April I, 189 •.] 
Stipplenieni to the “ Tvopical Agvicultunst." 
143 
The idea of having small ti’acts of laud attached 
to schools about the country, so that each school 
may have its own experiments in agriculture, 
has been carried out to a considerable extent. The 
“narrow policy of Government” with regard to 
salt, which of late has been much discussed, is 
condemned by Sir Samuel Baker in strong terms, 
among other reasons for impeding the prepara- 
tion of hides. The chief obstacle in the tanning 
industry in Ceylon is now however not so much 
the high rate of salt as the difficulty in procur- 
ing hides. Of the natives we are told that they 
never stint time and trouble where the prospect of 
money is safe ; and with this remark we quite 
agree, though we were understood (wrongly ) to 
think otherwise, from our remarks on native 
enterprise in a previous i.ssue of this Magazine. 
Dr. Triraen’s Administration Report for 1890 is 
out early as usual, and is as full and interesting 
as previous reports. Under the heading of 
“ Economic Plants ” Ave find that the acquisition of 
the true gambier (Uncaria Gamhier) has, after 
many failures, been at last accomplished. “It 
is clearly,” says Dr. Trimen, “A'ery fastidious 
and difficult to propagate, but it ought to suc- 
ceed in our hottest and wettest districts. 
Naturally an extensive climber, it is in cultivation 
kept down by cutting so as to form a low bush of 5 
or 6 feet. With Cubebs {Piper Cubeba), how- 
ever, Dr. Trimen is unable to report any progress, 
and the plant “still remains a desideratum.” 
There is also a note on Chinese ginger, wliicli in 
our last issue, we reported as having been 
identified with alpinia galanga, the well-known 
“Kalmvala” of the Sinhalese. “It is a little 
difficult to belieAm,” says Dr. Trimen, “ that the 
‘ preserved ginger ’ of commerce is the produce 
of the same plant, especially as the rhizome has 
not the appearance of the commercial article : 
and I cannot help suspecting the possibility of a 
mistake having been made when originally send- 
ing the plant to Koav.” Since, however, the 
identification qf the plant has been accepted as 
correct by the authorities at ReAAq it is only to be 
supposed that by careful selection and cultivation 
the original alpinia galamja has to some degree 
been metamorphosed into the “ preserwed ginger” 
plant of China. 
In the report of the Saidipet Experimental 
Farm for tlie year 1879, is a note on the poisonous 
qualities of the grain knoAAui us Amu in Sinhalese, 
and Varagu in Tamil. This is one of the fine 
grains mdtivated in the chenas of Ceylon, the 
seeds of Avhich are small, black and shiny. Some- 
times the effect of eating this grain is fol- 
loAved by a feeling of giddiness and prostration — 
in fact all t lie symptoms of poisoning evince them- 
selves. In the absence of iiroper treatment, in 
some instances, the result has lieen the death of 
the consumers. In the villages of Ceylon, Iioaa'- 
CA'er, the jieople have a very simple remedy 
derh^ed from common herbs, Avbich counteracts 
any I'vil results from eating amu. IMr Wilkins, 
the Bolanical lecturer at the Jladras School of 
Agriculture, says that the iioisonous grain is not 
the product of any particular variety, but of 
jilants that yield the healthy grain ; and bad seeds 
may produce Avholesome grain, lie has not been 
able to discover anything in bad grain that can 
account for its poisonous principles. A number 
of instances have been recorded in India of the 
bad effects of this grain on man and cattle. It is 
generally held that grain raised at the proper 
reason is wholesome, but that raised on the same 
ground as a second crop, and that raised on wet 
marshy ground, are both uiiAvliolesome. Dr, 
Bonavia’s oiAinion is that after rain, wdien the ear 
is ripening, a fungus attacks it, and it is the 
fungus which does the mischief. This reminds 
one of the case of rye and other cereals and 
grasses, Avhich are rendered unAvholesome by 
reason of the attack of the fungus knoAvn as 
ergot {Clai'iceps purpurea) which has caused 
the death of many hundreds of people on the 
Continent, and innumerable cattle in England. 
Dr. Bonavia states that washing the grain W'ell 
before cooking renders it harmless. Dr. Macrm, 
late Chemical Examiner at Madras, did not think 
that the wholesome could be distinguished from 
the poisonous grain : but he obserAms that when a 
sample of bad grain was “placed in an air-tight 
chamber and exposed to the influence of air and 
Avater, some of the seeds germinated in three days, 
Avhile a plentiful crop of Avhat (michoscopically) 
appeared to be ordinary mould was developed,” 
It will thus be seen that nothing certain appears 
to be knoAvn regarding the poisonous principle in 
amu, and that it is very desirable that further 
observation and experiment should be made so as 
to throAV further light on the subject. 
FURTHER NOTES ON GINGER. 
By W. a. De Silva. 
In my last contribution on ginger, 1 mentioned 
the method of cultiAmtion of the true ginger, 
and its preparation for market for use in 
medicine and as a condiment. Ginger also finds 
its Avay to the market in the form of “essence 
of ginger P which is used largely in medicine. 
We also come across ginger in a preserved 
state. Preserved ginger is largely exported 
from the Chinese ports, and especially from 
Canton. In the January number of the New 
Bulletin, an account of the Chinese ginger 
plant is given, and it has been ascertained that 
the preserA'es are not manufactured from the 
true ginger, but from a rhizome obtained from 
another species of plant allied to the ginger. 
This has been accepted to be Alphinia Galanga, 
the Kalmvala of the Sinhalese. It has also 
been found out that Siam exports a species 
of ginger obtained from the rhizomes of a 
A'ariety of alpinia known as A. Zingiberina, which 
is, hoAvever, not essentially distinct from A. 
Galanga. The rhizomes of the alpinias possess 
in addition to the characters of the true ginger 
an aromatic smell, and they are not so pungent 
as ginger. In Ceylon we find in aildition to 
the A. galanga the suppo.sed Chinese ginger, some 
other A'arieties of aljAinia very similar to A. 
galanga : these are the A. allughas, Sin. 
alugas. A. miians, S. Pankiria, and A. 
Calcarata, S. Ketakiriga. The rhizomes of all 
these possess the characters of the Chinese 
ginger, A. galanga. 
Chinese ginger in a preserved state does not 
possess the characteristic [aromatic tastt> or 
smell present in any of the alpinias. This may 
