[JULV I, 1891. 
MR. THOS. CHRISTY, F.L.S. 
If flesh still be heir to any ailments for the cure of 
which no "new drug or remedy" has yet bteu found, 
no blame attaches to Mr. Tboe. Chrihty, of Lime Street 
and Hydcnliam. Heat least has dona all tfeat mortal 
man could do to stoare his tellow-cteatures such re- 
lief as the introductiou of some three or four hundred 
new remedits amy be ahle to afford. Ou African 
fish-poison and cbilbaio-cureH, on kola-nui,s for the 
intemperate and strophautnus for the weak of heart 
on Myooom fly-gum and jamboul, Mr. Thos. Ohriaty 
is regarded in Mincing Lane as Ihe Souut of all wis- 
dom. The recent aduitiou of Chrittia to the armoury 
of surgical appliances, and the reflection tbat the 
garden of Mr. Christy's residence at Sydenfiam would 
look at its best; on a genial spring day, ciused our 
town traveller to take a trip to the nt igtibouihood 
of the Crystal Palace in search of new informatiou. 
Mr. Christy waa found engaged, as represented on our 
picture, in the critical examiiiittion of a spurious kola- 
nut, an object which he holds in particular horror. 
"It is a most extraordinary thing," he said — "the most 
wonderful thing that has ever oomo under my notice 
— how these ni'ives go on shipping spurious kola«, 
tliuUBh we have explained to ttiem most; Ciirefuliy 
that they could not bo too pariicul-ir iu sending over 
only the genuine kolas of the Sterculia acuminata. 
You have no idea of the wouderiul actiou of tLe uuc 
kola as w nerve stimuii^nt and a remedy for dipso- 
mauis. Thousands of unhappy patients are pmiug 
because we caiinot supply tbe true drug fast enough, 
■while these vile substitutioaa with which our mtirket.'i 
are flooded lua bringing the drug into ciisoredit." 
With that Mr. Cbrisiy dismissed the spurious koiaa, 
and look our man for a walk through t.he hothouses 
in which he rears thousands of young plants from 
seeds and cutliiigs, and whence scores of tropical 
plantations annually receive a supply of ecouomio 
plants, natives of other tropical coiinSries, iv.r aoclima 
tisation. The first hothouse contained liundrod.s of 
young campbor-plaute, all propagated from seedlings 
which Mr. Christy obtained trom China some yt-ars 
ago. He considers the camphor-tree a particularly 
suitable one for acclimatisation purpofjes, and has 
already lorwarded consignments from Sydenham to 
iuteuditg cultivators in Soith Africi and Oaiilorfda. 
From his buyers in tbe last-named oouniry, who 
have now had their supply m the grouod for about 
four and a half years, he hears favourable reports. 
Close to the camphor-trets are numerous specimens 
of the large green-and gold-leavetl Fothos orie, a plant 
much sought after for tbe purpose ot table-ilecora'ion; 
of the upas-trea from Jav», which in this hothouse 
has attained en average height of 3| feet, but grows 
to a hei^:ht of 60 feetiu its native c mutry. From a 
German firm or chemical manufacturers, Mr. Chrif-ty 
told us, he hag a standing order for all tbe cap or 
milk from the troe which he can supply. The Stro- 
phanthus Jtispidus, with its bright green, soft, h:ury, 
lanceolate loa.ves, is there; and so are the Ohiutfee 
ginseng and the alveios. The specimens of the Utter 
however, are almost leafless, and the milk, which has 
strofg caustic properties and is recommended as a 
specific for cancerous ulcers, is exbeuited. In another 
hothoube we had occasion to admire a large number 
of vigorous specimens of several vari-tits of coffee — 
the large-l(;aved Blue Mountain coffei; ;r..ni Jamaica, 
the Marotiipe, the Arai.iian variety of the Liberia 
coffee, and many otlu rs. Mr. Oh' ifcty, as bo explained 
to us, has established reiatioi'S with a /^reat many 
plariters nnd pxpiorcrs throughout the tropica, who 
supply to him the seedlings or cuttings of plants 
which Ihry grow, and obtain iioni him iu return tbe 
exotics thty desiro to ini reduce for commtrcul pur- 
poses. A side of one ol Mi-. Ohrihty's hothouses is 
filled with young ptitclioulyplanft-, for which lie has 
had a very coi.sidernble .iomaiid of htc, in sijite of 
the fact thut, c mmeroiully speaking, tbo perfume 
is alrr-ady pro Jn. ed to excess. The Jambul plant 
{Huzi/yium JumholmViur.) is propi/'.aled at Sydenham 
from Iruit. Ol the NtiOphaniliHn (jlubrus from the 
Qaboou, Mr. Christy poBstsiog only a single sptcimou, 
and that is only about 1 foot high and does not present 
a particularly flourishing appearance. 
In a special hoth'ouee, the temperature of which is 
kept higher than that of the others, eome thousands 
of vanilla plants are grown. They are beautiful or- 
chids wrh thick, bright green, 'smooth, lanceolate, 
leaves, but they are of very slow growth, the majority, 
which had been in the hothouse for over six 
months, being only about 3 inches high. They are 
kept until they have reached a height of IJ to 8 
feet before ihey are didtributed. Of cubeb pepper there 
are three varieties at Sydenham, including the large- 
leaved " Comet " variety, which is a very scarce one. 
Iu anoiher portion of the same hothouse about 30,000 
kola-nuts are placed in hoiee lor propagation, but 
only a very small proportion— leas than 15 per cent- 
Mr. Christy thought will germiuate. 
Two of the bothoutes at the time of our visit were 
set apart for the manufacture— or, rather, the bleach- 
iDg_of Christia, the new surgical dresdng which has 
reoently^bcen placed upon the market, and which Mr. 
Chriaty expects to supersede the dressings now iu use. 
The fibrous material Jrom which the Christia paper 
manuf jctuied, after being soaked iu a solution of 
bichromate of potassium yad treated with glue, is 
huug up to dry and bleach under lilass, as is shown 
10 ihe above liiuscration. Mr. Christy expressed him- 
self as highly pleased with the succtss of this novelty 
and told u« £Lar, in spite of ceituiu »i tacks which 
had been muue npon !it by rival manufacturers in 
Orermany, the sales of his product in that oouniry 
and m other parts ot the Coutinc-nt were so large 
that they w-re frequently at their wits' ends to 
ksep pace with , the orders coming m.— Chemist and 
JJruggjst. 
Wynaad N0T39.-Cr- p prospects may be generally 
regarded as very fairly favcurabio ; ar,d a corresponding 
cheerfulness would reign amoi.gst us could we all feel 
that our future was es secnure as our next c;op But 
there is no use in attempting concealment in a matter 
v=.i3icb 18 tvtry day becoming laore patent to the ex- 
perienced ooffee-plauter. The death warrant of Arabica 
ii£s gone forth, and it mu-t be only a matter ol a f-w 
yei.rs, ^hen i:s place ai^ougst us will know it no 
^^v,"^"^ ^'i^l "■"■^ °° ^^''^^ borer does 
no finish them, but th. present heavy crop will prob! 
ably shake mauy of them beyond recovery. The dis- 
heartening fact is that u is\he young pintlngs on 
which we should naturally rest our hopes, an,! these are 
proving a constitution so undermined by leaf disease 
that It ,s not probable that even the most promising 
0 hem can ce lasting. I do not think from 
what I cai. gather that the idea of grafting 
coffee IS regarded as feaeible iu the Wvnaad 
A very great deal of Liherian is being planted in 
this district. It has the advantage of course of being 
longer in roachiug maturity, but if we can hold on 
*.th our rerniianis of Arabica until the L.beriaa comes 
iiuo bearing, wo may hope lor better times before n« vet 
ibere much depression felt on account of \he 
shockingly b.d price given us for last season's cinchona 
baric. A gre^t quantity was despatched from this 
district in the hope of replacing some of the losses in- 
curred by tne failure m our coffee crops. But as ill luck 
will have It the sales have proved generally so ur.re- 
munerative that it is absolutely hardly worth whi e har. 
vesting our b..rk. A good deal of business is being done 
;n timber and our m..gmfic^ent Bkckwoods are paving 
tne penalty of their lives for our necessities. Tois is 
likely to l:.e an iniKoving trade. Very large quiutities 
of fancy b ooks - are in demand f.r the Continent, 
and one thu.as with regret of the glorious timb**r which 
M^i Z a^^""' '^•^^ fi^-lJs, or became fuel for our coolies 
11 the good old times when we sac-rified tbe most 
a.aabh, tre< 3, simply because we wanted the land, and 
hud no roads by whiohto transport the wood to the co.st. 
Oortainly we are better off in tbi.s respect, and our roads 
irTZ'' " a pleasure to travel upon. 
—Madras Times, May 15th. 
