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Sideroxylon). This is very tiring work. The flaccid masses are then taken out and placed on a 
sloping wooden trough and allowed to drain into the vat so as to obtain all the extract possible. 
The boiling ley is next poured into shallow wooden tubs to cool. It is now of a yellowish 
olive-green colour, with the consistence and appearance of thin pea-soup. When quite cool it 
still remains fluid, and the process of solidification is effected in the following curious manner. 
The operator thrusts into each of two of the wooden biickets placed before him a short, thick, 
smooth cylinder made of the very softwood of "Mahang" {Mararcuifja hypoleuca), and then 
proceeds to agitate the mass by rubbing his fingers up and down on the surface of the cylinders. 
During this process the fluid gradually becomes thicker, and some solid matter coagulates on the 
fingers, but is wiped off'. The process is continued for about a quarter of an hour, when the whole 
mass rather suddenly becomes somewhat contracted and of a paler colour. A few minutes after 
the whole " sets " into a mass of the consistence of soapy cheese, the effect probably of the crystalli- 
sation of the catechuic acid of which it chiefly consists. The whole art of the man^^facture is said 
to lie in knowing precisely when to cease the agitation : if not done sufficiently, or if carried on too 
long, it is said that solidification will not occur. Nothing whatever was added to the fluid at any 
time so far as I could observe. After a few hours the mass can be turned out as from a mould, and 
is cut into small cubes and finally dried in the shade ; but these final processes I did not see. 
Cubebs.—As one result of my expedition to Buitenzorg, I have at last succeeded in obtaining 
the true Piper Giibeha, which for so many years I have been vainly trying to get. Thirty-one 
rooted cuttings were obtained from the Java Garden, and 20 reached Oeylon in apparently good 
health. Most of these have however since died, and at the end of the year only 8 were living. 
I have, however, little doubt that these will succeed at Henaratgoda, if not at Peradeniya. 
At Buitenzorg I found the plant grown on white cotton trees (Eiiodendron) closely planted ; 
they were fruiting freely. The dift'erence in the form of the upper and lower leaves on the same 
plant was striking ; they would never be supposed to belong to the same species. I am not 
however, sure that there are not two plants cultivated together as P. Cvheha at Buitenzorg.* 
I had no opportunity of seeing the cultivation of this product on a commercial scale, and it 
does not seem to be carried on in W. Java. The plant, however, is apparently a wild one there, to 
judge from the labels of plants I examined in the Buitenzorg herbarium. All the specimens of 
the true plant have the leaves (however much differing in from according to age) thick, with an 
unequal base, alike on both surfaces, and drying of a pale colour with a pinkish tinge ; the younger 
ones are more veiny beneath. I may refer to my reports for 1887, 1888, and 1889 for further remai'ks 
on this pepper. 
Cola-nut. — A small plantation of 36 seedlings, raised from Jamaica seed, was made at Pera- 
deniya in April ; a smaller one was also made at Henaratgoda. We have not as yet found this tree 
to do well with us, and it is equally unsatisfactory in Java. Our trees at Henaratgoda, eight years 
old, have as yet made no attempt to flower. 
Calumha Root {Jateorhiza (Jcduinha). — This valuable tonic medicine is known as " Columbo " 
in the trade, and was f ormerly^supposed to be obtained from Ceylon. Its name is, however, derived 
from the word "Kalumb," which is its appellation in E. Trop. Africa, of which country it is a 
native, and whence all supplies are obtained. I have been for some time desirous to add this to 
our rich collection of medicinal plants, but have never been able to obtain it from any of the 
Gardens with which we have relations, though it is reported to be growing in more than one of 
them. So long back as 1866 or 1867 we received a plant from Mauritius, and I find a record here to 
the effect that it lived for a few years only. With much surprise, therefore, this year I have 
discovered a plant of it in Peradeniya. The great tuberous root is sending up a vigorous stem, and 
unless this be the plant above referred to, wliich has lain dormant for so many years, I am at a loss 
to know how it came here. 
Erythroxylon Coca. — The plant cultivated at Buitenzorg (originally obtained in 1876 from 
Linden, the Nurseryman of Ghent) has been distinguished by Dr. Burck from that usually culti- 
vated (which he names E. hnliviamim) as var. S'jD'ucMmiim. He states that it affords four times 
as much alkaloid as the common kind ; but there seems to be some doubt as to this. I examined 
the Buitenzorg plant, and find it identical with plants familiar to me in Peradeniya, where I have 
been accustomed to call it the " small-leaved form." We may have pi-obably obtained it from 
Buitenzorg in one of our frequent exchanges. The flowers are quite white (not yellow), and the 
leaves very like those of var. r/ranaleusc of Morris, but not so pale and less rounded at the ends. 
* I saw nothing- at Buitenzorg- qnitp corresponding- with the plant we received as Cubebs from Soerabaya in 1889 (see 
niy report for thai year) though some specimens approached it nearly. I suspect that this will prove to be Piper ( Cuht'lia) 
■uimiifniinuii (figured inMiquel's Comm. Phyt. t. 5) .which is perhaps really a variety of P. Ciihcha. But till it flowers and 
l'r>iits this must remain doubtful. 
