June 2, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



m 



EUCALYPTUS OIL. 



TO THE EDITOR OP THE "PHARMACEUTICAL .TOURNAL." 



Sir, — In a recent issue of the Journal I noticed a para- 

 graph under "The Month " in n hich it is stated that eucalypt- 

 us oil of the kind that has been in the market for some years 

 is obtained from Euca/i/jitns globulus ; this is an error, and 

 one that I have endeavoured to get the wholesale trade at all 

 events to give up. 



Eucalyptus oil was first distilled by Dr. Bosisto, of Mel- 

 bourne, some twenty years ago, from the Eucalyptus mnyyd- 

 ul.iixa, which is as distinct from E. Globulus as M. Piperiln is 

 from .1/. siitii-a, and is an entirely different oil from that 

 obtained from the E. Glolndus. 



The success which Dr. Bosisto's oil has met with has in- 

 duced people, having no knowledge of the different kinds of 

 Eucalyptus, or gum-trees as they are called in Australia, to 

 distil any oil from the leaves gathered indiscriminately 

 from one or any of the forty or more Eucalt/pti growing in 

 the Australia bush, and consequently have obtained an oil 

 totally different from Dr. Bosisto's. 



Some two years ago Dr. Bosisto distilled an oil from 

 E. (Inmosa, or, as it is known in AustraUa, the mallee scrub. 

 This oil differs slightly from the amyi/dalhui in perfume, 

 but Dr. Bosisto is of opinion that mediuinally its properties 

 are the same. 



The E. Globulus is the tree that has a great power of 

 absorbing moisture from the earth and passing it oft by its 

 leaves into the air, aud has hence been largely planted in 

 malr\rial districts. The introduction of this tree into Europe 

 (at Rome, etc. ) has doubtless been the source of the constant 

 confusion as to the orighi of Dr. Bosisto's weU-known oil. 

 — E. H. Ghimwabe, 82, Bishopsgate Street, E. 0. 



CONCERNING COCA. 



Some years ago, we gave a detailed account of the famou s 

 South-American stimulant, coca, with the testimony of med- 

 ical men in its favor, as well as some evidence of a contrary 

 character from other authorities. Of its value in certain 

 cases there can be no doubt, and it is safe to say that it is 

 less dangerous when used freely than most drugs of its class ; 

 but it is improbable, on the face of it, that any such power- 

 ful tonic or stimulant can be habitually used without the 

 direction or advice of a physician, and not produce harmful 

 effects of some kind or other. 



It is curious, by the by, that an agent which has been so 

 much written about and advertised, of late years, should not 

 have become more popidar tliau coca has done, if we may 

 believe Dr. H. D. Hicks, who contributes a paper on the 

 subject to the Xew Vork Medical Journal. He says that 

 " many druggists do not keep it in stock, saying that they 

 have lio call for it." His personal estimate of it is high, as 

 will appear from the following extract from his article:— 



I have used it both personally and in my practice, and 

 find it of great service in the following conditions : — 



To prevent and relieve fatigue. 



In those cases of back-ache accompanied by high-colored 

 urine with excessive amounts of urates and uric acid. 



In short breathing, dependent upon weakness of the 

 muscles of respiration. 



Palpitation of the heart without vahnilar lesion, due to 

 dilatation or to weakness of the heart-muscle. 



It renews the vigor of the intellect, and relieves mental 

 exhaustion, rendering the flow of thought more easy, and 

 the reasoning power more vigorous. 



It dissipates " the blues," leaving the mind calm. By its 

 use the depression following an indulgence in alcoholic 

 liquors is relieved. 



It destroys the carving for alcohol, and in small doses is 

 useful in sick-headache, and headache resulting from over- 

 exertion. Its habitual use as a part of the daily diet con- 

 duces to mental clearness and activity, freedom from fatigue, 

 and sound sleep. 



I am using it in all cases in which the balance between 

 nourishment and waste is not maintained, and find it a valu- 

 able assistance. In regard to the dose, I think that the one 

 generally given on the bottles, viz., 5 j-iv, is too much. I 

 find iust as good effects from 5 ss for an adult. — Po}mlar 

 Hcience News. 



TREE TOJIATO. 

 This is the popular name of a fruit naturaUsed in Jam- 

 aica, and found in many old gardens of the Coffee districts 

 of St. Andrews and Manchester. By the kindness of Sir 

 Joseph Hooker it has been determined as Cyphomandra 

 betacea, DO.,* a native of South America, including Peru 

 and Chili, where also it is imder cultivation. The plant 

 (belonging to the natural order Solanace.-e) is of shrubby 

 habit, about 5 or 6 feet high ; the leaves are largo ^some- 

 times a foot long), broadly cordate, and softly pubescent, 

 generally confined to the termination of the branches. The 

 fragrant flowers appear as sub-a.xillary cymes, of a pale 

 fleshy colour, with bright yellow stamens, followed by an 

 obconical or ovate fruit, which at first of a greenish or 

 purplish tint, gradually assumes a warm reddish colour aa 

 it approaches maturity. The bilocular fruit is of firm text- 

 ure, about 2 inches or 2§ inches long, and about 2 inches 

 in diameter. The pericarp is about \ inch in thickness, of 

 a pale colour. It is not generally known, and seldom used 

 in Jamaica, but it is without doubt a fruit that should be 

 more largely cultivated, as it answers in every respect the 

 purposes for which the ordinary Tomato is esteemed. On 

 the mamland it is known as the Tomate de la Paz, here 

 as the Tree Tomato, and sometimes, on account of its sup- 

 posed beneficial action on the liver, as Vegetable Mercury. 

 Plants are easily raised from seed, which come into bear- 

 ing in about two years. It is a vtry prolific bearer, and 

 the fruit is available during the winter months — Novem- 

 ber to March — when ordinary Tomatoes are not so easily 

 obtained. If the fruit is allowed to fully ripen on the trees 

 it may be eaten raw, and it has somewhat the flavour of 

 Gooseberry. If the skin is removed and the fruit (with- 

 out the seeds) stewed with sugar, it resembles Apricot, 

 but with a slight sub-acid flavour which is very refresh- 

 ing. In my own household it takes the place of Apple in 

 Charlotte-aux-pommes, aud it is preferred in this form_ to 

 real Apples, especially such as grow in the Blue Moimtains, 

 or are imported from America. 1 notice the plant is under 

 cultivation in the South of Europe, but I am not aware to 

 what uses the fruit is there applied. Sir Joseph Hooker 

 informs me that it is now in fruit in the Temperate-house 

 at the Eoyal Gardens, Kew. As I have lately distributed 

 seed of this Tree Tomato to numerous correspondents at 

 Madeira, India, Ceylon, Hongkong, the Cape, and the Aus- 

 tralian Colonies, the above remarks will no doubt prove of 

 interest to them, no less than to other readers of the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, who may desire to secure a hardy 

 perennial Tomato plant of more than ordinary merit. I 

 may add the plant flourishes in Jamaica at elevations of 

 2,000 — 5,000 feet; the mean annual temperature of these 

 districts ranging from 72°— 63° Fahr.— D. MoRHis, Jam- 

 aica, March 2.5. [This fruit may occasionally be seen in 

 Oovent Garden Market under the erroneous name of Gran- 

 adilla. It is we believe imported from the Azores.— Ed.] 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



COLONIAL NOTES. 



"We have received the second part of Eield and Garden 

 Crops of the Xorth- Western Provinces and Oudh, drawn up 

 by Dr. Duthie, the Superintendent of the Saharunpur 

 Botanic Garden, and Mr. J. B. FuBer, the Director of Agri- 

 culture of the Central Provinces. "We have already spoken 

 of the scope and purpose of this work, so that we need 

 now only say that the present part contains figures aud 

 descriptions of numerous cereal grasses, pulses, and cucur- 

 bits. The drawings are faithful, and the descriptions con- 

 tain, in addition to information condensed from well-known 

 sources, the results of personal observation which will render 

 the work useful as one of reference, not only to botanists 

 and cultivators in India, but also to students of economic 

 botany in this country. 



Some few years ago we had occasion to figure a Melon- 

 Oucumber, which excited some attention at the time, arid 

 was, we believe, received by some with something like 



* Pimiandra lipiacea, Miers in Hook. Lond. Jovrn. of Bot., 

 vol. 4, 184.5, p. 358 ; Solanum hetacevm, Oav. ic. 6, p. 1.5, n. 

 .599, t. 524; Ann. de Hist. Nat., i., p. 44, Dun. Sol., 169, n. 

 70, syn. 7, n. 16; Andrews, Jiotan. Pr/i., t. 511; Solanum 

 crassifolium, Ortega, Dec. 9, p. 117 ; Solanum ohUgmim, Ber- 

 tero, pi. exs. n. 1,125, in H. DC. nee. Buiz et Pay 



