363 
NOTE ON IPECACUANHA CULTIVATION. 
By E. M'. Holmes, f.l.s. 
Curator of the Pharmaceutical Society’s Museums. 
About a year ago I pointed out, with respect to the 
Ipecacuanha cultivated near Klang, in the protectorate of 
Selangor, that it was found by Mr. Pfenningwerth, the 
manager of the estate where it is cultivated, that although 
the fresh crop from fresh soil was a fairly good one, on try- 
ing to raise- a second it invariably turned out very poor, al- 
though all kinds of manure had been tried to enrich the 
land, without apparently restoring to the soil the necessary 
ingredients for luxuriant growth. Under these circum- 
stances, it occurred to me that it would be interesting to 
determine the mineral constituents of the root itself, so that 
if these were known they might indicate the mineral manure 
that should be added to the soil. Moreover, if these con- 
stituents were found to occur in similar proportion in the 
root collected in such widely distant localities as Matto 
Grosso, the United States of Colombia, and Selangor, it 
would still further emphasise the need of such ingredients 
being required by the plant. Fortunately, I found in Mr. 
G. S. Blake, B. Sc., A.B.S.M., an analytical chemist willing 
to undertake the analysis of Brazilian, Carthagena, and 
Selangor 'Ipecacuanha roots as met with in commerce and I 
have at length received his report. The details as given 
below seem to indicate that phosphate of lime and salts of 
magnesia and potash are the principal ingredients required 
by the plant. A certain amount of potash would probably 
be yielded by the leaf mould in which the plant grows, but 
lime and magnesia are not so equally distributed as a rule, 
and it is possible that on a siliceous soil these elements 
might be deficient. The quantity of calcium oxalate pre- 
sent in Ipecacuanha root in the form of raphides indicates 
that lime is used in building up the tissues of the plant. At 
all events, the use of these bases— the lime in the form of 
phosphate — is worthy of trial. Fortunately, Mr. Blake has 
now left for Matto Grosso in connection with a Baptist 
Missionary expedition to that province, to conduct scientific 
investigations, and has kindly promised to examine the soil 
in which the Ipecacuanha plant grows, and the other natural 
conditions under which the plant flourishes in the wild state. 
