4 8 



The sales of opium are however said to be much less and 

 appears that in many cases the " Medicine " has enable opiu 

 smokers who wish to desist to stop taking the drug. 



J. B. C. 



Picas Elastica in Tonkin. 



According to Mr. JACQUET, the Head of the Agricultural depart- 

 ment ol 1 onkin, some difficulty has been experienced in propagat- 

 ing Ftcus elastica in Tonkin, of the local variety when cuttings were 

 made only io or 12 per cent, rooted and even then those that did 

 become sturdy at first only ten per cent, could be saved, a 

 greater success was obtained however with plants from Buitmzorg 

 seed received in 1902. The Tonkin strain which failed originally, 

 came trom Java but has been cultivated at Hanoi for 20 years, the 

 £Th a ri sma " er . t ^n those of the Buitenzorg one, and it is sug- 

 gested either that it is a different plant or that the climate of Tonkin 

 as altered it more success has been obtained in propagating by 

 Marcottage but the plants require a good deal of care, and labour 

 w a ^fo?, ^ n!5 g flI^ S ?, emS, ^ peciall y in the d T years- In Marcotting it 

 make It , r rdlnary rin S cut ™nd the stem was difficult to 

 lonaitnrnil W f a P l to be broken oflF h Y the wind, so that 



Zfe Z T\u Cm °u\ 0{ ab0ut two centimetres and a half in length 

 ^^iuW^^i^^ ZOU g . was made which 



(Bulletin Ec< 



conomique, Hanoi, Nov, 1906). 



Sanseviera in East Africa. 



Agricuhure \ovemh RlC " ARD Sorge j " the journal of Tropical 

 in F 1.1 \t ir, 3 ° th ' lQo6 > on the exploitation of Sanseviera 



some use to n ? S ° me intere st, and extracts from it may be of 



Voi on the Uc T anda re R a ?, rS - The ^American Company has M 

 of about 1,800 feet\lVi ^ ay f large concession of land at a height 

 S. cylindHcT^ TJSSoSSl^ SanSevieras ' * Ehrenber^i^ 

 Euphorbfa\^^F°Arn^ " cb soil characterised by the presence of 

 without any care amon^i. \ e plants stand shade and grow 

 this way. Each con g k ushes< The ex ploitation is effected in 

 bundles of fifty which I " gS t0 the faCtor >' ^oo leaves a day in 

 and children cut the !«»Jf Conve y ed in carts to the factory. Women 

 b v a machine ancl wash a " tW ° len § thwa y s - They are then treated 

 plant which lowers \h ln , Water to remove the green colour of the 

 dried in the slT^t* 6 £ or 75 francs a ton. The fibre is 



' mbed 0ut ^th a rotary brush and pressed into 



