Nov. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 3°7 
boiled; and (c), viz., to proaure and use quinine freely. 
I think a real effort should be made to try and 
induce the residents in these ma'arious places to con- 
struct their houses or huts on p5s f s or pilJara, 
■with the fbor raisvd some 6 feet above the ground, or 
at least to construct sleeping plices inide their houses 
raised 6 ft. above the fliors. To effect this I think a 
prac'ioil example Bhouid be given iu two or three plaoes 
in e«:h ni Hrious (iivi^one, and I would suggest that 
cert in headmen be provided with a type plan of such 
ra'sed homes, and that one or two villagers' houses at 
certain places should be reconstructed on this plau, the 
exp3ns s of doing so being provided by Government. 
1 would also suggest fcb.it sjme such instructions as 
are contained in tne a'love oircular should be printed 
in all school reading boolta (English and vernacular), 
and alsj a rough sketch of a house raised on posts or 
pill ltd in the way suggested, and that all sohool 
teachers sliould be instructed to oontinually draw tbe 
attention of the childreu to this picture and instr ic- 
lions an 1 to explain the reasons to them, and to 
all whom they meet, and io instruct the ohildren in 
their turn to show tho pioture and instructions, and to 
exp'ain thern to their Daronts and others. 
♦ 
CULTIVATION OF DRUG PLANTS. 
Aa we are now within a couple of months of the 
time when the usual vegetible gar lens are form-id 
on our tea faotorii s, we would direct the attention 
of tbo planting oommunity towards the advisability 
of including iu the usual eeed indents many of those 
plants irom which the drags in most conmoi re- 
quest are derived ; for though tbe Act insists upon a 
due proportion bung kept in the medioine ohest, 
the majority of Mofussil residents know full well bow 
rapidly the importel er'.ioles defceriora'e, an! the loss 
aud inoonvenuncc arising from having to keep the sup- 
ply up to the regulations bo'h in quantity and quality. 
The common Monkshood, which ehould thrive well at 
the heights wo mention, yields the poisonous but 
valuable medicine, a conite ; the botanical name is 
Aconitum Napellus. Aloes are so uumeruus that only 
thr;e should be retained for uiedioin ;1 purposes, a'id 
we give the names so that those willing to initiate 
the in luslry may obtain those eeeds alone, they era 
Aloe Spicata, A. Vulgaris, A. Socotrina; the seeds or 
plants of the hitter ooght to be procurable either 
in Bombay, Ad n or Zauzioar. Columns might be 
written opon this ord-r of plants, for not only are 
the majority medicinal, but supply also scents 
aud fibres ; aud the new shoots of a good 
number are used as vegetables; but it will be 
enough for the beginner to add to those we 
have already mentioned the bulb of the Urgmea 
Maritima, from which the squills of the chemist-i are 
obtaiuod. Indigenous as we believe this bulb to be 
in tbe neighbourhood of Carwar and other pirfcs of 
tbe West rn Ghats, it woold be better to obtain it 
from some botanioal garden than run the risk of 
oi'taiuing merely some di generat3 hyorid. The well- 
known Angostura bitters (ihe genuine we mean) is 
de r ived from the bark of Qalipea OrHcinahs the 
seeds of which, we believe, are available from the Bur- 
Har garden, low down on the Nilghiris, but there is 
no little difficulty in obtaining the nuolens of any 
koosin ec momic plant in these days. The plant 
under notice beng semi-tropic il woald be suitable 
on the m>t>t gardens in As a a, Sylhet and Ca har. 
Absiutrte is one of the wormwooJs, but ea - j hardly 
be classed as a medic : nal plant ; though the order 
contains Anthemis N'obilis or cam mail", valuable as an 
extract. The condiment Elecampane is derived from 
the varietv Inula Heliniimi, ptocuraoie from auy of 
the importers of thesa seeds, Mes^r". Christy of 
Lime Strce*, London, E.G., dealing largely in them. 
Anise is fuuud wid in almost all the low tila 
jungles in Assam, needing but cultivation to enable 
it to compete wi'h that importel in largo quantifies 
into Bombay from China, chiefly for transhipment 
to the Gnlf porta. The common hemlocks belongs 
to this o:der and has been established on, if it is 
not iodigouous to, the Nilghiris. Aaa/cetidu, the well- 
known antispasmodic, is common enough in primeval 
forests such as the Namba and the tavines of the 
Bhu'an hills. Copaiba, balsam is the produce of 
Copaifera, the seeohogs of which wire imported many 
year* since; but recently this medicine has b p en to 
a great extent rep'ac-id by le>s nauseous ones, 
among others chalnr ogra oil, the prodaae of 
the fruit of Gyoeardia, which hrs latily be>-n so 
much before the public as an arrester of lepcoy ; still 
Copaifera is easily reared and mi^ht well be Recorded 
a place in the ecooomio plan'aidon. Tho Cal-bar 
bjan, thoogh not very much in request in general, 
is csed in d'seases of the eye, "o may be includ- 
ed ; Physostiyma Venenosum is the a'deutihe name. 
Belladonna, otherwise cill^d the deadly night- 
shide, is iuuigeuous though differing tomewhafc 
from the European plant ; there are numroaa 
varietie? but the best is B. Atropa. We may pass 
over the gums for the present, though mo3t of them 
are medicinal, but they partake more of a purely 
commercial character. Thn oil distilled from the 
leaves of the " oaijpat," Melaluca Cajeputa, is valu- 
able, and bs the plant is abundant enough in many 
of the Sylhet bustees there fhould be no difficulty 
in raising it ; this oil must, like that of chalmoogra, 
be tried out on the spot, for rieither its leaves nor 
tbe fruit of th) latter will bear transport 
with impunity. Cinnamon wis once tried at 
Golabgunge, near the Sylhet station, but the 
property changing hands shortly after the introduc- 
tion of tho plant, the experiment was discontinued. 
Camptior is present in a more or le-s degree io all the 
ciuuEimons, tut the plant cultivated in Formos'- for 
the special purpose of obtaining the drug is Camphora 
Officinarum, which is impregnated in stem, root and 
leaves; the precis of extraction is that of dry dis- 
tillation and as the shrubs in Formosa are reported as 
d}ing out this wou'd be a valuable plant to put in on 
the gardens in the plain 3 . Cassia bark would doubt- 
less thrive well in the Wynaad a id upper tablelands 
iu Travaocore, but though produced in the hot at- amy 
ravines of the Assam mid range it deteriorates 
considerably when the attempt to raise it in the plains 
proper has been t ied. MaDy of the laarels, to which 
order the oinnamocs belong, possess the qualities of 
febrifuges very little le j a effeotive than quinine itself. 
Sassafras Officinale, which is common enongh, pos- 
sesses in tne bark of its roots a medicice that is 
fpacially valuable in the hot etage of fever and a wild 
variety ia grown by the Mishmis and Singphoa for 
this purpose. It is best raised in shingly or gravelly 
soil, therefore better adapted for N. Sylhet and Similar 
plac s in Brahmapootra Valley. T.ie demand for 
tezpat ail over India either as a vehicle for nauseous 
drugs, or oooking, should suegest the planting of the 
rue laurels or Lanrus Nubilis, whioh striSes readily 
from slip. j , ob'ainible all along the south face of the 
the Gatrow, Khasia ard Jaiutia hills. The common 
foxglove cm only, we fear, be raised as an annual in 
the plains, but is found in the small woods between 
Jarain and Roopnanth in the Jaintia hills; from this 
is obtained the alkaloid digitalia so use/ul m tbe 
primary stsgea of heart diee ise. Coochela ia so plenti- 
ful that it needs but referring to; from its seeds ia 
obtained strychnine, the most powerful vege'able tonio 
known. We nave given a few of those plants that 
would be found must useful and whioh almost any 
native apothecary could make up, though it is but * 
tithe of those thit eT ; a^ in the juegles or that could bs 
easily obtained, and for which the climate o' our >ea 
gardens, hill and plain alike, is suited. — Indian Planters' 
Gazette. 
4. 
JAVA CINCHONA NOTES. 
The Cinohona-Oompany Tjikebarg of Rotterdam 
and Java worked last year at a nott loss of about 
1701., and is therefore unable to distribute a dividend. 
The direotora have recently had offered to them gra- 
tuitously a cinchona plantation adjoiniug their owd, 
whioh had been abandoned by its owners. The eight 
and nine year old suooirubras and hybrids, with which 
this estate was stocked, have beeu cut down at the 
