and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Socitty. 



My camphor seed 1st S lb. was an utter 

 failure ; the 2nd 2 lb. has not gone bad, but nono 

 has yet germinated, though put down on March 

 23rd and directions as to watering, &c, most 

 carefully followed. To make sure of some 

 plants I have bought all one man raised from 

 13 lb. which he says may be 150 plants 1 and 

 250 plants in Madras to be delivered by the 

 Agri- Horticultural Society in May at RIO per 

 100 in Madras ! Thanking you in anticipation. — 

 Yours truly, 



H. McLEOD PLA.YFAIR. 



[We may say that a camphor clearing is 

 treated very much as one of tea (no shade) only 

 the plants to be farther apart. Here is what Mr 

 Nock says : — " Knowing this, the best and 

 cheapest plan to adopt would be to have the 

 estate planted either in rows 8 feet apart to 

 give plenty of room, and the plants 2-3 feet 

 apart in the rows and keep as a hedge ; or 6-8 

 feet apart each way, according to soil, and treat 

 each bush individually, training it up in the 

 shape of a pyramid ; in both cases using ordi- 

 nary garden shears for clipping, with jute 

 hessian spread round the tree to catch the 

 clippings."— Ed., CO.] 



TROPICAL CULTIVATION IN 

 NORTH-WEST, AUSTRALIA. 



Father Walter, Beagle Bay Mission, writes:— 

 In yesterday s issue of your valuable paper 1 am 

 reported as having stated, in an interview, that 

 there is little hope of success with regard to the 

 growth of rubber and other products in Beagle 

 Bay. This is not correct. What I did say was 

 that, as the temperature in Beagle Bay during 

 the winter nights frequently went as low as 

 freezing point, I did not think that coffee and 

 cocoa, which require a fairly high temperature 

 —not lower than 50deg. Fahr.— would do well 

 at the mission. This is from my experience 

 of the tropics in Africa, where I spent seven 

 years. In Beagle Bay even banana trees suffer 

 very much during the cold spells. Speaking 

 about rubber, I stated that, although not every 

 species of this plant would grow at the mission, 

 a species might be found suitable to our cli- 

 mate. That a fine quality of tobacso can be 

 grown at the mission has been proved by ex- 

 perience. I have smoked cigars made from 

 Beagle Bay leaf, and I can testify to their tine 

 aroma — they are probably not inferior to Ma- 

 nilla cigars. It is true that, so far, we have not 

 been able to devote muc'i time to experimenting 

 with tropical plants. \ <'e have had too much 

 to do in the way of building, and improving the 

 land,such as fencing, w*U-sinking, etc. 



However, when I get to Europe I hope to be 

 able to send out a few good brothers— ex- 

 perienced farmers — who will give themselves up 

 entirely to farming and tropical cultivation. 



I am fully alivo to the possibilities of the 

 North- West, and what in necessary for the suc- 

 cess of our undertakings. To experiment with 

 tropical plants is of paramount importance to 

 the future of the North- West of Australia. And, 

 indeed, we feel it i« our duty to leave nothing 

 untried to bring our work in this direction to a 

 successful issue.— Morning Herald, April 1. 



CASTOR CAKE AN A FEEDING 

 MATERIAL. 



Within recent years, however, chemical 

 science has shown that the noxious principle 

 of castor-cake may be removed, and a white 

 palatable flour with nutritious value made 

 from the seed has been placed on the market. 

 The active, poisonous principle has been 

 studied and it is known how to remove and 

 destroy it without affecting the other consti- 

 tuents, and the process which is now carried 

 out on a commercial scale is likely to revo- 

 lutionise the uses and trade of castor-cake. 

 The toxic constituent of castor seed was 

 separated by Stillmark in 1890 and received 

 the name of Ricin, from the scientific name 

 of the plant. Ricin is not an alkaloid but 

 an albuminoid body, a so-called phytalbumose 

 belonging to the class of unorganised fer- 

 ments. When purified it is a white powder 

 possessing remarkable poisonous properties — 

 0'03 Milligramme per kilo of body-weight 

 being sufficient to kill a dog. The action of 

 the poison differs in intensity in different 

 domestic animals ; rabbits for instance are 

 very sensitive, while fowls are very resistant. 

 A writer in the Indian Agriculturist a few 

 years ago advocated the feeding of castor- 

 cake to poultry ; such recommendation, it 

 will now be seen, accords with recent scienti- 

 fic investigation. Ricin is absolutely taste- 

 less, and loses its poisonous quality almost 

 instantly by boiling. Since it cannot be 

 detected in corpses, it is one of the most 

 dangerous poisons from the standpoint of 

 forensic medicine. 



The faoility with which ricin is decomposed 

 and removed has opened a way for the em- 

 ployment of the cake as an article of food. 

 By treating fresh castor-cake with high pres- 

 sure steam, which is more convenient than 

 boiling it in water, the poison is removed 

 and the dried and prepared material may be 

 safely used as a food for animals. Another 

 method for extracting the poison from the 

 cake is to treat it with a ten per cent solu- 

 tion of common salt, which readily dissolves 

 the ricin. Castor meal prepared by either of 

 these methods could not be recommended as 

 an exclusive food, being too rich in protein 

 or albuminoids ; but mixed with potato and 

 mealy food it could be used in large quanti- 

 ties. A sample of castor meal made in an 

 Indian mill by a secret process was recently 

 received for analysis in the office of the 

 Director-General of Commercial Intelligence, 

 and has been examined by Mr. D. Hooper 

 in the Indian Museum and found to contain — 

 Water ... ... 9-2 



Fat ... ... 2-6 



Albuminoids ... ... 71'7 



Carbohydrates.. ... 5*0 



Fibre ... ... 4"2 



Ash ... ... 7-3 



Total ... 100-0 



The meal was in the form of a dry, white 

 powder and free from any special odour or 

 taste, No starch was present, but as will be 



