40 
Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
that  over  5,000  copies  are  issued  every  month, 
and  that  the  number  of  subscribers  is  increasing. 
Abriis  Precat orius,  which  attracted  so  much 
attention  some  time  ago  as  “ the  weather  plant  ” 
or  vegetable  barometer,  has  now  been  found  to 
supply  in  its  seeds  the  poison  used  by  the 
natives  of  India  for  poisoning  cattle  for 
their  hides.  The  Indian  Agriculturist  describes 
the  preparation  of  this  poison  as  follows:  — 
The  seed,  is  first  pounded  and  kneaded  into 
paste,  and  is  made  to  adhere  to  some  tiny  little 
pegs  made  of  bamboo.  With  these  little  pins,  so 
poisoned,  they  pierce  the  cow’s  hide  in  two  or 
three  places,  and  let  her  go.  The  cow  dies  in 
less  than  an  hour.  The  Assistant  Surgeon  of 
Jamni,  an  intelligent  officer  who  had  some  cases 
of  cows  so  poisoned  brought  to  him,  states  that 
the  symptoms  displayed  by  cows  poisoned  with 
these  pins  (sootarie)  are  just  like  those  of  snake- 
bite. The  liooch  poison,  when  taken  internally, 
has  however  been  found  to  be  uninjurious, 
and  another  extraordinary  fact  said  to  be  dis- 
covered is  that  a cow  treated  inwardly  with 
certain  preparations  of  the  hooch  poison  becomes 
proof  against  being  poisoned  by  subsequent  pin 
punctures.  How  long  the  effect  of  a dose  of  this 
hooch  decoction  is  likely  to  last  has  not  yet  been 
discovered.  Should  the  experiment  now  being 
conducted  by  the  Assistant  Surgeon  be  found 
efficacious  in  cases  of  cattle-poisoning,  it  is 
argued  that  it  may  prove  efficacious  in  the 
analogous  case  of  snake-poisoning  as  well. 
The  plant  is  known  among  the  Sinhalese  as 
Olinda  toel , and  the  seed  are  familiar  as  “ Kon- 
damanee,”  which  owing  to  their  pretty  red  and 
black  colour  are  used  as  ornaments. 
We  have  received  from  the  Secretary  for 
Agriculture,  Brisbane,  another  bag  of  Australian 
salt-bush  seed  ( Atriplex  nummularia)  ( which 
did  not  succeed  with  us  at  the  first  trial),  for 
further  experiment. 
It  has  been  found  by  experience  in  India  that 
the  planting  of  the  Rain-tree  ( Pithecolobhnn 
Saman ) is  a most  effectual  means  of  improving 
the  character  of  land  rendered  sterile  owing  to 
saline  efflorescences. 
Latliyrus  Sylvestris  lias  been  proved  to  be  a 
complete  failure  in  the  North-Western  Provinces, 
India.  The  description  of  its  weakly  growth 
and  final  dying-out  as  given  in  the  report  of  the 
Director  of  the  Botanical  Gardens  there,  reminds 
us  of  our  own  experience  of  this  much-lauded 
plant.  An  advertisement  sheet  has  just  reached 
us  from  F.  E.  Clotton  of  High  Holborn. 
London,  in  which  he  describes  L.  Sylvestris 
as  growing  any  where  (even  on  sandhills  and 
desert  places),  lasting  50  years,  standing  the 
severest  drought,  and  yielding  a clear  profit  of 
£20  an  acre.  His  price  for  a pound  of  seed 
is  £2  2s.  We  can  only  say  that  either  the  seed 
sent  to  the  East  is  not  genuine,  or  the  plant 
is  not  suited  to  this  part  of  the  tropical  zone. 
The  students  of  the  School  of  Agriculture  paid 
two  or  three  visits  to  the  Dematagoda 
Slaughterhouse  in  company  with  Mr.  Lye,  who 
through  the  kindness  of  the  Sanitary  Officer 
has  had  special  conveniences  allowed  him  for 
carrying  on  his  demonstrations  to  the  students. 
The  Veterinary  Surgeon  was  lately  away  in  the 
Kurunegala  and  Anuradhapura  Districts,  where  an 
outbreak  of  cattle  disease  required  his  presence. 
The  subjects  of  the  Marsh  lectures  that  have 
been  delivered  up  to  date  are:  Food  and  Food. 
Stuffs  (Dr.  Fernando),  Electricity  for  Lighting 
Purposes  (Dr.  Pinto),  Public  Health  and  Personal 
Hygiene  (Dr.  Vanderstraaten),  Bleaching  and 
Bleaching  Agents  (Mr.  C.  Drieberg),  and  Printing 
(Mr.  G.  J.  A.  Skeen).  H.  E.  the  Governor  and 
Lady  Havelock  were  present  at  the  lectures  on 
Electricity  and  Printing. 
Some  “Jowari"  seed  sent  to  us  by  Major 
General  la  Touche  has  come  up  well  and  the 
plants  are  now  in  ear.  We  owe  our  best  thanks 
to  Messrs.  Miller  & Co.  for  another  parcel  of 
vegetable  seeds, 
