August i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
Of course in a warm climate these volatile solvents 
could not be used, but if we wish to know whether a 
plant contains caoutchouc, this process may be simplified. 
There is evidently a very erroneous method in use for 
precipitating these juices by alcohol, the result being 
that we get all the gum, mucilage, more or less 
extractive matter, hydrated resins, &.c, all mixed with 
the caoutchouc if present. On a future oceasion I hope 
to deal with the chemical treatment of these juices. — 
Thomas T. P. Bruce Waheen. — Journal of the Society 
of Arts. 
MAN DAL AY MANGOES. 
I noticed iu your last issue (Jane 25th) an article 
on mangoes from Maudalay. My name is mentioned 
as an authority, but in this instance, not having seen 
the fruit it is impossible to say what it is. I take 
very little notice of what is told me about the fine 
flavour of this or that mango. A great deal depends 
upon where, and under what circumstances, you eat 
mangoes. I well remember the first I ever ate, and 
I thought it delicious ; it was at a friend's house in 
Hong-kong. The fruit had been brought from Manilla. 
I was fresh from board-a-ship and had not tasted 
fruit for some time,'and that was the reason I liked the 
" tea-and-turpentine," or better, the carrot-tasted 
mangoe from Manilla. I made careful notes about this 
fruit, and was able to compare it with good Indian 
mangoes. The gentleman writing from Mandalay was 
per haps placed under somewhat similar circumstances; 
for he says : — " Nothing is more pleasant after having 
ridden from daybreak till noon." I quite agree with 
him and if he happened at noon to rest under one 
of our good beejit trees, or seedlings, and satisfied 
himself with a good meal of really nice sweet, juicy 
mangoes, it would make, I think, a lasting impression 
on him, and he wbuld always say they were the best man- 
goes he had ever eaten. There are also juiu/li man- 
goes, or really wild fruit, the original species ; and 
jungle mangoes, the deteriorated stock of cultivated 
fruits, grown from good fruits that have been eaten 
on the roadside and the seeds thrown away. It is, I 
should say, the latter the Mandalay gentleman has 
eaten, for I doubt if he would care to eat more than 
one of the real jungle mango, at least such as grow at 
the foot of the Himalayas ; and I imagine it is the 
same species all through Burmah. Burmah being an 
" old " country, they mint have carried on a system- 
atic selection of this fine fruit by accident, the same 
as has been done in India. 
About the so-called best mango — the Bombay — or, as 
it should be calied the Afoo: or A/pon:o, as there are 
so many Bombay mangoes, it is no better than many in 
Tirhoot and Malda, or Madras. The much vaunted 
Malda Fuslee is really not to compare with some of 
tks other Malda sorts). The real Bombay, is not a 
Bombay mango at all ! It came orgiually from Salem 
in Madras, and does so still. One of the great secrets 
about good mangoes is, that they should never be 
eaten fresh-gathered from the tree. This is the reason 
the Bombay Afoo: is so good. It is gathered rather 
unripe, goes a journey of purhapi a week, and 
arrives in prime condition, no "string," no rank 
flavour, but something too delicious to describe iu 
words. If this same mango had been eaten fresh- 
gathered, probably it would be pronownceed inferior. 
I will refer to Firminger's description of a fruit 
called eherimoyer or cherimola f A/ioua cherimolia)- 
One man says that no fruit in tho world is 
hk; it, being the "masterpiece of nature." Dr. 
Lindley says: " Oue English pear or plum is worth 
nil the cherimoyers in Peru. " I should be inclined 
to say the same, in compariug mangoes of India to 
other mangoe* of tho world. The Iudiau mango is 
tho result of cultivation of centuries. Very few 
people living in India know where the fine maugoes 
tkte f but I can say I have had opportunities of 
eating and seeing Hnngoos to which eveu the much- 
tnk'd-of Bombay is a little inferior; oven the fine 
English pear does not beat it in flavour. I hope 
shortly to givo you a list of sornw really go >d mangoes 
from a catalogue of some 500 varieties of this fiuo 
fruit.— C. VL.—IiwHan Agriculturist, 
IPECACUANHA CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 
The following correspondence has been published 
by the Madras Government : — 
Letter from G, Bidie, Esq., m.is.,c.i.e., .Surgeon- 
General with the Government of Madras, to the Secret- 
ary to Government, Revenue Department, dated 
Ootacamund, 20th May 1887, No. 150-O:— 
I have the honor to suggest to the Right Honorable 
the Governor in Council that the cultivation of the 
ipecacuanha plant be pushed forward as energetically 
as possible, as it seems quite within the range of 
possibility that the supplies of the drug from South 
America may at any time cease. According to the 
Chemist and Druggist of the 29th January last, 
the stock iu first hand in London, the chief emporium 
for the drug, was unprecedentedly low ; and it is 
further stated, " the bulk of this stock, however, 
will be taken out of the market before the week is 
over, and, so far as we can ascertain, no further 
supplies of the drug are on their way." 
2. I need hardly remind Government of the very 
great importance of ipecacuanha as a remedy for 
tropical dysentery and other diseases, and that the 
cessation of supplies would be nothing 6hort of a 
calamity in India, as it would infallibly increase 
enormously the mortality and invaliding from dysentery 
amongst the servants of Government generally, and 
especially in the army both European and native. 
Of course the civil population of the country would 
also suffer, if deprived of the drug. 
3. It appears to me therefore that the time has 
arrived for India to cultivate her own supplies of the 
precious root as in the case of cinchona, so as to be 
no longer dependent on Brazil, from which " unfore- 
seen circumstauces, such as war or epidemic, may 
at any time intorrupt the supply." 
4. From past experience, which has now extended 
over several years, the plant although not diffieult 
to propagate is apparently by no means easy of 
culture, and requires climatic conditions which can 
only be secured within a limited area. It is to be 
fears 1, therefore, that for some time at auy rate the 
culture of ipecacuanha as a mercantile product is not 
likely to be taken up by private individuals, although 
the price, which has never been below 4 shillings 
per pound, is such as is likely to render the industry 
remunerative. I trust therefore, that the Right Honor- 
able the Governor in Couucil will see fit to adopt 
early measures for the culture of ipecacuanha on a 
practical scale at Nilambiir or any other site which 
may be deemed the most suitable by the Director 
of the Botanical Department. 
Order— dated 30th May 1887, Mis. No. 3032, Revenue. 
Forwarded to the Conservator of Forests, Southern 
Circle, and the Government Botanist for the favor 
of remarks, which should be submitted at a very 
early date. In order to avoid delay Colonel Camp- 
bell Walker's reply should be sent to Government- 
direct a copy being sent to the Board for information. 
Read — the following letter from M- A. Lawsou, Esq., 
Government Botanist and Director of Cinchona Plant- 
ations, Nilgiris, to the S 'cretary to Government, IVveuue 
Department, dated Ootacamund, 8th June 1887, No. 102: 
I have the honor to acknowledge tho receipt of 
G.O., No. 3082, dated tho 30th May 1887, Revenue, 
with an accompanying letter from Surgeon-General 
G. Bidie on the subject of tho cultivation of the 
ipecacuanha in Southern India, aud to state that I 
have been pushiug forward tho propagation of this 
medicinal plant, as fast as possible, for the last eighteen 
months, in the nurseries attached to tho Govern- 
ment Gardens, and that I have now a great mauy 
plants ready to put down. 
2. I have tried growing the ipecacuanha iu tho 
Government Gardens at Barliyar, but they do not 
thrive there, neither the climate nor soil agreeing 
with them. The only placo where I h»To seen them 
doing well is iu tho Government Teak Plantations 
at Nilambiir; aud I advise Goverumeut to allow nin 
to take up a quarter of au aero iu that forest to 
put out more plants. 
