946 THE TROPICAL 
table IViateria Medica of Western India " and the 
"Pharmacographica Indica" nowappearing, one notices 
that a large mass of drugs playing an important part 
in India medicine have not been exauiined, even as 
to their chemical and physiological action and it 
almost seems as if of late years in England the 
general interest is turned more to the examinations 
of synthetic chemical products quite neglecting the 
vegetable drugs. 
This is all the more to be regretted as one can at 
least get authentic plants from India as the number 
of botanical gardens and agricultural institutes do 
everything to find use and demand for the raw pro- 
ducts of the country for the benefi.t of it. 
It would be a great pleasure to me if these lines 
were to excite the German chemical industry and 
drug commerce, on to further enterprises in India 
and in the English colonies in general. There is no 
doubt, but that in these countries a wide future lies 
open to Germans of this profession. 

SOUTH WYNAAD NOTES. 
4th M iy 1892. 
Duiing the last month we have liad ft raii.fall 
meahuring 8 inclies 55 cents, which for Arril is eome- 
whit unu8U"l. Triia was ushered in by sharp ryi loiiic 
st'irm.s, which drifted off into an i xctl i nt imitation 
of the monsoon— dull grey skioi and a < ontiuual dn p- 
p'ns: of 8of trill). Thf storms were eufficie.itly stroug 
to bring do«>n no end of trees which hUcked our 
roads in a most inconvenient manner. The wfiretof 
it was, that in fome ca-ea the heavy rain ftl! npf)n 
the open blosfom. This is a b- nsation which 
DO one but a ccffee pla'itT can duly appreciate. 
To saunter rouud in the evening and gaze hope- 
fully at the sheets of snowy blos,*om, to sp' ak, en. 
coura(?ingly to the bees which hum merrily round, 
intoxicated hy the we 1th of sw»etnens sprend out 
for them, to eat yonr dinner in happy eonsciou^iitss 
that the crop wcnld pay for it, to lay your head d 'Wii 
peacefully <m your pillow rejoicing in the thought tliat 
" the blossom i» safe, und then,'' . . . cmg/i, d"wn 
comes the rain — hang, down go the charco 1 trets upon 
the finest bushes I Th^i tliundor rolls, the lightning 
flashi s, and you lie on your back doggedly Kturitig 
at the cf-ibng end iia>iiig to yourself, "What a 
glorious, happy, iuriooent Arcadian sort of life is that 
of the free and independent piai ter!" However, we may 
hope that it was only here and tht re that the blossom 
was tbus caught. But her(>, yon sf e, comes in one of 
the ailvaritiig<'s of Liberia'!. The fl iwcr ope^p, sete, 
and falls within n few hour?, anvl storms affect it 
not Oh ! how 1 lon^-cd lor some of the detractors of 
my faviiurite product, to tike a walk rdund my es- 
ci/il p ot, ihe mori ii g it was "out." It was simply 
a iii«K"'ficent sight and every passing uaifare.r 
paused to admire and ixclaim at the gjor oua 
show of big wiixeu bloxsoms As for the bees, they 
bt caroe abbOlutely delirious ovt r it, such a buz- 
zing and fus-ing, such a turning up of their 
noBCS at the Arabic, which h'okcd so in- 
eigoiticHnX bi'sides its t)wering breth e i. I think 
the most rabid abuser of Liberian, after a sight 
of that field, however much he may have come to 
pcoff, would have returned to plmt L'berian. 
I have not jet met aiivoue in this n iijbbourbo d 
who teems eBpeoi«lly jubilant on the subject of cro|i. 
Of course, wi) have dilforen'; wayH of i xprefSiuw 
ouri-elves. Oar i pt'imisls s.iy . — " ICverythuig is 
splendid, though ot course, we cannot eip"ct such 
a tiutrjnificcnt crop as Uat your, two seasons ru i.in« I" 
Our pessimists sigbheiivili and murmur Ichahod, auA 
P'jiut at es'ates abandoudd now, anil mce to te 
abandoned ; moderate folks lik« myfc'f ^t^■er a happy 
medium, or to try to, mindful of tlie stone-throwing 
procivilities of tome oth' r people. I don't Ibiuk 
there is any immediate procp' ct of W3na»<i turn- 
ing ouc many milliouairaa in this year of t raoo, 
]H;j2. lint poraibly il the i upi'O keepH toils preseu' 
UcliKhfnl y (lepreoiatfd state, wo may be able to 
cover expenhcB. On sevirol (BtatcB the crop bar 
IJtoinihod very fairly well, wliilbt on olhers,— ramou 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i. 1892. 
says, — but there, 1ft us talk of "sealing-wax 8: d 
kincs," r«ther thin dwell upon nncheerfnl subjtcts. 
The long drought has been a splendid check npon 
!eaf disease, hut we ra'her dresd the fubsfqnent 
effect of (ill these late rains. I hear proaningH over 
borer, but as far as I can ga'her, this plagne is 
not t'eneral, its fancy being appar< ntly for etpecially 
situated eHtat»s Yon know tbe impenetrable silence 
of evrrything before a big storm? Hew at last you 
almost strain your ears to ca'eh 'he rustle of a 
leaf, or the twitter of a bird ? W<dl that is ex- 
actly hov it is with jonr South Wyu8f.d 
"special" 6s regards news of "ten." A mOD<b 
or two ai?o I d' earned of lorg telling paragraphs 
for th^t Madras Times. The air wan full f rumours, 
and I bad no end .1 {nohantitifir ' frtrictly confi- 
dpntials " whispe red int my delighted t ars. When 
my nei(fbhoura talkfH of this and I'aat possibi ity, 
I ohui'kled to m'self, and thought about certain 
es^atps, and what I k' ew wis going to be done 
with <hem atd ^o nn. I evf-u mei.taily planned an 
" in'f rview," with the manat er of our " Central 
Factory," and how I would describe him as such a 
splendid gpnial ffUo^, and all that, and tell you all 
about the mach nery and the pene'rating, intoxicating 
0''our ot the hot t. a auH po on Kow, I f- 1 1 run down 
to the low St ''epths of humiliatii n, for h> re is May, 
and oh! Mr Editor, be rai-rcilul lor bko tie rustic 
lovrr "I li'ain; got nnihin' to f-ay." Abso utfly no- 
thing fuither ia heard at presf nt on the tt-a fubject, 
and certainly nothing practic»l in tte wa\ ot plmt'iig 
is lik' Iv to occur this year. It is a terrib e pit> that 
so much sphndid posfibilitieo t^hoold be thus ruth- 
lessly wasted. However, 'o revert to my formei 
perhnps ii^ may be only ibe silerice leb re the f'lorm, 
and I may yet gladly record jubih e dajs fir peer old 
Wvnaad. 
The Woodlands Es'ate, I octe, has p«s«ed hfnds 
since I las wrote and become tbe property <f a 
"perfiok stranger." The mai agemeut, however, remains 
the same, — Jfadras Times, May 10th. 
^ 
THE INDIAN COTTON CEOP OF 1891-92 
The final Memorandum on the Indian cotton crop 
of 1891-92, which we have just received, shows that 
throughout the reporting Provinces the season was 
exceptionally unfavourable to the crop and that both 
area and outturn have in consequence fallen off 
largely. The Punjab crop is estimated at 41 per 
cent, less in area and 36 per cent, less in outturn 
than in 1890-91, itself an unfavourable year, and is 
stated to be the lowest crop on record. In the 
North-Western Provinces and Oudh the deficiency 
is 23 per cent, in area and 42 per cent, in outturn, and 
in Madras it is 21 and 30 per cent., respectively. In 
the remaining Provinces the influence of the adverse 
season on the area returns is less marked The fall- 
ing off in production due to the diminished area is 
aggravated by the lower yield per acre, which is dis- 
closed in the estimates of outturn, which in Bombay 
is put at 36, in the Central Provinces at 
35, and in Berar at 15 per cent, less than 
last year's. The .general result for the seven 
reporting Provinces is that the area stands 
at a little over 11 million acres against 
13 million acres in the previous year and an 
average acreage of over 12 millions. The forecast 
of production is 1,380,000 bales of 4001b. each against 
2,031,000 in 1890-91, and an average of 2,185,000. 
Taking the average value of a bale at RlOO, the 
money equivalent of the deficiency on the crop of 
1891-92, as compared with the normal, is, roughly, 
112 millions of rupees, or about 74 .per cent of the 
average annual exports of cotton to foreign countries, 
and over 33 per cent of its estimated average pro- 
duction. 
Sir Edward Buck remarks that the export trade 
in Indian cotton is not progressive and fluctuates 
lai'gely ; so also does the outturn, the cotton plant 
being very susceptible to the influence of unfavour- 
able seasons and the attacks of insects. But al- 
