Feb  I,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
537 
part  of  the  agents  of  the  Ceylon  and  India  tea 
planters,  whose  pluck,  perseverance  and  aggressive- 
ness command  .admiration.  They  arc  advertising 
liberally,  and  have  succeded  in  getting  their  te.as 
into  scores  of  the  best  stores — in  short,  they 
are  making  progress.  The  campaign  never  looked  as 
well  nor  promised  such  good  results  as  at  present, 
and  this  is  due  in  a large  measure  to  the  industry, 
intelligence  and  admirable  way  in  which  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  interests 
have  worked.  Today  at  noon  the  Montgomery  Auction 
and  Commission  Company  will  sell  3,820  packages, 
viz.  : 647  half-chests  Moyune,  new  season’s  includ- 
ing the  “ Qui  Hong  ” Chop  ; 1,563  boxes  Pingsuey, 
new  crop ; 157  half-chests  Japan,  new  crop  including 
fancy  assorted  1-lb  baskets;  154  half-chests  Japan, 
baskets-fired  and  sun-dried,  including  fancy  assorted 
1-lb  baskets ; 305  balf-ohests  and  boxes  Congou,  new 
crop  ; 48  boxes  Capers,  new  crop  ; 144  packages 
India,  Java  Pekoe  and  Ceylon  ; 19  half-chests  and 
boxes  Amoy ; 483  half-chests  Fooeborv ; 300  half- 
chests and  boxes  Formosa,  new  season's. — Amei'icayi 
Grocer. 
DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  tlie  Chemist  and  Drnc/gist.) 
London,  December  24th. 
There  is  very  little  news  in  the  drug  and  chemical 
markets  since  our  last  report,  business  transactions  being 
practically  at  an  end  for  the  remainder  of  the  year 
Essential  oils  remain  steady,  at  10s  to  lOs  ^d  for  star- 
anise,  Is  lid  to  2s  nominally  for  citronella,  and  2fd  to 
2Jd  per  oz  for  lemongrass  oil. 
Good  East  Indian  annatto-seed  has  lately  been  sold 
privately  in  small  quantities  .at  6d  per  lb. 
In  spices  scarcely  any  business  is  passing.  Zanzibar 
cloves  remain  fairly  steady,  with  seller.s  for  January-March 
delivery  at  2 l-32nd  d.  per  lb 
MISTLETOE  AND  MISTLE  THRUSH. 
The  mysteries  wliicli  have  gathered  round  the 
mistletoe"  plant,  the  Viscum  album  of  botanists, 
have  struck  their  roots  deep  in  the  romance  of 
of  folk-lore,  in  the  evolution  of  cults  and  super- 
stitious ceremonial,  far  beyond  even  the  deep 
woodland  ritiuil  of  the  Druid  priest.  Even  the 
most  learned  of  philogists  of  the  present  day  are 
not  agreed  as  to  the  origin  of  the  word.  It 
fills,  ‘too,  no  inconsiderable  space  in  realms  of 
poetry.  Our  great  Elizabethan  dramatists  have 
employed  it  and  its  imaginary  properties  and 
parasitical  ways  to  point  their  morals.  Under 
its  bouglis,  at  the  merry  Cliristmastide,  many  a 
life’s  romance,  many  human  comedies  and  even 
tragedies,  have  received  their  first  meaningless 
or  passionate  note  of  inspiration.  In  this  article 
we  must  not  be  tempted,  beyond  this  casual 
allusion,  into  a consideration  of  the  mistletoe 
in  any  of  these  fascinating  fields  of  specula- 
tion. Our  purpose  is  to  point  out  certain 
purely  scientilic  phenomena  in  connection  witli 
the  plant  and  tlie  mistle  thrush  {Timbos  visci- 
vorns)  about  wdiich  much  controversy  lias  been 
waged,  and  in  connection  with  wdiich  consider- 
able ignorance  still  prevails,  even  among;  bota- 
nists and  ornithologists.  For  instance,  in  one 
of  the  standard  Gerni.an  works  on  sylviculture 
(“The  Waldscliiitz  of  K.auschin"er,”  by  Hermann 
Fiirst),  the  statement  is  made  that  the  mistletoe 
jdant  “probably”  owes  its  wdde  extension  .and 
reproduction  to  thrushes,  wdiich  e,agerly  consume 
its  berries,  and  “in  cleansing  their  beaks  from 
the  sticky  tiesli  of  the  fruit,  leave  a portion  of 
it  on  the  bark  of  the  tree  along  with  some  of 
the  .seeds  contained  in  it.”  That  is  not  so,  .as 
we  shall  show,  .and  the  elements  of  science  and 
rom.ance  are  interwoven  with  this  very  theory  of 
seed  propaganda  and  of  specific  modus  operandi. 
Curiously  enough,  the  ancient  theory  wdiich 
found  favour  with  Aristotle,  Pliny,  zElian, 
Phile,  and  others,  and  wdiich  the  poets  fol- 
lowed blindly  .and  enlarged  upon  in  metaphor 
form,  was  rudely  assailed  by  Lord  Raeon 
in  his  “ Sylva  Sylvarum”  (163.5),  and  even  more 
vigorously  ridiculed  by  the  very  sceptical 
Sir  Thomas  Rrowne  in  his  “ P.seudoxia  Epide- 
niic.a  ’ (1072),  but  is  now  established  as  true 
beyond  the  shadow  of  a doubt.  The  truth  h.as 
been  revealed  by  the  labours  of  field  naturalists 
and  observant  botanists  w'orkini^  on  the  very 
inductive  lines  of  re.asoning  that  Lord  B,aco'n 
is  poinilarly  credited  wdth  having  “founded,” 
and  wdiich  undoubtedly  were  successfully  em- 
ployed by  Sir  Thoni.as  Browne  in  exposing  many 
“ Vulgar  Errors.”  Lord  Bacon  ventures  upon 
reasons  for  discarding  the  ancient  theory,  wdiicji 
are  altogether  fallacious.  The  pass.age  wdll  be 
found  on  p.ages  139  to  142  of  the  edition  referred 
to,  the  old  spelling  and  piinctucation  and  use 
of  capital  letters  being  followed. 
“We  finde  no  Super-plant  that  is  a Formed 
Plant,  blit  Misseltoe.  They  have  .an  idle  Tradi- 
tion, that  there  is  a Bird,  c.alled  a Missel. 
Bird,  that  feedeth  upon  a Seed,  wdiich  many 
times  shee  cannot  digest,  and  so  expeleth  the 
wdiole  wdth  her  Excrement  wdiich  falling  upon 
a Bough  of  a Tree,  that  hath  some  Rift,  put- 
tell  forth  the  Misseltoe.  But  this  is  a Fable  : 
For  it  is  not  probable,  that  Birds  should  feed 
upon  that  they  cannot  digest.  But  allow 
that  yet  it  cannot  be  for  other  Reasons : 
For  First  it  is  found  upon  certaine  Trees: 
And  those  Trees  beare  no  such  Fruit,  as 
may  allure  that  Bird  to  sit,  and  feed  njion  them. 
It  may  be  that  Bird  feedeth  upon  the  Misseltoe- 
Berries,  and  so  is  often  found  there  : Which 
may  have  given  occasion  to  the  Tale,  But  that 
which  maketh  an  End  of  the  Question,  is,  that 
Misseltoe  hath  beene  found  to  put  ^rth  under 
the  Boughes,  and  not  [onely]  above  the  Boughes  : 
So  it  cannot  be  any  Thing  th.at  falleth  upon  the 
Bough.  Misseltoe  groweth  chiefly  upon  Crab- 
Trees,  Apple-Trees,  sometimes  'upon  Hasles  ; 
And  rarely  upon  Oakes  ; the  Misseltoe  whereof 
is  counted  verie  Medicinall.  It  is  ever  greene, 
Winter  and  Summer ; And  beareth  a White 
Glistering  Berry : And  it  is  a Plant,  utterly 
differing  from  tlie  Plant,  upon  which  it  growetli. 
Tw'o  things  therefore  may  be  certainly  set 
dow'n.  First  that  Super-fetation  must  be  by 
Abundance  of  Sap,  in  Bough  that  putteth  it 
forth  : Secondly,  that  that  Sap  must  be  such, 
as  the  Tree  doth  excerne,  and  cannot  assimilate. 
For  else  it  would  goe  into  a Bough  ; And 
besides,  it  seemeth  to  be  more  Fat  and 
Unctuous,  th.an  the  Ordin.ary  Sap  of  the  Tree, 
both  by  the  Berry  which  'is  Clammie  ; And 
by  that  it  continucth  greene.  Winter  .and  Sum- 
mer w'hich  the  Tree  doth  not.” 
The  theories  of  Ur.  Prior,  Bosworth,  and  others 
who  traced  the  word  to  the  old  English  mis- 
tiltan,  “from  ‘ mist.al,’  dift'erent,  and  ‘ t.an,’  a 
twig,  being  so  unlike  the  tree  it  giow's  on,” 
must  be  abandoned.  It  is  possibly  derii  ed  froni 
the  Scandinavian  “ mist,”  meaning  dirt,  or  ob- 
scurity. But  be  that  as  it  may,  w'e  have  en- 
deavoured to  show  that  in  the  realm  of  pure 
science  tliere  are  associations  of  mystery  and 
rom.ance  quite  as  interesting  .as  the  as.s'oci.ate  ideas 
of  Druidic  ceremonial  and  cult,  and  almost  as 
fasinating  .as  the  legendary  significance  kissim' 
nnder  the  mistletoe,  with  all  its  far-re.aching  01^ 
it  m.ay  be,  quite  ephemer.al  consequences.  Then 
the  bird  itself  has  been  the  object  of  much  study 
and  an  infinity  of  “ fine  wiiting.”  The  habits  are 
now  well  known,  and  have  been  frequently  des- 
cribed. To  our  mind,  its  piercing,  but  sweet,  strain 
