72 
Magazine  of  the  School  of  Agriculture. 
collected  and  kept  for  a sloppy  morning  meal. 
Advantage  may  be  taken  of  this  meal  to  give 
any  medicine  that  may  he  required.  Thus,  during 
the  moulting,  a small  quantity  of  powdered 
sulphur  may  be  given  with  advantage  two  or 
three  times  a week,  and  some  of  the  sulphate 
of  iron  tonic  about  once  a week.  Except  in 
the  warm  weather  the  morning  meal  should  be 
Warmed  up  by  means  of  warm  water.  A small 
proportion  of  curry  is  greatly  relished  by  poultry 
und  seems  to  do  them  good. 
One  of  the  results  ot  excessive  wet  will 
probably  be  an  increase  of  elephantiasis  or  “ scaly 
legs.”  This  is  caused  by  a parasitic  insect,  and 
should  be  promptly  attended  to.  When  the 
legs  become  rough  and  seem  to  thicken,  the  bird 
should  be  caught,  its  legs  thoroughly  washed 
with  soap  and  warm  water,  and  then  a mixture 
of  sulphur  and  lard  (sulphur  ointment)  well 
rubbed  in.  If  taken  in  time  one  rubbing  is 
Usually  sufficient.  Although  the  bird  affected  does 
not  appear  to  droop,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  a fowl  suffering  from  elephantiasis  is  not 
fit  for  the  table,  and  this  is  a point  which  should 
be  carefully  attended  to  when  buying  poultry. 
In  order  to  preserve  eggs,  the  following  results 
of  a prize  competition  at  the  last  Birmingham 
Exhibition  are  worthy  of  note:  The  first  prize 
was  given  to  eggs  which  had  been  stored  in  a 
solution  of  4 lb.  of  lime  in  2 gallons  of  water 
In  an  earthenware  jar.  The  solution  should  be 
stirred  occasionally  for  2 days,  and  the  eggs 
put  to  within  8 inches  of  the  surface.  The  next 
most  satisfactory  method  was  simply  placing  the 
fresh  eggs  in  common  salt,  and  keeping  them 
in  a dry  place.  Other  samples  were  rubbed  over 
with  melted  suet,  beeswax,  and  oil  or  lard,  and 
although  they  were  good,  none  were  so  successful 
as  the  two  methods  first  described. 
ADHATODA  VASICA. 
This  plant,  also  known  as  Justicici  Adhatoda, 
js  called  among  the  Sinhalese  Atatoda,  Agaladara, 
and  Paawetta,  and  is  used  medicinally  by  them. 
It  is  the  subject  of  No.  10  of  the  Imperial 
Institute  series  of  Handbooks  issued  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Indian  collection.  The  object  of 
the  Handbook  is  to  draw  attention  in  Europe  to 
a product  which  is  used  in  India  for  the  treat- 
ment of  pulmonary  affections  <S:c.,  and  for  killing 
low  forms  of  life  injurious  to  rice  crops.  It 
has  been  suggested  that  a decoction  might  be 
found  useful  in  destroying  animal  pests  of  such 
crops  as  sugarcane,  tea  and  coffee.  An  aqueous 
solution  of  an  alcoholic  extract  of  the  leaves 
was  tried  upon  flies,  fleas,  mosquitoes,  centipedes, 
&c.,  and,  in  every  case,  the  application  was 
followed  with  the  usual  results  of  poisoning. 
A yellow  dye  obtained  from  the  leaves  by 
boiling,  is  used  for  dyeing  coarse  cloth  in  parts 
of  India.  As  a medicinal  agent  the  plant  would 
appear  to  be  of  great  value,  to  judge  from  the 
many  high  opinions  given  by  both  Indian  and 
European  medical  men  as  to  its  efficacy  in  case 
of  cough,  bronchitis,  asthma,  rheumatism,  malarial 
fever,  and  many  other  affections. 
The  plant  is  said  to  be  avoided  by  stock,  only 
the  goat  being  occasionally  seen  to  browse  on  it. 
The  wood  of  the  thicker  stems  is  used  for 
preparing  charcoal  for  making  gunpowder,  The 
leaves  are  held  to  possess  high  qualities  as  a 
manure,  and  are  scattered  over  fields  just  before 
the  rains;  it  is  then  ploughed  in  and  left  to 
j- decay.  The  smaller  and  pliant  branches  are 
worked  round  and  round  in  a sort  of  plait 
to  support  the  interior  surface  of  mud-wells, 
i The  leaves  and  twigs  when  applied  to  rice-fields 
| as  described  not  only  act  as  a green  manure,  but 
! have  also  the  property  of  destroying  aquatic  plants, 
j keeping  the  fields  free  from  the  green  scum  caused 
i by  floating  lemnae  and  submerged  chane.  The  habit 
| of  using  substances  for  green  manuring  which  have 
! powerful  active  principles  seems  to  obtain  in  many 
parts  of  India,  where  calatropis  yigantea  (madder, 
the  Sinhalese  wara),  media  azadirachta  (nim,  the 
Sinhalese  margosa  or  kohomba),  and  cedrela  toona 
(toon).  The  calatropis  (wara)  as  is  known  contains 
a corrosive  milkly  juice  which  is  used  by  the 
natives  in  Ceylon  as  a blistering  fluid,  while 
azadirachta  (margosa)  leaves  are  hung  about 
sick  rooms  to  keep  off  flies  and  other  insects. 
We  quote  as  follows  from  the  Handbook : — 
“The  antiseptic  property  of  the  plant  in  killing 
minute  organisms,  while  being  harmless  to  higher 
forms  of  life,  thus  established  by  native  opinion, 
has  been  abundantly  shown  in  a recent  paper 
by  Mr.  Hooper  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and 
Transactions  (April  7th,  1888).  Mr.  Hooper  writes 
of  the  chemistry  of  the  leaves:  ‘A  well-defined 
alkaloid  appears  to  be  the  most  important  con- 
stituent ; it  constitutes  the  bitter  principle,  and, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  is  the  active  principle. 
It  occurs  in  white  transparent  crystals  belonging 
to  the  square  prismatic  system,  without  any 
odour,  but  with  a decidedly  bitter  taste.  It  is 
soluble  in  water  with  an  alkaline  reaction  and 
in  ether,  but  more  so  in  alcohol.’  It  would  be 
beside  the  present  purpose  to  give  here  the 
whole  of  Mr.  Hooper’s  analysis  of  the  substance. 
The  above  passage  shows  that  simple  maceration 
in  water  suffices  to  extract  the  active  principle, 
and  Mr.  Hooper's  practical  experiments  with  it 
may  therefore  be  preferentially  cited  here.  ‘ A 
sample  of  pond  water,’  he  writes,  ‘ containing 
Spirogyra  and  numerous  animalcules  was  mixed 
with  a few  drops  of  a strong  infusion  of  Adhatoda 
leaves.  The  chlorophyll  gradually  disappeared 
from  the  weeds,  and  the  cells  became  broken  up. 
The  oxygen  was  given  off  with  less  frequency 
and  at  length  ceased ; some  insect  pupae  rose  to 
the  surface  of  the  water  and  there  died.  Numer- 
ous Paramcecia  remained  active  for  some  time, 
but  eventually  succumbed  to  the  action  of  the 
poison.  In  24  hours  the  beaker  containing  the 
water  that  had  been  thus  treated  showed  only 
a brown  mass  lying  at  the  bottom  ; while  some 
water  in  a beaker  by  its  side,  without  this 
treatment,  contained  the  green  aquatic  weeds 
evolving  oxygen,  and  the  animalcules  alive.’ 
‘An  aqueous  solution  of  the  alcoholic  extract 
of  the  leaves  was  tried  upon  flies,  fleas,  mos- 
quitoes, centipedes,  and  other  insects,  and  in 
every  case  the  application  met  with  poisonous 
results.  The  solution  appeared  to  kill  them 
without  previous  . intoxication.  On  the  higher 
animals  the  leaves  do  not  seem  to  have  such  an 
effect.  A quantity  of  the  alcoholic  extract  re- 
presenting 15  grains  of  the  leaf  was  given  to 
a small  dog,  and  the  administration  was  not 
attended  with  any  inconvenient  symptoms.  These 
experiments  show  that  the  reputed  use  of  the 
