946 
THE TROPJOAL AORJOULTURI8T 
• [June I, J892. 
table IVjateria Medica of Woetern India” and _tbo 
“Phannacoftraphica Tndica” now appearing, one notices 
that a iurge moes of drugs playing on iuiportant part 
in India medicine have not been exaniiiied, even as 
to their ■obemioal and physiological action and it 
almost seems as if of late years in England the 
general interest is turned more to the examinations 
of synthotio chemical products quite neglecting the 
vegetable drugs. 
This is all the more to be roOTettcd as one con at 
least get authentic plants from India as the number 
of botanical gardens and agricultural institutes do 
everything to find use and demand for the row pro- 
dnets of the country for the benefit of it. 
It would be a great pleasure to mo if these lines 
were to excite the (lerinan chemical industry and 
drug eoinmerce, on to further enterprises in India 
and in the English colonies in general. There is no 
doubt, but that in these countries a wide future lies 
open to Germans of this profession. 
o 
.SOUTH WYNAAD notes. 
4th Aliy laS)2. 
During the last month we have hsd s rsicfoll 
raeanirieg 8 inches 55 cents, which for April is some- 
what unusu .t. This was ushered in by sharp ryalunio 
Bb'rrat, which drifted oil into sn fxcei < nt imitation 
of the monsoon— dull groy stiioi and s continual drop- 
p'ng of soft rain. Tin- storms were Buflioieiitly strong 
to bring do»n no end of tree', which hhclted our 
roads in a most inconvenient manner. The worst nf 
it was. that in some ca ostho heavy rain fell upon 
the open blossom. Tlii< is a S' nsatioii which 
DO one but a coffee plant' r can duly sppreolato. 
To saunter round in the evening and gaze hope- 
fully at the sheets of snowy blossom, to sp sk, en. 
coutngiogly to the bees which hum merrily round, 
iutoiioated by the we lth of iwoetness spread out 
lor them, to eat yonr dinner in bsppy consciousness 
that tliectop wcnldpay for it, to lay your head d .wii 
pe«ccfuUy on your pillow rejoioing in the though' that 
U' the blossom is sate, and then, '' • • • crash, down 
comes the rain — 6ung, down go the chercti 1 trees upon 
the finest bushes! The thumior rolls, the ligbtuing 
flash's, and you lie. on yonr bsck doggedly ststiog 
at the ceiling and safing to youreolf, " What a 
glocioua, happy. inneMent Arcadian sort of life is that 
of the free and independent pla, tar!'* Ifowcver, we may 
hope that it was only hero and there that the blossom 
wai thus caught. But hero, you 8< e, comes in one of 
the sdvai Isgcs of Liberian. The flower opens, sets, 
and falls within a few hours, and storms affect it 
uot Oh I bow 1 longed lor some of the deti actors of 
my favourite proiluot, to tsko a walk round my es- 
cisl pot, ‘ho moriiigitwas “out.” It was simply 
a msgmficcnt eight and every passing Kaefamr 
I pansod to admire and exclaim at the glor ous 
show of big wiixen hbrssoms. As for (be bees, they 
became absolDtedy delirious ovir it, such a buz- 
zing and fus-ing, such a turning up of their 
noses at tl.e Arabici, which looked so in- 
signilicane besides its towering breth 01. I think 
the moat rabid abuser of Liberian, after a sight 
at that field, however much he may have come to 
scoff, would have retur'isd to pLnt L'berian. 
1 have not yet met aiivone in this n iahbourho''d 
who teems espcoislly jubilant on tbe sul.jeot of cio|.. 
Of course, w« have dilforent ways of .xprerBiog 
ourseivss. Onr iptimiets say “ Eveiythiug is 
splendid, though ot Oourse, we cannot ejp-ct such 
a tnarrs^ent crop ss last year, two seasons ru ning !” 
Our pcerimista sigh hetvilv and murmur /cAaW, and 
point at estates abandoned now, and nnno to 1.0 
abandoned ; moderate folks like my elf eteer a happy 
medium, ot to try to, tniuiHul of tbe stone-tbrowiug 
proeivilities of eome oth<r people. I don’t think 
there is any Immediate prospect of VVjnanl turn- 
ing ouc many millionaires in this year of iraos, 
1892. But po.isibly if the i upon keeps to its preaeui. 
dehgbfuby depreciated state, we may he able to 
cover expenses. On several estates the crop hsr 
'promised very fairly well, whilst on others,— tnmou 
Bsys, — but there, let us talk of “ sesling-wax a d 
kings,” rather than dwell upon nncbeerful auhj.O'S. 
Tile long drought has been a splendid check npon 
leaf disease, but wo ralher dread the snbgiqnent 
effect of 1.11 these late rains. I beat groanings over 
borer, hut as far as I can ga'ber, this plagno is 
not general, its fancy being appar. utly for eiperially 
eitiiateil es'Btea. Y. n know the tmpenetrabli silence 
of everything before a big s'orm ? Hew at last you 
slniost strain your ears to catch 'be rustle of a 
leaf, or the twitter of a bird? Well that is ex- 
actly how it is with yonr South Wynasd 
“special” as n'gsrds news of '* tti.i.“ A D.onih 
or two ago 1 d eamed of long telling paragraphs 
for ihe Madras Times, Tbe air was full • f rnniours, 
ami I had no end .1 rnobanting ‘slrioUv oonfi- 
dentiaU ” wbi-p-red int n,y delighted ears. When 
niy neighhours talkml of this and that possjbidly, 
I flhnckled to ra'self, and thongbt about certain 
cs'iitns, and wh.it I ki ew was going to be done 
with them and to en. I oven mentally planned an 
“ in'erview,” with the mnnaLor of our “ Central 
Factory, ” and how 1 would describe him as sorb a 
eplindid genial fellow, an.d all that, and tell yon all 
about the raachmery and the pene'raliog, ii toxiosting 
o.'our ot the hot tia and to on Mow, I f • 1 run down 
to the low St .'cpths of hnmiliatinn, for b le is May, 
and oh! Atr Editor, he merciful for I'ko tt e rustic 
liwer “ I l.’aini got nn'hiu’ to say.” Abso ufi ly iic» 
thing farther is beard at present on the ten solijert, 
and certainly nothing practical in the wav of pisiit'iig 
ia lik. Iv to oceur this year. It is a terrib c pity that 
so much splendid possibilities slioald be thus ruth, 
iessly wasted. However, to revert to roy fcrroei stmi/c, 
perhaps it may he only the silence I eforn the storm, 
and I may yet gladly record juhili e days fer ptor old 
Wvnasd. 
The B’oodlands Es‘ate, I nete. has passed hands 
since I las wrote and bneorao the property if a 
"peiSck stranger.” The mai agnment, however, remains 
tbe same. — Madras Times, May lOtb. 
^ 
THE INDIAN COTTON 0R01> OF ie9]-92. 
• The final Memorandum on the Indian cotton crop 
of 1991-02, which we have just received, shows that 
throughout the reporting j^ovinces the season was 
exobptfonally unfavourable to the crop and that both 
area (md outturn have in consequence fallen off 
largely. Tho Punjab crop is estimated at 41 per 
cent, less in area and 38 per cent, less in outturn 
than in I8‘.Ki-91, itself an nnlavourable. year, and is 
stated to be tho lowest crop on record. In the 
North-Western Provinces and Oudh the deficiency 
is M per cent, in area and -12 per cent, in outturn, and 
in Madras it is 21 and 80 per cent., rospeotivoly. In 
the remaining Prorinoes the rnfluanco of the adverse., 
season on tbe area returns is less marked Tbe fall- 
ingiioft in production due to the diminished area is 
aggravated by the lower yield per acre, which ia dis- 
closed in tho estimalea of outturn, which in Bombay 
ia put at 811, in the Central Provinces at 
85, and in Berar at 15 per cent, leas than 
last year’s. TI10 general result for tho seven 
rejiorting Provinces ia that tho area stands 
at a little over II million acres against 
18 'Million aoros in tho previous year ond an 
average acreage of over 12 millions. The forecast 
of' fvroduclion ia l,;i8ti,(X)0 bales of 408 lb. each against 
2,1181,000 in 1890-91, and an average of 2,186,0(K). 
Taking tho average value of a bale at KlOO, the 
money equivalent of the defioiency on the crop of 
lR*.lt-y2. as conrpared with the normal, is, roughly, 
112 millions of nipoea, or about 74 per cent of tho 
average annual exports of cotton to foreign countries, 
(vnd over .83 per cent of its estimated average pro- 
duction. 
Sir Edward Buck remarks that tho export trade 
in Indian cotton ia not progressive and ttuctnatea 
largely; so also does the outturn, tho cotton plant 
' being very susceptible to the influence of unfavour- 
j able seasons and the attacks of insects. But al- 
