

Aai!CtlLT0^fSf, 



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and quality of mutton and wool. The farm was given 

 up in 1863 because it did not pay its working ex- 

 peuses, but such expeaditura as thi? is repiid to a 

 country over and over again when the experiments 

 are so evidently successful as they have been in the 

 case of Mysore. We have not touched on the parts 

 of the book connected with the treatment of diseases 

 and accidental injuries : Dr. Shortt's reputation is a 

 sufficient guarantee that this will be found satisfactory. 

 But there is one feature of the book which we cannot 

 speak of with the same satisfaction, and that is the 

 illustrations. How an author could be persuaded to 

 allow his book to bo disfigured with such dreadful 

 lithographs we cannot conceive. We do not deny that 

 the characteristic features of the animals are, in many 

 cases, reproduced, but anything less artistic we have 

 seldom seen. Many of them are taken from photo- 

 graphs in which the picture has been blurred by the 

 motion of the animal, and the lithographer has re- 

 produced this blurring. We are quite aware of the 

 difficulty of getting a book well illustrated in Madras, 

 but if it was impossible, on account of the expense 

 involved, to get wood-cuts from home, we think it 

 would have been better to omit them altogether rather 

 than to disfigure with them an otherwise valuable 

 \io6k,— Madras Mail. 



Feogs do no manner of harm in a garden, and are 

 probably the gardener's best friends. The food of the 

 frog is wholly of an animal character, consisting of 

 slugs, worms, and insects of nearly every kind. — Lidian 

 Gardener. 



Disinfectants. — A great deal of disappointment 

 may be experienced if people do not realize that 

 deodorizing substances, and even antiseptics like green 

 vitriol, are not true disinfectants. They have their 

 advantage in removing evil odour, or checking putre- 

 faction, but they do not necessarily kill the germs on 

 whose life and activity many epidemic diseases depend. 

 Destruction by fire of infected material, and where 

 that is not practicable, chloride of lime is the best 

 germicide for general use. — Tniian Gardener. 



Soil Cultivation and Insect Pests. — " At the time 

 of the discovery and early settlement of this country," 

 (United States,) says Prof. J. A. Lintner, " the num- 

 ber of insects existing in the soil was very small, but. 

 with the cultivation of the ground this number was 

 increased, until now there are thousands of insects, 

 which destroy vegetation. Aside from the increise by 

 cultivation the number has been added to by grubs 

 and worms imported with grain from foreign count- 

 ries. There are 9,700 different kinds of coleopterse 

 or beetles and 200 kinds of insects found in apple 

 trees. In the Palzeozoic age there were 625 kinds of 

 ' cockroaches." — American Grocer. 



Vaeious substances have been used to make stoppers 

 for bottles that will replace corks, and paper has 

 formed the basis of many of these. We now have a 

 more novel use of paper in the drug business in the 

 form of paper bottles. The difficulty of making 

 them waterproof has been overcome, as well as their 

 tendency to be affected by spirits of any kind. The 

 only difficulty that remains is that they must be made 

 in halves, and be joined together atter taken from 

 the moulds where they have been enduring a severe 

 pressure, and where the albumen of some of the 

 ingredients has formed an impenetrable protection, 

 and it only requires that some deserving mechanic 

 eliminate a pidpy alloy that can be used as a solder. 

 — Planter and Farmer. 



Difficulty of Breathing caused by Pblahgoni- 

 DMS. — The British Medical Journal for November 

 38th contains a note on difficulty of breathing pro- 

 duced by Pelargonium grossidarioiden, by Dr. G-. Bidie, 

 Deputy Surgeon General, Madras. Dr. Bidie says that 

 the odour which the plant gives out afterrain &c., is 

 agreeable to most people, but that in the case of a lady 

 who came under his observation it immediatly produced 

 dyspnoea. As the plant was in flower at the time, it^was 

 thought that the pollen grains caused the trouble, as in 

 hay fever, but on experiment it was found to be due to 

 the efBuvia of the leaves. Whenever plants were brought 

 Bear the la4y ebe vtm afCected ]>y ihsm, aod wliea out j 



driving or walking she would announce the presence of 

 the enemy when the plant could not be seen by the eye, 

 and whilst other people could not smell it uutil their 

 attention was directed to it. This is, therefore, a 

 new example of an "idiosyncrasy of olfaction." — Indian- 

 Gardener. 



Beverages of Barbary.— Besides wine from the 

 grape, whose preparation calls for no special notice, 

 there is a kind of "palm wine" or teAwi furnished by 

 the sap of the date palm ( Phcenix dactylifera ). Trees 

 in full vigoKr are selected for tapping. If the life of 

 the tree is to be sacrificed, the incision is made so as to 

 destroy the terminal bunch, but more generally the 

 tree is to be preserved, and in that case the cut is kept 

 clear of the terminal bunch, and is carried round the 

 st^-m. The juice escaping from the wound is conducted 

 by a reed into an earthenware pot ( karreri ), and may 

 amount to nearly two gallons daily at first, gradually 

 siuking to about half that quantity towards the end of 

 the tapping, which is seldom allowed to exceed a month. 

 The collection being terminated, the incision is care- 

 fully plastered up with clay, and after about two years, 

 with irrigation, the tree will resume fruit bearing. 

 Much of the '' wine " is drunk fresh, when it resembles 

 sparkling cider, but becomes insipid after losing its car- 

 bonic acid. Its colour is opalescent and milky. After 

 undergoing alcoholic fermentation, it contains 4'38 per 

 cent of alcohol 022 carbonic acid, and 5 60 of mannite. 



The Moors make extensive use of a spirit prepared 

 from the water in which comb is boiled in treating 

 beeswax. This water, being impregnated with honey, 

 is allowed to ferment, and is then distilled ; the spirit 

 is called maharga. It is flavoured with aniseed or with 

 naffa, i. c, fennel acid (FcenicuCum dulce), — Journal of 

 the Society of Arts. 



Stimulating Agents in Germination. — Allusion has 

 already been made to different means of hastening 

 the germination of seed, such as breaking the shells, 

 soaking in very hot water, or even boiling for a short 

 time. There are some substances which appear to ex- 

 ercise a stimulating effect in the germination of seeds 

 and the future growth of the seedlings. Camphor, 

 a vegetable product itself, appears to possess this pro- 

 perty in an extraordinary degree. Indeed, it has been 

 averred that camphor has the power of revivifying 

 seed, or at least of causing them to germinate when 

 ordinary treatment failed, Benjamin Smith Barton 

 was the first to point out its action upon plants at 

 the end of the last century ; and a few years ago a 

 Mr. Vogel, of Munich, carried out a number of 

 experiments with camphor on old seeds. Controlling 

 experiment, were conducted simultaneously, ordinary 

 water being employed instead of camphor water. 

 Seed of Cress three or four years old, treated with 

 ordinary water, germinated very imperfectlj' and long 

 atter sowing, while that moistened witli camphor 

 water germinated quickly ; that four years old in twenty- 

 four hours, and that three years old in seven hours. 

 Radish seed, which is usually regarded as useless after 

 it is three or four years old, was tried seven years 

 old, and in germinated in four days, or in a much 

 shorter period than good fresh seed under ordinary 

 favourable conditions. Seed of the Pea eight years 

 old germinated in forty hours, and many other old 

 seeds treated with camphor water exhibited equally 

 rapid germination. Some that would not germinate 

 at all under ordinary treatment, had their germinat- 

 ive force revived by camphor. Other seeds. Clover 

 for instance, appeared to derive no benefit from the 

 solution of camphor; but where it acts its influence 

 is not limited to germination, but is extended to the 

 subsequent growth. Humboldt discovered that chlorine 

 accelerates germination, and acts as a restorer where 

 the vital force is almost exhausted or quite lost, so 

 far as the usual method of treatment is concerned. 

 This must be used in a highly diluted form ; about 

 two drops of an aqueous solution of chlorine in 2 oz. 

 of water. Iodine and bromine arc said to possess 

 similar qualities. Acid and ammonia salts in very 

 small quantities in the water have been found to 

 hasten germination, but they have Qot the power ot 

 reviving eeeds.—I^e Garden, 



