August i, 1853.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
baits. It is bo eeldom that the miachief going on 
in darkness, is discovered in time to edtnit of 
attempts at cure, that it is rare for any one to 
try a remely. It is only on estates where sys- 
temalio hunting for Ehinooeros beetles is carried 
on, that there is any hope of trees attacked by 
the weevils being discovered before their destruc- 
tive work has been carried too far; and I doubt 
if there is any estate in Ceylon where spear- 
ing of the black beetle is now attempted, 
it being generally believed that more mischief ia 
often caused by the use of the spear than there 
is harm done by the beetle. The late Mr. David 
Wilson however had a good ' try ' at saving 
trees attacked by the weevil. He had made 
a receptacle of iron — a cylinder 6 inches 
long and 4 inches deep, wilh a hinged lid, 
and a nozzle 6 inches long at eech end. Into 
the chamber was put coarse tobacco leaves and 
ealpbur which were ignited. When aa much as 
possible of the aSeoted portion of the tree had 
been removed with chisel and mallet, and ail the 
grubs within reach destroyed, the orifice was shut 
with a piece of board and clay, leaving only a 
Email opening at one corner ; into this, one nozzle 
of the instrument was inserted, and into the 
other the Bcout of a small hand-ballows, by the 
gentle use of which the smoke was forced into 
the tree. This was continued for about a quarter of 
an hour each day till there was no sound heard 
of the gnawing of the grub?. If the work of 
deatruotion had not proceeded too far this remedy 
proved effectual ; bat in most oattes it was tried 
too late. 
" The oooonat palms of Honduras appear also 
to Buffer from disease, and disease of an obscure 
kind not due to insects. It ia known as fever, &a." 
This deseasa from its obscurity and proving rapidly 
deatruolive, would, if it spread to any extent, be 
far more to be dreaded than the weevils which can 
be combated. Fortunately nothing of this disease 
ie known in Ceylon, W. J. 
MEDICINAL PLANTS FEOM SIERRA 
LEONE. 
KOLA— VANXLLA— CUBEBS. 
A report on iho botany and geology of Sierra 
Leone has just been published by the fureien Office. 
It is tte joint work of Mr. G. F. Soott Elliot and 
Mia9 Catherine A. Htisin, and cDotaiug lome infer* 
mation of pharmaoeoticil interest. Mr. Elliot was 
attached to the Atiglo-Frenoh boundary commiesi<)D, 
which has lately traversed the interior of the country 
and he bad therefore exceptional facilities for col- 
lecting apscimens of native plants of medicical and 
other economic value. He has brought with him 
about 2,000 specimeLS of tbeae, most of them quite 
noknown to European materia medioa. Some of 
tbem have already been identified, others ere at 
present being examined by Mr. E. M. Holmes, who 
proposes to pnblith the result of bia inveetigatu ns 
shortly. Some o( the native medicines may ultimately 
•cqaire a footing in Europe, but most of them aie 
not likely ever to possess mere than an academic 
interest. Of tbe kola, Mr. Elliot sajrs tbat it " grows 
freely everywhere, and was found from the sea-level 
to fully 3,000 feet at Snmbaraya in the Tall* bigb- 
hndg. It begins to bear in seven years, and is in lull 
beRrini; after eight to ten years. Each tree ii said to 
yield dl. to 41. per annum, and henoa « plantation 
ought certainly to include a large number of these 
trees. The yield given by Mr. Fawcett ia 125 lb., or 
4,000 eeeds per tree— that is, 81. to lOi. per tree, or 
SCO/, an acre." Mr. Elliott's views of the market 
value of the drugs which he describes are 1 kely to 
lutd to disappointment if anyone sliould be induced 
|9 |Utt dcag-ooUectiug or diGg-growing in Si«cr« 
Leone upon the strength of them. Thns he would 
have it that African vanilla would be worth from 
20s to 25s per lb., whereas it ia hardly likely, even 
when of fise quality, ta catch more than half that 
figure; and he tells us that cnbebe. Piper Clusii — 
{sic) — grows freely at Sierra Leone," au j that " its 
seedi are worth some 20/ per cwt." Apart from the 
fact that even true cubebs are not worth now a third 
of the figure mertioned, a little iuvestigation would 
have fhown Mr. Elliott that the fruits of Fiper Clussi 
are quite unlike those of the true cubed ia their 
medicinal action, that they are well known to phar 
macologiatf, and would probably bo unfaU able if oon- 
signed to our drug-market.— CAciniit and Druggist, 
- ^ 
A New Foraob Plant has appeared— says 
the London Globe— in the form of the Polygonum 
Saghali which grows in the island of Sagtialien, 
near Japan. It shoots very fast, and in three or 
four weeks is over six feet high, and covered with 
large leaves, of which cattle a-e very fond. When 
out it rapidly puehea a second growth. A single 
plant covers more than a square yard, and the 
weight of leaves is stated to ezoeed eighty pounds. 
The new plant has been tried experimentally at 
Alliera, in France, and is said to requira little or 
no oare. 
CEYLON EXPORTS AND DISTRIBUTION, 1893. 
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