June 2, 1884,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



905 



amount of salicylic salt which it is necessary to use in order 

 to ensure so desirable a result, namely, 2 parts in 10,1)00 

 parts of sugar, the latter consideration is of minor im- 

 portance 



In face of these new researches, we cannot recommend 

 too strongly to all who are interested in the manufacture 

 of cane sugar or beet sugar, that their attention should be 

 at once directed to the great improvement in this manu- 

 factiu"e which is likely to ensue by a clever application of 

 salicylic acid, salicylate of soda, or salicylate of lime. The 

 production of glucose or molasses will be practically got rid 

 of without incurring either trouble or expense worth 

 speaking of. 



Alcohol fkom Chestnuts. 



The Jfonitnir du Produits Chemiques informs us that 

 alcohol can be extracted from chestnuts, and that 100 

 litres of the latter will yield 8 litres of very good spirit. 

 The chestnuts are first dried to develop the saccharine 

 matter. They may be kept for a considerable time ip the 

 dry state. They are next decorticated, afterwards treated 

 by water, and warmed until the sugar has been extracted. 

 The solution thus obtained is called taiiade. The chestnuts 

 are then crushed, and with the /e//ifljt^ submitted to ferment- 

 ation, after which the alcohol is obtained by dtstiUation ; 

 the residue is stated to furnish a useful food for fattening 

 cattle. 



The Ginger Beer Plant. 



This is a startling or a spai-kling little novelty, some ac- 

 count of which has been going the round of the journals, 

 and which promises to provide all thirsty souls with a 

 ready-made and refreshing gingerade during the coming 

 smnmer. AVe do not prognosticate that it is caleulateil to 

 produce any gre.-.t alarm, or that it will revolutionize the 

 Ginger Beer Trade ; but still, like the " Vinegar Plant " 

 which was, some few years ago. hailed with so much delight 

 by frugal housewives, there is something in it. and that some- 

 thing appears to be a httle fungoid growth or plant, which 

 was first discovered in Norfolk, and consists of a mass of 

 irregular white grains resembling cooked tapioca, or, still 

 more, half-dissolved gum tragacanth when crushed in the 

 fingers. A writer in the Queen remarks '• "Would that I 

 could introduce it with a high-sounding botanical name ! 

 but, alas ! I fear that if it has one at all, it must be far 

 down among the Cryptogamia, for to the higher order it cert- 

 ainly does not belong. Its origin, like that of many illus- 

 trious discoveries, is lost m obscurity. It has been cynically 

 asserted that its ancestor was a fungoid growth in a barrel, 

 but these evolution questions are very delicate, and we may 

 dismiss the charge as "not proven." Tiie process of guiger 

 beer brewing from this mysterious substance is as follows: — 

 ■Whatever vessel is used should be at least half-full of the 

 grains. Fill to the top (a wide-mouthed pickle jar is best) 

 with water that has boiled, and add several lumjis of sugar^ 

 the quantity must be regulated by taste, as a hard-and-fast 

 recipe is impossible. Once a week, on a fixed day, drop in 

 a few pieces of root ginger, also at discretion. Every day, 

 the water poured in twenty-four hours before must be care- 

 fully strained off through muslin, and bottled and corked 

 securely. Some advise adding a little yeast, but if the grains 

 in the jar are numerous enough to produce sufficient ferment- 

 ation — i.e., a decided froth — there is no need to add yeast. 

 Eeplenish your jar with boiled water and sugar, and cover 

 again with piece of linen or calico ; on no account cork it. 

 The liquid you bottle off is fit to drink in two days, and, 

 to a not too critical palate, it forms a refreshing, mild 

 gingerade, easily prepared, and certainly the cheapest of all 

 possible drinks of the kind. Every week the exhausted 

 pieces of ginger must be fished out. Avoid handling the 

 grains. They increase rapidly and must be thinned out by 

 pouring oil when too numerous, forming new colonies and 

 couseqaently a larger supply of gingerade. 



AaUEOrS EXTR-^CT OF ClNCHOK.\. 



M. Lepage, Inspector of Pharmacies, mentions the fact 

 that he has met with aqueous extract of cinchona almost 

 devoid of alkaloid, due to the extract being made with cold 

 instead of hoilinc/ water as ordered in the Codex. This has 

 been done to render the extract completely soluble in water 

 to meet the fancies of certain physicians. Aqueous extracts 

 of belladonna and henbane have been in like manner substi- 

 tuted for the true alcoholic extracts, with the result that 

 they contain hardly a trace of the alkaloid, — Burgoyiie^i 

 MoiiMq Exfoyl Prices Current. 

 115 



SAP IN TREES. 

 Why the sap ascends in trees is yet a mystery. All 

 attempts to sieve it by mechanical or chemical laws have 

 failed. At one time we think we have it when some good 

 man talks to us about what he calls " root pressure." Then, 

 some other tells us about osmotic action, and we get learneu 

 disquisitions ou the power of endosmose and exosmose. 

 Again, another gives us an explanation of the manner in 

 which starch is converted mto sugar, and the tension which 

 occurs during this change acting as a pump to pull up 

 the sap. But the orchardist, with his every-day experience, 

 always feels that the philosopher has left out something 

 in the calculation, which he at least is not permitted to 

 forget, namely, plant life — and though the man of science 

 may ask him what he means by hie, or to explam what 

 he calls vital power, he can ordy say that he does not 

 know, but he is sure there is a something which he may 

 call this, though science has not been able to get near it. 

 The orchardist knows that a half dead tree does not ihaw 

 up sap as freely as one in vigorous health, nor does a half 

 dead branch act as freely as one with full vital power. 

 Now, a transplanted tree is in some sense a half dead tree, 

 and the proof is, that in a dry time, i^r a hot time, or 

 a cold time, or imder any unfavom-able circumstances, the 

 chances are two to one in favor of an i ntrausplanted tree 

 getting through. The only reason that it is half dead is, 

 that the sap does not ascend as freely as it ought to do. 

 The leaves push slowly, and the growth is feeble, simply 

 because the sap does not ascend as it should do. Now we 

 must help the tree to do this if we would have the best 

 success in transplanting. As a rule, the healthier parts of 

 the tree, those parts near the ground, get disgusted with 

 the attempt to pass sap through the sluggish ceUs above, 

 and push out sprouts along the stem, or suckers from the 

 roots, and these wUl soon manage to get all if left alone. 

 It is therefore essential to the well being of any tree 

 with a weakened top, that every sprout should be taken 

 out as soon as it appears. This appUes not only to trees with 

 a weakened top from transplanting, but trom grafting, 

 budding, or any other horticultural operation. A^ atch all 

 such trees, as soon as they leaf in si'riug, and take out 

 every sprout from trunk or leading branches as soon as 

 they appear. — Gardeners' Monthly. 



NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE. 



BY DE. J. E. TAYLOR, F.G.S., &C., EDITOR OF 



" SCIENCE GOSSIP," kC. 



The construction of tea-preparing machinery appears to 

 be assuming the proportions of a new industry amongst 

 us. It has its head-quarters at Gainsborough, in Lmcolnshire. 

 A French scientist, JI. Duchatre, has just published aa 

 account of some experiments he has been making with 

 seeds. Everybody is aware of the influence which direct 

 sunhght has upou the growth and development of young 

 plants. "Well, JI. Duchatre has been experimenting upon 

 the sprouting and germination of seeds with moonlight in- 

 stead of sunlight. He subjected the seedhngs of lentils, 

 vetches, &c., to its influence. "When the seeds had sprouted 

 he put them in a dark place, and kept them there for 

 a time, so that their stalks grew slender and of a yellowish 

 white. Afterwards, on three nights when there was clear 

 moonlight, he exposed them to its influence for six hours 

 each night. He found that the stalks at once became 

 seleniotropic — that is, they turned towards and followed 

 the moonlight, just as many plants, such as the sunflower, 

 are heliotropic, or turn towards and follow the progress 

 of the sun through the heavens. From the very first the 

 stalks of the plants began to bend, so that they constantly 

 presented themselves and their budding leaves towards the 

 moon, as if they were the most fervid worshippers of Diana. 

 The Linnajan Society has been occuj 'ea in discussing 

 the question of the potato plant. The weakening ot the 

 potato through repeatedly propagatmg it by tuber alone 

 has laid it all the more open to the attacks of disease. 

 I have repeatedly drawn atttnticB to this important item, 

 and I was pleased to find Mr. J G. Bake r, the celebrated 

 economic botanist, of Kew Gardens, in a paper on potatoes, 

 read before the above society, stating that the ordinary 

 potato is grown as if its sole object were to produce tubers, 

 to say nothing about the other artificial conditions as to 



