July  i,  1892.J 
THE  TROPICAL  ST- 
31 
squalls  of  wind  scattered  the  flowers  before  the  fruit 
set  to  a muoh  greater  extent  than  was  supposed. 
2.  During  the  season  the  meagre  state  of  the 
rains  much  retarded  the  development  of  the  berry, 
while  afterwards  the  late  and  unusual  rain  at  the 
time  of  ripeniDg  (November  and  December)  dam- 
aged the  fruit,  or  cherry,”  seriously  splitting 
and  causing  a large  proportion  to  dry  up. 
3.  Much  loss  was  no  doubt  suffered  owing  to  the 
weeds  not  being  kept  down,  nor  the  trees  properly 
attended  to,  from  want  of  sufficient  labour.  It  is 
clear,  however,  that  the  land  of  these  hills  is 
favourable  to  the  production  of  good  coffee,  as  shown 
by  its  well  known  excellent  quality,  the  disastrous 
small  outturn  being  due  to  the  abovenamed  causes. 
4.  The  young  plants  sets  out  on  the  newly  pre- 
pared ground  of  five  acres  {vide  last  year’s  report)  have 
come  on  well  thus  far  with  scarcely  a single  failure, 
and  further  clearance  of  5 or  6 acres  has  been  made. 
The  total  area  of  coffee  uuder  cultivation  is 
about  60  acres,  namely,  40  acres  of  mature  trees 
and  20  acres  of  immature  trees. 
Tea  has  not  been  fully  worked. 
Cinchona  is  not  worked  owing  to  the  unfavourable 
state  of  the  market  ; there  aro  about  25  acres  of 
land  under  cultivation. 
The  pear  continues  to  flourish  and  can  be  increased 
from  shootsrapidly;  one  apricotand  one  plum  trcehave 
blossomed,  there  are  about  four  or  five  more  thst  exist, 
but  do  not  bid  fair  to  come  to  anything  ; it  is,  however, 
xepected  to  be  able  now  to  increase  the  stock  by 
means  of,shoots  from  the  two  acclim  atized  trees. 
It  becomes  mere  snd  more  apparent  that  the  shiftless 
inhabitants  of  this  part  of  the  Karen  Hill  tracts  cannot 
be  brought  under  training  to  regular  work  for  a very 
long  time  ; and  that  to  increase  the  cultivation, 
even  on  this  small  plantation,  it  is  manifest,  labour 
will  have  to  be  imported  from  some  more  industrious 
and  less  apathetic  tribes.  I am  striving  to  bring  in  the 
PadauDgs  from  beyond  the  frontier,  who  are  very  much 
better  at  digging,  weeding,  and  such  like,  than  any  of 
the  local  tribeB  ; and  as  I have  had  a good  batch  of 
them  to  work  lately  and  got  the  whole  cultivated 
part  of  the  plantation  well  cleared  of  weeds  by  them, 
and  they  have  promised  to  return  to  the  work,  I hope, 
for  better  suocess  this  comiDg  season,  especially  as  the 
coffee  has  bloasome:'.  well  all  over. 
Quinine  as  a Protection  against  Cholera. 
— Two  or  three  years  ago  it  was  announced  in  the 
columns  of  the  now  defunct  Deccan  Times  that  Dr. 
Laurie  “ staked  his  professional  reputation  ” on  the 
efficacy  of  quinine  as  a prophylactic  against  cholera. 
A five-grain  dose  of  this  drug  every  morning  while 
the  disease  is  about  is,  he  holds,  a sura  preventive. 
Dr.  Hehir,  if  we  remember  aright,  did  not  then  concur 
with  hi*  chief,  but  according  to  his  latest  writings 
on  the  subject  he  would  appear  to  have  changed 
his  opinion.  During  the  epidemic  of  cholera  last 
year,  Dr.  Hehir  made  csrtain  investigations  which 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  presence  in  the 
blco'l,  &c.,  of  cholera  patients,  of  a peculiar  i arasitic 
protozoon  or  microbe-— whether  the  cause  or  the  result 
of  the  disease  has  yet  to  be  determined.  He  found 
that  this  organism  could  not  live  in  strong  solutions 
of  quinine,  and  he  further  found  that  the  protective 
virues  of  quinine  were  amply  demonstrated  during 
the  epidemic.  He  now  gives  effect  to  his  conversion 
by  recommending  the  use  of  quinine  as  a prophy- 
lactic in  addition  to  his  own  pet  drug — sulphurous 
acid.  It  has  been  his  praolioe  for  years  to  admin- 
ister drachm  doses  of  this  acid  every  three  hours  to 
all  the  inmates  of  a house  in  wh:ch  the  disease  breaks 
out  during  the  time  the  patient  is  in  the  house.  He  has 
given  it  in  about  7,000  instances,  and  for  the  last  three 
years  he  has  not  seen  cholera  occur  in  any  case  in 
which  it  was  used.  The  above  fncts  are  obtained  from 
Dr.  Hebir’s  latest  report  as  Health  Officer  of  the 
Chudderghat  Municipality,  and  they  are  of  such  vital 
importance  we  think  they  ought  to  be  made  known  as 
widely  as  possible.  If  quinine  is  really  the  effective 
prophylaotic  against  cholera  that  Dr.  Laurie  claims 
it  to  be,  aud  which  Dr.  Hehir  now  believes  it  to  be 
hen  has  this  fell  disease  lost  all  its  terrors,  for  no- 
thing is  easier,  less  harmful,— nay,  positively  beneficial 
for  other  reasons,— than  taking  a five-grain  dose  of  the 
drug  during  epidemics  of  the  disease.  We  know  of 
many  who,  since  the  publication  above  referred  to, 
observe  the  practice.  If  it  came  into  more  general  use’ 
we  would  soon  be  in  a position  to  judge  what  we  have 
to  fear  from  that  hitherto  deadly  soourge  of  the  East.  - 
Deccan  Budget. 
Australian  Mangosteens.— The  Queenslander  of 
the  12th  March  gives  particulars  of  two  new  speoies 
of  mangosteen  just  disoovered  on  the  Bellenden 
Ker  mountains  in  N.  E.  Australia.  One  of  them  is 
the  Garcinia  Mestoni,  which  was  found  growing 
between  2,600  ft.  and  4000  ft.  It  is  said  to  be 
larger  than  the  Java  mangosteeD,  Garcinia  mangos • 
tana,  and  possesses  an  additional  quality.  Only 
the  inside  of  the  Java  variety  is  eaten,  but  the 
whole  fruit  of  this  new  speoies  is  available.  It 
contains  from  five  to  seven  seeds  embedded  in  a 
soft  thick  white  pulp,  and  pulp,  rind,  and  skin 
can  all  be  eaten.  The  fruit  never  changes  colour, 
being  always  of  a bright  green,  though  a slight 
shade  of  golden  yellow  is  sometimes  observed  on 
one  side  of  a ripe  fruit.  It  is  acidulous,  and  the 
acidity  actually  increases  as  it  ripens.  It  refreshes 
and  invigorates  the  system  in  a surprising  manner 
on  a hot  day.  The  tree  bears  at  an  early  age,  as 
fruit  were  found  on  bushes  not  more  than  7ft. 
high.  The  tallest  trees  were  about  25ft.  but  very 
few  of  these  were  bearing.  It  is  a graceful  and 
elegant  tree,  pyramidal  in  shape,  and  the  fruit 
hangs  by  a long  stem  from  a cluster  of  leaves. 
Apparently  it  is  not  eaten  by  either  birds  or  in- 
seotB,  as  there  were  none  found  in  a damaged 
condition.  Among  the  fruits  brought  down  from 
the  mountains  is  another  new  mangosteen,  a hand- 
some fruit  about  the  size  of  an  apple.  It  differs 
internally  from  the  first  but  is  also  pleasant  to  eat. 
Only  one  tree  was  discovered  about  30ft.  high  and 
9 in.  in  diameter. — Straits  Times. 
On  some  of  the  Java  cinchona  plantations  the  pro- 
longed period  of  cold,  accompanied  by  night-frosts, 
which  occurred  in  July  last,  made  possible  to  ascertain 
the  effect  of  a low  temperature  upon  the  alkaloids 
in  the  bark.  Mr.  Van  Leersum,  who  has  investigated 
the  matter,  reports  that  the  freezing  of  the  bark  of 
C.  Ledgenana  is  accompanied  by  a considerable 
decrease  in  its  alkaloidal  richness.  In  one  sample 
analysed  by  him  the  total  proportion  of  alkaloid 
declined  from  8 26  to4T2  per  cent.,  while  the  quinine 
alone  decreased  by  over  1 per  cent.  In  cases  where 
the  frost-bitten  parts  die  not  did  off  at  once,  the  pro- 
portion of  cinchonidine  increased  considerably  at 
the  expense  of  quinine — an  effect  similar  to  that 
observed  in  certain  forms  of  cinchona  disease.  The 
following  are  the  results  of  Mr.  Van  Leersum’s 
analyses  of  various  samples  of  bark  (presumably 
taken  from  the  same  tree) : — 
6 
.9 
O 
fl 
’3 
0 
6 
3 
rp 
a . 
‘psi 
’3 
Si 
0 
*3 
ri 
0 2 
& 
1.  Frozen  bark,  twenty 
four  hours  after  the 
g 
5 
*3 
<y 
a 3 
3d 
0 
Eh 
forst  . . 3'09 
2.  Partially-frozen  bark, 
twenty-four  hours  af- 
0*65 
0-38 
4T2 
ter  the  frost  . . 4-40 
3.  Sound  bark,  eighteen 
2*01 
— 
2-25 
8-26 
months  old  . . 4-49 
4.  Frozen  bark,  peeled 
three  months  after 
0*02 
1-90 
6-41 
frost  . . 0-97 
5.  Frozen  bark,  analysed 
0*70 
— 
1T7 
2-84 
after  fourteen  days..  1'96 
6.  Frozen  bark,  analysed 
0*79 
— 
1-21 
3-96 
after  fourteen  days  ..  1-50 
— Madras  Times,  May  7th. 
1*20 
— 
1T9 
3’89 
