BY JOSEPH LAUTEKER, M.D. 65 



those I examined here. For the latter I had to use the ether 

 process to obtain the pure alkaloid. In Urup-uay, microsublima- 

 tion showed the crystals well. Coca leaves are chewed freely in 

 the districts of both sides of the Andes. The deck of the coast 

 steamer is full of them sometimes. The shrub {Erytkroxijlon 

 coca) does well only in high and moist situations, and declines 

 to grow vigorously near Brisbane. Scrub land might be the 

 right place ; the extraction of cocaine would certainly pay well. 



There are, of course, very different ways of cultivating 

 the soil in the different parts of the globe. In countries like 

 China and Japan, where no meat, butter, milk, grape wine, 

 cane sugar, or bread is consumed or even known, the 

 production of rice and vegetables is alone desirable. The rice is 

 a half aquatic plant. It wants a swampy soil. The rice fields 

 with the pretty plants half submerged under the water give a. 

 picturesque look to the landscape. There are no fences ; the 

 Japanese fear God and the police. There are no straight lines 

 between the fields, the borders aie graciously bent. The culture 

 of taro [Colocasi I antiquoruni), of the egg-plant [Holanum 

 meloju/ena), of the oil producmg Sesnmum, orientate (with foxglove- 

 like flowers), of the different beans, anl of the large pink water- 

 lily, the roots of which are eaten, make a very strange 

 impression on the traveller in Japan. 



In Chile I saw the highest fences in the world. Italian 

 poplar trees are planted near to each other and a blackberry 

 {^Bubus nlmifolms, Professor Philippi in Santiago gave me the 

 name) from Europe is allowed to climb up to the high branches. 

 No bullock can break through. 



The best public gardens that I met with are in Buenos 

 Ayres, in Argentina. I never saw in my lifetime such an 

 astonishing variety of plants displayed. The same shrub or 

 tree is very seldom duplicated. 



The citizens of Buenos Ayres are a funny people. They 

 have the grandest cemetery on earth, the most magnificent 

 necropolis on the globe. There ate no graves. The dead are placed 

 in little temples, one or two stories high. Altars in them are 

 decorated with flowers and burning candles. The photo, or 

 picture of the deceased is hung up over the altar and a great 

 variety of plants is used for decorating purposes. 



In Europe agriculture and horticulture are very different 

 from what they were twenty years ago. Better fruit is grown 

 and better vegetables are produced. People are not so easily 



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