Dec. I, iB$6i] 



THE TkUPICAL Au 



fT f '7>T 



JRISTa 



42 1 



establishment of a botanical department, Sir Joseph 

 llooker and Mr. Thiselton Dyer lent their invaluable 

 assistance, the Secretary of State agreed to our pro- 

 posals, Mr. Lawson was satisfied to undertake new 

 duties for a very slightly-increased remuneration, and 

 the reproach was taken away from this Government 

 that it did nothing systematic for the encouragement 

 of either scientific or economic botany, for which 

 Ceylon, Jamaica, and so many other less iraportan; 

 British dependencies do so much. When the arrange- 

 ments now in progress are entirely completed, Oota- 

 camund, which is a particularly good climate for pre- 

 serving dried plants, will contain the principal her- 

 barium of the Presidency, but a typical collection will 

 be left in Madras, and other collections will, doub*- 

 less, as civilisation extends, be formed in other im- 

 portant centres. In time, too, new botanical gardens 

 will be created, with a view to making experiment < 

 to which the climatic conditions of the existing gar- 

 dens do not lend themselves. The pubhc spirit and 

 intelligence of the rulers of some of the aeighbour- 

 ing states, such as Travaacore (exceptionally we'l 

 situated for botanical experiments) will, I doubt not, 

 one day be enlisted in the same good cause. We 

 have received from Kew not only a great deal, of 

 guidance during the last five years, but also many 

 seeds, such as the following. I mention only plants 

 of economic value, not those which are merely orna- 

 mental, or interesting -to the botanist aloue: — 



Cinchona Santa Fe. 



„ Carthagena. 

 Rimijia Purdieana. 

 Ipomrsa chrysorhizi. 

 UUucus tuberosus. 



Erythroxylon coca. 

 Rhus vernicifera. 



„ succedauea. 

 Ceratonia siliqua. 

 Qaillaja saponaria. 

 Arracacia esculenta. 



I found Erpthroxi/loii coca established in one or two 

 places; but the immense medical value of the plant 

 was quite unknown in 1881. It has been very grati- 

 fying to me to find that it can be so readily multi- 

 plied here, and that as Mr. Hooper and Dr. Drake- 

 Brockman have proved, the alkaloid produced from 

 the plant in Madras is as eflicacious as that which 

 is produced from it when grown in South America. 



Arracacia esculenta and UUucus tuberosus are both 

 food-plants. The former is an important article of 

 diet in the higher regions of Northe-n South Amer- 

 ica in spite of its near alliance to our familiar hem- 

 lock. The other is related to the Bassella or Indian 

 Spinach, and comes from the Bolivian and Peruvian 

 Andes. Both seem likely to succeed at Ootacamund. 



Ipomcea cri/.whiza is a New Zealand form of the 

 Polynesian sweet potato, which is well spoken of, and 

 is certainly palatable. 



Jihus ceridcifcra gives the valuable Japan lacquer ; 

 lihus succedauea, the Japan wax ; Ceratonia .-iliqua, is 

 the Caruba so important in Sicily ; Quillcija mpo)Mria 

 is a Chillian tree, rich in a vegetable soap. 



The others have been already alluded to. Another 

 benefactor has been Mr. Thomas Hanbury, whose 

 collections of living plants at La Mortola, not far from 

 Bleutone, are amongst the most remarkable in Eu- 

 rope. One cannot now walk through the gardens at 

 Ootacamund without seeing many traces of his friendly 

 ce-operatiou, I have kept up a very close corres- 

 Moudenoe with Kew from the time I arrived in this 

 Presidenoy, and have done what little I could to 

 repay, by sending thither very large quantities of 

 seeds,— =the debt which every British dependency 

 owes to that magnificent and supremely Imperial 

 Instutition.* So slight was the connection between 



* Berlin, Cintra, Christiania, Upsala, Orotava in the 

 Canaries, Cambridge in Massachusetts, the Island of 

 Grenada and Mauritius are a few of the widely-scattered 

 places to which our Madras seeds have found their 

 way within the last five years. It often happtns that, 

 just from their very commonness, things do not get 

 forwarded the great botonical centres in Europe from 

 the tropical countries. I recently found that they 

 wanted at Kfw the palmyra ; the Custard apple which 

 appears so often on our breakfast tables ; and last, but 

 not least, the very handsome but ill-used tree which 

 goes through life under the name of Odina JVodUr, 



that is, if I translate it correctly, the worthless, I 



f9t\h\m one, 



it and Madras before 1881, that I do not think 

 a:iy single person connected with the Royal Gardens, 

 at all knew what was the ordinary vegetation, cul- 

 tivated or indigenous, in the neighbourhood of thft^j 

 city. I have also bad very careful lists made by 

 that most devoted botanist, Mr. R. Holliiagsworth, 

 of the planti in the park of Government House 

 Madras, and at Guindy, waile to the (oUectiou.'s at 

 bo h paces i have a idt-d,— thanks to ihe kiiivlness 

 of Dr. King of Calcutta, Mr. Gamble and others, 

 — a large number of species. The Government has 

 noD had it in iis power, — owing agaiu to the pecuniary 

 difficulties of the Imperial Treasury, — to do quite as 

 much as it could have wished to help so valuable 

 an institution as the Agri-Horticultural Society of 

 Madras, excellently managed by Mr. Steavenson and 

 others ; but it coutrived to enable the Society to lay 

 the foundation of a botanical library, and I have no 

 doubt subsequent and wealthier Governments will be 

 able to do more. A great deal of miscellaneous, hor- 

 ticultural, agricultural, and vegetable economic infor- 

 mation has been circulated in these recent years by 

 the Government, and we have introduced the practice 

 of sending every scrap of intelligence of that kind to 

 Kew, where it is utilised for the general advantage 

 of the whole of Oceania, and of many broad lauds which 

 do not belong to our Political System. Mr. Morris, now 

 of Kew. but recently of Jamaica, lately informed mo that 

 the Pepper which was under the intelligent superin- 

 tendence of Mr. Ross, C.S., transmitted a year or 

 two ago, through Kew from Telliclierry, to that is- 

 land, has succeeded perfectly. Considering the im- 

 memorial antiquity of the Malabar Pepper trade, it is 

 strange that it remained for our generation to make 

 this gift from the East to the ^V^est. 



Planting. — Indian Governments have been some- 

 times blamed for not welcoming with enthusiasm the 

 English capitalist. Madras is not open to that re- 

 proach. Every encouragement is given to the English 

 capitalist to settle and to cultivate in those districts 

 of the Presidency where the climate makes this pos- 

 sible. The planters on the Nilgiris and elsewhere have 

 in the last five years met with special consideration ; 

 but the mischief is that the English cajntaUat won't 

 come. There never was a truer maxim thau that " the 

 first duty of a landlord is to be rich." If he has not 

 other means, it is idle to attempt to cidtivate land 

 in India or in any country 1 have heard to tell of, 

 with a reasonable hope of success. No good-natured 

 " concessions " on the part of Government can do any- 

 thing more than stave off the inevitable. They are 

 too often only a cruel kindness. I once said to a 

 friend "How do the — s get on with their estate?" 

 " Excellently," was the reply, '• their father gives 

 them the money to work it." "And what return does 

 he get," I rejjined. "Oh, the return he gets is that 

 one of them periodically returns to him." C'est 

 magnifique mais ce n'est pas le commerce ! What we 

 above all things want in the Nilgiris and similarly* 

 situated tracts is the English capitalist, who wdl buy 

 his estate without needing to mortgage any part of it, 

 and retaining enough money to live upon, and to 

 work it to the very best advantage, without ever 

 having recourse to the money-lender, while he gives 

 as nmch of his persoual attention to planting as he 

 would give, if he meant to succeed in any other 

 profession, Such men will be able to tide over bad 

 yeara, and sooner or later may do fairly well, while 

 those who count upon a succession of good years will 

 certaiuly be disappointed, however much Government 

 may do for them. — JTilgui Express. 



DEODoRisiNt; Iodoform. — Coffee has been used for 

 deodorising Idoform with very satisfactory results, 

 and without interfering with its antiseptic effects 

 Qrovmd cotfee is employed in proportions varying 

 from thirty to fifty per cent. Fifty per cent is said 

 to completely deodorise the Iodoform, and the coffee 

 being itself au antiseptic no bad effect is produced.' 

 Iodoform so prepared should only be used for out- 

 ward applications,— l^ziJ'.ycj'W^ 4' ^o's Frice Ciormt^ 



