P OP ULAB MIS CELL ANY. 



7 6 3 



trees," writes the author, " if you ask what 

 takes the place in Oregon and California of 

 all these missing kinds which are familiar 

 on our side of the continent, I must answer, 

 nothing or nearly nothing. There is the 

 madrofia (arbutus) instead of our kalmia 

 (both really trees in some places) ; and 

 there is the California laurel instead of our 

 Southern red bay-tree. Nor in any of the 

 genera common to the two does the Pacific 

 forest equal the Atlantic in species. It has 

 not half as many maples, nor ashes, nor pop- 

 lars, nor walnuts, nor birches, and those it 

 has are of smaller size and inferior quality ; 

 it has not one-half as many oaks ; and these 

 and the ashes are of so inferior economical 

 value that (as we are told) a passable wagon- 

 wheel cannot be made of California wood, 

 nor a really good one in Oregon." He then 

 states that, whereas the Atlantic forests con- 

 tain sixty-six genera and one hundred and 

 fifty-five species, the Pacific has only thirty- 

 one genera and seventy-eight species. 



Artificial Cold in the Treatment of Yellow 

 Fever. Dr. Bushrod W. James proposes, in 

 the Philadelphia Ledger, a method of treat- 

 ing yellow-fever patients by artificial cold. 

 He would have in every quarantine-station 

 a ward or room capable of holding several 

 patients, and so arranged that ventilation 

 can be effected solely through ventilators 

 and by means of small anterooms with 

 spring-doors. There must be no entrance 

 or exit to the ward save through the ante- 

 room. The anteroom should be kept at 

 the same low temperature as, or even lower 

 than that in the ward, so that the tempera- 

 ture in the latter may not be raised by the 

 opening and closing of doors by the attend- 

 ants, nor any of the disease - producing 

 germs escape before they are thoroughly 

 subjected to the low temperature and de- 

 stroyed. The ward and anteroom must be 

 kept at a temperature not higher than 

 25 Fahr., the patients being made comfort- 

 able by a sufficient amount of bedclothing ; 

 and everything that goes from the room, 

 such as clothing, excretions, all emanations, 

 etc., must be exposed a sufficient length of 

 time to the cold. This will kill the poison- 

 ous germs, or reproducing cause, and pre- 

 vent, as far as the cases under treatment 

 are concerned, any risk of the disease 



spreading. If patients cannot bear so 

 much cold during treatment, an adjoining 

 warmer room can be made, with no mode 

 of access or ventilation except through the 

 cold room, and everything going out of the 

 warmer room must be allowed to remain a 

 sufficient length of time to get rid of the 

 contagion. If no attendant occupies the 

 anteroom, the degree of cold can be kept 

 near zero, in order the more quickly to de- 

 stroy all the disease-producing agencies. 



A Dronght-Proof Fodder-Plant. In a 



paper on the progress of agriculture in Natal, 

 South Africa, Dr. P. M. Sutherland, survey- 

 or-general of that colony, speaks of the ad- 

 vantages possessed by the Caucasian prickly 

 comfrey (Symphytum asperri?num) as a fod- 

 der-plant, in regions characterized by annu- 

 ally-recurring seasons of drought. His re- 

 marks will doubtless be of interest to farm- 

 ers settled in some of our States and Terri- 

 tories where like meteorological conditions 

 exist. The plant named is allied to the 

 borage, is a native of the mountainous re- 

 gions of Circassia, and has long been used 

 as forage both in that country and in Rus- 

 sia. Its original home is at a height of 

 4,000 feet above the sea, but it thrives well 

 in a great diversity of climates, and bears 

 hot and dry seasons with impunity, on ac- 

 count of the depth to which its strong root 

 penetrates into the ground. There are two 

 varieties of the plant, one with a hollow 

 and the other with a solid stem. The lat- 

 ter is an excellent food for stock of all 

 kinds ; especially does it increase the quan- 

 tity and improve the quality of cows' milk. 

 It grows with marvelous rapidity and lux- 

 uriance. Land which yields eight tons of 

 grass per acre gives from sixty to a hundred 

 and fifty tons of comfrey. The plant is 

 four or five feet high when near flowering, 

 and the leaves attain a length of three feet. 

 The flowers abound in honey. The solid 

 stem is like a succulent root, and the plant 

 is easily propagated by cuttings from this 

 stem, containing a couple of eyes each. 

 When once well rooted it will go on pro- 

 ducing from fifteen to twenty years. The 

 fodder may be cut six or even eight times a 

 year ; and if the leaves are stacked green, 

 or partially dried, with a little salt between 

 the layers, they keep well through the winter. 



