April  1,  1897.] 
Supplement  to  the  ‘‘  Tropical  Agriculturists 
729 
pest  contagion  to  liealtliy  cattle.  Similar  ex- 
periments we  are  just  making,  or  intend  soon  to 
carry  out,  on  antelopes,  pigs,  asse^,  mules  and 
dogi 
I furtlier  ])i'opose  to  study  the  susceidibility  for 
rinderpest  of  as  many  animals  as  possible  that  are 
suspected  in  this  coiiutT'y  to  contract  the  disease 
or  to  assist  in  spreading  It.  1 would  in  this  re.s- 
irect  recommend  that  camels  ahso  should  he  pro- 
cured, in  order  to  definitely  decide  upon  their  im- 
munity against  linderpest  or  otherwise.  Apart 
from  all  this,  we  shall  further  try  if  by  some 
other  means,  viz.,  through  chemical  or  physical  in- 
fluences, rinderi)est  blood  cannot  be  rendered  use- 
ful for  ]>reventive  measures,  that  is  to  say,  may  be 
turned  into  a vaccine. 
An  opi)Ortnnity  to  test  carefully  the  remedies 
and  modes  of  inoculation  in  vogue  in  South  Africa 
against  the  disease  has  not  yet  offered  itself,  but 
1 shall  after  a time  inoculate  with  a virulent  mate- 
rial those  animals  which  were  first  treated  with 
bile,  in  order  to  see  if  rinderpest  bile  has  any  pro- 
tective properties  or  not. 
On  one  of  our  visits  to  the  Free  State  1 olrserved 
tliat  all  animals  on  the  farm  were  inoculated 
as  a preventive  with  garlic  or  “ knoflook”  into  the 
dewlaji,  but  this  pi'ocedure  had  evidently  no  bene- 
ficial result.  On  anotlier  farm  the  owner  had 
drenched  his  cattle  with  a mixture  of  carbolic  and 
petroleum,  but  this  likewise  proved  futile. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  every  one  who 
had  the  oirjrortnnity  of  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  state  of  affair's  along  tire  Free  State  border  irr 
the  district  of  Kimber  ley,  wdll  rrot  hesitate  iit  as- 
serting that  the  restrictiorrs  ettforced  along  this 
line  have  fulfilled  their  purpose.  On  orre  side  of 
the  boundary  there  have  beetr  for  weeks  several 
farms  badly  visited  by  rinder'jiest,  irnd  yet  the  Colo- 
nial orre  is  still  cirtirely  free  from  the  scourge. 
With  reference  to  the  rinderpest  microbe  found 
by  Dr.  Edingloit,  1 beg  to  r'eport  to  you  that  Dr. 
Edingtorr  has  handed  to  me  oir  the  28th  ultimo  a 
cultivaliorr  growit  iir  bouillon,  from  which  he  in- 
oculated irr  my  pr'esetree  two  test  tubes  corrtaining 
the  same  medium,  llaviirg  corrvitrced  myself  that 
theculture  had  beerr  growing  irr  t he  latter  pure 
artd  opulerrt,  1 inoculated  otr  the  81st  ultinro  with 
either  of  these  cultivations  one  heitlly  laarst,  artd 
shall  repiorttoyou  in  due  time  what  effect  this 
operatiorr  had  upiort  these  animals. 
I would  further  like  to  direct  your  attention  to 
the  circunrstance  that  orre  of  the  lirree  airimals, 
the  autopsy  of  Iticlt  was  made  iir  Tairtrgs,  was 
sufl’ering  front  Te.xas  fever,  as  we  foirttd  orr  the 
rrext  day  w hen  examining  the  blood.  Irr  order  to 
avoid,  witetr  ittakirrg  .such  exirerirncnts,  arty 
errors  that  could  happeir  tlnoirgh  the  disease 
being  coittbiited  with  Texas  fever,  we,ntake  it  a 
point  to  examine  inicroscojrically  the  blood  of  all 
attitnals  which  we  use  for  infective  purposes. 
Fotler. 
Cotreerning  our  South  African  rinderpest,  we 
have  noticed  that  the  s^uuptortrs  iir  sonte  res- 
pects dill'er  somewhat  from  the  descriptions  given 
try  other  observers.  We  have, 'for  irrstarree,  found 
that  the  escantheirra  and  diphtheritic-like  changes 
on  the  mucus  rnenrbrarre  of  the  month  and  orr  the. 
palate  are  but  little  marked,  whilst  the  early 
jiatliological  lesions  in  the  irrtestiires  ar-e  ratlrer 
considerable.  Thus  we  have  seen  thrice  amongst 
ten  post-viortcm  examinations  librinous  bloody 
excretions  of  the  walls  of  the  intestinal  tube. 
The  latter  has  produced  coherent  "masses  about 
a yard  long,  which  formed  a sausage-like  com- 
plete cast  of  the  walls  of  the  intestines,  and 
surrouirded  a surall  canal  filled  with  excrenrent 
of  a tliin  fluid  nature.  The  irrasses  rneirtiorred 
consisted  of  detached  cjritlreliuirr  of  the  digestive 
tract,  a linn  (ibrinc-like  substance  and  blood. 
What  rrray  be  the  reason  of  tliis  difl'erence, 
wdietlrer'  climatic  influence  or  the  peculiar'  breed 
of  cattle,  I am  at  preseirt  unable  to  decide.  In 
all  other  points,  however,  the  symptorrrs  of  tire 
disease  do  so  completely  agr  ee  with  the  genuine 
rinderpest  that  their  identity  cannot  be  doubted. 
Tlie  observations  made  during  the  last  Eng- 
lish epidenric  by  F)ur'don-.Sanderson,  viz.,  that  tire 
beginniirg  of  the  pest  can  be  recognised  by  an 
elevation  of  tenrperature  several  days  before 
other  symptoms  are  manifest,  we  could  confirm 
in  every  single  case  that  canre  under  our  notice 
at  the  Experimental  Station.  This  is  a fact  of 
utmost  importance  not  only  for  experimental 
research  birt  also  for  practice,  as  thus  the  ad- 
vent of  the  disease  can  be  detected  already  at 
sucli  a time  wdien  no  infectious  discharges  are 
rivacu.ated  and  the  animal  is  not  yet  able  to 
siiread  the  pest."' 
All  EGAN  UT  CULTIVATION  IN  INDIA. 
[Contin ued. ) 
In  Thana. — The  betel-nut  is  grown  largely 
in  Thana,  Bombay.  The  best  nuts  are  carefully 
selected  in  October  and  dried  in  the  sun  ; uu- 
husked  nuts  are  considered  best  for  seed.  They 
are  planted  in  a well-ploughed  plot  of  land  in 
pits  three  inches  wide  and  three  inches  deep,  and 
at  a distance  apart  of  from  six  inches  to  a foot. 
For  the  first  three  months  the  young  palm  is 
watered  at  least  every  fourth  day  and  afterw'ards 
every  third  day.  AVhen  the  plants  are  a year  or 
a year  and  a half  old  they  are  fit  for  planting  outi 
The  selling  price  of  young  plants  varies  from 
6 j)ies  to  1 anna. 
The  betel  palm  usually  grows  in  red  soil,  but 
it  flourishes  best  in  sandy  soil  that  remains  moist 
for  sometime  after  the  rains.  Before  planting 
the  young  palm,  the  ground  is  ploughed,  levelled, 
and  weeded,  and  a water  channel  is  dug  six 
inches  deep  and  a foot  and  a half  wide.  Then  pits 
nine  inche.s  dee])  and  two  feet  wide  are  dug  at 
least  four  feet  apart,  nenly  full  of  eartli,  but^’iiot 
quite  full,  .so  that  water  may  lie  in  them  wdiere 
the  soil  allows;  plantains  are  grown  in  the  bed.s 
to  shade  the  young  palms.  Except  during  Die 
rainy  season,  when  -water  is  not  wanted,  the  jmeno- 
trees  are  watered  every  second  day  for  the  firs” 
five  years  and  after  that  every  third  or  fourth 
day.  Dining  the  rains  manure  is  sometimes  given. 
The  cost  of  betel-nut  cultivation  in  Thana  is 
calculated  as  follows:  An  acre  entirely  given 
to  betel  palms  would,  it  is  estimated,  hold  1000 
tree.«.  The  total  cost  of  rearing  1,000  betel  palms 
for  five  year.s— tliat  is,  until  they  begin  to  yield— is 
about  .U127  los.,  including  compound  interest 
at  0 jier  cent.  After  o years  a lliousand  trees 
are  estimated  to  yield  about  .LMO  a year  from 
which,  after  taking  U18  tis.  for  watering  assess- 
ment and  wages  and  til  0,-.  1 Ud.  as  interest  at 
the  rate  of  9 ]ier  cent  on  tl27  Ills.,  there  remains 
a net  estimated  profit  of  tl9  10s.  o|d.  or  lo'5-> 
per  cent. 
