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The following letter and enclosure have been received 
from Mr. D. Morris, assistant director, Kew-gardens, 
since the meeting : — 
24th May, 1887. 
Dear Sir, — In the discussion which followed the 
reading of Sir Augustus Adderley's paper on the 
"West Indies at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition," 
the question was raised whether there is at present 
such a demand for kola nuts as to justify its being 
recommended to be grown by small growers in the 
"West Indies. I made a statement on the subject 
which was contradicted by Blr. Lascelles Scott. In 
order to obtain an authoritative statement on the 
subject, Messrs. Burgoyne, Burbidge, Oyriax, and 
Farries — possibly the largest wholesale druggists and 
manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations — were 
asked the present price of kola, and whether there 
was any demand for it. Their reply I enclose here- 
with. 
16, Coleman -street, London, E.C., May 21st, 1887. 
Dear Sir, — Replying to your esteemed favour of 
18th inst., in re kola nuts, we beg to say that there 
is but little demand here for these nuts. Occasionally 
small parcels are disposed of at from 3d. to 4d. per 
lb., but if a large parcel were put on the market we 
doubt if they would find a ready sale, and possibly 
would not fetch more than 21. per lb. — We remain, 
dear Sir, yours faithfully, Burgoyne, Burbidges, 
Cyriax, And Farries, per H Arnold. — Journal of 
the Society of Arts. 
+ 
CAPE DEUGS. 
Very little indeed is known of the medicinal agents 
employed by the natives of South Africa. The bulb 
of the jeukbol (Drimia ciliaris), much resembling the 
officinal squill, is used as an emetic, expectorant, and 
diuretic ; its juice is highly irritating in contact with 
the skin, hence the local name, meaning " itch-bulb." 
A curious animal product, termed hyraceum by pharm- 
acists, is said to be employed with the same effect 
as castoreum. 
The prominent native narcotic is tobacco, which is 
extensively planted. The manner of preparing it, 
however, must in a great measure destroy its flavour ; 
it is mashed together in a hollow piece of wood, by 
means of a heavy pole, into little round balls of the 
size of an orange, which, when dry, are broken into 
smaller pieces. The leaves of a composite plant, 
Parchonanthus camphoratus, when dried, are smoked 
by the Hottentots and Bushmen instead of 
tobacco exhibiting slight narcotic effects ; in the 
form of infusion they promote perspiration, and are 
said to be useful in spasmodic asthama. The beauti- 
ful-flowered labiate plant, Leonotus leonurus, is abund- 
ant at the Cape, and is also smoked by the Hotten- 
tots instead of tobacco, with similar narcotic symptoms 
to the preceding. Near Delagoa Bay the natives have 
a curiou9 custom of drawing snuff up their nostrils 
through a long, hollow bone from a bird's wing. 
The stem of a shrub, Dcrris uliginosa, is beaten 
and placed in still waters as a fish poison in Zambesi- 
land. The fruit of Randia kraussii is similarly 
employed. — Journa' of the Society of Arts. 
♦ 
CULTIVATION OF RAMIE IN SPAIN. 
Consul Wooldridge, of Barcelona, says that agri- 
culturists in the Gerona district have lately been turn- 
ing their attention seriously to the cultivation of the 
ramie plant. For some years past, in consequence of 
the ravages of the phylloxera and other vine pests, 
and of the increasing importation of cereals from 
America and elsewhere, the cultivation of the vine 
and of cereals has ceased to bo as profitable aa formerly 
In Corona. It having been found that the climate 
and soil are in every way suited to the cultivation 
of ramie, and that the few trials that have been made 
have resulted in success, a factory for decortication has 
lately been erected, its inauguration having been at- 
tended by the notables of Catalonia. It is said that 
the ramie plaut is destined to replace not only the 
tierop auU Sax which is imported trom Franco for 
the manufacture of textiles in Barcelona, but even 
that of cotton. The plant at present grown belongs 
to the family of the Urticaceas, and grows to a height 
of from sixty to ninety inches. It is essentially a 
textile plant and two cuttings may be made in one 
year, and cultivated under good conditions, a hectare 
would grow from 3,000 to 10,000 kilogrammes of stalks. 
At present there are few reaping machines, but as 
labour is cheap, the weeding and pulling of the crop 
is effected without much expense. The plantations at 
Torroella de Montgri, the district of Gerona in question 
have an extent of 130 hectares, but there is land dis- 
posable for the culture extending over 3,000 hectares. 
The price of ramie in Spain is about 8s. per 100 kilo - 
grammes. There are three decorticating machines at 
work, moved by a steam-engine of 15 horse-power. 
Each machine decorticates 215 kilogrammes of stem 
in twelve hours, from which are obtained 43 kilo- 
grammers of thread, requiring but two workmen to 
manage each machine — one to introduce the stalks 
the other to receive the fibre — and the expense is 
about 10s. 5d. per 150 kilogrammes of thread per 
day. — Journal of the Society of Arts. 
— «- 
Measuring Trees. — There is a great amount of ingenu- 
ity exercised to invent instruments that will readily 
measure the heights of trees or other objects of similar 
character. But the traveller need take nothing along 
with him but a tape line and a jack-knife. First cut 
a stick thick enough to drive in the earth. Let i t be 
four or five feet long, and drive it into the earth at 
any spot convenient, only Leing careful to have it 
on a part of the ground evidently level to the base of 
the tree. This will be the stick at 2. Drive another 
of about the same or any length at any indifinite dis- 
tance from 2. This will be 1. Then with the eye 
and a temporary guide find on 1 exact spot on its 
surface that will be in exact line with 2, and the top 
of the tree at 3. We have then a straight line from 
3 to 2 and 1. Then, by the eye at 2, striking the spot 
at 1, we find where the line will strike the earth at 
4. We have then a right angle triangle 2, 4, 5. Now 
we call into our aid the well-known geometrical 
theorem that the proportions of right angle triangles 
are always the same. With our tape line we fiud the 
base line 4 to 5, say 10 feet, and the perpendicular 
5 feet. Then we measure on the ground from 1 to (i 
and fiud it, say 100 feet. The whole question then 
resolves itself into one which the well-known arith- 
metical rule of proportiou readily solves : If a base 
line of 10 feet gives a perpendicular of S feet, a 
base line of 100 gives a perpendicular of 50 feet which 
iB the height of the tree. This may not come within 
an inch or two of absolute accuracy as u regular in- 
strument would, but it serves all practical purposes. 
—GanUn<r»' .Uvnthly. 
