March 1, 1895.] Supplement to the "Tropical Agriculturist." 
617 
the contractors will h ive to be controlled in some 
way or other. 
Among the species of plants obtainable in 
Ceylon which are likely to yield essences, the 
following may be mentioned :— Sweet flag, Acorus 
Calamus Sing. Wadakaha, a ziugiberaceous plant 
growing in moist situtations. 
Kcempferia yalanga I., Sing. Ilingura piyali, 
and probably other species of Kaempferia such 
as K. Pandurata, S. Ambakaha and A'. Rotunda, 
Sing. Yavakenda. 
Curcumi Zerumbet, S. Harankah.fi and G. 
Arom r ilica, S. Dadakaha. All of the natural order 
Seitaminese, and yielding aromatic rhizomes. The 
flowers and rhizomes of Alpinia y r tlanya, Kaluwala. 
The seeds of Kllataria cardamomum, S. Eusal. 
Of the grasses, the roots of the Andropogon 
muricatus, Kus Kus or Sin. Sevendara, and 
the leaves of many other species of the same 
genus, such as A. nardus, Sin. Pengiri ; A. 
schcenathws (geranium grass) and A. Citratrm 
yield essential oils. Of the Labiatoe order the 
leaves of Ocimum canum, S. Hintala ; O. sanctum, 
S. Maduratala ; O. basilicum ; 0, grattisimum ami 
O. adescendens, Plecatranthm Zeylanicus, S. Iri- 
wariya ; Coleics aromiticus, S. Xapparawallia ; 
Pogostemon kyneanus, S. Koilankola ; Mentha sativa 
and M. Viridis are poliflc sources of essence. 
Among others we have the seeds of Aniseed, 
Pimpinella anisum ; Cummin seed, Guminum 
cyminum; Fennel seed, Feniculum vulgare ; Niyella 
sativa, S. Kaludura and Coriander, Coriander 
Sativum and a host of others. Cloves, Nutmegs 
and Sandal-wood, the flowers of orange and myrtle, 
are common and well known. The methods of 
extraction of essence are almost simple in the 
extreme. There are three processes in vogue just 
now, viz., expression, distillation, and maceration. 
W. A. D. S. 
(To be continued.) 
GENERAL 1TKMS. 
Dr. Watt in his Dictionary of Economic Products 
mentions that he lias repeatedly observed milkmen 
in Eastern Bengal carrying milk to market with a 
few leaves of Gocculus Villosus and the spine- 
like leaf of the date-palm placed in the vessel, and 
that on enquiring he was told that these prevented 
the milk from going bad through heat and shaking. 
Dr. Watt further states that he suspects that the 
real object was to thicken the water-adulterated 
milk. It is now stated i ti one of the Agricultural 
Ledger series that the leaves of CjccuIus as those 
of Ped ilium Mar ex are well known to have the 
power of " thickening water" as it is called, but 
the action on milk, if the above observation be 
confirmed, seems well worthy the attention of the 
chemist and of the dairy farmers. Pe lalium is 
reported to be more especially used to thicken 
butter milk. [C. Macrocarpus is the species of 
Cocculus indigenous to Ceylon but Pedalium 
Murex (the Sinhalese et-nerenchi) is a common 
weed, and it would be well for all concerned to 
see that their milk is not artirically thickened by 
the wiiy milkman by means of these two plants.] 
The Jute plant would appear to be particularly 
well suited to Queensland. A writer to the 
Australian Agriculturist says that at the end of 
six months Jute, as grown by him, reached 13 and 
14 feet in height. It is doubtful whether even iu 
the we'l-known Jute fields of Northern India this 
height is often attained, indeed the height of the 
Jute plant in these parts is not often more than 
10 feet. Again, in Queensland the period of 
immersion is given as from 10 to 21 days, while 
in Bengal the period is usually about half, or less 
than half, of this. 
