542 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



BRITISH GUIANA. 



A very large number of forest products from this country 

 are exhibited in the central transept, opposite to the Indian 

 collection, but many of them have only the native names, 

 aud the catalogue affords no particulars concerning the uses 

 of many of the barks, seeds, etc. The specimens of anime, 

 guttapercha and balata are very fine, and the touquiu 

 beansareof large size. Severalseed6,judgingfromappearance 

 only, seemed worthy of examination, one of these closely 

 resembles St. Ignatius' beans in shape and horny consistence, 

 but is much smaller in size. Another is a species of Andira 

 which is likely to possess medicinal properties. The seeds 

 of Abrus precatorius here exhibited are of a brown colour, 

 the usual black spot at the end being only of a some- 

 what darker brown colour. Among other products employed 

 in medicine are wallaba bark, Eperua falcata, used for 

 toothache, Nectandra Rodicei, crab oil, the product of Oarapa 

 guintensis, etc. The curious fruits of Huru crepitans, whose 

 seeds yield an oil, are prevented from spliting by the simple 

 expedient of pouring a little melted lead into the centre 

 of the fruit so as to fasten the carpels on the axis. It 

 is much to be regretted that so little is known as yet 

 of the products of a colony so rich in natural objects. 

 ST. VINCENT (1-43). 



Although small, this exhibit is rather rich in pharmaceutical 

 articles, cowhage pods, castor oil seeds, arnatto, arrowroot, 

 nutmegs, cloves, and Cassia jistula are familiar objects. 

 The root of bastard ipecacuanha (Asclepias curassavica), 

 the seeds of the uianchineel tree, and the oil seeds of 

 Jatropha Gitrcas, and Aleurites triloba are not so well known. 

 Here also are exhibited jequerity seeds of the ordinary 

 brilliant red and black colour, and the somewhat similar 

 but larger seeds of Ormosia dasycarpa; from the lastuamed 

 seed an alkaloid has recently been obtained by Merck, and 

 has received the name of ormosine. The fruits of the towel 

 gourd, Luffa cegyptiaca,&re shown in the form of ornamental 

 basket work instead of as flesh gloves. A very beautiful 

 specimen of elemi, catalogued as gum opal, is here shown, 

 but its botanical source is not apparent. Bread fruit starch 

 is another little known product in this country which might 

 be mentioned as worthy of notice. Tadehouna bark, the 

 botanical name of which is not given, is said to be used by the 

 Oaribi and others in the form of infusion for dysentery. 



The seeds of the Frangipanni trees, Plmnieria rubra and 

 alba, are also 6hown. 



In the Tobago exhibit nutmegs are shown in the form 

 of a pickle, which is stated to be far superior to that of 

 walnuts, and certainly they present a more tempting ap- 

 pearance. This concludes the list of colonial exhibits so 

 far as their interest to pharmacy. 



An interesting series of barks of species of Acacia, includ- 

 ing those of A. dealbata and A. melanoxylon, cultivated in 

 the South of France, are exhibited by Messrs. Vilmorin, 

 as tanning barks. The experiments made by this celebrated 

 firm show that these trees will yield a more profitable 

 return than oak for tanning purposes in the countries where 

 they will grow, inasmuch as their quicker growth enables 

 them to produce more bark in a given time, and although 

 it is not so rich in tannin, the larger amount of it gives 

 a larger yield of tannin in consequence. 



Of what may be termed that trade exhibits, and which 

 chiefly occupy the centre of the building, one or two demand 

 a brief notice. 



Messrs. A. B. Fleming & Co. exhibit a trunk of Pinus 

 australis, from Wilmington, North Carolina, showing the 

 mode of obtaining the turpentine "by removing the bark and 

 letting the resin trickle down into a cavity near the base 

 of the trunk; also fine specimens of rosin oil, which is now 

 largely used in the preparation of lithographic ink. 



Some fine specimens of resins and varnishes are also 

 exhibited by Mr. ]!. Tait, pharmaceutical and manufactur- 

 ing chemist, Edinburgh, and Messrs. Craig & Rose. Only one 

 exhibit of pharmaceutical preparations, by Messrs. Lorrimer 

 & Co., of London, i- to be seen, and this is limited to 

 preparations of cinchona barks and the alkaloids and scaled 

 preparations made from them. 



On the whole, the Exhibition may be regardi d as a decided 

 success, and doubtless will result in greater attention being 

 drawn to the importance of forestry and forest products 

 to this country and its dependencies, while the interchange 

 of information concerning the methods adopted in different 

 countries cannot fail to be of advantage to the students 

 of the subject in this country. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 



GAMBOGE. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE MADRAS MAIL. 



Sir,— Iii reply to your correspondent "Jungle Wallah,' 

 in your issue of the 22nd instant, allow me to state that 

 the cheapest mode of collecting the resin known as " gam- 

 boge' is by wounding the trees, and allowing the resin 

 to run out, and concrete over the wound. In Ceylon 

 pieces of the bark are cut completely off about the size 

 of the hand, or say from two to four inches in width, 

 at early morn, and the resin oozes out from the pores of 

 the wood in a semi-liquid state, which soon thickens on 

 exposure to the air, aud is scraped off the next morning 

 by the collectors without injury to the trees; and the 

 wound thus made soon heals' un, so that the tree is fit 

 to be operated on again. Three" kinds of gamboge are to 

 be had in the market: — 



1. Pipe gamboge, which is considered the best and is 

 procurable in lolls of about 1| inch in diameter, aud about 

 a foot in legth, with a hole'in the centre, half an inch 

 in diameter. This, I believe, comes from Siam. 



2. Lump gamboge, which is in masses looking like a 

 hardened yellow paste. 



3. Gamboge in tears, that is forming small nodules or 

 lumps. The Gamboge from Mysore, Wynaad and Coorg, 

 is the exudation of the Garcinia pictoria. Gamboge is 

 chilly used as a pigment in painting and to colon'- varnishes; 

 in medicine as a drastic purgative. — John Shohtt. 



TEA PLANTING IN THE WESTEKN DOOARS. 



Under this heading the Indigo Tea Planters' Gazette 

 gives a deplorable aecouut of the effects of the feverish 

 climate on young European lads, and concludes as folluws: — 



What is wanted by the public at home is to know that 

 the pioneers always suffer, that they are badly paid, that 

 they cannot always secure the bare necessaries of life, that 

 the climate of the Western Dooars is not (mite what it 

 has been made out to be on newly-opened gardens, and 

 that rapid fortunes are not to be made by tea planters 

 now-a-days ; that during the first two or three years a 

 youngster has to rough it in a style a "casual" pauper 

 or a life convict would object to. The remedy for all 

 this is obvious, and would not affect the dividends to the 

 extent of 8 per cent, and would save double that percent- 

 age in doctor's bills. The remedy is simply not to send 

 boys out to the Dooars under any circumstances, to pay 

 the assistants well enough to enable them to live com- 

 fortably in a climate which is confessedly most trying to 

 Europeans, and to provide good pucca houses for the 

 European staff. Soldi is are not supposed to be sent out 

 to India until they are 20 years old at least, because ex- 

 perience has proved that the youngsters whose systems are 

 not thoroughly formed break down sooner than meu of 

 three or four and twenty. But then soldiers are worth 

 about £200 each to the country. No European ought to 

 1"' sent to a newly-opened out garden in the Dooars under 

 three aud twenty, nor unless he has previously under- 

 gone a most searching medical examination. [We need 

 scarcely remind our readers of the superiority of the climate 

 nt Ceylon, as compared with Assam, the Dooars or the 

 Terrai'.— Ed] 



QUALITY IN TEA. 



For a number of years past there has been an appar- 

 ent desire on the part of China aud Japan to sliiji large 

 quantities of tea with an utter disregard to quality. The 

 mixture that have been served up by these two countries 

 and forwarded over here iias tea were sufficiently obnox- 

 ious to ruin almost any trade. It has been useless to 

 point out to them bbo damaging* effect this course must 

 ultimately have upi u their own position as shippers 

 and growers of tea, for they have kept on manufacturing 

 and shipping the same detestable rubbish. It has been 

 argued thai the Japanese and the Chinese are not to be 

 blamed so much as the retailer, btcause it' the retail 

 trade would refuse to buy the spurious mixture. tin- Japan- 

 ese would soon discontinue its manufacture. But this 

 argument is only true to a very limited extent and is 

 contrary to the experience of every member of tin- retail 

 trade, for no matter how desirous they might be to sell 



