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fM£ IKUFICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[Dec. ]t, 1886, 



taken up during the last few years by a few Euro- 

 peans, and the samples exhibited look fresh and 

 cleui. 



The oil of Aleurites moluccana, known in Ceylon 

 as Itckune oi', is said to be exported to Europe for 

 soap making and for cloth dressing for which purpose 

 it is rt'ported to be superior to olive oil. Margosa 

 or kohouiba oil {3fella Azedarachta) is stated to be 

 much used by native practitioners for suppurating 

 scrofulous glands. The oil cake resulting from the 

 preparation of coconut oil, and called " poonac " 

 in Oeylon, is said to be used pretty generally _ by 

 French military authorities for cavalary horses, since 

 a siuiill portion added to their ordinary food gives 

 a glossy appearance to the coat of the animal, and 

 at the same time promotes its general health*. Jaffna, 

 or sea moss (Gracilaria lichenoides), which is com- 

 monly used in Oeylon as a nutritive food for persons 

 of weak digestive powers, is only occasionally exported. 

 Concerning the edible birds' nests exhibited, it is stated 

 in the Ofiicial Catalogue that the bird which makes 

 them {(Ji)UocaJia francica) builds in large dark caverns 

 in any locality, from the seaside to the highest hills. 

 They contain much less glutinous m\tter than those 

 of Java and Borneo (see ante, pp. 41-42). The nests 

 are built close together against the face of overhang- 

 ing rocks, and the bird is of a smoky colour, and 

 darker on the head, wings and tail than elsewhere, 

 whereas the Java and Bornean birds are said to be 

 bluish. The nests are collected by Chinese, who pay 

 Government a small annual sura for the exclusive 

 privilege of collecting them in certain caves, chiefly of 

 the Morowak Korale of the Southern Province. The 

 yearly value of the export amounts to about 4,000 

 rupees. 



In this Court, Dr. "W. C. Ondaatje exhibits dried 

 pulp of the nux vomica fruit, from which loganin 

 was obtained by Professor Dunstun ; also several 

 medicinial barks, and the concrete milky juice of 

 Ahtonia scholarlsf, which possesses some of the pro- 

 perties of india-rubber. Specimens of these pro- 

 ducts have been presented to the Museum ot the 

 Pharmaceutical Society by Dr. Ondatjee. — PharmactUr 

 tied Journal, 



GOVEENOE GEANT DUFF ON PLANTING 

 IN MADEAS. 



The last Budget of official papers brought us the 

 Eeview Minute of the retiring Governor, from which 

 we extract largely matters more or less directly con- 

 cerning the Nilgiris, and local industries. 



Cinchona, Hoeticultitre, Bot.\ny, Economic 

 Plants, &c. 



It well may be that in some far off future the 

 English may have the fate of the Portuguese, and 

 that their most enduring monuments, in many 

 parts of the Peninsula, may be the plants which they 

 brought to India from other climes. Not the least 

 important of these will be the various species of the 

 genus Chichnna, although these have not, like the 

 ^'promotion nut" (Anacurdiuin occidenta'e) of their 

 predecessors, shown any capacity in India for fight- 

 ing, unaided by roan, the battle of life. The story 

 ot' the introduction of these precious trees by Mr. 

 Cletnente Markham and othRf-rs in v/ell known. The 

 Nilgiri plantations remained for many years Under the 

 ehatge of an intelligetlt gardener, After his death 

 they were placed for a time Under the J^^crest Depart- 

 Inent, but that arrang ment was not one that could 

 last ; and in 1883, Mr. Lawson, formerly Professor of 

 botany; at Oxford, and in charge of the exquisite garden 

 ^vhicb stretches along the bank of the Cherwell close 

 to th(! bridge which Macanlay has described in a 

 famous passage, came out to take charge of our Cin- 

 chona, as well as of all the Government gardens on 



* This is c|uite new to us. Has coconut poonac 

 ever been added to horse feed in Ceylon ? The 

 favourite food for cattle is giugelly poonac. — Ed. 



fWe have found it difdcult to preserve these trees 

 and Cassia fistula, in consequence of the value placed 

 by the native.s ou tl-.e bark? as njedicine.— Ed. 



the Nilgiris. The time had arrived when a great 

 number of important questions were ripe for examin- 

 ation by a trained botanist and a trained quinologist. 

 Ere long accordingly we added to our establishment 

 Mr. Hooper, who liad worked under Dr. Koppeschaar 

 at the Hague, and came out possessed of all the 

 latest learning on this subject. Mr. Lawson soon saw 

 that considerable changes in management were wq.nted 

 on all the estates, and set himself to make them. 

 First, with the assistance of Dr. Trimen of Ceylon, the 

 plantations were carefully inspected, and some alarm- 

 ing doubts, which had been raised by Mr. Cross about 

 the value of many of our trees, set finally at rest. 

 Thereafter, a great number of trees which had done 

 their work were cut down, and fine healthy shoots 

 are now springing from them. Then, a considerable 

 acreage in and near Naduvatara, which had gone or 

 was going to ruin, was taken in hand, and is being 

 replanted. Further, the Cuprrea bark from New 

 Granada, a species of Rimijio., a genus nearly allied 

 to Cinchona, was sown, and will, it is hoped, give 

 fair results, while the same is hoped of the Cinchonoi 

 Santa Fe and Carthayena. The growth of the various 

 species of Cinchona at different elevations, and the 

 amount of their respective yield are also being care- 

 fully watched ; while the diminution in the cost in- 

 curred in looking after our Cinchona estates, since 

 Mr. Lawson took charge of them, is as remarkable 

 as the increased efficiency which has characterised his 

 management. One of the objects to which Mr. Hooper 

 has turned his attention since his arrival has been 

 the production of a preparation of Cinchona alka- 

 loids, closely resembling that known as De Vrij's liquid 

 extract. This he has succeeded in producing to the 

 satisfaction of the Medical Department at an astonish- . 

 ingly low price,* and the problem now is to try to 

 get it .spread amongst the people. Time and patience 

 will be required for this, though there are some very 

 encouraging symptoms; but fever is in South India 

 so terrible a scourge that ignorance and prejudice 

 will eventually be sapped by interest. Mighty indeed, 

 must be the political reform which would be worthy to 

 be named with this in the promotion of true ivell-being. 

 As I have elsewhere t pointed out, we want a class 

 of practitioners intermediate between the really skil- 

 led persons turned out by our medical schools and 

 the Vythians who have still such a hold upon the 

 people. This want was much in the mind of the 

 late highly-intelligent Maharaja of Travancore, and I 

 have read an excellent private letter of his, upon the 

 subject. AY'S still hear at intervals the wish expressed 

 that Government would divest itself of its Cin- 

 chona plantations in the supposed interest of private 

 trade. To do this p(Y«t«^!(yfZ// would be to take a 

 very false step ; but a very large part of the Govern- 

 ment Cinchona plantations will, it is to be hoped, 

 soon he devoted to preparing the cheap febrifuge 

 to which I have just alluded. I need hardly say 

 that the amount of the Cinchona even now put ou 

 the market by this Government, is as compared with 

 what is produced by private growers in India. Oey- 

 lon and elsewhere altogether insignificant, Mr. Law- 

 son also, f-oon after his arrival, began greatly to 

 improve the Government Gardens at Qotacamuud, 

 aud to give them a. more jnirkcdly botaniciil char' 

 acter by- carcrully naanng the vtjry numerous and 

 valuable ccUecticn of plantsj w=hich ere scattered 

 about over the large area of beautifully brokeii 

 gi'ound which they cover. He gave no less care to 

 the gardens at Coonc-or as well as at Burliar, and 

 laidj by endless plant-hunting in every interval of 

 leisure, the foundation of a very fine herbarium at 

 Ootacamund.J At length the moment came for the 



* We expect to be able to sell a bottle containing 

 eight doses of five grains each, for one anna, which re- 

 presented I may mention for the English reader, three 

 halfpence, when the rappee was at par. 



t Adrcss to the University of Madras, ISJ'G, 

 :J: His own already very considerable collection has 

 been .supplemented by many of AMght's plants sent 

 from Kew, and I was happy, before leaving the hills, 

 to see thepi all conjfortably fodgod, 



