Sept.  2,  1895.]  THE  TROEICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
183 
Ipeca  cuaiiha  powdcv  f ounce,  Carbonate  of  ammo- 
nia * ounce.  Mix  in  a pint  of  water  and  administer 
If  necessary  half  the  above  quantity  may  be  re- 
peated in  36  hours.  r , ■ 
The  same  prescription  has  been  successful  in  the 
treatment  of  influenza  in  horses. 
The  following  is  a description  of  how  maizena 
is  made  from  Indian  corn,  by  one  who  has  been 
making  it  for  8 years.  The  account  appears  in  the 
Cape  Journal ; — 
I take  a big  basing  so  that  a fe\y  persons  can  sit 
around  it.  I then  throw  the  mealie  cobs  into  the 
water  which  softens  the  grain. 
I then  rasp  the  grains  in  the  cobs,  so  as  to  make 
a rough  meal,  till  all  are  rasped  off.  I then  wash 
the  cob  and  put  all  the  meal,  which  is  obtained  b}' 
the  above  process,  into  clean  water,  and  then  put 
all  the*  flue  meal  through  a strainer  into  another 
basin.  On  the  husks  left  in  this  first  basin  I pour 
a jug  of  water  so  that  all  the  meal  may  be  washed 
out ; after  that  strain  it  through  a piece  of  linen 
into  a porcelain  bowl.  After  the  meal  has  settled, 
the  dirty  scum  floating  on  the  top  must  be  removed, 
then  clean  water  must  again  be  thrown  on  and  the 
white  sediment  stirred  up.  It  must  be  treated  in 
this  manner  until  bubbles  cease  to  come  up,  then 
it  is  taken  out  and  placed  in  fine  linen  bags,  which 
must  not  be  too  full.  The  bags  should  then  be 
placed  on  a framework  made  of  netted  wire,  so 
that  air  can  reach  them  on  all  sides.  Two  or  three 
times  a day  it  should  be  turned  over  and  the  lumps 
broken  up.  ^\hen  it  is  dry  it  is  sieved  and  put 
into  bottles.  The  bags  protect  the  maizena  from 
dust  which  is  otherwise  difficult  to  keep  out.  I usually 
make  the  rasp  I use  out  of  sardine  tins. 
an  old  planting  district  well  to 
THE  FRONT: 
go-ahead  rangalla. 
(From  a Visitor.) 
2nd  Aug.— Ju.sb  come  back  from  a visit  to 
Ran<mlla.  "The  old  district  is  coming  to  tlie  front 
with"  tine  central  factories  such  as  “Duckwari” 
with  its  teleplionic  communications  ’twixt  Man- 
ager’s bungalow  and  his  Factory  and  Assistants’ 
buno-alows"  and  new  district  cart  road  in  the 
Nit"e  Cave  direction  and  which  the  P.W.D.  take 
their  time  to  complete.  The  plea.sant  tliouglits 
of  such  resuscitation  of  the  go-aheadness  of  the  old 
district  are  much  mixed  with  .sorrow  at  the  loss 
of  such  men  as  the  Martins  and  Nicol.  It  has 
still  connected  with  it  the  Youngs,  Pattenson 
and  Ihirke— good  men  and  true.  Natives  seem 
to  he  enjoying  the  prosperity  of  the  tea  enter- 
prize.  Good,  large  native  gardens  and  well  cul- 
tivated, attract  the  eye. 
CUBAN  SUGAR  PLANTERS. 
Consul  Baker,  at  Sagua  la  Grande,  Cuba,  under 
date  of  June  12,  reports  to  the  State  Department  upon 
the  sugar  crop,  saying  The  sugar  crop  of  1894-95, 
having  been  marketed,  leaves  no  doubt  of  a matenal 
decrease  from  the  yield  of  the  previous  vear.  This, 
tooether  with  the  very  low  price  realized  by  the  plan- 
ters, leaves  the  sugar  growers  of  Cuba  m a helpless 
condition.  They  now  frankly  admit  that  they  will 
not  be  able  to  secure  loans  with  which  to  niake  the 
coming  crop,  which  means  that  not  exceeding 
half  of  the  usual  acreage  in  new  cane  has  been  planted, 
and  a corresponding  neglect  in  the  gleaning  of  the 
present  crop.  In  truth,  the  condition  of  the  planters 
of  this  island  is  distressing  ; and  the  end  is  not  yet, 
for  when  it  is  recalled  that  fully  one-third  of  the 
inhabitants  depend  on  the  plantations  for  employ- 
ment and  a living,  and  that  the  owners  thereof  can- 
not obtain  money  to  engage  their  labours,  actual  suf- 
fering must  ensue.”— /fmdah’eed’s. 
THE  TICK  PEST  IN  THE  TROPICS. 
Those  living  in  temperate  climates  have  probably 
small  idea  of  the  virulence  of  insect  and  other  pests 
in  the  tropics.  A plague  of  caterpillars  may  destroy 
a season’s  crop  in  England,  but  there  is  the  winter’s 
frost  to  be  passed  through  before  a second  attack 
need  be  feared.  It  is  otherwise  in  the  tropics.  Ve- 
getation is  much  more  luxuriant,  and  the  food  supply 
is  permanent ; and,  when  once  a plague  has  obtained 
a firm  foothold,  there  is  no  apparent  reason  why  it 
should  cease  i s ravages  before  it  has  entirely  des- 
troyed its  particular  host.  It  is  fortunate  for  agri- 
culturists that  the  great  increase  of  any  particu'ar 
parasite  seems  ultimately  to  work  out  its  own  des- 
truction ; and  frequently  when  all  hope  seems  over, 
the  plague  rapidly  and  unaccountably  disappears. 
Surprise  has  been  expressed  that  ticks  infesting  cat- 
tle have  received  so  little  real  study.  Quite  recently 
the  statement  appeared  that  these  parasites  formed 
the  least  known  part  of  the  trojiical  fauna.  But  a 
great  deal  has  been  done  in  this  direction  of  recent 
ears,  and  there  seems  some  hope  of  real  progress 
eing  made. 
Taking  the  conditions  into  consideration,  it  is  a 
matter  of  great  wonder  that  so  few  ticks  exist  in  many 
parts  of  the  tropics.  No  real  attempt  has  been  made 
to  decrease  their  numbers,  and  there  appears  to  be 
no  season  of  the  year  when  the  climate  is  fatal  to 
them.  Vegetation  is  rank,  and  we  know  now  that  they 
can  live  to  a great  extent  upon  vegetable  matter; 
further,  even  where  there  is  a scarcity  of  small  indi- 
genous mammals,  there  are  plenty  of  horses  and 
cattle.  The  multiplying  powers  of  ticks  are  enormous. 
In  one  case  I determined  the  number  of  eggs  from  ohe 
female  as  over  20,000  (see  Fig.  3),  and  almost  all  of 
these  were  fertile  and  produced  young  ticks.  The 
increase  in  numbers  of  ticks  in  most  countries  is 
not  marked,  however,  and  we  are  driven  to  the  con- 
clusion that  there  is  here,  in  the  animal  kingdom,  a 
waste  of  material  analogous  to  that  in  the  seeding 
of  parasites  and  saprophytes  among  plants. 
It  is  not  surprising  now  and  then- to  hear  of  a long- 
continued  plague  of  ticks  from  one  place  or  another 
where  cattle-rearing  is  a staple  industry.  In  Jamaica, 
it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  for  the  traveller  to  get 
covered  with  “ grass-lice.”  On  pushing  aside  the 
branches  overhanging  the  riding  path,  I have  been 
immediately  covered  with  firmly  attached  young  ticks 
which  needed  much  care  and  patience  to  remove.  The 
ticks  of  Jamaica  are  now  a very  serious  source  of 
anxiety  in  cattle-pens,  and  much  loss  is  attributed 
to  thes8  parasites. 
During  my  stay  in  Antigua,  complaints  were  loud 
and  frequent  of  the  ravages  of  a large  tick,  which  in- 
fested the  cattle  between  the  months  of  May  and 
September.  In  the  cattle  and  sheep  farms  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Australia  the  “ tick”  matter 
is  absorbing  much  attention.  Specially  large  and 
annoying  forms  are  described  from  parts  of  India, 
Central  Africa  and  Central  America  ; while  extraor- 
dinary tales  are  told  of  the  destruction  caused  by 
these  parasites  in  cattle-rearing  districts  of  South 
America.  Elaborate  and  expensive  researches  have 
been  conducted  in  the  United  States  Southern  Ex- 
perimental Stations  upon  the  life-history  of  the  ticks 
and  their  relations  to  cattle  ; and  the  exhaustive 
reports,  issued  from  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry, 
form  by  far  the  most  valuable  part  of  our  economic 
literature  on  these  pests. 
The  books  of  travellers  teem  with  references  to 
the  annoyance  caused  by  ticks.  Sir  , Joseph  Hooker, 
in  his  “ Himalayan  Journals,”  describes  their  abun- 
dance in  the  frontier  regions  between  Sikkim  and 
Nepaul,  in  pathless  tracts  destitute  of  animal  life. 
He  writes  the  following  concerning  the  neighbourhood 
of  Tonglo : “ A large  tick  infests  the  small  bamboo, 
and  a more  hateful  insect  I never  encountered.  The 
traveller  eannot  avoid  these  insects  coming  on  his 
person  (sometimes  in  great  numbers)  as  he  brushes 
through  the  forest  ; they  get  inside  his  dress,  and 
insert  the  proboscis  deeply  without  pain.  Buried  head 
and  shoulders,  and  retained  by  a barbed  lancet,  the 
tick  ia  only  to  be  extracted  by  force  which  ia  very 
