1 82 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[August i, 1882. 



heard of the grafting of DraciBuas, and we have heard 

 of flute-grafting in the case of some grasses, but we 

 do not think in either case that the evidence is free 

 from suspicion. These matters demand careful experi- 

 ment and most nunute and patient examination, and 

 there are" few matters that might more profitably attract 

 the attention of experimenters with the requisite in- 

 tellifeuce, skill, and patience. The matter would not be 

 of purely scientific interest, but clearly also of practical 

 value. We trust, therefore, that instead of having to 

 rely, as we do now, on a very few isolated examples 

 which occur to us, as it were, by accident, we may in 

 the futui-e have a body of evidence, founded on careful 

 cxpei-iment, and from which all sources of doubt and 

 fallacious inteiiiretation may be banished. — Garde)u'iii' 

 Chronicle. 



Pearls owe their lustre to their being composed of 

 fine layers which allow light to pass tbrough them, 

 whilst the numerous layers, lying one under the other, 

 disperse and reflect the ligbt in sMcb a m'lnner that 

 it returns and mixes with tbat which is directly 

 thrown back from the outer surface. — Progress. 



Fungi. — Not very long ago, Sir James Paget pointed 

 out that much might be learned by the surgeon from 

 a studv of morbid crrowtlis in t^lants. (-iaj-deDers are 

 now returning the compliment, and acknowledge that 

 they may learn from the medical man how to study 

 the life history of the microscopic fungi jvhich infect 

 plants, and the nature of the minute ferments which 

 convert insoluble inert salts into soluble nitrates fit 

 for the food of the plant. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 



Cinchona Alkaloids. — It has been observed by Dr. 

 Hagar that the ingestion of the cinchona alkaloids and 

 morphia is better tolerated l)y the stomach when ac- 

 companied by an excess of hydrochloric acid. Some 

 experiments that he has made lead him to the same 

 conclusion with respect to chinoline. He found that 

 upon taking tartrate of chinoline in the pill form, 

 without acid, in doses of O'o, 0'75 and 15 gram, it 

 always produced distrubance of the stomach and a 

 dull surging in the ears. The same quantities of 

 tartrate of chuioline made up into pills with 0-2.5^ 

 0-4, and O'S gram of the official hydrochloric acid, 

 when taken and followed by halt a glass of water, 

 did not cause the unpleasant symptoms. — Phramaccut- 

 ical JouriMl. 



Does Libekian Coffee Pat?— This is a question 

 mooted by an Indian contemporary in a brief para- 

 graph on the subject, and be proceeds to answer it 

 to some extent in the negative, for no other reason 

 than that the cultivation of the variety does not eeem 

 to have made much progress in any of the countries 

 into which it has been introduced. So far as Ceylon 

 is concerned, we should say it has succeeded in nearly 

 every locality where it has been planted, and so fur 

 as beariu" goes, nothing could be better than the 

 Liberian estates in Ueylon. That this new product 

 has not taken with planters so readily as some other.-, 

 mny be attributed to two reasons. One of these 

 probably is tbat the coffee stocks being excessive, it 

 is not desirable to increase them ; secondly, many 

 localities which are unsuitable to Liberian coffee are 

 favourable to other new products such as tea, cocoa, 

 cardamom, and hence these latter have had the pre- 

 ference with most Ceylon men. Monover the decided 

 success which lias a' tended the last-named cultivations, 

 has encouraged planters to continue Ihem, and so 

 Ion" as this is the ease, tea is bound to have the 

 preference over cott'ee as a lowcouutry product. It 

 is true tbat in one locality, that of Kalutara, Libe- 

 rian coffee and tea are thriving side by siib-, and we 

 may venture to say both equally well. Kalutar.i tea 

 bids fair to take a high position in public estim- 

 ation, a sample having recently been valued at 2s -d 

 per \h,— Ceylon Times. 



Q1TA.SSIA Cups are now largely made in Boston, 

 Masisachusetts. One firm there last year worked up 

 fifty tons of thfl wood (Picrtena exceba), which is 

 obtained from Jamaica, and costs about £5 x^er ton. 

 Four years ago the price was i,'12 per ton, but it 

 has steadily declined as well as that of the bitter 

 cups which have dropped from r2s. to 4s. per dozen. 

 — Journal of Applied Science. 



The Adelaide Botanic Gardens. — Dr. Schom- 

 burgk's annual report on the establishment under his 

 direction contains as uau.il many features horticultur- 

 ally interesting. Amongst plants of special botanical 

 interest are mentioned three species of Landolphia, 

 named respectively Kirki, Petersianum, and Watsoni. 

 These Landolphias are woody climbers, belonging to 

 the ApocineEB, and are natives of the east and west 

 coast of tropical Africa. They are the producers of 

 a caoutchouc of excellent quality, known as " African 

 rubber." which forms a large article of export. It is 

 only lately that these three species have been botan- 

 ically described and named. Dr. Schomburgk fears 

 they are not suited to the dry climate of Adelaide, 

 but will, no doubt, thrive at Port Darwin. There 

 also will the "Rain Tree," Pitheddobium Saman, 

 be likely to succeed ; it has been growing luxuriantly 

 in the shade-house. We note amongst the novelties 

 Bertholetia excelsa, the tree which furnishes the well- 

 known Br,izil nuts ; Nectandra Rodiei. a noble tre^i 

 belonging to the Laurine*, a native of British Guiana, 

 where its bark is considered a febrifuge. The new 

 Museum of Economic Botany has been appreciated 

 more than Dr. Schomburgk ever expected ; young and 

 old take a lively interest in the many objects exhib- 

 ited, which show how the vegetable products can 

 be turned to account for our use as articles of food, 

 construction, medicine, or art, which knowledge is 

 the more readily 'ibtaiued by exhibiting the economical 

 and commercial plants in their raw state side by side 

 with the articles into which they have been converted 

 by the labour and skill of man. — Aaslralasian. 



Tonga Plant. — Mr. N. E. Bro^vn, in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle (February 11, p. 180), gives a detailed 

 account of the tonga plant, Rhaphidophora vitiensis, 

 Scliott. This gentleman, who has paid especial atten- 

 tion to the aroid group remarks that the plant is 

 involved in great confusion botanically. In his opin- 

 nion it is identical with P. Pinnata, Schott, and with 

 Epipremnum inirabile, ,Schott, the last name being the 

 one he jirefers to retain for the plant. It is stated to 

 be a widely distributed plant, occurring in .Java, 

 Sumatra Baly, Amboyna, Timor and Tropical Australia, 

 and has been in cultivation by Mr. Bull, at Chelsea, 

 since 1878, but was not then recognized by Mr. Brown, 

 who saw it in flower, as identical with Raphidophora 

 vitiensis. According to Rumphiiis (' Fl. Amboynensis,' 

 vol. v., p. 489, t. 183, fig. 2), the natives of Java 

 and Baly cook " the horns," or terminal buds of .the 

 flowering stems, a little over the fire, and bruise them 

 and squeeze out the juice, which is given to lean 

 and feeble horses and cows, and is said to bring tJiem 

 into a fat and healthy condition. The internal sub- 

 stance is pounded and used in the fonn of a poultice 

 as a remedy for sjirains. Cows feed upon the leaves, 

 especially during the hot months when the fields are 

 destitute of grass ; they seem to be very fond of them 

 and also of the stems, as these are not acrid. Mr. 

 N. E. Browm attributes the identification of tonga to 

 Baron Mueller. This is scarcely correct, the first 

 identification bemg tliat by E. M. Holmes in May, 

 1880 (Pharmaceutical Juurnal, [3], x., p. 889), of Rhaph- 

 idophora vitiensis, by comparing the starch found in 

 tonga with the starch found in a fragment of the 

 stem of that plant. The other jjlant, PrciHiift taitensis, 

 was first identified by Dr. Hansen Ercli, who visited 

 the Fiji Islands on piu'pose to discover the plants. — • 

 Pharmaceutical Journal. 



