i6 
THE TROPIOAt. AQR10.0LTURI8T 
[July i, . 1 . 891 . 
MR. THOS. CHRISTY, R.L.S. 
I( flesh still ba belt to any ailments for the care of 
whieU no "new drug or remody” baa yet been found, 
no blamo attaobos to ilr. Tbor. Christy, of Lime Street 
and Sydenham. Jia at least has done all that mortal 
man coulii do to secure his lellow-orooturea snob to- 
liot as the introduction of aomu ibreoor four huudrod 
new remedies may t-e aide to alford. On Afnoan 
fish-poison and obilDaiu.oures, on kols-iiUls for - too 
intemperate and airophautbna for the woak ot heart 
on Myocom tty-gum ond jamb.'id, Mr. Thoa. .Lhristy 
is regarded in H-linoing Lane as the fount of all wis- 
dom. The recent addition of ObtUlia to the armoury 
of eurgioal applinuoea. and the reflection tOat the 
garden of Mr. Cbristy’a reiidoiioe at Sj dauliam wouau 
Took at its beat on a genial spring day, caused our 
towu trayelk.r to take a trip to the uoigubourliood 
of the Cryalal I’alaoe lu soatch of new ujrormatioo. 
Mr. Ctiriaty wos found engaged, as represented on ocir 
picture, in the critical exomination ot a spurious kola- 
nut, oil object which be holds iu particular horror. 
‘‘It is a most extroordinary thing,” ho said — ^“Iho most 
wonderful thing that has over oowe under luy notice 
— how these natives go ou shipping spurious kolas, 
though wo have explained to them moat eatcfully 
that thov could not bo too pariicular iu sending over 
only the' genuine kolas ot the A'tsrrufin acuuitnata. 
You havo no idea of the wouderlul action of the true 
kola as a nerve stimulant and a remedy lor dipro- 
mania. Tboutauds of unhappy patients arc pinicg 
beoanso we cannot supply the true hrug fast enough, 
while tlitse vile substilutioua with which our markets 
are flooded are bringing the drug into discredit. 
With that Mr. Ohrisiy dismissed the spumous kolas, 
and took onr man for a walk through the hotbousos 
iu whioh he rears ihousauds of young plants from 
seeds and uutlioga, and whence aoi*res of tropical 
plantations annually receive a supply of soonomio 
plants,, nauvos of other tmipioal countries, for aoclinia- 
tiaatxoB. The first hotboiieo ooiitaiutd huu.lreds of 
young camphor-plaute, aU propagated irom seedlings 
ihich Mr. Christy obtained from China some yiars 
ago. Uo considers the cumphor-trse a pailiouiarly 
suitable one for acolimatiraiiou purposes, and has 
ftirbAily forwarded coogi^onioutH froui SjdtJijbttni to 
iotondio^ cultivhtorB i» Su'ith Africa aud Oaliiornia. 
From his buyertt iu tlio iHit-uamed country, who 
huvo now had their supply in the grouud for about 
four and a half years, he hears favourable leporte. 
Close to the camphor-trees are numerous sp-jcjmeus 
of the larije green-and goid-leaved Pothos orU, a plant 
much sought after for the purpose of tablo-doeora ion; 
of the upus-treo from Java, which in this hothouse 
has attainfld an average height of feet, but grows 
to a bei^jht of 60 feet in its uitUve c -untry. From a 
Germau firm of chemical manufacturtrs, Mr. <Jiin-ty 
told U 8 , ho hoH a standing order for all the rap or 
milk from the tree which he ran supply. Ihe ofio- 
jikanihui hUpidus, with its bright green, Bott, niiry, 
lanceolate leaves, is there; aud so are the bbmeso 
ffiuiong and the alvolos. The specimens of the UtUr 
however, arc almoKt loHllens, and the miik, which has 
strong caustic properties aud is recommended as a 
tpeoitio for oaneerous ulcers, is erhau'^ted. Iu aaoMior 
holboui'e we had ooeahion to avlmirc a largo number 
of vigorous rpecimena of several varieti'S of coffee — 
the large-leaved IJlua Mouniaiu coffee fr* iii Jamaica, 
tho Maroaiipo* the Anibiau vari*)ty of the Liberia 
coffee, and many otlwrs. Mr. Oh isty.ns he explsiued 
t<» U9, has establisbed telatioan with a gnat many 
planters and txp'onrs thr. uglumt the tropics, who 
supply to him the seedliogs or cuttings of pUnta 
which they grow, and obtain from him iu return tiio 
exotics they desire to iulrodace for (;onjm*:rci.»l pur- 
poses. A side of one of Mr. Christy’s hothouses is 
filled with young pntcLouly-plantw, for whioh he bas 
had a very considerable t.emaiid of Ute, in sp.tw of 
the fad that, ci ninieroiiiUy speaking, the perltune 
is already prodused to ixcess. Tlie Jambui plant 
{Syzpyium Jumholanuin,) Ih prop'^ated at Sydenham 
from fruit. Of the Stt-ophanihus yluhrus from the 
OabooD, Mr. Christy posMt asos only a siugle eptoimen, 
aud that is only about 1 foot high and does not preseut 
a particularly fiourishing eppsatauce. 
Iu a special boibou«o, the temperature of whioh is 
kept higher than that of Die others, lomo thousands 
of vanilla plants ate grown. They aro beautiful or- 
chids with thick, bright green, smooth, Lanoeplate, 
leaves, but they are of very alow growth, the majority, 
whioh had been io the hothouse fjr over six 
moiitbs, being only about 3 iuclicR high. They aro 
kept until they have reaobod a height of to 9 
feet before they are distributed. Of oubeb pi-pperthore 
are three varieties at tSydenham, including the large- 
leaved “ Oomet ” variety, which is a very aoaroeone. 
lu another portion of the same hothouse abouh 30,000 
kcla^nuta are placsd in boxes for propagation, but 
only a very small proporfciou— leas than 15 per oenV 
Mr. Christy thought will germicHte. 
Two of the hotbuuECH at Iho time of our visit were 
set apart for the manuf&oinre*«or, ralberi the bleach- 
ing— of Obristia, the new surgical drcsiiog which has 
reoently^bcea placed upon tho market, and which Mr. 
Chruty «‘xpeuts to hupersedu the dressiogs now in n^e. 
The fibrous material from which the Chri.itia paper 
in manufacLured, after being soaked in a sdutiouof 
biebromato oi potasbiuiu aud treated with glue, is 
bung up to dry and bleach under glass, as is shown 
in the above iilustraliou. Mr. Christy oxpreseed him- 
BoU <14 highly pleased with the success of this novelty, 
aud told Ui thoii, iu spite of certain attacks whioh 
bad been mado upon Jt by rival manufacturers iu 
Germany, the sales of hia product in that country 
and ill other parts of tho Contiinnt wore so large 
that they were frequently at their wits' ends to 
keep paco with . the orders coming in.— OAewiiaf and 
JJrugyint. 
WV.NAAU Kotes.— U rep prospects may be generally 
regarded as very fairly fav mrable ; aud a corrctipoudiog 
ohoerfu-ueHs would reign omongsi ua ouuid we aJl feel 
that our future was ua Bt Cuure us our next c;op. But 
there is no use in attempting conoealniOMt iu a matter 
uhioh is every day becomiug moro patent to the ex- 
f iericuccd coffee-plauter. The death w'acrant of Aiabica 
■as gone forth, and it mu ’t be only a matter of a few 
years, when i’s place awougst ua will know it no 
more. The old fields hold on where tbe.boror does 
not finish them, but the prt-Stmt heavy crop, will prob- 
ably shako mauy .of them beyond recovery. TbedU- 
hearteiiing fiiot is that it is the young piautiugs on 
which we should naturally rest our hopes, and these aro 
1 proving a ouuslitution so undermined by leaf disease 
tbatilds not .prob&blo that even dha most protuisiug 
of them can bo laaliug. I do not tbli.k from 
what 1 -can gather that' the idea of Kratiiug 
oolffcO is regarded as foatuble iu tho Wyimad. 
A v^ry groat deal of Ijihcii^n la being planted in 
this district. U hos. the advautagu of course of b^ing 
.iopgor in reaching luatuiiLy, but if wn can hold on 
with .our retunaiiia of Arabku until the LibeHau coruos 
into bearing, wu may hope for bolter limes before us yet. 
There i* much, depreasiuu foil ou account of the 
siiuckiugiy b.id ptdcu giveu us tor last season’s oiucbuua 
bark. A great quantity was despatched from this 
district in. tho hope of roplaotug some of the losses in- 
curred by the failure in our colfi^e crops. But as ill luck 
will havo it the sales have proic l gonorally so uuro- 
muucrative that it is abs' lutt iy hardly worth whi'o Iiar- 
vestiugour bark. A good deal of busmosa is being done 
in timber, aud our mngrificeut Bleokwoods are paying 
the penalty of tbeir lives for our necessities. Tnis is 
likely to lean improving trade. Very largo quvnlilies 
fif " fancy bloeke ” aro in demand for the Ooutin* ut, 
and one thiitka with regret of the gloriuuh timber which 
lay rotting iu our or becRiuo fuel for our coolioa 
iu tho good old limes, when we satritiod the most 
nihittblo trees, simply becau o wo wanted the land, and 
had no roads by whiohto transport the wood to the coast. 
Uortainly we are better off iu this respect, and our r‘aftd 8 
are. sumo of them, becoming a pleasure to travel upon. 
—Madras Times^ May 15tb. 
