the same way as the oil from almonds, and without the assistance of heat, by which the oil would appear to be obtained in its purest state. It grows round old cattle kraals in great abundance, costs nothing, and sells well.