July  i,  1892.] 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  Agriculturist.' 
79 
or  Agaricus  campestris,  is  usually  white  on  the 
outer  surface,  and  has  a skin  which  readily  peels 
off.  This  is  not  true  of  the  unwholesome  mush- 
room. 2.  The  gills  or  under-radients  are  of  a 
beautiful  pink  in  the  A.  campestris;  hut  the 
gills  as  well  as  the  whole  plant,  turn  to  a 
mahogany  brown  after  it  has  been  exposed  to 
sun  and  air  in  the  open  for  two  or  three  days. 
3.  But  this  is  the  most  definite  test : — The 
inner  ends  of  the  gills  are  not  joined  to  the 
stem  in  the  wholesome  mushroom,  but  they  are 
joined  in  all  that  are  not  edible.  The  flesh  of 
the  campestris  is  solid,  and  the  perfume  sweet 
and  nutty.  There  is  another  edible  member  of 
this  family,  known  as  the  horse  mushroom, 
which  grows  four  or  five  times  larger  than  the 
one  described ; but  it  is  coarse,  stringy,  and 
almost  devoid  of  flavour.  The  plant,  however, 
above  all  others  to  be  avoided  is  the  Agaricus 
fasibilites;  it  looks  almost  exactly  like  the 
edible  fungus,  but  the  gills  are  joined  to  the 
stalk,  though  many  of  them  are  of  a salmon 
or  coral  pink  on  the  under  side. 
Laportea  crenulata  is  the  stinging  tree  about 
which  so  much  has  been  written  in  the  Indian  1 
papers.  It  is  known  as  “ Maoossa-gass”  in  Ceylon, 
and  is  very  common  up  to  an  elevation  of  5,000  feet 
in  damp  forests.  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  says  that 
he  found  the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  it 
cut  down,  owing  to  the  dread  in  which  it  is 
held.  He  mentions  having  gathered  many  speci- 
mens without  allowing  any  part  to  touch  his 
skin,  and  yet  the  scentless  effluvium  was  so 
powerful  that  mucous  matter  poured  from  his 
eyes  and  nose  all  the  afternoon  in  such  abund- 
ance that  he  had  to  hold  his  head  over  a basin 
for  an  hour.  The  French  Botanist  Leschenault 
de  la  Tour  was  stung  on  three  fingers  of  his 
hand  in  the  Calcutta  Botanical  Gardens,  and 
suffered  according  to  Hooker,  from  sneezing  and 
running  at  the  nose,  followed  by  tetanic  symp- 
toms and  two  days’  suffering,  the  effect  only 
disappearing  after  nine  days.  It  was  thought 
by  Endlicher  that  the  causticity  of  the  juice 
of  the  plant  was  due  to  bicarbonate  of  Ammonia, 
but  this  salt  was  not  found  by  Dr.  Thompson  and 
Sir  Joseph  Hooker  in  the  Laportea.  Sir  Joseph 
records  it  as  a remarkable  fact  that  its  sting 
is  only  bad  in  the  autumn.  To  those  who  can 
brave  the  disagreeable  effects  of  preparing  it, 
says  the  Indian  Agriculturist,  it  would  give  a 
strong  useful  fibre.  Another  plant  of  this  family. 
L.  terminalis,  occurs  in  Ceylon,  in  the  Central 
Province,  at  an  elevation  of  4.000  to  6,000  ft. 
These  plants  belong  to  the  order  Urticacea,  to 
which  order  also  belong  the  English  nettles 
(Urtica)  and  the  well-known  stinging  Kaliam- 
billiya  of  the  Sinhalese  ( Gerardinia  Zeylanica). 
Mr.  Thistelton  Dyer  speaking  at  a meeting  of 
the  Society  of  Arts  stated  it  as  his  opinion  that 
the  real  want  of  the  Indian  soil  was  nitrogen, 
and  recommended  that  this  want  should  be 
supplied  by  the  growth  of  leguminous  crops. 
He  also  recommended  the  improvement  of  the 
Indian  plough,  and  stated  that  a former  pupil 
of  his  at  Bangalore  obtained  good  results  by 
stirring  the  soil  deeper  than  the  ordinary  plough 
did.  The  plants  were  thus  able  even  in  dry 
seasons  to  get  moisture  by  sending  their  roots 
deeper  into  the  soil. 
The  twenty  specimen  collections  of  Economic 
products  selected  by  the  Indian  Government  as 
the  first  year’s  supply  of  exhibits  for  the 
Imperial  Institute,  include  Adhatoda  Vasica, 
brush-making  fibres,  caoutchouc,  castor  oil,  coal, 
coconut,  cotton,  indigo,  iron,  jute,  ipecacuanha, 
linseed,  mica,  morinda,  podophyllin,  emodi,  resins 
and  tars,  sesamum,  sida,  silk  and  padunk 
timber.  Each  collection  will  be  accompanied 
by  a monograph  in  which  the  characteristics 
and  objects  of  the  collection  are  explained,  and 
illustrated  by  maps  and  diagrams. 
Chinese  insect  wax  is  an  article  of  export 
where  it  is  gathered.  The  female  of  the  insect 
in  question  developes  scales,  pear-shaped,  and 
brown  in  colour,  and  deposits  eggs  in  them, 
while  the  males  excrete  the  substance  known 
as  white  wax  which  is  supposed  to  serve  as  a 
protection  for  the  scales.  This  goes  on  on  the 
bark  of  the  Chinese  evergreen  tree,  and  the 
wax  is  spread  over  the  branches  to  a depth  of 
quarter  of  an  inch.  When  the  deposit  appears 
to  be  complete,  the  branches  are  cut  off  and 
the  wax  removed  by  the  hand  anil  by  boiling. 
The  juice  of  the  lacquer  tree  is  the  natural 
varnish  upon  which  depends  the  famous  lacquer 
work  of  the  Japanese.  The  tree  belongs  to  the 
Rhus  family,  other  members  of  which  produce 
“ Sumach  ” — the  powder  got  by  grinding  the 
dried  twigs  and  leaves, — valuable  as  a dye,  a 
tan  material,  and  a mordant. 
