May i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
749 
SUMACH* 
The trade iu one of the chief products of Sicily, 
sumach, styled Bhus Coriaria in botany, has increased 
in the course of the past vear, and is receiving in- 
creased attentiou. 
It appears in the markets in England and America 
in the form of a more or less coarse powder packed 
iu bags of from 60 to CO kilos., and produced by 
the grinding of tho twigs and leaves when dried, 
To France the twigs and leaves are exported while 
in a dried slate. 
This powder serves both as a dye and as a mordant 
to fix other dyes, and for purposes of tanning. Good 
sumach contains from 30 to 40 per cent of the dyeing 
or tanning principle. Tho shrub is said to have been 
originally transplanted from Asia, and flourishes most 
in high and dry soils and requires little attention 
after first planting. The plants when once set out 
will last for a century or two. For the first three 
years the leaves have little value, but after that 
time they acquire their due proportion of their 
peouliar qualities. Tho plant is a low perennial 
shrub with long slender leaves. The harvest of 
the plant is made by cutting off the leaves every 
year, after which the plant throws forth feedshoots. 
Sioilian sumach, especially that about Palermo, enjoys 
a high reputation, as does also the sumach of Spain 
and Portugal. The soil of Dalmatia is also peculiarly 
fitted for this plant, and the cultivation of it is 
fostered by the Austrian Government. The largest 
and most luxuriant plants do not produce the greatest 
amount of tannin, and even in Sicily there is great 
difference iu the quality of the powder produced 
from this plant. 
The sumach powder produced in Sicily is of two 
sorts. The best is of a rich green colour and care- 
fully sifted, it is soft to the touch, of a rather 
pleasant smell, and of a strong astringent taste. 
The second has these qualities in an inferior degree, 
while its colour degenerates and takes a reddish hue. 
The sumach grown in Continental Italy is much 
inferior to tho Sicilian, and has a yellowish colour 
tendiug both to green and red. None of the inferior 
sorts are prepared with such care cs the best Sicilian, 
and are known by the prevalence of unground fibres 
and minute chips, indicative of less paius taken iu 
sifting. Various adulterations are practised in prepar- 
ing sumach for the market ; the most obvious, that 
of mixing it with mineral dust, can be discerned by 
steeping the suspected powder ia water, when the 
mineral portions will fall to the bottom. \Vhe» 
vegetable substance.", however, are used, chemical 
analysis must bo resorted to. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
O 
EUCALYPTUS HONEY. 
Mr. Holmes drew atteutiou to a npeoimen of eucalyp- 
tuy honey, of whioh mention had been made in 
several medical and pharmaceutical journals. Also 
to a now kind of Htrophanthus seeds which had 
recently como into the market, apparently resembling 
the iS. hispidus, but he thought, they were not identical. 
As thoro were several different varieties of stro- 
phantus seeds now being imported, it seemed im- 
portant that their physiological action should bo 
known boforo thoy were employed in medicine as 
equivalent in value to tho kind introduced by Pro- 
fessor Fraser. Tho seeds certainly bolongod to differ- 
ent spocies, but would not necessarily bo identical 
in therapeutic properties. There were several speci- 
mens presented by Dr. Ondaatju, a colonial surgeon 
of (Jeylou, who cum* over to the Oolonial Bxl i- 
bitton, mid bad remained here smee. He brought 11 
iiumbor of Ceylon products, but owing to ill-health 
had not been able to investigate them as he intended, 
and be bad now presented the remainder to the 
Society. There was also a specimen of false cbirctta, 
Ophelia aiijuitit'olia, which had recently como into 
the market. It wih much paler than the offlolal 
kind, and yielded n less bitter infusion. un,l the 
• From a rapart b\ Mr. Consul Stigatid uo the 
trad* and commerce Of Molly. 
stem was more woody and contained no pith, where- 
as in the genuine there was a large pith with a 
thin woody portion. There were also some speci- 
mens of what the President objected to calling 
" false " ipecacuanha, but which bad been offered 
in commerce as substitutes for it. One of them was 
generally attributed to Psychotria emetica, another to 
a species of Iticliardsonia, whilst of another one of 
more recent introduction the botanical source was at 
present unknown, but none of them possessed the 
physical characters of the true drug. There was a 
fine herbarium specimen of the asafoetida plant of 
Turkestan, presented to the Society by BIr. Carl 
Ferrein, of Moscow. The point of interest in this 
specimen was that although it was labelled Ferula 
Scorodosma, it differed from the figure of that plant 
given in Bentley and Trimen's ' Medicinal Plants ' in 
having serrate leaves. The other species yielding 
asafoetida which had been presented at various times 
to the herbarium, were placed on the table for com- 
parison. These were Ferula alliacea, yielding in 
Persia an asafcetida exported to India but not to this 
country ; a specimen of Ferula Nartkex, collected by 
Dr. Peters in West Afghanistan ; a specimen of the 
leaf of the F. Narthex, from Regent's Park Botanical 
Gardens ; and a specimen of F. Scorodosma, from Dr. 
Aitchison, collected in Afghanistan. Judging from 
the character of the leaf alone it would appear that 
there was in Turkestan yet another plant whioh 
produced asafcetida ; that is, if the plant now sont 
as F. Scorodosma should prove to be distinct. Lastly, 
there were some fine specimens of fresh sugar-cane, 
which Mr. Martindale had brought from Malaga. — 
Pharmaceutical Jmrnal. 
4. 
THE BOTANY AND VEGETABLE MATERIA 
MEDIC A OF THE ISLAND OF PORTO-RICO- 
BY ANTONIO JOSE AMADEO, M. D., Mi K. C. S. E., L. H. C. P. E. 
Flora of the interior. — This part of the island is 
very charming, with its multitude of rivulets, rivers, 
coffee plantations and hills, still covered in some 
places with the Cedrela odorata, Dacryodes hexandra, 
tho Jlimusops, tho Hedwiyia bulsamifera, and many 
other valuable trees of the primitive flora, with a 
variety of ferns, orchidece and graceful palms raising 
their crowns high above the dense underwood, which 
reveals tho loveliest and brightest flowers in wild pro- 
fusion, filling the air with their perfumes. 
It is a source of pleasure to behold along the banks 
of rivulets the graceful Jamlosa vulgaris, Bambusa, 
Piper caudatum, BLva orellana, several varieties of 
Citrus and the Ilelicona caribea, the plant of the 
poets, showing its boautful racemose scarlet flowers, 
and inviting the traveller to rest. The Hibiscus 
liliaceim and the Bromelia Ananas grow side by 
side, protecting plantations of maize, rice, potatoes 
and pastures of several species of indigenous graiui- 
nete, which never grow so luxuriously aa the 
exotics, giving room for tho intrusion of poppies, 
vervain, and other (lowering plants, ho that the laud- 
scape of the fiolds is more beautiful than that of tho 
coasts, and resembles somewhat that of Southern 
Europe. On tho hill slopes and ravines are tho 
great plantations of Coffea arabica, protected by 
other taller form- of vegetation, among them the 
fruit-bearing tree Mimosa Inya. In the same forma- 
tion tho Thcahroma Cacao is also cultivated, but not 
to the extent that it ought to be. The tree grows 
there quickly and the product is of tho best quality. 
Several species of plantain and banana, potatoes, 
rioe, com, yams, inarantii, ginger, pignut, oriental 
oily grain and other BOOnOmiO plants aro cultivated 
nil through this fertile /.one, producing food suffi- 
cient for the consumption of its inhabitants. This 
explains in part the inomi-e of tho population, which 
is today about SOO.OOO, the great majority white. 
Tho Caladium aijuatdt and tho Arum arbonum, 
growing wild, tho tirst at tho margin of the strva 
are also eaten by the poorer people. In tho hills 
bordering the southern coast towards JUIinaa and 
Coaoio, the £mM intermedia grows wild with its 
