1024 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June r, 1882. 
Coppice intended to shoot again should not be cut when 
it shows a tendency to " bleed, " as the excessive loss of 
sap exhausts the stools and renders them barren. — Forestry. 
Calumba Root. — At the drug sales this month, a large 
quantity of false calumba root ( Coscinium fenestratum) 
was offered. This drug seems of rare occurrence in the 
market, not having been observed apparently since it 
was noticed in this Journal, in 1850 and 1852. In 
September in the latter year eighty bales appear to have 
been offered. In Ceylon it is highly valued as a tonic and 
anthelmintic, the knotty part of the stems being used. 
It also appears to have been imported, under the name 
of " calumbad," or " columbo root," in 1691, when a 
pamphlet was published by a doctor of medicine, of 
London, " shewing its admirable virtue in curing the 
gout and easing all sorts of rheumatical pains." Japanese 
star anise also still continues to be oftered. The cuprea 
bark which yields Arnaud's cinchonamme has been noticed 
in the market this month, mixed with other varieties 
of cuprea bark. — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
Cinchona.' — In a note to the Gardeners' Chronicle, 
Mr. T. Christy states that the greater quantity of the 
fine quill calisaya bark which has been cultivated in 
Bolivia during the past few years goes chiefly to Ger- 
many. He states also that the planters find that some 
varieties of cinchona, especially the verde variety, yield 
much more bark than others, and hence it pays the 
planter better to cultivate these rather than the trees 
which yield less bark and grow more slowly, but afford 
a greater percentage of quinine. The natives, he states, 
judge of the quality of the bark by the colour of the 
leaves and the veins in them. He has succeeded in 
obtaining seed of the better kinds, which he is given 
to understand yield a larger percentage of quinine than 
even the ledgeriana, and these have been obtained from 
the district whence Ledger obtained his seed. — Ibid. 
Mace.— In the Pharm. Zeitung (1881, No. 74), Mr. 
A. Tirsch describes a kind of mace, called Bombay mace, 
which, he states, is occasionally found in the market, 
but which differs from ordinary mace in several part- 
iculars. The lobes are longer and thinner, the colour 
of a dark red-brown, and on the inside it has adhering 
to it a thin parchment-like crumbled membrane never 
found in true mace. The epidermal cells are twice as 
high, narrow and radially elongated, — the cells of true 
mace being low and tangentially elongated, — and show 
well the cellulose reaction with iodine and sulphuric 
acid. The oil cells are very numerous, oval, somewhat 
radially elongated, often in groups of two or three, and 
contain a dark yellow usually resinified oil, and some- 
times a brownish resin. No mention is made of aroma, 
so that it is not possible to say whether or not this 
product is obtained from M. malabarica. — Ibid. 
Remarkable Silver Fib. — Any tree that has attained 
a height of 114 ft. in Britain, may, I think, be fairly 
entitled to be considered remarkable. Such was the 
height of a silver fir cut down on Saturday, September 
17th. It was the highest tree in Longleat Park (prob- 
ably the loftiest tree in Britain), and formed one of a 
group of nine silver firs, standing on rather an elevated 
level piece of ground. The site is fully exposed on the 
north-east side. Its dead withered top has been con- 
spicuous in the group for several years, and it was evident 
from the appearance of the tree that it was gradually 
dying from the top downwards ; doubtless, however, the 
severity of last winter hastened its death. The belt is 
quite sound for about 60 ft. up, where it divides into 
two bca Is. Although it was the bighest tree in the 
group, it was by no means the finest and bulkiest speci- 
men, as it only girthed 10 ft. 10 in. at five feet above 
the ground, and contained about 350 ft. of timber; 
whereas the largest tree measures 15 ft. 3 in. at five feet 
li)), and contains between 100 ft. and GH0 ft. of timber; 
its height is 138ft., and it is s till in fall healthy vigour. 
The age of the group I should guess to be nearly 200 
years old. — Gkoboe Berry, Longleat. — Forestry. 
American Puachrs. — We learn from an interesting 
pamphlet on the Garden Farm Lands of the Peninsula, 
that f 'oni the best inf >rmation obtainable there are 
about 5,000,000 peacli trees of all ages between the 
Delaware and Chesapeake, and the Braudywiue and 
Cape Chillies. These trees cover 50,000 acres of the 
best and most productive land, enough to make 500 
farms of 100 acres each. Represented in money, there 
is an aggregate invested capital of 2,750,000 dol. From 
the official reports there were enipp-d in 1871, by 
rail. 2,456,876 basket*; by water, the number is 
estimated at 543,124 baskets; making an aggregate 
of 3.000,000 baskets But all the peacht-g are not 
exported. Many are canned and dried. So f.ir as 
knowD, there are six canneries in Delaware, and, 
perhaps, as many in Maryland, turning out over 
1,000 000 cans of fruit.— Australasian. 
The suggestion that the slopes of railway embank- 
ments might be profitably utilized by planting them with 
trees has several times been made in these columns, 
and in the United States the experiment has been tried, 
we believe, with great success. A correspondent of our 
contemporary, Land, raises an objection to this, which, 
however, appears hardly worth considering. He says that 
during the fall of the leaf the drifting of leaves along 
the line would seriously impede the power of the passing 
engines by preventing the wheels from " biting " the 
rails, thus causing the engine to slip. It is quite poss- 
ible that for two or three weeks during October there 
might be a sufficient collection of fallen leaves to have 
some such effect, but the leaves woidd soon get dis- 
persed by the wind, while at best the objection only 
applies to deciduous trees, which in most situations 
would be better replaced by Scotch firs or larch. We 
hope this objection will not deter railway companies 
from carrying out what we consider a very valuable 
improvement. — Forestry . 
Keeping Grapes. — The system of keeping grapes over 
the winter, with a piece of wood attached to the bunch 
and its end in a bottle of water, is too generally practised 
to require comment ; but, surprising to say, some have 
complained that by this method the fruit becomes deteri- 
orated in flavour. Our own experience is exactly the 
reverse ; in fact, after the fruit has hung a few months, 
the flavour has become more sugary and in every way 
pleasanter. The preparation of the fruit, by early and 
thoroughly ripening it, has more to do with successful 
keeping than anything else. Some prefer leaving a piece 
of wood an inch or two long beyond the bunch ; this 
we never do, but have always cut pretty close to the 
bunch, and often nib the cut with styptic, so that 
evaporation cannot take place. This year we treated 
all our shoots in this way. Last year the berries were 
plump and in good eatable condition to the 1st of June. 
We have tried to keep them in all sorts of structures, 
both in light and in darkness, but never found much 
difference under either condition. In a fruit room, where 
all the shelves were filled with apples and pears for a 
considerable part of the season, Lady Downes always 
kept admirably. This was over a stable where the temp- 
erature was very even, and no fire heat ever employed. 
Probably the best position we ever employed for such a 
purpose was a cupboard of a dwelling-house, kept close ; 
there Alicantes were always extra good till May. Last 
year we bottled a number of bunches with the wood 
left beyond the bunch, that between the bunch and the vine 
being cut closely off, and no perceptible difference was 
the result. The kinds were Gros Colmar and Barba- 
rossa, but they were used before the end of February, 
and were not tested like the others. We have proved 
again and again that when the roots are in a sweet 
healthy soil, not sowed by heavy applications of manure, 
the keeping has been of the highest order. Ripening 
is supposed by some to be complete when colouring is 
finished, but heat and ah- are wanted long afterwards. — 
H. T. — Field. 
