October i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



28.:; 



EGGS AS FOOD. 



The Boston Journal of Chemistri/ says that eggs, at average 

 prices, are amoug the cheapest and most nutritious articles 

 of diet. Like milk, an egg is a complete food in itself, con- 

 taining everything necessary for the development of a per- 

 fect animal, as is manifest from the fact that a chick is 

 formed from it. It seems a mystery how muscles, bones, 

 feathers, and everythmg that a chicken requhes for its per- 

 fect development, are made from the yolk and white of 

 an egg ; but such is the fact, and it shows how complete 

 a food an egg is. It is also easily digested, if not damaged 

 in cooking. Indeed, there is no more concentrated and 

 uomishiug food than eggs. The albumen, oil, and saline mat- 

 ter are, as in milk, m the right proportion for sustaining 

 animal hfe. Two or three boiled eggs, with the addition of 

 a slice or two of toast, will make a breakfast sufficient for 

 a man, and good enough for a Idng. 



According to Dr. Edward Smith, in his treatise on "Food," 

 an egg weighing IJoz. contains 120 grains of carbon, and 17J 

 grains of nitrogen, or 1.525 per cent of carbon and 2 per 

 cent of nitrogen. The value of 1 lb. of eggs, as food for 

 sustaining the active forces of the body, is to the value of 

 1 lb. of lean beef as l,5S-t to 900. As a flesh producer, 1 lb. of 

 eggs is about equal to 1 lb. of beef. 



A hen may be calculated to consume 1 bushel of corn yearly, 

 and to lay 10 dozen or 15 lb. of eggs. This is equivalent to 

 saying that 3 1-10 lb. of corn will produce, when fed to a 

 hen, five-sixths of a pound of eggs; but five-sixths of a 

 pound of pork reqiures about 5 lb. of corn for its produc- 

 tion. Taking into account the nutriment in each, and the 

 comparative prices of the two on an average, the pork is 

 about three times as costly a food as the eggs, while it is 

 certainly less healthful. 



CUEOAS OIL. 



This oil is the produce of the seeds of Jatropha Cureas, _a 

 bush native of India. Singular are the names which this oil 

 bears; they certainly prove the extensive use of this oil, 

 kno\^ especially as a pm-gative. "We note some of these 

 names : — 



Furaeernoien-olie. Olettm Cicinum, 

 Helien-oil. HitUe dc Pif/naii (Tlndc, 



Hnile in female. Tinlioe.i de purija {Brazil), 



Huile de Medicimer. Bay bhcrinda (Hiadostan). 

 Huile de Purgueria. Bataendaros (Ceylon). 

 Pitrginij nut-oil. Nepalam (Tellingu). 



The seeds of this plant are in shape hke the ricinus-seeds, 

 but in general they are larger. The taste is like sweet 

 almonds with a pungent after taste. When chewed they ex- 

 cite vomiting and act also as a piu-gative. The seeds contain 

 30 or 40 per cent of oil, of which the composition is as 

 follows : — 



Oil . - . . . 37'50 per cent 

 Organic matter - - - 50*40 „ 



Ash 4-80 „ 



Water 7-20 „ 



10000 per cent 



Here too the organic matter contains albumen, sugar, 

 gluten and caseiue. 



The oil is clearer than Unseed oil and colours less. It is 

 thinner than ricmus oil ; the specific weight is at 15 ° Celsius 

 0-815. It solidifies 12 ^ below freezing-point. 



This oil is much used for biu'ning and for soap-boiling; 

 while in England the African sort is used as a lubricating oil 

 for machinery. 



In India this oil is also used medicinally, both inwardly and 

 against eruptions of the skin. — India 3Iercm-;i. 



THE TAMiVEIND. 



{From a Correspondent.) 

 An Indian contemporary observes that Tamarind, chiefly 

 the produce of the southern districts of India and of the 

 northern parts of Ceylon, has of late become an article of 

 export to Em'ope, aud he anticipates a rise in the price 

 of this article. Although tamarind is plentiful in Jaffna, 

 and more especially in the Vanni districts, it is not an 

 article that is given away for nothing. There is a local 

 demand for it, being almost an indispensable condiment 

 or rather ingredient in the composition of all Indian cur- 

 37 



ries, and a small quantity is also exported c astwise and 

 beyond sea. The tamarind is a very mild and healthful 

 aperient, and Europeans who have had the ripe fruit assure 

 us that the pulp dissolved in cold water and taken as a 

 beverage is a sure relief in chi-ouio pile comiJaint. 



But the gi'eat drawback in Jaffna is that few persons 

 could be found to grow trees which do not promise an 

 immediate return. We say it not only of the tamarind, 

 but of the mart/osa, the illuppai and the jjalini/ra as well, 

 that with the denudation of the ancient topes, the trees 

 have become comparatively few. We assume that increas- 

 ing poverty is the cause of this. In days of old, the well- 

 to-do land-owners had large tracts of laud planted witia 

 palmyra, and where there was found a tamarind plant, an 

 illuppai or even a murgosa, it was carefully tended, pruned, 

 guarded and grown as a thing of immense use. Now-a- 

 days all land available is levelled and devoted to tobacco 

 or dry grain, and scarcely one out of a hundi'ed cultivators 

 could be found to patronise the larger trees. Even if a tree 

 or a sapling is found somewhere in the grounds, it is cut 

 down and got out of the way as a thing that •' cumberetU 

 the ground".'' In vain did we plead with several of these 

 vandals to spare a young tamarind or an illuppai plant. 

 We were laughed at as those ignorant of the value of land 

 and the purposes for which it ought to be utilized. There 

 may be a degree of ignorance on one side, but really what 

 is to become of land when all the old trees are cut down 

 and destroyed ? When that able and energetic officer, Mr. 

 AV. S. Mui-ray, superintended the Police and Fiscal's de- 

 partments, he caused a number of these productive aud 

 useful trees to be planted on roadsides anil Government 

 reserves. But we call upon those who own hundreds and 

 thousands of acres to give some attention to this subject, 

 aud at least plant the barren aud unproductive tracts with 

 iUuppai, tamarind, and other indigenous trees. 



NOTES ON MURANGAI OR MURITNGAH. 



BY E. M. HOLMES, P. L. S., 

 Curator of the Pharmuceiitical Museum. 

 There can be no doubt, 1 think, that the plant known 

 to Mr. P. S. Brito under the above names* is the .Uoringa 

 jyleryyosperma, Gaertn. The name is variously written by 

 different authorities as Marung-gai (Waring), Mooringay 

 (Jesudasen), or Mooringhy (Drury), and the specific botan- 

 ical name is the Latinized version of the same word. My 

 friend Dr. Ondaatje, of Ceylon, informs me that it is called 

 the "drumstick" tree on accoimt of the curious pod-hkc 

 fruit, which, when ripe, is white, and bears some resem- 

 blance to a bone or short stick. The properties of the 

 plant closely resemble those of horseradish, for which 

 Dr. G. Bidie regards it as a perfect substitute. On ac- 

 count of this sinularity, it is called by the Anglo-Indians 

 the "horseradish" tree. Tlie leaves, flowers, and immature 

 fruits are .sometimes used as a cuUnary vegetable, aud are 

 considered by the native doctors in India ef value in the 

 treatment of diseases of the liver and splem. The juice 

 of the fresh leaves is employed to hasten t !\e suppuration 

 of boils. The fresh root is rubefacient and even vesicant, 

 but its application causes gi'eat pain. The decoction of 

 the root bark has been given as an emmenagogue, hut is 

 said to be liable to produce abortion. The rubefacient and 

 stimulating properties of the plant are also turned to account 

 in the treatment of paraly.sis and lepro.sy. epilepsy and 

 hysteria. A great deal more might be said a! out the medi- 

 cinid properties of the plant, but all that could be adduced 

 might be summed-up in the above quoted opinion of Dr. 

 Bidie. The plant yields a volatile oil, to which its pro- 

 perties are beUeved to be due. The oil has a very dis- 

 agreeable odour, and is said by Broughton to be different 

 from either oil of mustard or oil of garlic. Dr. Ondaatje 

 informs me that so far as his knowledge extends, aud he 

 has practised in Ceylon for thirtj'-six years, the leaves of 

 the drumstick tree are never used in that island in the 

 treatment of hydrophobia, nor is the plant known by its 

 Malayan name, Marung-gai, nor its Tamil name, Mooringa, 

 but by the Hindu one, Sohunjana. He is of opinion that 

 the leaves would not have the slightest thciapeutic valuo 

 iu the treatment of hydrophobia^ The tree is a very in- 



* Mr. Brito's article appeared !H a previous number of 

 the Lancet. 



