s 



t'd 



f HE "tRQPlQAL AQRie^tWRtSf. [Nov. i, iBS6, 



with Mr. Hillhouse regarding medical botanical studies, 

 and gave a forcible illuHtratioii of tbe inefHcient 

 manner in which botany was taught iu London twenty 

 years ago. It was pointed out in the covu-se of the 

 discussion that bad results hitherto were due to the 

 want of systematic and practical teaching, pharmacy 

 apparently being as bad in this respect as medicine, 

 i'rom what the chairman said, however, it appears 

 that we shall by-aud-by get all that is required in 

 the research laboratory of the Pharmaceutical Society. 

 ■ — Cliemi.it (tnd Drv.figist. 



The Falkland Isles. — There is certainly a remark- 

 able contrast between this place and Seychelles in the 

 way of vegetation. There the most redundant tropical 

 growth, here all as bare as your hand. It is about 

 this very bareness that I am going to trouble you. 

 I am very anxious to try and grow some hardy 

 bushes and shrubs here ; and iu sheltered spots they 

 will grow I know, to a certain height, though I 

 doubt if one could expect anything about 12 or 15 

 feet at most. Still this would be something better 

 than "diddle dee" and Balsam Bog. Could you 

 advice me what to try, and perhaps send me a few 

 seeds or root.?, with directions as to the best way 

 of managing them. I have a good gardener here 

 who was at Paul's Xursery Gardens, and will take 

 pains with plants. The soil, as of course you know, 

 is chiefly peat, and the winds are high and cold. The 

 latter, I suppose, would always prevent trees of any 

 size growing. But it is wonderful what can be done 

 here in sheltered spots, and the flowers do capitallj'. 

 I have never seen such' Pausies, Pinks, Picotees, &c. 

 as are grown here- Fruit seems to degenerate — Straw- 

 berries, llaspberries, and Currants, ail get small by 

 degrees and beautifully less, year by year. So far 

 as I have yet seen, the climate has been too much 

 abused, chiefly by people who, like Sir Wyville 

 Thompson, happened to come here during bad weather. 

 It is now over three months since my arrival, and I 

 find from my journal that more than half the days have 

 been fine and calm, and when it is fine it is lovely — 

 like spring weather at home. To be sure it does 

 blow "whiles," and snow, too; and, unluckily, visitors 

 generlly arrive when it is doing one or the other, or 

 both, and at its best it looks a little bare and dreary, 

 but would be vastly improved if a few nice evergreen 

 bushes and shrubs could be induced to grow here and 

 there in sheltered places. About the town I do not 

 see why Laurels, Hollies, &c., should not do, but I 

 should be very glad of your advice and assistance to 

 think of me. — Extract from letter from Hon. A. C. 

 Barklej", late Commissioner at the Seychelles, now 

 Acting (Toveruor of the Falkland Islands, to Mr. AV. 

 T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., CM G., Director, Royal 

 Gardens, Kew. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Effects of AA'hite Ants on Soil. — The opinion 

 has been held and expressed that the white ants use 

 the best particles of the soil in forming their pyram- 

 idal nests, A writer on a sal forest in the Indian 

 Forester is of a very different opinion, thus exjjressed; — 

 But if, in the Bhinga forest, fires have devoured 

 the mould desiccated by exposure, and the free inlet 

 of sun and air has made further accumulations of 

 it impossible, if the hitherto highly impregnated soil 

 has been bereft of all its remaining riches in the 

 ordinary course of vegetable life, a most formidable 

 Agency of ruin and destruction remains to be described. 

 I refer to the ever-busy colonies of white-ants, whose 

 numerous hillocks — sometimes as many as fifteen to 

 the acre — constitute one of the most conspicuous 

 features of the Bhinga forest. Neglecting the ilmost 

 certain fact that the termites consume a considerable 

 quantity of the forming vegefable mould, these only 

 too industrious insects are mischievous in quite another 

 direction, and ou a much more serious scale. Each 

 one of these tiny Xeuroptea is but a living pump, 

 and by the united force of their myriad numbers, 

 an immense quantity of unkindly subsoil is annually 

 brought to the surface, to be there spread out, 

 wherever the protection of the neighbouring trees 

 is deficient, into even sheets of a plastic and im- 

 penetrable ct'Uicnt— a soil so inhospitable that, uutU 



much diffused iu the progress of years, even the 

 loMliest herbs cannot grow upon it. An observing 

 visitor to the Bhinga forest will not fail to notice 

 the many blanks, from a fev/ hundred square feet to 

 acres in extent, whicli characterize it. These void 

 spaces bear many points of close resemblance to one 

 another in the generally barren nature of the soil, 

 its jwhite coloration, and the numerous eWdences of 

 extinct and living ant-life — evidences that range from 

 the not wholly demolished hillock to the white 

 circular deposit of unusually cement-like earth. 

 Before walking very far inside the Bhinga reserve, 

 the observing stranger will descry this process of 

 soil deterioration going on in all its different stages, 

 from the truncated cone just attacked by the 

 advancing monsoons to the three or four mounds 

 littering with their detritus half an acre of ground. 

 Wherever we proceed, we notice, at short interval.", 

 either towering ant-hills, or the evidences of their 

 past existence, and it is impossible for us to neglect 

 the immense importance of the part played by termites 

 in forest economy." 



The Y.vlue of Fruit as a diet has often been 

 insisted upon ; but there seems to be a sort of 

 prejudice to the use of fruit on a large scale, which 

 may doubtless be traced to an ignorance of the laws 

 of hygiene. The following remarks, which we extract 

 from the Journal of Health will, we think, be read 

 with interest. In a hot, enervating climate like that 

 of India, fruit should form a very large proportion 

 of our daily food : — 



Of all the fruits with which we are blessed, the 

 peach is the most delicious and digestible. There is 

 nothing more palatable, wholesome, and medicinal than 

 good ripe peaches- It is a mistaken idea that no fruit 

 should be eaten at breakfast. It would be far better 

 if our people would eat less bacon and grease at break- 

 fast, and more fruits. In the morning there is an 

 acrid state of the secretions, and nothing is so well 

 calculated to correct this as cooling, sub-acid fruit, 

 such as peaches, apples, etc. The apple is one of the 

 best of fruits. Baked or ste^ved apples will generally 

 agree with the most delicate stomach, and are an 

 excellent medicine in many cases. Green or half-ripe 

 apples stewed and sweetened are pleasant to the taste, 

 cooling, nourishing, laxative, far superior, in many 

 cases, to the abominable doses of salts and oil usually 

 given in fever and other diseases. Raw apples stewed 

 are better for constipation than some pills. Oranges 

 are very acceptable to most stomachs, having all the 

 advantages of the acid alluded to, but the orange 

 juice alone should be taken, rejecting the pulp. The 

 same may be said of lemons, pomegranates and all 

 that class. Lemonade is the best drink in fevers, and 

 when thickened with sugar it is better than syrup 

 of squills and nauseants m many cases of cough. Tom- 

 atoes act on the liver and bowels, and are much 

 more pleasant and safe than blue mass. The juice 

 should be used alone, rejecting the skins. The small 

 seeded fruits, such as black=berries, figs, currants 

 and strawberries, may be classed among the best 

 foods and medicines. The sugar in them is nutritious, 

 the acid is cooling and purifying and the seeds are 

 laxative, "We would be much the gainers if we Would 

 look more to our orchards and gardens for out 

 medicines and less to drug stores. To cure fever of 

 act on the kidneys, no febrifuge or diuretic is superior 

 to water-melon, which may, with very few exceptions^ 

 be taken in sickness and in health in almost un- 

 limited quantities, with positive benefit. But in using 

 them, juice should be taken, excluding the pulp, and 

 then the melon should be fresh and ripe. It is 

 true that we cannot procure apples in sufficient 

 quautitieSj or at rates low enough to suit the pockets 

 of the masses, but peaches, water-melons, oranges and 

 figs are common enough, should be largely used. We 

 have other fruits, such as plantains, mangoes, plums, 

 papyas and pine-apples, custard apples, i^-c, which ar« 

 are all good wholesome fruit, which ought to figure 

 conspicuously on our tables. The tomato can be had 

 nearly all the year round, and limes or lemons are 

 plentiful in all sgasouD.— //(tliV/i AffricaUi'.riet. 



