July i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



THE SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 PRIZE MEDAL. 

 , My guidman got a medal hame, 



An' hauds his prize wi' muclde glee ; 

 Its legend set my thoclits aflame : 

 'Tis " Aye be stickin' in a tree." 



Stick in a tree, nae matter where, 

 On bare hill-side or tufted lea ; 



For when you walk the earth nae mair 

 Its boughs may green and verdant be. 



Time was when a' cor mountain stood 

 Tree-dad from base to summit hie, 



But aye men cut the gi'owin' wood. 

 Nor thocht o' " stickin' in a tree." 



An' noo the brown hUl-tops look down 

 On miles o' woodless countrie, 



Because some thochtless lording'a frown 

 Forbids them "stickin' in a tree." 



Scotland, when shall thy glory cease, 

 An' a' thine ancient prestige flee ? 



When men forget in time of peace 

 To "Aye be stickin' in a tree." 



Oh, dear old rugged moimtain land. 



An' nursing- place of Forestry, 

 Lang may thy sons, a stalwart band, 



Tak pride in " stickin' in a tree." 

 — Journal of Forestry. K. Kay. 



QUICK RETURNS IN APPLE CULTURE. 



The old fallacy, that in planting apple or other 

 fruit trees we benefit posterity more than ourselves, 

 is hiippily now exploded, seeing that renlly good crops 

 can be h;id off' trees the second year after planting, 

 if grown on the Paranise stuck. 'Tiny trees, one, two, 

 and three years fiom the graft, now bear crops of 

 marvellously fine fruit, such as makes even old Kent- 

 ish fruit-growers open their eyes with wonder. In 

 the fruit-tree uurtieries at Allington, near Maidstone, 

 I last year saw trees not so large as ordinary koosu- 

 berry bushes covered with fiuii, the size and colour 

 of which were extraordinary. Apples being at the 

 tin.e a drug in the market, the fruit wus lying thickly 

 in all directions ; and I was assured thut there had 

 been a deal of labour expended in divesting the youny 

 tre^s of their superabundant cr. ps, for fiuit was not 

 the object soiigl.t for, but trees and bushes. Yet 

 where a few rows of trees were standing with three 

 or four years' growth, I question if it would have 

 been possi le to liavd grown a larger crop per acre 

 by any other means, for the bushee quite touched 

 each other, ni/ ro, m being left to get between the 

 rows with' ut knocking (<ti' the fiuit. 



Anyone cnntcniplatmg apple culture in gardens 

 should make it a ^peo al piint to go into some uur-e 

 ry and see for them^tlvKS li. w thete little apple 

 busbe:- on the P'radi^e stock behave; this is eai-euti- 

 ally a garden apple stock. Apples on this stock may 

 be grown on low trellisis running no'th and south, 

 feet as rows of pfas are now giown between dwarfer 

 vegetables, or as edgings to walks, or in any otber 

 way the cultivator may fancy. The simplest and 

 possibly the best mode is dwarf bushes about six 

 feet apart, like gooseberries and currants. Procure 

 the bushes in October or November, plant them at 

 once, and mulch the roots; shorten the shoots in win- 

 ter, and pinch tiiem in July. The trees will need 

 but little other attention, and will certainly reward 

 one with abundance of fruit. 



The orchard is quite a distinct affair. In this case 

 large trees on the free stocu, capable of bearing from 

 twelve to twenty bushels of apples, is the only way 

 in which the fruit can be produced cheaply enough 



to pay the grower. There is no difficulty whatever 

 ill growing apples enough in England to supply all 

 our wants, and of a quality superior to those im- 

 ported ; but the producer and consumer should be 

 brought nearer together. In the meantime all who 

 have a little garden of their own m.iy soon be in- 

 dependent of both markets and importations. Buy a 

 few little bushes of varieties that become fit for use 

 in succession, for both culin.iry and des.sert purposes ; 

 and if the produce is not found juicier and better 

 than such as will stand a trans-Athmtio voyage with- 

 out bruising, all I can say that is my experience 

 has misled me. — J. G. Linton. — Field. 



METHOD FOR THE ESTIMATION OP TOTAL 

 ALKALOIDS IN BARK.* 



BY DR. J. DE VEIJ. 



In the Archiv der Pharmacia for August, 1S81, two 

 methods for the estimation of the total alkaloids in 

 bark were proposed by ProUius, one of whifh the 

 author has tested and now recommends as yieldii-', 

 with a slight modification, excellent results. 



The principle of the method referred to consists in 

 using tor the extraction of the alkaloids a mixture 

 of 88 p.irts (by weight) of ether, 8 of alcohol (92 

 to 95 per cent), and 4 of liqiiid ammonia. Prollius 

 directs 10 grams of this liquid to be taken for every 

 gram of bark, but the author recommends the pro- 

 portion of menstruum to be doubled. 



The following is the method as modiied by the 

 author: — 10 grams of finely powdered bark are in- 

 troduced into a well closed bottle and, after being 

 carefully tared,, 200 grams of the ethereal liquid are 

 added. The whole is now shaken at intervals during 

 an hour, this length of time having been ascertained 

 by comparative experiments to be sufTicient, The 

 brttle is then again weighed, and if evaporation have 

 taken place the neceseary quantity of ether mixture 

 is added. 



As much as possible of the clear liquid is now 

 poured off into a flask and the bottle again weighed; 

 the difference in weight gives the amount of solution 

 taken. The ether is then recovered by distillation 

 and the residual liquid, containing alkaloid and waxy 

 matter, is transferred to a tared porcelain dish and 

 ghiss rod, the ftask being washed with a little spirit. 

 The evaporation is now continued on tlie wa er bath 

 until the weight is constant. This gives the amount 

 of crude alkaloid. For instauce 10 grams of succirubra 

 bark were digested with 200 grams of ethereal liquid. 

 159 8 grams of the cle.ir solution gave a res due of 

 78 gram, or f)'76 per c-nt of crude alkaloid. 



■| o es.t mate the puie alkaloids the crude lesidue ia 

 dissidved in dilute b\ drochloric acid, filtered, washed 

 as long as the washii gs preeipitate with solu'irn of 

 snda, and tlie whole made alkaline and shaked with 

 chloroform. After standing twelve bonis the clear 

 chloroformic sulutinu is lun into a flask and evapor- 

 ated by di-tillatiou. Tiie re-idue ia transferred with 

 a little spirit to a tared dish and stirnr and htatid 

 on the water-lath till the weight is constant. Part- 

 icular attention should be paid to the latter point. 

 In the instauce referrid to 648 gram of alkaloid 

 was obtaired, equivalent to 811 per cent or alout 

 li jjer cent less than the amount of crude alkaloid. 

 The author is of opinion that by estimating the etude 

 alkalo'd and deducting 1^ per cent a result will 

 be ariived at with lo.'s of but little time, which, for 

 the practical purposes of the pharmacist, will be 

 sufficiently near the truth. Of course the same 

 method is applicable for the eiamiuat.on of the ext. 

 cinch, liq, (de Vrij). 



* Abstract of a pajx-r in the Kiiuw 'I ijrlnchrij't voor 

 de Pharmacie in Nederland, January, 18b2. 



