July  1,  1896.] 
71 
Supidemmt  to  the  ^'■Tropical  AgncuUurist." 
during  tlie  night,  nnd  stored  ogain  elsewhere. 
Vv'e  may  wonder,  perhaps,  that  tlie  ]ihuit  should 
turn  its  carholiydiates  into  .<taroli  for  such  a .'hoit 
space  of  time  ; possibly  the  e.\cess  of  sugar  tends 
to  render  the  protoplasm  incapable  of  di.«charging 
its  functions,  and  so  the  sui])lus  is  withdrawn 
from  the  active  life  of  the  cell,  being  laid  down 
in  insoluble  form.  Its  deposition  in  quantity 
can  readily  be  seen  by  a very  siujple  experiment. 
If  a leaf  he  tahen  from  a tree  during  the  hours  of 
bright  sunshine,  killed  and  bleached  by  warming 
in  strong  alcohol,  and  then  immersed  in  an 
alcoholic  solution  of  iodine,  it  turns  a dee])  blue 
colour  wherever  the  light  has  had  access  to  it, 
owing  to  the  formation  of  the  blue  iodide  of  starch. 
The  disap{)earance  of  starch  during  darkness 
can  be  similarly  demonstrated,  another  similar 
leaf  being  selected  from  the  same  plant,  and 
gathered  in  the  early  morning,  or  after  a period 
of  imprisonment  in  a dark  room.  The  iodine 
treatment  does  not  then  colour  the  leaf  blue, 
indicating  the  absence,  or  rather  removal,  of  the 
starch  wliich  the  first  experiment  has  shown  to  be 
present  in  the  leaves  during  and  after  immediately 
their  illumination. 
The  starch  is  manufactured  at  the  expense  of 
the  sugar,  as  we  have  seen.  It  is  in  Ihe  form  of 
grains  of  definite  shape,  which  are  built  up  by 
the  chloroplastid,  and  occupy  a definite  jdace  in 
relation  to  the  latter.  The  shape  it  takes  being 
that  of  a very  small  granule,  its  itosition  is  in  the 
interior  of  the  chloroplastid.  Often  two  or  three 
are  formed  inside  the  same  plastid.  They  can  be 
detected  by  a high  power  of  the  microscope,  after 
bleaching  the  leaf  and  staining  it  with  iodine. 
They  never  attain  a large  size,  and  never  have 
the  complex  structui'e  which  starch  grains  attain 
in  7’eservoii's  which  retain  them  for  a long  time, 
such  ns  the  cells  of  the  potato  tuber. 
The  formaticn  of  the  starch  granule  in  the 
int(!rior  of  plastid  is  due,  then,  not  to  tlie 
chlorophyl  but  to  the  i)rotopla.sm  of  the  chlorophyl 
grain.  The  latter  converts  the  sugar  which  has 
been  formed  into  starch,  by  a process  closely 
resembling,  if  not  identical  with,  true  secretion 
such  as  we  find  taking  place  in  an  animabs  gland. 
GENERAL  ITEMS. 
The  Colonial  Veterinary  Surgeon  of  Cajie  Colony 
replies  to  a corre.spondent  wdio  asks  wliere  the 
gall-bladder  of  the  horse  i.s  situated,  that  the 
hor.-^e,  like  the  ostrich  and  some  antelojies,  has  not 
got  one.  The  idea  that  a horse's  gall-bladder  is 
somewhere  in  the  region  of  his  head  arises  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  not  to  be  found  about  the  liver, 
and  also  that  when  a horse  is  dying  from  the 
pulmonary  form  of  horse-sickness  a quantity  of 
a i>ale  yellowlooldng  fluid,  resembling  frothy  beer, 
flows  freely  from  his  nostrils,  the  origin  of  which 
many  people  attribute  to  the  gall-bladder  having 
burst  in  his  head. 
A succe.ssful  remedy  against  red  spider  is  to 
syringe  the  trees  thoroughly  with  sulphur  nnd 
soapy  water.  This  is  to  be  left  on  for  about  four- 
days  and  then  syringed  off  with  clear  water. 
The  Sydney  >'Stock  and  Illation  says  that  the 
Chief  Inspector,  IMr.  Gordon,  “ has  under  consi- 
deration the  matter  of  constructing  dips  at  certain 
points  in  the  proclaimed  southerir  line  of  quaran- 
tine. These  dips  will  be  constructed  on  the 
American  ])rinciple  and  will  be  10  ft.  deep  and 
cemented.  The  cattle  will  be  driven  into  them 
through  a narrow  lane  and  will  come  out  into  a 
cement-lloored  draining  yard,  where  the  dip  will 
drain  back  off  the  beast  into  the  tank. 
“ With  reference  to  the  dip  to  be  used  in  the 
troughs,  ]Mr.  Gordon  states  that  only  two  have 
been  foniul  to  be  efficacious  and  then  only  at  great 
strength.  Common  sulphate  of  iion  has  been 
found  very  efficacious,  however,  at  a strength  of 
about  half-a-pound  to  the  gallon  of  water,  if  the 
ticks  which  this  solution  does  not  actually  kill 
drop  any  eggs  after  the  immersion  the  eggs  are 
found  to  be  infertile. 
"Mr.  D.  Miller  has  been  successfully  treating 
the  bullocks  in  his  paddock  that  were  infested 
with  ticks.  The  cattle,  eighteen  in  number,  were 
dressed  with  a preparation  consisting  of  eight 
gallons  of  tallow,  five  gallons  of  oil,  half  gallon 
of  Stockholm  tar,  and  half  gallon  of  paraffine. 
These  ingredients  were  mixed  and  heated 
to  boiling  point,  and  the  mixture  Avas 
applied  while  .warm.  The  cattle  were  put 
through  a crush,-  the  licpiid  being  atAplied  with 
tar  brushes  and  two  brooms.  There  were  a nnnr- 
ber  of  interested  pieople  present,  including  Mr. 
A.  Brook,  stock  inspector.  The  solution  proved 
most  deadly  to  the  insects,  as  several  of  them 
were  taken  from  the  cattle  and  a drop  jroured  on 
them,  and  in  all  cases  they  did  not  live  three 
minutes  afterw-ards.  After  the  cattle  had  been 
thoroughly  saturated  they  were  turned  back  into 
the  paddock,  and  on  examination  four  days  later 
were  found  to  be  perfectly  free  from  ticks.’’ 
A correspondent  of  the  Austin lasian  writes; — 
“ On  stations  and  farms  in  many  parts  of  the 
coloiries  and  more  particularly  in  the  hot  back 
country  it  is  diffinlt  to  kee]>  cream  sweet  or  to 
make  good  butter,  where  it  is  required  for  home 
use  in  small  quantities  through  the  summer. 
Being  confronted  w-ith  this  difficulty  many  years 
ago  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  method  so  common 
of  keeping  water  cool  in  canvas  water-bags  by 
hanging  them  in  a draught,  and  securing  the 
cooling  effect  of  rapid  evaportiou,  might  be  applied 
to  cream  and  to  the  making  of  butter.  After 
some  experiments  1 found  that  by  taking  a piece 
of  common  sheeting  calico,  putting  it  over  a 
fjucket  and  pouring  the  cream  into  it  each 
morning,  then  taking  up  the  ends  and  tying  a 
string  round  it  and  hanging  under  a verandah,  the 
cream  is  kept  cool  and  sweet,  and  after  hang- 
ing so  for  twenty-four  hours  it  can  be  taken  out, 
and  by  stirring  a few  minutes  with  a spoon  it 
may  be  converted  into  the  best  buttei-.  The 
cream  does  not  pass  through  the  calico,  but 
the  water  does,  and  produces  the  same  cooling 
effect  as  is  produced  by  the  canvas  water-bags  so 
commonly  u.sed;  and  as  in  the  course  of  24  hours 
nearly  all  the  water  which  the  cream  contains  is 
filtered  out,  with  some  of  the  buttermilk,  there  is 
never  any  difficulty  about  getting  the  butter,  and 
the  flavour  is  perfect.  One  of  the  principal 
advantages  is  that  even  a pound  of  cream  can  be 
kept,  and  easily  conxmi-ted  into  butter  without 
any  labour  and  with  Jio  failures.  I have  had  this 
method  in  use  now  for  a great  many  years,  where 
only  a few  cows  are  milked  for  home  use,  and  as 
