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fifth and sixth experiments the author found that if the time between 
two tappings is lengthened (to three weeks or a month) the distance 
between the cuts may be lessened. It would perhaps, have been more 
valuable if more trees had been tapped in each experiment. 
The author made a number of experiments on Hevea braziliensis. 
He applied the spiral and the herringbone methods, and short sloping 
separated cuts, but none vertical : his object was not so much to com- 
pare different methods of tapping as to see whether Para yielded paying 
quantities of latex in Kamerun, which has been doubted. 
The sloping cuts gave somewhat the best results. The method 
was as follows The tapping-knife and pen-knife were used exactly 
as in the Eambong experiments. 
Six sloping cuts, each 4 inches long, were made at equal distances 
apart (and presumably at the same level) round the stem. Every cut 
was parallel with and 2 inches from that of the previous day, so that 
after 28 days the surface of the tree exhibited 6 vertical rows of sloping 
cuts, 28 parallel cuts in each row, and the rows separated by 6 stripes 
of untouched bark. The author does not state the width of each groove. 
Not much can be deduced from the figures given. Only three trees, one 
for each method, were experimented on, and the periods during which 
they were tapped do not agree. 
There are things against the practicability of the separated sloping 
cut. It would be interesting to know if less bark is used up, and if it 
renews more quickly than is the case with the almost universal 
herringbone method, 
W. J. Gallagheb. 
IPECACUANHA. 
A good deal of interest has been from time to time raised by the 
question of the possibility of the cultivation of the Ipecacuanha plant 
in this country. The drug is an expensive one and there is a 
steady demand for it, being as it is one of the few T known remedies for 
dysentery. For many years it has been cultivated with some success 
by Mr. W. W. Bailey, formerly at Pengerang Estate, Johor and later in 
Highlands and Lowlands estate in Selangor. No one else seems to 
have been very successful with it in any part of the world. 
In cultivation it is by no means an easy plant to deal with, and 
though it has been often tried at the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, it 
never seems to thrive well, probably on account of the dampness of 
the island. I have found it very sensitive to rapid changes of weather. 
In hot dry weather it suffers much from the dryness of the air, and 
heat and heavy rainstorms are also fatal to it. 
An article on Jolior Ipecacuanha has recently been published by 
Mr. E. M. Holmes in the Pharmaceutical Journal (January 18th 1908) 
p. 54, which is of considerable interest and from which I quote. “ For 
many years past Ipecacuanha root has been cultivated in the Malay 
states "and imported into this country under the name of Johor 
