68 
Supplement to the '^Tropical Agncultwist.'* 
[July T, 1890 
in other words, rice, which the people were put 
to the additional trouble of collecting and cook- 
ing before it was fit for eating. Later on as 
the inhabitants grew more numerous and more 
wicked, the “ rice ” developed a covering or 
husk and evolved itself into paddy, thereby 
causing man greater troul)le in having to separ- 
ate the grain from the husk. But this was not 
the last of his troubles to the future Agricul- 
turist, for now the paddy plant ceased to grow 
perennially with no help or attention on the 
part of man, and then came the necessity for the 
preparation of fields and the sowing of the grain 
in order to obtain the crop. This is the story 
of the paddy plant which as .such has to my 
mind a charming simplicity about it. But on 
looking closer we will find a moral significance 
in it, inasmneh as it attempts to show how 
labour, trouble and care were the outcome of 
evil, and increased in proportion as the human 
race grew in wickedness. Again, there is as it 
were a scientific glimmer about the account, for 
it is evidently intended to indicate after a 
crude fashion that law of Agriculture according 
to which deterioration must eventually result 
when no attention is given to the soil, so that 
those qualities may be preserved' upon which 
certain desirable effects depend. 
ANIMAL PAEASITES. 
Another parasite of the Tseniada or Tapeworm 
family is the Tania Echinococcus which occurs 
ia man and the dog. In the dog it exists in the 
adult form as the full-grov/n tapeworm ; and 
in man as the scolex, that is in the cystic 
form. This latter form, however, exists in other 
animals than man — in liorses and cattle for in- 
stance. The worm itself is a small one consist- 
ing of 4 segments, one forming the head and 
three others the rest of the body. The eggs 
of the worm when taken into the alimentary 
canal of man gives exit to the embryo which 
bores its way till it occupies the position it 
chooses to establish itself in : here it develops 
from the bladder or cyst, the presence of which 
in man causes the disease known to medical 
men as “ hydatids.” These cysts may occur in 
the liver, lungs, &c. Smaller cysts may occur 
within a large one, which latter sometimes pro- 
duces buds on its outside. Inside the bladder 
is found a fluid which on shaking assumes a 
turgid appearance. In the sediment of this 
fluid are found the embryo worms. In some 
cases a cyst when cut open is found to contain 
pus in which one odd booklet or two indicate 
the embryo. It is needless to say that this 
parasite is most fatal to man. The disease is 
most common in Iceland, and is also known 
to occur pretty frequently in Victoria. Its pre- 
sence in Iceland to so large an extent is ex- 
plained by the close association of men and 
dogs, owing to the latter being so much used 
for sledge-drawing in the ice-bound regions of 
northern latitudes. The foolish habit which 
some ijer.soiis have of kis,sing pet dogs can- 
not be sullicient ly condemned when we consider 
that the.se animals lick themselves all over their 
bodies, and when suffering from tape-worm 
may carry in their mtizr.le.s the eggs of the 
Tajiiia Echinococcus which are to produce the 
future “hydatids.” 
All dogs suspected of suffering from tape- 
worm should be starved for twelve hours, dosed 
first with castor oil, and then areca-nut (dose 
from I to 2 drachms). Six or eight hours 
after more castor oil should be administered to 
remove the dead worms. The great point is 
that the head should be removed, for the worm 
will continue to grow by producing proglottides 
or segments. The head which is very small, 
appearing like a little knob at the end of a 
thread, should be looked for. Everjdhing passed 
out should be mixed with straw and burnt. 
The medicine often requires to be administered 
once a week for two or three weeks before 
the de.sired effect is produced. 
Mr. Hutcheon, C.V.8., the Government Veteri- 
narian of Cape Colony writing on measles in 
the pig caused by the presence of cysticercus 
cellulosus, the Scolex of Tania Solium, the 
adult tape-worm in man, which we were noticing 
in our April number, says that if salt and 
sulphur be given systematically, they would act 
as preventative remedies, attacking the tape- 
worm ova while they remain in the digestive 
organs, and before they become distributed as 
cysts throughout the circular tissue of the body. 
With regard to measles. Prof. Cobbold recom- 
mends the removal of affected pigs from all 
sources of infection, and placing them in a 
clean sty for 6 or 8 months : at the expiration of 
that time all the Cysticerci or measles that ex- 
isted in the pigs at the time of transfer will 
have perished, and the flesh of the animals 
may be then eaten with impunity. 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE MATAEA MAEKET 
GAEDEN. 
( Communicated.) 
This garden was opened in September 1887. 
It was not originally intended to be either a 
market or an Experimental Garden, but as the 
following short account of it will show, it has 
gradually developed into a combination of both. 
It was started for the experimental cultivation 
of dholl, and about a quarter of an acre only 
was fenced off (with the permission of the Local 
Board) from the Esplanade between the Star 
Fort and the Police Station for the purpose. 
Dholl is a sort of pea or gram which on account 
of its being both highly productive as a plant, 
and nutritious as food, was thought desirable, 
should be introduced as a product for general 
cultivation. It was no new product, for it had 
already been successfully cultivated in several 
parts of the Island, nor was it even altogether 
unknown as an article of food, small quantities 
of the imported grain being generally procurable 
in any large native bazaar. It was however not 
sufficiently common nor enough known to be as 
popular an item of food as it deserved. A know- 
ledge of the case with which it can be cultivated 
and of the profit to be derived from it, would, 
it was thought, lead to its general cultivation. 
The only disadvantage U7ider wliich it started 
in comjmrisnn witli most chena products was 
the length of time that elapses between its sowing 
time and harvest, namely twelve months. It was 
not thought that this would be an insuperable 
objection to its extended cultivation ; but ex- 
perience has shown that it was a much graver 
