jANOASy I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



479 



are flowering, and mil, I hope, form pods. This tree 

 wUl, I tliiak, succeej exeeeilingly well at Mcrgui, 

 provided it is kept uuder slmde. I have had them 

 all fenced in to protect the pods from the monkeys, 

 which are very tioublesomo at times. 



5. There are li.'0 young trees in the plantation, all 

 growing admirably. There can be no doubt as to the 

 succe^s of this tree; the only difliculty is iu getting 

 tlie seeds to germinate. I shall try some experiments 

 this year with the seed, as the percentage of seed 

 which do not germinate under our present system of 

 sowing is very large. 



6. Two hundre.1 and fifty-one creepers altogether. 

 Two of these flowered this year auil formed 30 flowers. 

 I trieil my hand on fecundating these, but am afraid 

 I have not succeeded. I cannot miderst-and Mr. Connor's 

 mode of fecundation. 1 intend starting a vauillery 

 this year, so as to get the creepers all close together. 



7. During this next year I hope to distribute a 

 large number of coffee seedlings amongst the Burmans 

 and Karens of the Jlergiii 'district. I believe 

 thoroughly that it once these men see that cott'ee- 

 planting pays, they will go in for it heavily, especially 

 if Government will undertake to purchase the produce 

 of their g.irdcns at the market rales. 



PoT.iTO Celluloid. — According to a Vienna journal 

 a substance may be produced fiom potatoes poss- 

 essing the properties of celluloid. For this pur- 

 pose) the peeled potatoes are boiled for thirty-six 

 hours in a fluid consistini^ of eight ])avts sulphuric 

 acid and 100 parts water, then dried between 

 blotting paper, and relieved of the superfluous water 

 by pressing. Pipe bowls are at present made 

 therefrom in France that can barely be distinguished 

 from real meerschaum, and billiard balls are like- 

 wise made from it by strongly pressing. — Electrical 

 Tnnle.-i Journal. 



SwEirr Tm. of Ssu-cn'u.\s.— In a report of a journey 

 through Central Ssu-ch'uan in June and .July last, 

 Jfr. Alexander Hosie mentions the discovery ^by 

 Mr. Barber of a peculiar kind of Tea, in the follow- 

 ing words : — •' If my memory is not at fault, he 

 [Mr. B-'irbcr] was regaled by a priest on mount (J-mei 

 with Tea possessing both the flavour of nulk and 

 sugar. It m.ay have been iu the very temple on 

 the mountain-side in which I am now writing that 

 Sir. Barber was agreeably surprised. At any rate, 

 I am ^ipping an infusion wbich i.s, without doubt, 

 sweet, and which is declared by the priest to be 

 brewed from a naturally prepared Tea leaf. It is a 

 large, ilark brown leaf, and is very sweet when chewed. 

 The people at the bottom of the mountain, whom I 

 first ipiestioued regarding this Tea, asserted that the 

 leaves were sweet because they were first steeped in 

 molasses; but the balance of evidence, a.s I have 

 since found from extensive inquiry, is against any 

 such artificial preparation. The tree is said to grow 

 in only one gorge in the mciiuitain, whence the leaves I 

 are brought for sale." AVe are indebted to Mr. 

 Hosie for a sample of this Tea, which consists of 

 the entire leaf rolled up loosely into little balls, and 

 almost black in colour. Upon chewing a portion of 

 a leaf it is found to be decidedly sweet, with a strong 

 suspicion of liquorice rather than molasses, as stated 

 by Mr. Hosie. 1/pon soaking the leaves and flatten- 

 ing them out they were found to be those of Viburn- 

 um dilatatiim, Thunberg. To prove that the leaves 

 of this plant possessed no natural sweetness, we ob- 

 tained a few leaves from a growing plant and dried 

 thcin, and found that neither in their fresh, and still 

 less in their dried state, have they any marked 

 flavour. INIoreover, the leaves of the Jlouut 0-mei 

 Tea are transparent, as if they had been steeped in 

 some s ilution, while those wliirh I gttbercd and 

 dried arc opaijne, and yet rebtin their green colour. 

 It seems certain, then, that this singular Ti-a owes 

 its sweetness to some foreign substance, as stated 

 by "the pfloplc at the bottom of the mountain," 

 and that substance may be molasse', but is in all 

 probability liquorice.— GarrfeHers' Chronicle. 



The Productiok of HEiT iu flowers has often 

 been ohseivod and measured, and the general chem- 

 ical explanation given of the phenomeuon is no <loubt 

 true in the main. It depends upon oxidation or the 

 union of oxygen gas with the tissues of plants or 

 their contents, and to the " oombiisti(m " or destruc- 

 tion that goes on in consoquouce, accompanieil by the 

 emission of carbonic acid gas. In an earlier stage of 

 the plant's life the process is just the reverse. The 

 leaves and green portions of the plant wlien exposed 

 to sunlight give nut oxygen ga^j; the process is one 

 of deoxidation, and w^ith it occurs a process of evapor- 

 ation of moist vapour; from the surface, both cool- 

 ing processes; so that while ou the one band during 

 the flowering period and duriug the ripening of fruits 

 and tho germination of seed we may expect the 

 temperature of the plant to rise : on the other, all 

 the time assimilation of carbon is going on in tissues 

 still green and exposed to light the temperature may 

 be expe<^ted to be no higher than that of the sur- 

 rouu<ling air. — Gardeners' ChronicU. 



PnORBtlUM TKNAX AND ITS TlIEHAPEUTIC VALUE. — 



Among tho botanical products of New Zealand there 

 is one item for the Matena Medial that \\ill prove 

 a valuable auxiliary to the surgeon as soon as its 

 therapeutical effects have become generally known. 

 Prom ISfiO, when the properties of the plant were 

 first made known, till the present, I have used it 

 in hundreds of cases, including lacerations and am- 

 Ijutations of every description, and I have no hesitation 

 iu .saying that there is nothing known in the old 

 country that can eipial it in producing healthy granul- 

 ations. I use a strong tlecoction— the stronger the 

 better — made from the, roots and tho butts of the 

 leaves, boiled for twelve hours. At one time I had 

 to nialce it fresh every second day, as it readily 

 ferments and deteriorates, but since carbolic acid 

 came into vogue, I keep it tor any length of time 

 by aildiug about an ounce of equal parts of carbolic 

 acid and glycerine to every quart. I reiiuire no 

 other antiseptic precautions, but simply syringe the 

 lesions occasionally with it, and maintain cotton wool 

 or lint, .soaked in it, constantly to the parts affected. 

 If there are no foreign matters to be discharged 

 there will be no discharge, in support of which I 

 will instance the case of an Austrian, named Louis 

 Ivourich, whose forearm I lately amputated, after it 

 had beeji shattered through dynamite. The ligatures 

 were thirty days in coming away, and the amount of 

 pus from tin^ op. -ration up to that time woubt not 

 altogether amount to a table-spoonful. The same 

 paticflt had th(i soft parts of th<; otlier forearm torn 

 and blown into such a mass of shreds that the 

 mendiiirs of the stall thought it was hopelessly 

 beyond repair. I ni'ed only say that with the same 

 treatment it became as soumi and useiul as before, 

 and exhibits only scars showing where new skin had 

 been formed. .Some time ago a navvy on the Wiiiton 

 Kailway works had a loaded truck go over his foot, 

 doubling it on the sole, bursting the integuments 

 and leaving the os calcis nearly bare and the flexor 

 tensions dijjping loosely with bits of skin and fascia 

 under the sole of| the foot. The man lived iu a tent 

 near the works. 1 instructed one of bis mates how 

 to boil down a billy of Plax every day, and suspend 

 it with a drip-rag over the injury, and the case recovered 

 perfectly, with no appearance of pus, except on one 

 occasion for twenty-four hours, through his mates 

 leaving him for smne sports or races with an in- 

 sufiicieut supply of decoction, which compelUtil him 

 to use water instead. In this case no carbolic acid, 

 or anything, was used but the decoction of Flax by 

 itself. I might adduce proofs by scores of its 

 elbcacy, but if, owing to these facts bfing made 

 prominently known through the Australaaian Medical 

 Gazette, medical men can be induce^l to test the 

 remedy for themselves, it will require no assertions 

 from nio to cnu.se the Phorminm toiiax to lake the 

 premier place as a granu'atin? agent. — FkanX'IS A, 

 MONeKTOV, M.B.C.SE., Surgeon Superintend.iii, K,i- 

 mara Uospital. — Gurdenera' Chronicle. 



