December i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



467 



been dug, it is astonishing how fertile the soil is, and how 

 luxuriant the trees on it are. In nooks and comers I have 

 seen splendid oases, containing Cocoa and Areca-nnt, and 

 Borassus Palms, Plantains, Tamarind, and Custard Apples 

 (the latter, by- the-bye, grows wild in the Deccau), Agaves, 

 Poinciauas, Hibiscus. &c. This would appear the region to 

 introduce from Arabia the scores of fine kinds of Date Palm, 

 of which Palgrave speaks so highly ; and this would appear 

 also the place to introduce the fine kinds of Prickly Pear, 

 which does so well in Malta and Sicily on rocky soil ; the 

 Vine and the Olive might probably do well also. The 

 soil, which is formed of the detritus of granite rocks, with 

 ordinary manure and water, is immensely fertile. All along 

 the railway from about Eaichore to Dhond and Manmar, 

 for hundreds of miles, and as the eye can see on both 

 sides of the railway, there is scarcely any cultivation, 

 only here and there in patches. Scarcely a village is to 

 be seen, and not a tree, beyond now and again one, a 

 few feet high. In all that tract of country I did not notice 

 more than a dozen head of cattle. There are immense 

 tracts of territory, in the state of prairie, with grass 

 growing over the surface everywhere. There is no such 

 thing as "oosur" (barren) land, as in the North-west pro- 

 vince. Here and there rock crops up above the surfaces, 

 but mostly it is a grass covered plain. They say the rock, 

 being near the surface, and the rains being uncertain, the 

 laud is not brought into cultivation. This may be partially 

 true, nevertheless, near the railway stations Mango and 

 "Neem " trees, with irrigation, do very well; and at one 

 particular station, Chitali, I saw Oranges, Guava, Pome- 

 granates, and Mulberry growing most vigorously. I have a 

 notion that this country might be terraced, and faith ! there 

 are stones enough to terrace the whole country. Chen 

 either by wells or tanks, or canals, I believe this land might 

 be reclaimed. The climate is fair, in winter charming, and 

 the Carob, Olive, Fig, Pomegranate, Mulberry, Vine. Orange. 

 Prickly Pear, all delighting in rocky soils, would probably do 

 well. I believe the real difficulty is about water. From 

 what I saw of the country round Hyderabad an.', Secuuder- 

 abad I am inclined to think that the soil, although slight, 

 would do much if water could be collected in reservoirs or 

 brought by canals. I do not believe in the rock theory. Just 

 consider what they do in Malta, Gozo, and Sicily, with the 

 rock near the surface. The markets there are always stocked 

 with vegetables and fruit, but then they collect and store 

 every drop of water they can. In other parts of India, 

 where it is important that water should be stored, you see a 

 great want of sense. On the hills, for instance, the rain- 

 water is allowed to run away, and then mules are sent to the 

 bottom of the '• Khuds " to bring water from springs — not 

 on'y for drinking purposes, but for all purposes! In most 

 towns of Italy all the water from the roofs of the houses is 

 collected and stored. 



All about the country I have been just describing, and 

 further south, there grows a wild Prickly Pear: I think 

 it is called Opuntia Dilleni. It bears a small red fruit, 

 which is tasteless, but which poor people eat. It is almost 

 certain that the Mediterranean Prickly Pear— Cactus Opuntia 

 they used to call it — can be readily grafted on the Deccan 

 and South Indian indigenous kind. In Sicily at certain 

 seasons the people live on the fruit of the Prickly Pear, 

 which, though it contains many seeds, is delicious. 



Before returning to Etawah, on reaching Allahabad, I 

 took a run to Calcutta to see the Exhibition. I went 

 to the Royal Botanic Garden at Seebpore, and was 

 much delighted to see there an avenue of Borassus 

 flabelliformis, which is magnificent, and quite unique; 

 auotber of Saraca and Mahogany, one of Terminalia Catappa, 

 aud one of In Saman, alternating with Uvaria longifolia. 

 There are also avenues of Oreodoxa regia, with its clean, 

 pillar-like stem. I thought that an avenue of El.-eocarpus 

 longifolia would be a glory. I saw here fine specimens of 

 the Areca madagascariensis, with its Bamboo-like stems and 

 feathery heads, and many other fine, things too numerous 

 to mention. All this shows what can be done in that 

 climate with proper selection of trees. You go all over 

 Calcutta and will hardly see a tree worth looking at, 

 except perhaps at that little oasis called the Eden Gardens. 

 There is one thing I saw during my travels which I 

 must not forget to mention in conclusion. At the hotels 

 of Bangalore, Conoor, and Ooty, the table-servant, or " boy," 

 as they call him in South India, used to decorate the 



dining-table cloth every day with various coloured leaves 

 and flowers disposed in patterns. The leaves used were 

 those of Coleus, Oroton, &c, ami the flowers were Fuchsias 

 Cupheas, and various others. Sometimes the table looked 

 charming. — E. Bonavia,M.D., Etawah. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



GARDEN PESTS. 



When the operator has to deal with red spider, a more 

 drastic remedy is necessary, for here fumigating is of 

 little avail. One of the best remedies is Gishurst com- 

 pound, used in a weak state — say from two to four ounces 

 to a gallon of soft water; the smaller quantity for soft- 

 wooded plants, increasing to the larger quantity for hard- 

 wooded things. An old gardener once gave me the follow- 

 ing recipe: — " 2Mb. of soft soap, ilu. of leaf tobacco, Mb 

 of bitter aloes, and eight gallons of soft water ; boil the 

 tobacco-leaf ami soft soap in bags of some thin material, 

 to obviate the trouble of straining. To two gallons of 

 the above solution add one of water, which will render it 

 fit for use." Many have found it of great service to pick 

 up odds and ends of gardening information from the fathers 

 of the craft, and one of these, twenty years ago, gave the 

 following as his antidote for green fly : — " lib. of quassia 

 chips, four gallons of soft water, boil for two or three 

 hours and strain; after boiling, add Mb. of soft soap." The 

 two foregoing cures are no doubt valuable for green and 

 black tly on roses, fruit trees, &c. It can be applied by means 

 of a soft brush. Either will also destroy mildew, especially. 

 the latter mixture. In the case of red spider on vines— and 

 this occurs in almost every vinery, however well managed — 

 the most decided antidote is sulphur. This may be applied 

 by sprinkling dry sulphur on the pipes, or by making a paint 

 of sulphur, clay, and water, with which the pipes shou'd be 

 painted. But care must be taken that the heat be not raised 

 at the same time, for if the pipes are hotter than the hand 

 can bear, fumes dangerous to vegetation will be given off. 

 Red spider and mildew are often very troublesome on peach 

 walls. After the trees have been nailed, it is a good plan to 

 mix 61b. of sulphur with water, toning it down by the ap- 

 plication of soot, and applying it to the wall with the garden 

 engine or syringe. It is best to put it on thickest on the 

 bottom of the tree. so that the vapour from the sulphur can 

 ascend among the foliage. 



Thrips and red spider are soon brought into activity by 

 keeping up a hot dry temperature without sufficient ventil- 

 ation. So in order to avoid thrips and other such pests, the 

 temperature of the house should be well looked after; and, 

 lest any of your amateur readers who are just starting on a 

 noricultural career may not know what thrips is, we may 

 state that it is a very small dark insect, which adheres closely 

 to the underneath surface of the leaf, and is particularly 

 fond of the azal°a, but visits other plants. As soon as it is 

 discovered, a war of extermination should be declared and 

 'prosecuted with vigour. Green fly is easily detected and 

 dealt with ; but it is safer to prevent it by smoking in time 

 than to allow the pest to increase until it becomes a swarm; 

 we can safely state that imperfect ventilation and drought 

 have more to do with the appearance and establishment of 

 these pests than any other causes. — R. D, — Field, 



Ol'ININE AND HOMOQUININE.* 



BY O. HESSE. 



/. — Quinine. 

 The question, formerly raised repeatedly, whether quinine 

 occurs in other barks than those of the genus Cinchona, 

 I was able to answer in the affirmative in 1871, when I 

 showed that a bark at that time coming into commerce 

 and erroneously sent out as a cinchona bark, — the China 

 cuprea, which we now know to be derived from L'eniijia 

 pedv.ncvlQ.ta,, — actually contained this alkaloid. f My priority 

 in this discovery has indeed been contested, in that J. E. 

 Howard has stated* that already in 1857 he had observed 

 this bark in the London market and found it to contain 

 quinine, although he had published nothing respecting it. 

 But since Howard only a short time previously (November, 



* From the Annalen der Chemie, coxxv., 95. 

 t Berichte, iv., 818. 



j PTettes Jahrhuch /'. Pharm., xxxvi., 296; Fli'ickiger. 'Die 

 Chinarinden,' 1883, 43. 



