76 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jan., 1899. 
CURING GINGER. 
Rererrine to the article “Notes on Ginger,” reproduced in our October 
number (p. 299) trom the Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, it will 
be found that an error has creptin, which the journal in question has hastened 
to correct as follows :—We have to point out that in the article “ A Trip to 
the Ginger District,’ which appeared in our July number, the author made an 
unfortunate slip, in referring to the percentage of loss made in the curing of 
ginger, by reversing the figures. The paragraph should have read: “The loss in 
the peeling and drying process takes, some say, 6632 per cent., others 80 per 
cent.” So that if the planter lifts 100 lb. of ginger from the soil, he has, 
after it has been peeled and dried, say from 20 to 332 per lb. of cured ginger 
ready for market. 
BROOM MILLET IN VICTORIA. 
A zonus of 5s. per ewt. is being offered by the Agricultural Department for 
the growth and production of marketable broom millet. Prior to the land 
being sown, the Minister has to be notified of the intention to apply for the 
bonus, and must approve of the application. No bonus is to be paid to any 
individual, association, or company for less than 10 ewt., or more than 20 tons 
of marketable broom corn. ‘The question of the marketable quality of the 
millet is to be determined by an inspection of the crop by a departmental 
officer, after it has been harvested. 
LAMPAS. 
Mr. D. Hurcneon, C.V.S., says:—Lampas is inflammation of the mucous 
membrane covering the bars of the palate, situated immediately behind the 
upper row of incisor teeth of the horse. 
Causes.—Teething in young horses, or it may be induced by hot food, or 
irritating medicine not sufficiently diluted. It is a very rare affection, although 
stablemen, as a rule, consider that every horse which has prominent bars has 
got lampas. It is difficult to understand how the idea of lampas being a 
common affection of the horse's mouth should have found such universal 
acceptance, because of all the domestic animals the mouth of the horse is the 
most frequently examined while the animal is in a state of health ; consequently 
one would think that the normal condition and appearance of the bars of the 
palate would have been ascertained with somethin, like exactitude by this time. 
Such, however, is not the case, for I have met with few non-professional men 
in this colony who appear to be familiar with the normal condition and 
appearance of the bars of the horse’s palate. The history of this imaginary 
disease is somewhat as follows:—A certain horse refuses his food some 
morning, or he looks dull and dejected, and does not feed with his ordinary 
relish ; the groom, having a strong predilection in favour of this affection, at 
once examines his mouth, and, finding the front bars of the palate level with or 
perhaps even below the level of the incisor teeth, immediately pronounces the 
animal to be suffering from lampas. He does not stop to examine whether 
these bars are inflamed in appearance or tender to the touch; whether it is 
their natural condition, or whether the bars of the palate of any of the other 
horses in the stable present a similar appearance. This obvious process of 
reasoning does not occur to him. But asa matter of fact in nearly all young 
horses, and in many old ones which graze on the veld, and have not been 
interfered with, the front bars of the palate are on a level with and frequently 
lower than the teeth, but their position in that respect is no indication of 
disease, nor of inconvenience to the animal. On the contrary, they are of 
great advantage to the horse, as anyone who watches them while grazing can 
observe. The horse gathers the grass with his lips, and cuts it with his incisor 
teeth, but he requires to hold the grass firmly in his mouth to enable him to 
cut it, and this he does by pressing the grass between the point of the tongue 
and the bars of the palate. This explains why a veld-fed horse has these bars 
