3;o  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.     { Am •JJu°1y%f9h7arnj- 
acid  and  potash  to  the  soil,  the  former  is  best  applied  as  "  basic 
slag"  or  "  Thomas  slag;"  5  to  10  cvvt.  per  acre  will  supply- 
phosphoric  acid  for  three  to  four  years.  The  potash  can  be  obtained 
as  chloride  for  about  £8  per  ton.  From  50  to  100  pounds  per 
acre  would  be  a  dressing  for  a  year.  The  pineapple  also  needs 
nitrogen  for  its  growth ,  this  might  be  supplied  as  nitrate  of  soda, 
at  £10  per  ton,  giving  100  pounds  per  acre  when  the  plants  have 
started  to  grow  rapidly. 
COLLECTING  JUICE  OF  PAPAW. 
F.  B.  Kilmer,  in  Bulletin  of  the  Botanical  Department,  Jamaicay 
4,  68,  describes  the  method  to  be  followed  in  collecting  the  juice 
from  the  fruit  of  Carica  papaya  in  the  Island  of  Jamaica.  Cut 
an  incision  lengthwise  of  the  fruit,  not  over  j£  of  an  mcn  m 
depth ;  if  it  is  made  much  deeper  the  milk  is  apt  to  be  carried  into 
the  fruit  and  not  run  outside.  The  milk  will  run  quite  freely  for  a  short 
time,  but  soon  coagulates  so  that  it  will  no  longer  run.  To  catch 
the  milk  that  drops  and  flows  I  place  under  the  tree  tin  pans  made 
in  such  a  way  as  surround  the  trunk  of  the  tree  and  catch  the  drip- 
ping milk. 
I  found  it  well  to  tap  the  fruit  early  in  the  morning,  before  the 
sun  was  very  high,  as  it  quickly  dried  the  milk  and  stopped  the 
flow.  After  the  flow  had  ceased  it  was  found  to  be  a  good  practice 
to  brush  off  all  the  coagulated  milk  into  the  pans  and  make  a  fresh 
incision,  when  another,  but  smaller,  yield  was  obtained.  The  scor- 
ings should  be  made  about  ]/2  inch  apart  all  around  the  fruit.  The 
time  to  tap  the  fruit  is  before  it  is  ripe,  and  when  it  is  green 
and  full.  The  yield  is  much  larger  just  after  a  rain  storm  or  a  spell 
of  wet  weather.  Still,  you  can  tap  a  green  fruit  at  any  time  and 
obtain  more  or  less  of  the  white  milk.  This  milk  must  be  dried 
the  same  day  that  it  comes  from  the  tree,  and  must  be  dried  in  the 
sun.  Artificial  heat  will  not  do.  It  can  be  dried  right  away  on 
the  tin  pans,  spread  out  thin,  or  spread  out  on  sheets  of  glass.  It 
will  dry  in  an  hour  or  so  in  the  sun.  Any  amount  of  exposure  to 
the  sun  will  not  harm  it  in  drying,  but  artificial  heat  destroys  it.  If 
it  should  so  happen  in  gathering  that,  owing  to  stormy  weather,  it 
cannot  be  dried  in  the  sun  the  day  it  is  gathered,  you  can  mix  it 
with  some  naphtha  or  benzine,  turning  it  into  a  sort  of  milk. 
