358 
Supplement to the '^Tropical Agriculturist:' [Nov. 1, 1898. 
to 5 cc, according to size of animal, are injected 
beneath the disinfected skin of the scapular 
region liy meiin.s of a hypodermic syringe. 
Animals to be injected should be tied in the 
barn two or three hours beforehand, and the in- 
jection made at about 6 p.m., at which 
time the temperature should be normal. The 
temperature of the animal is taken at the 
time of injection, and at intervals of three hours, 
for fifteen hour.s. Tlie amount of re-action varies 
from two to six degrees, and lasts from twelve to 
twenty-four hours, and in some cases longer. The 
entire lierd of cattle, on the Experiment Station 
Farm, has been subjected to the test of tul)erculin 
witli the result of discovering that one animal 
gave the characteristic re-action. This animal 
was apparently healthy, aud showed no physical 
symptoms of the disease. Upon a p'jstjnortem 
exaniiniition, however, the lungs, liver, and in- 
testines contained a number of tubercle.*, from 
the size of a pea to that of a walnut. 
The amount of tuberculin used varied from 
•25 of a grain to '5 of a grain, according to sire 
and age of animal." 
Since writing the above, the writer made, by 
request, another test on 38 head of cattle. Only 
one out ot the thirty-eight tested gave the 
characteristic reaction. But for the use of tuber- 
culin, the disease could not have been positively 
diagnosed. A postmortem examination confirmed 
the presence of the disease in that animal. !Mr. 
Niles anticipates if the Koch test be regularly 
applied, and all diseased animals be destroyed, 
that " the continuous spread of tuberculosis 
or consumption would be checked, and it would 
be a comparatively short time before the disea-se 
would be almost uuknown in the bovine species, 
while the number of cases would also be decreased 
in the human family at least 50 per cent in a 
short time." He further urges the necessity for 
legislation to compel all parties keeping rattle, 
especially for supplying milk and meat, to furnish a 
certificate to the effect that the animals have 
been tested and found free from the disease. 
THE mJRUNGA TEEE. 
.In the latest Journal of the Agri-Horticultural 
Society of India the cultivation of murunga 
{Moringa Pterygosperma) and the expressing of 
oil from the seed, are advised as a desirable and 
remunerative occupation. Dr. Watt, referring 
to the m\irunga, says : — " The seeds yield a clear, 
limpid, almost colourless oil (according to Cloez 
36 percent), rather thick at ordinary temperatures 
and easily extracted by simple pressure .... 
It is composed of oleine, margarine and stearine 
. . . . and is highly esteemed by perfumers, 
owing to its great power of absorbing and retain- 
ing the most fugitive odours." In the West 
Indies murunga oil is used as a salad oil. The 
Director of the Jamaica Botanical Gardens men- 
tioned some time ago in a report that great 
interest was being shown in the extraction of the 
oil f fom the seed of the horse-radish tree, as the 
murunga is sometimes called. The oil has a 
specific gravity of -912 to '915 at 60° F., is fluid 
at 77° F., thick at 79° and solid at lower temper- 
atures. It has neither colour nor smell, saponifies 
slowly, and does not turn rancid. It ia from 
this tree as well as the closely-allied Moringn 
aptern that the lubricant so "much valued by 
watchmakers is obtained. The oil isal^n known 
as oil of Ben. The following appears in the 
Chemift and Druygixt of tlx- 'JOlh M.ty last :— 
"Oil of Ben.— Those who think that tliitid the 
original macassar oil may be interested to know 
that the Kew authorities are endeavouring to 
encourage the propagation of the plant that yields 
it— M or inga Pterggotpfrmn." The murunga 
grows almost wild iu nuti ve'ganlens in Ceylon, and 
one often sees the trees formitig live fencei?. Tlie 
fruitt — .sometimes called " drumsticks" — are a 
favourite vegetable, the natives looking up on them 
as particularly wholesome articles of food. Parts 
of the tree are used in native niediciue in Ceylon. 
For instance: " The bark of the tree and of tiie 
root is acrid and pungent ; internally it is use<l 
for promoting the apjjetite and to help digestion, 
and externally a.* a rubefacient in case of collapse ; 
the leaves for woundu from dog bites." We have 
often heard of the root bark being taken internally 
as a carminative, and the boiled leaves are used for 
fomenting, in all cases where foxnentationn are 
advised. The tree can hardly be -aid to be culti- 
vated here, but where it is at all cared for. it is 
for the sake of the fruits which are commonly 
found in the market; the leaves also being eaten 
after cooking. If, however, the tree is to be 
cultivated for its seed, the fruits will have to be 
allowed to mature on the tree, and this would 
unfit them for eating purpo.ses, as they become 
very hard and fibrous when mature, and arealways 
collected when tender for eating. The oil, it is 
said, can be expressed in the ordinary native 
mill, the only difiiculty being the clearing 
process. This, however, we are told, would soon 
be overcome, once a supply of the crude oil is 
obtained in large quantities, and it is expected 
that a demand for even the crude oil will .spring 
up. Tlie murunga, it may not be generally 
known, produces a beautiful gum, resembling 
tragacanth. In Jamaica the wood ia u.sed for 
dyeing a blue colour. 
GENERAL ITEMS. 
In an account of the bread-fruit tree as found 
in the South Sea Islands, the writer says that 
the fibre of the inner bark makes good cloth but 
coarser than the " tapa" made from the paper 
mulberry tree. The wood is soft and light, of a 
rich yellow turning to mahogany by use, and 
suitable for dug-out canoes. Then the milky 
juice obtained by puncturing the stem is used 
as gum and for bird-lime, a preparation being 
also used for tatooing. The Po.lynesians, when 
they do not care for the baked fruit, make silo 
pits into which they fill about a couple of tons 
of the fruit so as to change them from sweet to 
sour, in which state it will keep for months. 
These Islanders bake their fruits after a curious 
fashion. The fruit is cut up, tlie core removed, 
and, hot stones having been placed in a hollow 
in the earth and covered with leaves, the fruit is 
laid on the top and again covered with leaves 
and hot stones, on which more bread-fruit is 
laid, and so on ; a layer of earth about six inches 
deep coTering the whole. The baking lasts 
