374 



then begin to throw the sticks and straw outside the enclosure killing 

 the rats collected there as they try to escape. Two or three hun- 

 dred can be killed at a time in this way, at no expense, and the 

 enclosure can be carried round to each pile of brushwood in 

 turn. 



The plan seems a good one and might be used in our paddy lands 

 here. 



H. N. R. 



RAMBONG CULTIVATION IN THE 

 MEDITERRANEAN. 



The demand for rubber of all kinds and the general interest in 

 its cultivation has induced several cultivators to try the cultivation 

 of Ficus elastica, in Egypf, Algeria and Sicily, with more or less 

 satisfactory results. From the 'Journal of Tropical Agriculture, we 

 find that M. Barzi of the Botanic Gardens, Palermo, has been 

 experimenting with this plant, and has published a report on the 

 results; all the trees he has produce rubber and of p^ood quality. 

 The plant, however, produces few aerial roots, in Palermo, (one has 

 noticed that the Rambong is very variable in this matter), so that 

 as the plants are rather smaller than in the tropics they are planted 

 there only \ foot (4 metres) apart. In Algiers, at Hamma, M. Ch. 

 RIVIERE has obtained 14 francs a kilo for his rubber produced there, 

 about 5 shillings and /\d. a pound. Unfortunately the production 

 of the rubber is very scanty there. 



In Egypt, at Cairo, the tree was introduced by M. Floyer, as a 

 roadside tree in the hopes that it would produce good rubber as 

 well, which it apparently does. Accounts of its behaviour were 

 published in the Kew Bulletin in 1901 and following years, and M. 

 Favre has published notes on it also in the Journal d' Agriculture 

 Tropical e. 



ZEDOARY STARCH. 



A note on the preparation of this is published in the Journal of 

 the Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India, and as the plant is 

 common in waste ground here it may be of interest to some of our 

 readers. " The plants are dug up in January (in India) and the 

 tubers are cut into as small slices as possible. These are put into 

 water and crushed by the hand. The solution is allowed to stand 

 one night during this time, the starch goes to the bottom of the 

 vessel in which the solution stands. Then the slices and water is 

 taken away gently into another vessel, ihe process of crushing the 

 slices being similarly repeated and the solution allowed to stand for 

 another night, if the tubers are washed clean before being cut into 

 pieces the starch will be exceedingly fine and white, if not it will 

 have to be washed in water some three or four times. The starch 

 is sold at 6 to 8 Annas a lb. in the Konkan. It is mainly used for 



