32 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[July i, 1886. 



Doctoring Plants— Amjiokia.— In cold l)leak spring 

 weather, such as oharacteris-d the prfs. nt year, many 

 crops— e.^., French oeatis, come up ypllosv, weak, and 

 mioerable. It is usual to root tliem up and re-sow. 

 I prefer another course. I wait uutil the weather 

 becomes warm and settled and then give them a 

 dose of the"' doctor.'' which is prepared as follows: — 

 Take 1 lb. of the strongest spirits of ammonia, price 

 9d., and mix it in a quart bottle with a pint of rain 

 water. To eight gallons of ordinary water add two 

 fluid ounces of the solution of ammonia, and then 

 well water the plants with this weak solution. The 

 result is surprising. Two waterings will restore '.he 

 plants to an exuberant vigour with dark emerald 

 leathery foliage. — "W. M. — Journal of Hm-ticuHxire . 



The' Successful Inteoduction into India oE the 

 tubers of the Arracacha esculent of South America. 

 W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, Esq., Director, Royal Gardens, 

 Kew, to the Under Secretary of State for India, d ited 

 Kew, 4th January 18>*6. In 1882, it was ascertained 

 that the Arracacha was natm^lized on the hills in 

 Jamaica, and Mr. Morris, the Director of Public 

 Gardens and Plantations in the Colony, stated that 

 he believed it, " to be a most valuable food-plant," and 

 that for his own part he not merely liked it but found 

 it to become more palatable and desirable the longer 

 it was used. He added—" If the natives of India 

 take to it as an article of food, I can conceive nothing 

 more likely to flourish in the hill districts, and to 

 afford, with little labour, the means of sustaining life 

 under adverse circumstances." A supply of tubers 

 received at Kew from Jamaica was sent in 1883 to 

 Saharunpore, Ootacamund and Ceylon, and in 1884 to 

 Calcutta, for Darjeeling. Mr. Lawson, Director of 

 Government Cinchona Plantations, Parks and Gai'dens 

 Nilgiris, reported in 1 88-i that plants had been raised 

 from the tubers sent from Kew. The result in the 

 other two botanical establishments in India has not 

 reached us. From Ceylon Dr. Trimen has recently 

 reported that he has raised the Arracacha from seed 

 obtained direct from Jamaica. He appears to have 

 obtained the tubers without difficulty and in abundauce. 

 As a matter of taste, he has a less favorable opinion of 

 them than Mr. Morris. But the point to which I wish 

 to draw your attention is that the introduction of the 

 esculent into India is accomplished, and that its further 

 diffusion need present no difficulty. 



Coca in F.^tigce.— Dr. E. 11. Palmer, of Louisville, 

 gives in the Amtrican Prnctitiorirr a,n account of a very 

 remarkable experiment made with Eraser's wine of coca. 

 Vie visited a seven-day " go-as-you-please '" jiedestriau 

 match on the sixth day, and found that a girl of IT, who 

 had completed 217 miles, had abandoned tbe contest, 

 but had been persuaded to resume it on a written 

 contract to pay her slOO extra if she completed 350 

 miles in seven days. She was walking with evident pain 

 an>l weariness, gait uusteaily, eyes sunken 8nd surroun- 

 ded by broad dark rims. She had nearly 103 miles to 

 complete in 3(3 hours to save her distance. At the 

 doctor's suggestion Fr-ser's vrine of coca was givnn, 

 under his own s:ipervision- She drauk a large sherry- 

 glass-full :it ome, and another in 20 minutes. At 30 

 minutes after the fiist dose her step was quick aiid 

 elastic, head up, and she declared that she felt like a 

 new woman. In 10 hours .she consumed a pint of tbe 

 wine, and walked 48 miles, then slept for 2| hours, 

 walked 3 miles, a.ud slept again for about C hoars. She 

 then walked lor 8^ hours, with an hour's rest for food, 

 covering 31 miles. At this period she was the freshest 

 of all tbe CO .Tip.: titers, and her time the best, barring 

 the spiu-ts of a professional runner. At the 339th mile 

 she had a fall which rendered her insensible, but. she 

 returned to the contest, and completed the 350 miles, 

 with m minutes to spare. The wine of cocn wjs 

 given freely whenever .she called for it; it did not 

 interfere with her digestion. During two days after 

 the contest the wine was administered regularly. It 

 was then withdrawn, whfu the pulse somevhat increast^d 

 with slight irre.'ulirity. which soon disappeared. Dr. 

 Palmer says the wine of the US. Pliarmacopteia is 

 inelegant and possessed of all the nauseal properties of 

 the fluid extract from which it is prepared. He implies 

 that these can and .should be removed. He says, " To 



my mind the experiment was both etriU'.ng and conclusive, 

 ill every way fiivourable to the vaunted eiScacy of the 

 ' jcawine in physical fatigue."— Cfte^wio- and Druggist. 



The South Mysoee Plantehs' Association 

 Annual PvEI-ort.— New Products.— It is most agree- 

 able to us to record that Mr. Cameron, the obliging 

 and talented Superintendent of the Government 

 Horticultural Gardens, has signified his readiness to 

 atford both friendly and ■ '.r^ial assistance in all 

 matters connected with facilitating the introduction 

 of new staple products, and we cannot but hope 

 that this offer may lead to the happiest of results 

 in Mysore, in the same way as has resulted in 

 Ceylon, Jamaica, nnd >ther Crown colonies. Coffee 

 Adulteration. — It is a mttter of supreme importance 

 to all planters, and one wh'ch should not be lost 

 sight of in the future, but should be regarded as one 

 of the most baneful influence hitherto unceasingly at 

 work to frustrate the endeavour of the producer to 

 bring within the reaeh of the consmuer a genuine and 

 nutritious article. We must trust to time and future 

 e.^ertions to induce the general public to insist on 

 having a pure article supplied for then- daily wants. 

 Holding as we do this opinion, it is gi-atifying to note 

 that a Company has been started for the sale of the 

 whole bean, and we venture to regard this as an 

 indication of a growing desire on the part of London 

 merchants interested in the welfare of coffee to leave 

 no means untried which are in any way calculated 

 to revive the efforts which were so strenuously made 

 some time ago by some of the leading brokers to check 

 the sale of spurious admixtures. — Madras Mail. 



The Effect of the German Sdgak Boun- 

 ties on the consumption of Sugar was thus noticed by 

 Mr. Mundella in an interview with sugar refiners :- 



Mr. Mundella : Why, with the German consumption 

 pot more than 121b. per head, an EngHsh, what. 

 (" 671b.") 731b. this last year. It is the most marvel- 

 lous thing in the world. Then, as Mr. McLean said, 

 there is no depression in the sugar trade— in the demand 

 for sugar. The demand for sugar increases by leaps and 

 bounds. I have an interesting little book here, published 

 by a Professor of Political Economy (Wm. Graham 

 Sumner) at Yale College, and he says, speaking _ of this 

 system of bounty and drawback, having seen it in his 

 own country, he says : " Germany has an excise tax 

 upon beetroot sugar, but allows a drawback on it when 

 exported which is greater than the tax. This acts as 

 a bounty pai.l by the German tax-payer on the ex- 

 portation, onsequently, beetroot .sugar has appeared 

 even in our market. The cheap market for it, however, 

 is England." He goes on to say : '■ So that the conse- 

 quence is that the sugar, which is 9 cents a pound 

 in Gerraanv, and 7 cents a pound here, is 5 cents a 

 pound in England; and that the annual consumption 

 of sugar per head in the three countries is as fallows : 

 "England GTilb." (now 731b), -'United States, 511b., 

 and Germany^ 121b.;" and he concludes: "I s->me- 

 Hmes find it difficult to make peoplt- understand the 

 difference bet'\'eeu wanting an ' indnst'-y ' and wj.ntiug 

 goods, but this case ought to make that distinction 

 clear." He concludes : " Obvi-»u.sly, the (Termuns have 

 tbe industry and the Englishmen have the sugar." 

 Well now, that is a fact. The evideaee that has come 

 before me is indi~patable. In consequenc? of the great 

 cheapness of sug^r in our market there is a growth of 

 subsidiary trades, not merely in London hire, but in 

 many of our provincial towns; for instance, in some 

 of our iron districts there ar^ large confectionary e„s. 

 tablishmeuts, and sweet bisouHs, and trades of that 

 kind, which, I am quite satisfied that the evir'enc? 

 cannot be doubted, is employing a vast many mora 

 men than we could hope to employ by the refinery 

 trade So that is our compensation, to say notinng 

 about the cheapness with which Jur people get the 

 su^ar. I believe it is computed that they have given 

 us'£.U,OO0,0OO sterhng, in one way and another, by their 

 tolly. 



This is the truth. The Germans have injured 

 tha West India planters and the sugar refiners, but 

 they have given the English people cheap sugar.. 



