686 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [February i, i88z. 
"Tbe present papers confirm the opinion I expressed 
in my last letter of its decidedly emetic properties." 
The paper is by Dr. Cornish') Surgeon-General of 
Madias, and the omitted quotations I refer to, and 
which give a very different aspect to the efficacy of 
quinetum, are as follows :—" The average shortest 
time under treatment was when the Sil-kim drug was 
exhibited," and :— " The result,? of these experiments 
show that quinetum does not cause any rao'f unpleasant 
symptoms than eulpi ate of cinehonine or chinchonidine. 
My impre!-sie>n is ihat, as a rule, all these drugs are 
given in too large doses by our medical subordinates, 
auel that with proper precautions as to the mode and 
times of administration, they may all be used without 
inconvenience." 'Ihis opinion, of so eminent a medical 
authoiity, supported as it is by similar published 
opinions of the highest in the profession in Bengal 
and other parts of India, should convince most people 
that the supposed emetic property of the quinetum 
does not exist when proi erly administered. 
At paragraph 8, Mr. How ai d quotes, with admiration, 
that "the miseries caused by Indian residence and illness 
Are depressing enough in themselves, whhout being in- 
tensified by nauseating agencies quite foreign to the 
therapeutic effect required." 'Ihis, on the face of it, is 
clearly an attempt at fine writing only, and the writer 
should have known that it whs calculated to convey a 
false impression. The phrase "Indian residence" 
appears to imply that Government intended the drug to 
take the place of quinine among European residents, 
who are, as a rule, well able to buy sulphaie of quinine. 
This, I need scarcely say, in very far from being the 
■wish of the Ge>vernment of Bengal, and I have already 
shown that the "nauseating agency" is a bugbear 
only. But even were it nauseating, which it is not, the 
fact of it curing fever in a shorter time than the 
sulphates other than quinine would be considered by 
everybody who has had the misfortune to experience 
fever nice than a counterbalance to the passing in- 
convenience of a In tie nausea. 
Atparagiaph 9 Mr. Howard states that "apart from 
these (nauseating) efferts the efficacy of tbe remedy is 
universally admitted." Taking into consideration this 
universal admission, the fact that, t ie supposed nauseat- 
ing property scarcely, if at all, exists, and the low 
cost of the drug, it is not too much to assert that the 
benevolent intentions of the Bengal Government, a* 
regards supplying ;in efficieut febrifuge for the fever- 
stricken poor of India, at a cost within their means, 
have been amply fulfilled ; and Ihis is not the le>s 
gratify ug to those i n trusted to carry out those intenti- 
ons that thy have heeu able to do so wilhout loss 
to the rate-pacing public. JAS. A GAMMIE. 
PIMENTO OR ALLSPICE. 
Nella Oolla, Madawalatenna, 15th Dec. 1881. 
Dear Sir, — Perhaps the following, wiih regard to 
" pimento," may interest your correspondent who signs 
hims If ■'Planter," in your i-sue of the 13th inst. 
The allspice is a native of the West Indies, and is 
cultivated particularly in the hilly parts of the country. 
Ii begins to btar fruit when three years of a,ue, and 
arrives at maturity in seven years. The b rries are 
collecteel belore they are ripe, at which time 
the essential oil, to which they owe their pungency, 
is moist abundant. They are spread out, exposed to 
the sun, auel often turned. In about a week they 
lose their green colour, arid acquire that reddish brown 
tint, which renders ihem maiketable : they are then 
packed in hags and casks for exportation. When dried 
the berries are rather larger than a pepper-corn. 
Some plantations kiln-elry them, which expedites the 
process very considerably. The plant iiself is a hand- 
some evergreen with a straight trunk about 30 feet 
high, covered with a smooth grey hark. Ia Jamaica, 
" pimento walks " are falked of. and as the tree is 
a large ov they cannot be planted very close together. 
If you thii k the above informaiii n will be of 
any use to "Planter," kindly insert it and oblige, 
—yours faithfully, ALLSPICE. 
MOUND HEDGES FOR H EMI LEI A VAST- 
AT RI X. 
Kotmale, 15th Dec. 1881. 
Dear Sir,— Mr. Marshall Ward's long letter in 
Tuesday's paper is lucid enough for any "lay readers," 
couched as it is, as far as possible, in language that 
" may be understanded of the people." Still the 
! " non possumus " mist, which I ventured to put forth 
as my judgment on his remedial measures, has not 
; been dispelled even by the bright light now thrown 
on the disease. 
I Setting aside the quest'on of disinfecting the coffee 
i in a space of time too brief for possibility of ad- 
f option, the one matter which seems most worthy of 
consideration to me — I speak as a layman — is the 
prevention of a general distribution of spores by wind. 
Of course, a great deal has been attempted by the 
planting of belts here and there, but these cinchona 
screen plantations are never thick enough to be im- 
pervious to the passage of spores, snd I would sug- 
gest the construction of D vomhire coppice mound 
\ hedges along ridges throughout the coffee 
[ Now, the manner of construction in that country 
| is to carry up a stratum of earth between two sod 
i facings " battering," i.e., leaning somewhat inwards, 
to the required height, say 5 or 6 feet. Given the 
|i mound of this height and ibout this width at the 
t op, it is usual to plant sturdy beech stumps on the 
summit, and to keep the hedge thus formed close and 
!| th ck by annual trimming. 
'ihe kmdly shelter such hedges afford to man and 
i beast in wild weather is well-known. In Ceylon a 
modified form might be made use of, say 5 feet high, 
| 6 feet broad at leiw and 3 feet at te'p, and sum ounted 
by a thick tea hedge, kept thick by such trimming 
> as the privets get in London square gardens. For 
such a hedge two or three rows of coffee, which, 
I by the way, is generally thin on ridges, would have 
I to be sacrificed. 
Spore- laden leaves would collect in large numbers 
against tnese hedges and could be eas.ly des royed 
on the spot. One could calculate on a few rows of 
ceiffee to leeward of the walls being free from the 
; disease 
Can Mr. Marshall Ward explain why Hemilda did 
not forsake the jungle earlier? 
j Has Himikia vnntatrix ever been discovered in the 
jungle ? Supposing that it really did emerge from 
the jungle, is it right to say that the chief peculi- 
I arity about this particular fungus is that its mycelium 
I requires the organized materials found in the cells of 
living coff<e- leaves lor its food ? It is surely worth 
while to search for the jungle growths which were 
the home of this fungus till 1869, and, when found, 
introduce them among our coffee. — Faithfully yours, 
POST TENEBRAS LUX. 
BARK OF COPPICED TREES BE' O.MING INERT. 
Dikoya, 16th Dec. 1881. 
Dear Sir,— In reply to "Sulphate," writing on the 
16th iust., 1 beg to assure him that what I stated is cor- 
rect. Several lots of root bark were lately sold by 
me, aggregating 7,000 lb., and each lot was analysed 
by Mr. Lixou, who rejected a large percentage of each 
lot as " dead bark." 1 found this was noi frem dead 
trees, but from the stook of coppiced officinalis, whose 
stem batk sold for 6s per lb. two years previously. 
I think this goes to prove that you run some risk 
in adopting Mr, Karslake's system, especially if yon 
