472 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Januaby i, 1886. 



Space between Norris Koad and the breakwater 

 railway, ppposite to the guard-room, without 

 asl;iii^' for or receiving tlie consent of the Brigaile- 

 IMajor, and if that functionary will have the patience 

 to wait a short time, he will find a display of these 

 large jiuriilo flowers where erst the grass-cutters 

 constantly cut up the sward, and whose 

 oucu]jation will soon be gone here if the Goat- 

 foot Ipoiiiua is allowed to remain. This plant 

 used to be the very familiar Ijioimm pes-i-apnc 

 of botanists, but it was first described as the 

 /. bitohit by Fopskal in his "Flora of .Egypt and 

 Arabia," and this name now takes precedence of 

 almost half-a-dozen others, some of which, such 

 as IiiDDurii mtiritiiiia, are equally applicable to it, 

 which surrounds the earth within the tropics and 

 some places a little beyond them as a seashore plant. 

 May I express a hope that the police will protect 

 these plants from destruction. W. ¥. 



THE AFRICAN OIL-FALM IN CEYLON. 



26th November 1885. 



Ukah Hilt, — Tliere arc a number of African oil- 

 palms (hat were remarkably healthy and have grown 

 with apiiarently the greatest luxuriance here, thougli 

 in habit ahnost more resembling a cardanioni- 

 stool than a tree — the blossoms forming at the 

 foot from the ground upwards. These were planted 

 about four years ago, and with a good show of nuts 

 at present, as fai' as yield goes, seem to promise 

 success for the cultivation with little or no trouble, 

 or heavy expense. If not going over old ground, 

 can you or any of your readers kindly give any 

 information, as to when the plant may be sup- 

 posed to be in full bearing, the correct distance 

 to plant, the yield and gross return per tree 

 per acre that is considered fair, what has to be 

 set against this for crop expenses, and how the 

 nuts are collected, etc.? 



If the tree is as a heavy bearer as the coconut 

 and the oil as valuable, from what I can judge 

 of tlie appearance of the trees on Udagama estate 

 next this, it seems to me as an industry it 

 promises well, and worth collecting data. This 

 is what struck me on walking through them 

 lately. 



UDAfJAMA. 



A CURIOUS CATERPILLAR. 



"Lodge Harmony," Bambalapitiya, 2()th Nov. 18S5. 



PiiAU SiK, — I beg to forward under separate cover 

 a caterpillar found by me on a croton plant. 

 Several of my friends have seen it and showed 

 great delight at its beauty, but no one could tell 

 me the name or the order to which it belongs in 

 the insect family. Will you tlicrcfore bo good 

 enough to forward the caterpillar to your natural 

 history ivl.rco and obtain full particulars ? You 

 will please observe with what fineness the feet 

 arc formed and the very pretty moss covering all 

 over them. — Yours faithfully, I 



DAELEY ALTENDORFF. 

 ;Ouv entomological referee writes : — " The 

 Urva of a butterfly, Atli)lias rasaitld, Moore, ' 

 counnon about mango and cashew trees. Has 

 a sharp rapid flight, settling on the ground and 

 on leaves of trees with its wings open. The 

 male is a glossy blackish brown on the upper side, 

 the female chocolate brown with a white discal 

 bnnd on the ujiper wing ; unrlersidc of both sexes 

 ochrcous gray. The larva feeds on mango. Tlie 

 laterally projeeting finely branched spines, of which' 

 there arc ten ))airR, are not feet, .and are of no 

 assistance in progression. I should say it probably 

 dropped or was blown from a mango tree on to 

 the croton plan!; on wbich it was foimd."— Bi>.] i 



HOW TO TEST MUSHROOMS. 



Kandy, 1st Dec. lSi?.5. 

 De.vu ^ Sii!, — The simplest and surest way of ascert- 

 aining if the mushrooms be edible, is to put a 

 silver spoon in the saucepan or jian with them 

 while they arc cooking : should the spoon tnni 

 colour, beware of the fungus in your pan ; should 

 it rcldiii its colour you may be sure your mushrouBis 

 are good.— Yours faithfully, E. N. 



The " WooDAi'pLE " ash Dysentery. — A writer 

 in the local " Examiner," with a wondrous assump- 

 tion of superior knowledge, is anxious to correct the 

 Obneirer as to the value of the "woodapijle" in 

 cases of dysentery. The position taken up is that 

 by the popular term " woodapple " appUed to two 

 fruits, alike only in having a hard shell, the 

 acid " Indian quince," Fcronia clejiliiiiitum, would 

 be understood and not Acyle Muniwlos, the Imcl 

 of India, Mi of Ceylon. The latter is immensely 

 more common than the former, and is the fruit 

 any Englishman would understand by the term 

 " woodapple." Its curative properties are due to 

 the principle of opium which its mucilaginous pulp 

 contains. In cases where the pulp may be deemed 

 too coarse, it is made into a slrained jelly. The 

 acid " woodapple " may be a favourite with people 

 of this country, but, wc believe, not one English- 

 man in a hundred has ever tasted it,— certainly 

 not a second time. Its odour is generally sufficient. 

 As to the hcU tree said to grow in swamps, we 

 liave not the remotest idea of what the " wondrous 

 wise " writer meant. Here, however, is what a 

 competent authority says iu the Treasury of Butunij 

 of both trees : — 



JCijIe. The name of a genus of plants belonging 

 to the Orange family (Anrantiai-ci). The fruit known 

 in India as the Bhel fruit, is the product of .K. 

 Maniiflns. In appearance it is much like the orange. 

 The thick rind of the um-ipe fruit ijossesscs astringent 

 properties on which account it is used jin India iu 

 cases of dysentery and diarrhcoa. The lipu fruit has 

 ail exquisite flavour and perfume. Not only the fruit, 

 but other portions of tlio plant arc used lor medicinal 

 purposes ; and a yellow dye is prepared from the 

 riud of the fruit. The genus is distinguished by its 

 numerous disunited stamens from the Orange (Ghu<j, 

 to which, iu other particulars, it is closely allied. 



h'rruiiiu. The Wood-apple or Elephant-apple tree 

 of India. F. clciihuiiltun, is the only species of this 

 genus of .tiiruiiliini-ir. It is common throughout 

 India, Burmah, Ceylon, and Java, and forms a laiije 

 tree, yielding a hard, heavy wood, of great streiigUi 

 but not durable. When wounded, there Hows from 

 it a transparent gum, which is mixed with other 

 gums and sent to this eouutry under the name of 

 East India Gum Arabic. The tree has pinnate leaves 

 composed of shiuing stalkless leaflets, and the flowers 

 are arranged iu racemes containing a mixtiu-e of 

 male, female, and perfect blossoms; these have a Hat 

 five-toothed calyx, live (occasionally four or six) white 

 sproading petals, ten stumuns and live-cullod ovary. 

 Tho fruit, which is about the sizo of i\n ajiple. has 

 a very hard, rough, woody rind, and contains a pulpv 

 flesh with numerous seeds iiubeded in it. This pulp 

 is eatable, aiid like that of the Rcngal quince, wliich 

 is the fruit of a closely allied tree, it e.scil-i a bene- 

 ficial action iu cases of dysentery and diarrhoea; a 

 jelly resembling black current jelly is also prepared 

 from it. Tlie leaves liave an odour like that of anise, 

 and tho native iudian doctors employ them as a 

 stomachic and carminative. 



BUCHU.PAIBA, 

 (^^ui<^k, compbite cure, all annoying Kidney. llUilder 

 ami Uriuary Diseases. Druggists. 



\Y. E. Smith & Co., Madras, Sole Agents, 



