u^ 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [Nov. i, 1886. 



kettle is always in readiness, — and the hot liquid is 

 sucked slowly through the tube, 



I'evba mate is the one indispensable luxury of all 

 classes throughout the La Plata countr'es. A cup 

 of the tea is taken the first thing in the morning, 

 and also after the midday siesta. It is presented to 

 a visitor within a few minutes after entering a house, 

 and is not infrequently tasted by the hostess before 

 being x>assed the guest. The same cup passes from 

 guest to guest and to the several members of the 

 family, being refilled as required. Upon entering a 

 house and finding the lady taking her mate, she has 

 immediately withdrawn the bomhilla from her lips 

 and passed it to me. I have also frequently seen the 

 servant trying the fiavor through the homhilla while 

 bringing in the mate. — From " La Plata Countries," 

 by E. J. M, Clejiens. — American Grocer. 



PiPEu Betle Leaves. — According to Messrs. Gehe 

 and Co. {JIandehherichte) a supply of the leaves of 

 the Piper Betlc, L., which are used in India for chew- 

 ing with arekanut, has recently been imported for 

 the first time into Germany. An e.ssential oil obtained 

 from the leaves by distillation at Samarang, by Herr 

 Schmitz, has been credited by him with h.iving given 

 good results in the treatment of catarrhal disorders 

 and as an antiseptic, and the claim has been confirmed 

 in the experience of Dr. Kleiustiick, of Jena. The 

 oil, which seems to be of an aldehyd nature, is said 

 to oxidize with extreme rapidity, losing at tlie same 

 time its characteristic ethereal odour and therapeutic 

 properties. Great care will therefore be required in 

 the transit of the leaves, if the oil is to be distilled 

 iu Europe. — Fharmacevtical '■ Journal . 



Couch Grass. — In a season like the present one, 

 vheu heavy rain falls about every fourteen days and 

 showers still more frequently, it is almost useless for the 

 cultivator to think that he can master couch grass. If 

 it is ploughed over it grows as freely from the underside 

 of the sod when inverted as it did before the ploughing, 

 and the furrow slice soon has a sward on the two 

 sides ; if the scarifier is put through the inverted fur- 

 rows it only tears them to pieces, and every joint 

 of the grass grows. The consolation the farmer has 

 is that his crop, owing to the favourable weather, 

 grows eqally well, and will repay a little energy be- 

 stowed iu attempts at keeping down the couch, by a 

 grand growth afterwards, and so will soon be beyond 

 harm from these under-growing weeds. Couch is a 

 good grazing grass, and apparently stands the worst 

 treatment iu the way of overstocking better than any 

 grass in the country ; it can be eaten down to the 

 roots by sheep, and be none the worse for it ; it can 

 he kept thus bare for years, and yet when rain falls 

 and the paddock is spelled the grass is as good as 

 ever ; all stok like it, fatten on it, and cows give nice 

 sweet miik and butter when grazed on it. In fact but 

 for couch {Cynodon dactylis) the commons, the road 

 sides, the suburban paddocks, and much of the country 

 ■where close settlement is would be useless for stock. 

 One special feature about this grass that it follows 

 settlement; no matter in what part of the unsettled 

 interior man may elect to put up his house and live, 

 before the year is out the couch will be there too. 

 The grass likes a iirm consolidated surface, and appears 

 first in such places as by the roadside, stockyards, 

 or round the house. It is indigenous to the country, 

 but also it is largely spread by the minute seeds 

 getting embedded in the mud by the wheels of vehicles 

 and on the feet of animals, and also it is passed in 

 their droppings. Notwithstanding its being so fatal a 

 grass to ail cultivated plants and crops it is powerless 

 to master many weeds, such as sida retusa, catmint, 

 thistles, cobblers' pegs, &c., and iu this particular it 

 differs materially from the buffalo grass, although both 

 are creepers and joint rooters ; indeed the buffalo does 

 not spread by seed at all, so that the couch has the 

 advantage over it ; nevertheless the buffalo will smother 



it when the two are planted together. In the garden 



every rootlet of couch should this season be carefully 

 pi eked out as the forkful of soil is overturned, for 



if left in the ground they are sure to grow again. 



— Quen'landcr. 



Growth of Pvooti.ets.— Messrs. Van Tieghem and 

 Doubot have recertly shown that rootlets, in 

 making their way out from the interior of the axis 

 of main roots, secrete a fluid which destroys the cells 

 in their immediate nighbourhood by converting them 

 into jelly and then dissolving, perhaps -absorbing them, 

 somewhat in the same manner that the embryo 

 metamorphoses the albumen surrounding in it and 

 then appropriates it as food. — Fharmaccutical Journal. 

 Vine Manures. — As a result of observations made 

 in Germany, it appears that superphosphate of lime 

 increases the yield, hastens the ripening of the 

 Grapes, and facilitates the ripening of the wood. 

 Nitrogenous manures are useful when the Vine lacks 

 vigour, otherwise they do harm by stimulating growth 

 i-ather than fructification and maturity. Potash by 

 itself is of no value, but when conjoined with phos- 

 phates and nitrogenous manure it is very serviceable. 

 — Gardeners' Cliromcle. 



Caucasus Boxwood. — Vice-Consul Gardner report- 

 ing from Poti, says, that the Boxwood forests in the 

 vicinity of Poti are exhausted, and supplies are now 

 drawn from Abkassia, which Province has lately been 

 opened to cutters by the Russian Government. About 

 2,000 tons were cut and exported during the year 1885 

 to the United Kingdom. This wood is of fine clean 

 growth, good colour, and great thickness, many pieces 

 being 15 inches in diameter. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Mandioca. — The numerous varieties of the mandioc 

 or cassava plant {JIanikot spp.) cultivated in Brazil, 

 where, as is known, the roots are worked for the pre- 

 paration of Brazilian arrowroot, or tapioca, forms, 

 the subject of a lengthy and exhaustive paper by Dr. 

 Peckolt, the chemical section oi-v/hidh {Pharm. Rund,' 

 schau, iv., 148, 174, 201) presents several points of 

 interest. Dr. Peckolt says that the occurrence of hyd- 

 rocyanic acid is not limited to the bitter mandioca, 

 bat extends to all varieties, though it is present in 

 smaller quantity in the sweet kinds. Hydrocyanic 

 does not, however, exist as such in the root while in 

 the earth, but is first formed on contact with atmos- 

 pheric air, and its formation can be entirely prevented 

 by immersing the freshly dug root in alcohol. The 

 capability of forming hydrocyanic acid proved to cor- 

 respond with a popular belief as to the time when 

 the bitter mandioca is most poisonous, being greatest 

 at the time of flowering. As a general rule it was 

 found that the richer in juice the roots of a variety 

 are, either sweet or bitter, the more poisonous they 

 are, some of the sweet varieties containing only traces 

 of milky juice. But Dr. Peckolt confirms previous 

 suspicions that the toxicity of mandioca is not due 

 wholly to hydrocyanic acid, for there exists in the 

 juice, already formed, another volatile poison, which 

 he has provisionally named " manihotoxin," as 5 

 milligrams of it killed a full-grown pigeon in five 

 minutes. This he obtained from ether in stellate cr5'- 

 stals, volatilizing completelj' at 69° C. Another sub- 

 stance, which is non-poisonous and occurs in the ex- 

 pressed juice from both bitter and sweet roots, but 

 in greater proportion in that from the sweet, has been 

 named " sepsicolytin," or " fermentation hinderer,'' on 

 account of its x'emarkable antiseptic properties. It 

 was obtained as a thickish light-brown extract, hav- 

 ing a peculiar odour and a bitter pungent taste. It 

 is insoluble in absolute ether, chloroform, petroleum 

 spirit, carbon bisulphide and essential oils; freely 

 soluble iu ether and alcohol ; less soluble in cold water, 

 and only partially soluble in boiling water. Two drops 

 of sepsicolytin mixed with fresh albumen (quantity 

 not stated) are said to preserve it for upwards of six 

 months without deterioration of any kind. It wou'd 

 seem therefore that the antiseptic properties that 

 have been attributed to " cassareep " and the " pepper 

 pot " of the ^Vest Indies, both of them prepared 

 from mandioca or cassava juice, have some found- 

 ation in fact (see Pliorm. Journ. [3], i., p- 274). 

 Other compounds separated were "manihotin," a 

 crystalline mannite-like substance, which is a decom- 

 position product, since it does not exist already for- 

 med in the root, and Henry and Boutron's '' mani- 

 hotic acid," which has been ascertained to be a decom- 

 position product of manihotin. — Pharmaceutical Journal 



