tJiic. 1, 1S86J 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



4ti 



name of ' vegetable mercury, ' I cannot say anything 

 about its medicinal properties for I have had uo oppor- 

 tunity to test, them ; but I can certainly speak highly 

 of it as a fruit prepared in the manner above 

 described. ' ' Recorded with many thanks, and resolved 

 that Mr. Morris be informed that from more recent 

 Keports his introductions of the " Tree Tomato " to 

 the Hills of the Southern India may be regarded as a 

 decided success which is much appreciated. 



Tree tomato. — Read the following letter from 

 Charles Gray. Esq., dated Coonoor, 11th August 

 Iggg: — « I notice in the Annual Report for the past 

 year that the ' T ree Tomato ' is said to have proved 

 a failure as regards the liavour of the fruit. All I 

 can say is that on the Nilgiris every one tha,t I have 

 given a fruit to, has pronounced it most delicious ; and 

 if the longing looks cast on the fruits on the tree 

 after one has been given as a trial, are to be taken 

 into account, I quite believe it. Unfortunately my 

 Kupply is limited, or I could have disposed of hundreds, 

 and if you have any surplus seed, I should be glad 

 of some, as I am continually asked for some. I write 

 this, as I, for one, (and there are many others here too) 

 am decidedly in favour of its propagation, it being a 

 valuable addition to our limited list of really tasty 

 fruits, as well as being most ornamental. I do not 

 know how the plant grows in other districts, but hi 

 Ooonoor it grows with a nice straight stem about 6 feet 

 high, and then branches straight out, each branch 

 being very even in length ; the clusters of scarlet fruit, 

 from 3-lb in number, which hang well below the foli- 

 age, give a perfect picture that makes the tree an 

 ornament to any garden. 



Coca.— Sir Walter Elliot {M. C. S. [Retired).— B.ea.d 

 the following letter from Sir Walter Elliot. 



I have to thank you for the last Keport (1886) of the 

 Agri-Horticultural Society, which contains an inter- 

 esting account of your endeavour to distribute seeds of 

 the Erythroxylon coca. In the Report of the previous 

 year it was stated that it was expected to form 

 an anesthetic agent which would be useful in 

 India. 1 looked for a further notice of this discovery 

 in the present Report, but the subject of cocaine is 

 not mentioned. Colonel Beddome told me that some 

 years ago he tried to use the dried leaves as the 

 Peruvian miners do, who chew them with powdered 

 chalk as a stimulant, but he did not perceive that it 

 had such an effect. The trivial name recalls to me 

 a substance with which I was familiar many years 

 ago, when employed louder the Bombay Presidency. 

 It was sold in the bazaar under the name of Kokum, 

 a soft or soapy substance procured from the Konkan, 

 and applied to the skin when cracked and escoriat 

 by the sun with good effect. It is prepared from the 

 seed of Garcinia purpurea of Roxburg common in oiir 

 forests, and is described by Colonel Beddome in his 

 Icones p. 64. It has often occurred to me that it 

 might be utilized more generally if prepared in a more 

 refined form. I brought a piece home which I sent 

 two years ago to my son when with his regiment, the 

 Black Watch, on the Nile expedition. They were the 

 most advanced party, and suffered severely when row- 

 ing all the day against the stream under intense 

 solar induence. It did not reach him in time to give 

 it a full trial, but if it had, I am convinced it would 

 have been of esspntial benefit. It might be worth the 

 while of the iSociety to consider this. The Report of 

 1884, for which I have also to return the best thanks, 

 made special mention of the Fourcroya, and other 

 fibre-producing plants. When in London, last year, I 

 found ray old friend, General Fred. C. Cotton, n. e. , 

 much occupied with an improved process for extrac- 

 ting fttires from the cellular substance which, by the 

 present practice of applying water from above, is apt 

 to cause entanglement of the finer fibres. The impro- 

 ved practice consisted in forcing the water from below, 

 which by the experiment then making appeared 

 to answer perfectly in bringing out the fibres undisturbed. 

 Very likely you may have heard of this, but I 

 think it was well to mention it in case you have 

 not. Owing to my complete failure of sight, I am 

 unable to take the same interest in these matters 

 tljat I used to do, iu adUitiyu to which myadvauced 



age acts as a still further hindrance. I still, how- 

 ever, love my garden, and should be iilad if you 

 would send me a small packet of seeds of Nilgiri and 

 other Indian plants, which I formerly had, but have 

 lost, I may mention particularly the Meyenia and some 

 of the handsomer Acanthacwa and Scrophalacete. I 

 sent a small packet of Ipomcea Quamocut seed to my 

 daughter in 1859, which after her marriage was found 

 in her room, where it had been overlooked for 20 

 years, I sowed them, however, iu 1881, though with- 

 out the least expectation that they would germinate. 

 To my great surprise they did so, when, owing to the 

 carelessness of a stupid gardner, they were lost during 

 my absence, after they had attained a height of 10 

 or 12 inches ; I should like to try this exepriment 

 again if you can send me a few seeds, both old, if 

 you have them, and new. I shall feel much obliged 

 if you will make my grateful acknowledgments to the 

 President and committee for their kindness in send- 

 ing the Reports." Recorded. The seeds will be sent. — 

 Madras Mail. 



Kapok, or tree cotton, is attracting some attention 

 just now, not only abroad but in tbis country. We 

 therefore reproduce in another column this week, a 

 somewhat lengthy piper on the suliject from one 

 of our English exchanges. Our coutemporary bus got 

 a little "mixed" about the various sub-orders w lich 

 make up the natural order which chiefly contain silk 

 cotton trees : for instance, the N. O. Trestromacew 

 (the Tea and Cammellia order) is included among the 

 allied orders of Bombacese. In other respects, the 

 paper contains much interei^ting information, and 

 will repay perusal. — Indian Aijrwidturist. 



Fibre — Our esteemed correspondent, Dr. B -navlajof 

 Etawah, calls attention, to the w/tiie flowered variety of 

 the Calotrupis Giyentea ('Madiir') as an excellfiit fibre- 

 yielding plant. Owing to the branching habit of the 

 ordinary ' Madar ' and its low, straggling growth, it 

 loses much of its value as a fibre plant, as the staple 

 is very short. AVith the white-flowered variety it is 

 different. The plants are single-stemmed, erect in 

 habit, and grow to over six feet iu height. We have 

 frequently come acioss this variety in the North- 

 western Provinces and the Punjab, especially in the 

 Delhi district. Dr. Bonavia's suggestion is a {,ood 

 one, and the experiment is worth being carried out 

 on a small scale at first, if necessary. — ludAan Agri' 

 cultuiist. 



BfiiCK Tea. — Mr. C. Maries, the Superintend nt of 

 the Durbhunga Rej gardens and parks, gives a Calcutta 

 paper an account of the manner they make b ick 

 tea in China. It is interesting, dpro2}os of the subject, 

 to know that tea bricks are used as currency in 

 Tibet, where the salaries of the Chinese officials are 

 paid with them. Mr. Maries says : — " I have visited 

 the factories in Hankow, China, where brick tea is 

 made. I was there in 1878, and, after watching the 

 process with great interest, I saw only dust tea used — 

 generally of the dirtiest nature — the very sifliugs of 

 sittings to all appearance. The dust was weighed out 

 and put into thin cloth bags; the bag was then put 

 over a cauldron or large boiler and steamed for a 

 certain time. When thoroughly steamed (the time 

 was, as near as I can remember, about five minutes), 

 it was taken and put into a strong wooden mould 

 and pressed under a beam press, coolies acting as 

 weight for the press by running along the beam. All 

 was done most quickly and easily: it was less like 

 work than play. After the pressing the mould was 

 taken into a drying room, where the tea was allowed 

 to remain in the mould till the cake was hard. The 

 cake was then turned out and dried like common clay 

 bricks till perfectly free from moisture. I did not 

 see any other material mixed with the tea ; nor was 

 it damped before steaming. If the dirty Chinese dust 

 would make good tea for Russian consumption, I 

 should think the clean dust and refuse of the Indian 

 tea-factories, such as I have seen, would make a 

 profitable article of export. This brick tea is .'ent 

 overland from Hankow to Siberia." — Indian A^rical- 

 I'.vist, 



