966 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Jttne I, 1883. 



TREES OF MADAGASCAR. 



The soil of Madagascar is very fertile, and produces rice, 

 maniok, sugar-cane, pepper, cotton, indigo, tobacco, as well 

 as a number of medicinal herbs. A chain of high mount- 

 ains divides the country into several well- watered vallevs. 

 The most beautiful feature in the island is the impo.sing 

 forests which extend over a distance of two thousand 

 English miles and contain fine and valuable trees covered j 

 with rare climbers and orchids. Among the trees are found j 

 pandanas, acacia, sago and the cocoa nut. but above all is 

 the ra\nnda [Vrania Specio^a) which of itself forms large 

 forests. The Rev. AV. Ellis says of this tree: — It springs 

 up vrith a thick, juicy stem similar to the Banana (JTiisa 

 Sapieiitnm), in the centre of it are broad leaves which 

 resemble the Banania but are less brittle. The leaves siu"- 

 round the stem in rows on opposite sides, and by increas- 

 ing and leaning over those underneath, the tree assumes 

 the shape of a large open fan. I have counted, on more 

 than one occasion, twenty to twenty-five leaves on one 

 tree. The stalk of the leaves is from six to eight feet 

 long, while the broad leaf itself is from four to six feet long. 

 The bright green leaves, extencUng themselves like a fan, 

 form the most beautiful plant that can be imagined." But 

 it is not only for its beauty that the tree is remarkable. 

 It is used for many purposes, in the same way as the 

 palm tree is in the Arabian desert; but one of its most im- 

 portant properties is that during the dry .season it con- 

 tains a large quantity of fresh and pure water, and is 

 thus a refreshing spring for the thirsty traveller. The re- 

 servoir is situ.ated at the base of the stalk of each leaf, 

 and, upon being opened, a stream of cool and sweet water 

 appears. The natives use the leaves of the tree to cover 

 the houses, and the bark for flooring. At mo.st of the 

 markets there are sold articles made from these leaves, 

 comprising plates, dishes, table cloths, napkins, etc., and 

 even spoons and tumblers, but for these last articles the 

 leaves are specially moulded. — India Merciirii. 



AoEiCFLTtmAL " Fads. " — Among the many " fads, "' which 

 Mr. Angus Mackay used to exjatiate on with so much 

 gusto, was the Scuppernong gi-ape, which we were asked 

 to believe, some twelve or fifteen years since, was a most 

 valuable addition to our then known vines. \\c saw one 

 of these at Carlsburg the other day. Like one or two we 

 have seen elsewhere, it has never borne but one or two 

 berries, nothing approaching a bunch ever ha\'ing been seen 

 upon it. This American creeper is a fit companion to that 

 English weed — the prickly comfrey, which we were told 

 was so valuable as a forage plant. — Planter and Farmer. 



Hot Water as av Insecticide, — .J. 'W., Liverpool, 

 pyrites: — "Last spring I read in the Journal that the best 

 way to get rid of insects desti'uctive to Orchids was to 

 plunge the pots in hot water at a temperature of 120 ° . 

 I was rather in doubt whether it was safe to do this, con- 

 sequently ti-ied two or three pots that I knew were pretty 

 well full of woodlice. or, perhaps I .should say, appeared 

 so from the condition of the roots. The contents of these 

 pots all changed, the insects were killed, and the Orchids 

 improved. Seeing that no injury was caused to the plants, 

 I last August plunged every Orchid I had in water heated 

 to 126 ° I have found that it has not injm'ed one plant. 

 Dendrobium densiflorum that I subjected to this treat- 

 ment has now no less than forty-two spikes of bloom, 

 and these in a few days will be fully expanded. — Jovrnal 

 of Hnrtiruhnre. 



New Pkoducts. — The Hon. John Douglas, C.M.G., during 

 his recent' visit to Bundaberg — where we notice he became 

 a pvrrchaser in the new Barolin town.ship — collected a 

 quantity of a certain weed, which is stated by him to be 

 becoming very prevalent in the Woongarra Scrub, and the 

 root of which grows to the size of beet-root. Sir. F. JI. 

 Bailey, the Government Botanist, to whom he svibmitted 

 it for inspection, says it is the first specimens of the plant 

 he has seen. He states it to be the Virginian Poke 

 (Phj't.ol.acca decandra. Linn.). It is saiil that the berries 

 were at one time used in Portugal to give the deep colour 

 to red port. The root is emetic, nearly hke ipecacuanha. 

 . Some say that when properly prepared it operates in the 

 same doses with the same certainty; externally applied, 

 it is said to cure psora and t?eniacapitis, whatever those 

 ills of humanity may be. — Planter and Farmer. 



The Phylloxera. — According to the last report of M " 

 Tisserand, Director of Agriculture, cited in the lieiu^ 

 Horticole, no fewer than fifty departments of France are 

 invaded by Phylloxera, 764,000 hectares of Vines entu-ely 

 destroyed (a hectare=about 2J acres), 642,OiiO hectares 

 more or less seriously affected. — Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



Neilgherrt Oixchon'a, — The following facts are interest- 

 ing in connection with Mr. John Hughes' paper upon 

 Neilgherry cinchona soils, recently pubUshed by us : — " The 

 Madras Government some time ago forwarded to the 

 Secretary of State consignments of cinchona bark from their 

 estates at Naddewatum, Dodabetta and Pykara, from which 

 quinine and other alkaloids were to be manufactured on 

 their behalf. These barks were made over to Mr. Whiffen, 

 the well-known pharmaceutical chemist, and the analysis 

 yielded the following results : — 



Qiunine sul-Oinchonidine Cinchona 

 Description of bark phate per ct. sulphate p. ct. alkaloid p.ct. 



Renewed crown... 5*57 to 5'71 



red 



, 4-06 to 4-03 

 . 3- 6 to 3-42 

 . 3-04 



. 1-71 to 2-09 

 . 1-28 to 1- 2 

 . 1- 3 to 2- 9 

 . 0- 8 to 0-66 



0-41 to 0-48 



1- to 1-05 

 1-02 to 1-21 

 2*32 

 2-15 to 2-32 



2- 8 to 3-57 

 2- 1 to 215 

 1- 5 to 1-35 



n-12 to o:.U 

 0-02 to 0-24 

 015 to 0-23 

 1-84 



1-68 to 2-39 

 1-14 to 1-63 

 2-39 to 2-57 

 0-47 to 0-51 



0-37 

 0-75 

 016 



0-21 

 006 

 0-04 



Mossed.. 



Natural 



Renewed 



Mossed... 



Natural 



Root ... 



Branch 



Renewed scraped 

 crown 4'34 



Natural .scraped... I'Sl 



Branch crown... 0'07 



The total of products obtained by manufacture was as 

 follows : — 



Quinine sulphate 1,467 lb; 



Cinchonidiue sulphate ... ... 345 „ 



Quinidine „ ... ... ... •■■ 40 „ 



Oinchonine alkaloid 208 „ 



Febrifuge 2,236 „ 



Total charges on account of the bark sent amounted to 

 £3.352 Os 9d, distributed as follows :— 



Freight Agency, &c 721 9 3 



Mauufactiu-ing charges 2,604 11 



Fire Insurance of bark at factory 26 



— PlanterA^ Gazette. 



Rubber in Bolivia. — The recent extraordinary rise m 

 the price of Para rubber, and the manifest need of a 

 new source of supply for that valuable, commodity beyond 

 the control of the parties who have cornered the Brazilian 

 supply, serve to bring to notice the promising rubber dis- 

 trict explored by Mr. E. R. Heath, in Bolivia, two years 

 ago. He de.scribes the Beni River as navigable by large 

 steamers for a distance of 525 miles from its junction 

 mth the Mamore, and for 300 miles more by craft of 

 less than three-feet draught. The forests on both sides 

 of the river are full of rubber trees, offering a supply of 

 rubber " practically inexhaustible." On the north side of 

 the Beni River the forest extends from the water's edge 

 over fifteen degrees of latitude. Mr. Heath penetrated 

 this dense forest at one place as far as twenty-one miles 

 from the river, and the fm-ther he went inland he found 

 the rubber trees increase in size and number. Each square 

 league contains from 300 to 5,000 trees. On the south 

 side of the river, the forest is only from thi-ee to ten miles 

 wide, but it abounds in rubber trees. The supply of the 

 rubber, Mr. Heath says, is suflncient to give employment 

 to 100,000 men, and as soon as the chain of communic- 

 ation by steamer and railway is completed, that number 

 of men' will soon be engaged in that field of labour. 

 The rubber, though at present commanchng only the same 

 market price, is of a slightly finer quahty than that obtamed 

 from the old-established districts between the falls and 

 the mouth of the Madeira River, and on the river Tapivjoz 

 and other tributaries of the Amazon near Para. It poss- 

 esses other more important advantages over the older 

 districts. The clim.ate is healthy. There is an abundant 

 supply of cheap labour at hand, the Indians olrtained from 

 the department of the Beni, who are practically .slaves, 

 working at from 10s. to 14s. a month. The abumlant 

 supply of palm-nuts wluch are used hi smoking the rub- 

 ber — a necessary process previous to evaporation— enables 

 the collectors to work ten months out of the twelve, in- 

 stead of sLx, as in the other districts. — British and Colonial 

 Printer. 



